The Presidential election race is slowly gathering momentum in the United States, and there is every reason to bet that the politically-energised Indian American community and the money bags are slowly getting into action. There is still a long way to go for this group to take credit for putting someone in the White House, or for that matter, making a pompous claim that a candidate solidly supported by a vast majority of the three million-or-so Indian American community is going to be pro-India.
But that isn't going to stop the so-called Indian American community leaders from taking credit. In 2008, the community overwhelmingly supported candidate Barack Obama and his then running mate, Joseph Biden. This time around too, the story isn't going to be any different, but for the fact that the diehard Republicans, or the so-called amongst them, will be hoping for a change in 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. And this group will be more than energised if it so happens that a Republican nominee chooses an Indian American as his running mate.
REPUBLICAN TICKET
An Indian American on the US Presidential ticket? Is that possible? And can we imagine what would happen in the India media scene? It would go bonkers, to the extent of making people here believe that a Republican administration would only be thinking and breathing of India, day in and day out. But the reality is something quite different. Even if an Indian American made it to the Number Two slot, it would hardly matter to India. The swearing in isn't going to be at Rajpath, or for that matter, the first Republican Presidential visit overseas likely to be New Delhi!
The first scenario — is an Indian American likely to be on the Republican ticket? Why not? The Republican candidate in 2008, Senator John McCain, seriously did look up to Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana as his running mate, until the time the latter himself opted out of consideration. And this time around, along with Governor Bobby Jindal, comes Governor Nikki Haley of South Carolina, another young Indian American woman governor, who brings with herself “bright” right-wing credentials.
Bobby and Nikki bring with them to the plate what any Republican nominee can hope for — both come from states that are considered bible-thumpers, they tout Christian and conservative values, they are fiscal conservatives, and could be even seen as Union busters. Both Bobby and Nikki are very much a part of the 2012 Republican election scene, even if for political reasons, they choose to be silent for the moment.
RELEVANCE TO INDIA
Now, the second scenario: does it matter to India if either one of them made it to the 2012 ticket? Not even by a long shot. In fact, the pertinent question to be asked is if they would even want to be seen as a part of mainstream India. In fact, many prominent Indian Americans are quietly more resentful of Bobby Jindal than of Nikki Haley. A group of influential Indian Americans see Bobby Jindal remembering the community only when he wants to, usually during the fundraising season! And as far as Nikki is concerned, she has irked many by going along with a controversial bill that empowers law enforcement to check the immigration status of anyone stopped or arrested just on a suspicion that they could be illegals.
If an Indian American (Republican) takes up residency at the Naval Observatory on Massachusetts Avenue as Vice-President, it is going to mean little to India in terms of policy. And if the Indian American Republican has long distanced his / her roots, or perhaps don't even want to be frequently reminded of it, then what is all his hoopla in a section of the community in the United States? It partly stems from one of two things: the imperative of wanting to be seen as politically critical, and with this the notion that somehow “India” is the buzzword in Washington DC. Neither of this quite fits the bill.
(The author is Head, School of Media Studies of the Faculty of Science and Humanities, SRM University, Chennai.)