He may have faced derisive comments and stares for heckling President Barack Obama in Congress during an address on healthcare reform, but Republican South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson retains the affection for one ethnic group -- Indian Americans.
According to Sanjay Puri, the chairman of the US Indian Political Action Committee (USPAC), the Indian American community has by and large had a positive relationship with Wilson, formerly co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian-Americans.
Wilson co-sponsored a bill that was approved in 2007, which recognized the significance of the Hindu festival of lights, Diwali.
He also strongly advocated passage of a landmark accord that gave India access to civilian nuclear technology last year despite its refusal to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Puri, said Wilson, 62, is a fixture at South Asia-related events in Washington.
Wilson, speaking at a congressional hearing in June, said that his father traveled across the subcontinent during World War II as part of the "Flying Tigers," the volunteer US air force that defended China against imperial Japan.
