ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes how members of Congress obtain information about India and how their perceptions have been translated into American policy on the subcontinent. It examines legislative behavior toward South Asia in the context of institutional reform that, while challenging executive authority, has ironically fragmented congressional power. The role of Congress in the conduct of foreign policy in the case of relations with India has become increasingly important, given congressional concerns about nuclear proliferation. Congressional conservatives had always been hostile toward India, and in 1963, they succeeded in reneging on a $500 million public sector steel plant at Bokaro in the state of Bihar that was to be a showcase of Western aid. According to a State Department analysis, American attitudes concerning India focus on disease, death, and illiteracy more than for any other country. Indian images of the United States have been shaped by similar factors and are correspondingly ambivalent.
