‘We welcome you with open arms’

The Sikh Caucus, comprising leading Sikhs in the US and Punjabi organizations today welcomed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit, saying each one in America has been touched in more than one way by India’s success and expressed happiness at the growing India-US ties.

In a full-page advertisement in The Washington Post, they said: ‘‘On behalf of the two million Indians in the US, we welcome you with open arms and warm hearts…We, here in the US, are blessed to have the world’s strongest democracy as our homeland, and the world’s largest democracy as our nativeland. As India’s friendship with the US increases, we rejoice.’’

The Caucus lauded Singh for pushing open the liberalisation window in 1991 following which ‘‘the world has been able to see the modern economic face of ancient India, and Indians have been able to see the rest of the world.’’