India’s foreign minister refused to meet me. I won’t stop speaking out on human rights.

Pramila Jayapal, a Democrat, represents Washington’s 7th Congressional District in the House of Representatives.

I am proud to have lived my life in two of the world’s great democracies — as a citizen of India for almost 35 years, and today, as a proud American citizen and the first Indian American woman elected to the House of Representatives.

The United States and India — the world’s longest-running democracy and the world’s largest democracy — have shared a unique and important relationship for decades that has weathered disagreements and tensions on the core premise that our countries are important to each other and to global stability. Both our Constitutions begin with the words, “We, the People.” And during the civil rights movement, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. identified Mahatma Gandhi and his movement for nonviolent resistance as a core inspiration.