Indian-Americans in US politics: Red, white, blue and brown

The rise of the Washington desi and the diaspora in the American political structure

Speaking at an event in July, Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi dubbed his fellow colleagues in the Congress, who shared his Indian heritage, as the “Samosa Caucus” — a nomenclature that the Illinois congressman facetiously came up with, and then said “we may be small, but we’re spicy”. Indian-Americans make up close to 1.5 per cent of the population of the United States, and Krishmanoorthi adds that Indian-Americans make up one per cent of the US Congress.

There is a certain ubiquity of the Indian-American diaspora, from the Dr Patels, to the Indian-American spelling bee champion and the Silicon Valley high-tech CEOs, think Satya Nadella at Microsoft or Google’s Sundar Pichai and former MasterCard CEO, Ajay Banga, now in line to be US President Joe Biden’s nominee for the top job at the World Bank. Yet for all the private sector prowess, there has been limited, albeit growing, public sector traction.

Five Blues

Krishnamoorthi makes up one of the five-Indian Americans in the House of Representatives. The Illinois congressman is joined by Ami Bera, and Ro Khanna from California, Pramila Jayapal from Washington state, and, of course, the newest addition is Shri Thanedar from Michigan. All five democrats, and interestingly, no congressman from the East Coast, given how Edison, New Jersey has often been viewed as the ‘Little India’ for the ubiquity of the desi diaspora, and none from New York State despite New York City epitomising a globalised workforce.

Five maybe a small number, but it’s still the largest representation of Indian-American members of the Congress. In 2013, Bera was only the third Indian-American Congressman—the first being , Dalip Singh Saund (from 1957 to 1963), and the second being Bobby Jindal, the 2016 presidential hopeful, known for his stint as Governor of Louisiana.

Little surprise that all the Indian-American representation in the House exist on the blue side of the aisle, reflective of the overarching narrative of Indian-Americans traditionally being Democrats.

Oh So Red!

Jindal and along with Nikki Haley, the former Governor of South Carolina and then US President Donald Trump’s envoy to the United Nations were among the first and so far, only Indian-American Governors, and yet, oh so red!

Bobby Jindal was born Piyush Jindal, and converted to Christianity, adopting the name Bobby, as he identified with Bobby Brady, one of the Bradys from the seminal movie and sitcom, the Brady Bunch. Nikki Haley, who threw her name in the hat for the 2024 Republican primaries, was born Nimarata Nikki Randhawa. Her Punjabi nickname was Nikki and her last name was from her husband, Michael Haley. But when you’re born in Bamberg, South Carolina (Haley), and Baton Rouge, Louisiana (Jindal), in the early 1970s, it’s a little surprise that they both converted to Christianity, wax lyrical in southern twangs, and as politically red as the Bible Belt, all of which in consonance with the conservative South.

Both Jindal and Haley have eschewed their Indianness, with Jindal excoriating the hyphen of Indian-American, and preferring to be known as American. Meanwhile Haley, in her book and now in her campaign video has nostalgically spoken about her background, saying “I was the proud daughter of Indian immigrants. Not Black, not white, but different.”

Whitewash

There is a difference now, and none more than tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy who announced his bid for the top job on conservative talk show host Tucker Carlson’s show. Unlike Haley and Jindal, Ramaswamy isn’t from the South and didn’t need to mollycoddle to the conservative evangelical views with a John/Bob/Joe name. He’s a smart, educated, eloquent millennial, and yet more Trumpian in his ‘America First’ views.

Ramaswamy has made his name and fame on the national circuit attacking ‘wokeism’, and what he calls the work of the progressive Left, acerbic towards political correctness, and what he’s called ‘covidism’ (attacking former Chief Medical Advisor to the US President Antony Fauci), ‘climatism’ (insinuating climate activist Greta Thunberg) and ‘genderism’ (alluding to non-gender binaries), and has said “we’ve celebrated our diversity so much that we forgot all the ways we’re really the same as Americans”. Ramaswamy calls this “a national identity crisis” and makes a call to GOP talking points in “faith, patriotism and family”.

Meritocracy is his signature move, stating explicitly that he wants to get rid of ‘affirmative action’, and allow more high-skilled immigrants into the US, while excluding DACAs and Dreamers. Of course, Ramaswamy misses the forest for the trees, if he were to look at his own privilege and that of his parent’s caste in their ability to migrate, but that’s a loaded topic for another day.

Not All Are Blue

Ramaswamy ironically quotes Martin Luther King Jr, saying “we need to judge not on the colour of your skin, but content of your character”— Ramaswamy, while being critical of the progressives sounded progressive by quoting Dr King Jr. Speaking of progressive, he also cites the Latin credo appearing on the Great Seal, ‘e pluribus unum’, meaning from many, one. Not just a message for diversity, but one that former US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton espoused on their respective campaign trails.

Still Ramaswamy’s thumping messages of US exceptionalism and decoupling from China will have many takers; in some ways it is from the Ron DeSantis school of thought, a MAGA message delivered by a non-MAGA figurehead.

Haley and Ramaswamy may have different experiences and different campaigns, but there is one concerted effort they are making without necessarily saying it: ‘not all Indian-Americans vote Democrat’.

(Akshobh Giridharadas is a Washington DC-based public policy professional, and visiting fellow, Observer Research Foundation.)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.