Jayapal, along with lawmakers Rashida Tlaib and Somalian-origin Ilhan Omar, represents a faction of the Democratic Party which could emerge as a sticking point in bilateral ties. Jayapal is the first Asian-origin woman lawmaker in the House of Representatives

New Delhi: Delhi has a growing challenge at hand from the Left-liberals in US polity, led by Indian-origin Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, even as strategic partnership continues to scale new heights.

Jayapal, along with lawmakers Rashida Tlaib and Somalian-origin Ilhan Omar, represents a faction of the Democratic Party which could emerge as a sticking point in bilateral ties.

Jayapal made it to the headlines for moving a resolution in the House of Representatives on Kashmir. She later sought to meet foreign minister S Jaishankar to discuss the issue by circumventing House rules.

The lawmaker had started her vocal criticism of the situation in J&K in September. She, along with James McGovern, a democrat Congressman from Massachusetts, sent a letter to secretary of state Mike Pompeo on September 10, urging him to press New Delhi to lift a communication blockade in Kashmir.

Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US, Jayapal, the first Asian-origin woman lawmaker in the House of Representatives, issued another statement along with 10 other Congresspersons seeking lifting of the communication blockade. At the Congressional hearing on human rights in South Asia on October 22, she raised the issue of J&K again, questioning what she claimed as illegal detentions and human rights abuse.

ET has learnt that she was requested by US-based Indian officials to provide specific names of individuals based in the US who could not establish contacts with their relatives in J&K after August 5 so that the government could facilitate contact. Eventually, when names were not provided, her attention was drawn to the fact by the officials that her constituents were actually from Pakistan, masquerading as Kashmiris.

Incidentally, two Jayapal-backed candidates lost in local polls in recent past following disgruntlement among members of the Indian community about her activities.

Rituja Indapure lost the Sammamish City Council election. Later, a second candidate endorsed by her, Emily Myers, lost the Seattle City Council election for District 4.

Jayapal, a two-time lawmaker from Seattle, and her associates are keen to make a mark by championing “human rights issues”, a source familiar with US politics told ET. This faction has received support from Elizabeth Warren, who is trying to get Democratic Party nomination for Presidential polls in 2020. This faction was also irked by the presence of the US President at PM Narendra Modi's Houston rally in September.

Over two years back, when she met PM Modi here, Jayapal had raised issues pertaining to religious freedom, she recently wrote in the Washington Post, in an article titled ‘India's Foreign Minister Refused To Meet Me’.

Jaishankar, who was the foreign secretary at the time, had also attended in the 2017 meeting, she had said. During a recent visit to the US, Jaishankar had refused to attend a meeting where Jayapal was to be part of.

Jayapal had founded an organisation, originally called Hate Free Zone, following the 2001 September 11 attacks. It had successfully sued the Bush Administration's Immigration and Naturalisation Services to prevent the deportation of more than 4,000 Somalis from the US.

She is a member of the House Judiciary Committee, where she serves as the vice chair of the Immigration Subcommittee, and on the House Education & Labour and Budget Committees.

During his visit to Washington last week, Jaishankar was scheduled to meet the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, the committee’s top Republican representative and others. But later Jayapal was included on the list circumventing the rules set earlier, according to persons familiar with the developments.

“Some Congressmen with support from staffers deliberately changed the rules of the game from meeting the HFAC to meeting the co-sponsors of the Bill (over J&K). The meeting would have been an opportunity for Pramila Jayapal and Rashida Tlaib to harangue instead of having a constructive engagement with the chair and ranking member. India is open to meeting those who are open minded and objective but not those who are not,” a source said.