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Indian-Americans emerging from the shadows
in US politics
Friday November 02, 2012 07:10:12 PM,
Arun Kumar, IANS
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Washington: Whoever
wins the tight White House race Nov 6, Indian-Americans are bound
to play a key role in the new administration going by their
growing clout in American politics.
At over a score, President Barack Obama's administration already
has the highest number of Indian-Americans working in high places
and his Democratic party gave a pride of place to them at his
nominating convention last August.
So did challenger Mitt Romney's Republican Party which boasts of
having the only two Indian-American governors, Bobby Jindal of
Louisiana and Nikki Haley of South Carolina. Both were at one time
speculated among Romney's vice presidential picks.
The likes of Rajiv "Raj" Shah, the highest ranking Indian-American
in the Obama team as administrator of the United States Agency for
International Development (USAID), and Preet Bharara, high profile
US attorney for Manhattan, were not there at the Democratic
Convention as they hold government jobs.
But Kamla Harris, 47, the first woman, the first African-American,
and the first South Asian to be elected as attorney general of
California, was one of the headliners.
The daughter of a Tamil-Indian immigrant mother and a
Jamaican-American father, Harris was the second Indian-American to
get a prime time speaking spot after Indian-American actor Kal
Penn, best known for his "Harold and Kumar" movies.
Penn, a former White House staffer, had a starring role hosting
primetime web coverage when Obama accepted the party's nomination.
Jindal, son of Indian immigrants from Punjab, governor since 2007,
could not make it to the Republican convention after Hurricane
Isaac hit Louisiana's southeast coast.
But Haley, born Nikki Nimrata Randhawa in a Sikh immigrant family,
was given a key speaking spot. So was another son of Sikh
immigrants, Ranjit 'Rikky' Gill, 25, who is the lone
Indian-American Republican running for Congress from California.
Besides Gill, four Democrats - Upendra Chivukula from New Jersey,
Ami Bera from California, Manan Trivedi from Pennsylvania and Syed
Taj from Michigan -- are also making credible runs for the
Congress and dozens more are either holding or seeking seats in
state legislatures.
Both the Democratic and Republican parties are also out to woo the
three million strong Indian-American community as their half a
million votes could make a difference in the tight White House
race.
Obama and Romney campaigns have placed full page advertisements in
local Indian-American ethnic newspapers published from Washington,
New York and the West Coast which have large concentrations of the
community.
"Barack Obama is not just a president for some of us; he is
fighting for all of us," says a full page ad by the Obama campaign
which is also sending out flyers in Hindi.
"Ready to Go to Work. Vision for a better America. Vote Mitt
Romney for President. Promising all my heart to restore strength
to America. We will be strong again," reads an advertisement by
Northern California Asian Pacific Islanders Americans.
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)
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