PM Modi’s US visit: Why Indian-Americans are so influential

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to the US is shining a light on Indian-Americans. The community, which consists of over four million Americans of Indian heritage, comprises around 1.3 per cent of the US population. Modi, after being accorded a grand welcome at the White House, hailed the Indian-American community. “Members of the Indian diaspora are increasing the stature of the country in America with their talent, hard work and allegiance. You are the real strength of our (India-US) relations,” Modi said, as per Indian Express. “It is for the first time that the gates of the White House have been opened for Indian-Americans in such large numbers," Modi added. As per The Times of India, Modi told President Joe Biden, “I express my gratitude towards you for opening the doors of the White House for the Indian-American diaspora.” “People of the Indian community are enhancing India’s glory in the US through their hard work and dedication. You are the real strength of our relationship. I thank President Biden and Dr Jill Biden for giving this honour to them,” Modi added. Biden, welcoming PModi at the White House, said the bond between two nations was defined y three word: We The People. “Two proud nations bond by the three words — We The People,” Biden said. Biden described the relationship between the US and India as one of the most defining relationships in the 21st Century. Biden added that the Indian diaspora remains a bridge between the two nations. Biden said India and US are working closely in expanding healthcare, climate change and issues arising out of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. Let’s take a closer look at why Indian-Americans, the third-largest Asian ethnic group in the US, are so influential: Growing political clout The Indian-American community has emerged as a force to reckon with in the US presidential elections.

According to Time Magazine, Indian-Americans voted in record numbers in the 2020 election.

“Indian-Americans are a key constituency and a key vote in a number of swing states,” Sara Sadhwani, an assistant professor of politics at Pomona College told the outlet. According to AAPI Data, around 74 per cent of Indian-Americans voted for Joe Biden in 2020. Only 15 per cent of Indian-Americans voted for Trump. [caption id=“attachment_12752392” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] US president Joe Biden has appointed a record number of Indian-Americans to posts in his administration. AFP[/caption] While Indian-Americans have largely voted Democratic over the years, both parties initiated several measures to woo the approximately 1.8 million members of the community who have emerged as a critical voting bloc in the battleground states of Florida, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Texas. “In a time when the country has elections decided by four states and a margin of a few percent or less, every community really matters,” Neil Makhija, the president of Indian American Impact advocacy group told Time Magazine. “Ours really showed up in a significant way for [Biden] in Georgia, in Pennsylvania, in Arizona.” BBC quoted a 2019 study showing that Indian-Americans, compared to other Asian-American groups, favoured giving to Democratic candidates – especially when it comes to individual donations. But Milan Vaishnav, director of the South Asia Program at Carnegie, told Time Magazine that Republicans see Indian-Americans as a natural partner. “They are well-off, and they’re business oriented. They care about low taxes, low regulation, and entrepreneurship, and they’re socially conservative. So I don’t think it’s a group that the Democratic Party is going to take for granted.” Little wonder that the 2024 candidates themselves are making a play for the community. Biden, Trump vie for Indian-American support Biden, the incumbent president, has appointed more than 130 Indian-Americans to key positions in his administration thus far – shattering the record of his predecessor Donald Trump, who had appointed more than 80 Indian-Americans as well as Barack Obama who appointed over 60 Indian-Americans to key positions during his two terms. As per NDTV, Biden appointed Ashish Jha of Brown University as the coordinator of White House’s COVID-19 efforts. Biden has maintained a close relationship with the community since his days in the Senate.

In 2020, Biden made history in by selecting Indian-origin Kamala Harris as his running mate.

Biden’s major fundraisers, which include Indian-Americans, had helped raise at least $100,000 for his 2020 campaign. To name a few, a likely list includes prominent Indian-American community organisations and leaders like Ajay Bhutoria, Frank Islam, Raj Shah, Ramesh Kapoor, Indian-American Impact, Indiaspora and AAPI (Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders) Victory Fund. Trump, meanwhile, had won over Indian supporters with events like ‘Howdy Modi’ and for his open support and friendship for India in the past. During his re-election campaign in 2020, he had launched four new coalitions — ‘Indian Voices for Trump’, ‘Hindu Voices for Trump’, ‘Sikhs for Trump’ and ‘Muslim Voices for Trump’ — to amass support from these communities. This year, Shalabh ‘Shalli’ Kumar, a fierce Trump supporter, has been appointed the national chairman of a new Republican Hindu and Indian American coalition, according to a Republican National Committee announcement. The two coalitions, apart from building and mobilising Hindu and Indian American communities across the US, will assist the indicted leader in his 2024 campaign. An official word is awaited, though. Apart from Chicago-based industrialist Kumar, who was also the financial backer and chair of the 2016 Indian Americans for Trump Campaign, loyalist Kash Patel, who joined the Trump administration in 2019, continues to serve as a key political advisor to Trump. Patel’s staunch loyalty towards Trump scored brownie points from former advisor Roger Stone who remarked that the former president named his dog “Kash” as an “homage” to Patel. Since Trump formally announced his re-election bid in November, Patel has been reportedly mentioned on right-wing media as a potential contender for attorney general or CIA director, according to ABC News. [caption id=“attachment_12717832” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Donald Trump won over some Indian-Americans with his Howdy Modi event and declarations of support for India.[/caption] “If Trump’s back in, I’m back in,” Patel, a former federal prosecutor and senior intelligence official, had said in a December interview. Other top Trump supporters include, Danny Gaekwad, who has raised funds for all Republican presidential candidates since George W Bush, Sridhar Chityala, who is on the advisory board of Indian voice for Trump Coalition, Rick Desai, Dr Sampat Shivangi, Shridhar Chityala, and Prem Parameswaran to name a few. Indian-Americans in Congress More than 40 Indian-Americans have been elected at various state and federal levels including four mayors. Of these, five are in the House of Representatives – Dr Ami Bera, Ro Khanna, Raja Krishnamoorthi, Pramila Jayapal and Shri Thanedar. Thanedar, an entrepreneur-turned-politician, became the fifth Indian-American to be elected to the US House of Representatives in November.

These representatives and Harris make up the ‘Samosa Caucus’.

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This is an informal grouping of Indian-American lawmakers in Congress. The term was coined by Congressman Krishnamoorthi to give credence to the growing number of “desi” lawmakers in the US Congress. According to Deccan Herald, Krishnamoorthi in jest explained that the nomenclature was meant to signify the fact that they were “small but spicy”. The first Asian-American and Indian-American Member of Congress was Dalip Singh Saund, who served in the US House of Representatives from 1957 to 1963. Interestingly all five members of the House are Democrats. In the 66 years between Representative Saund’s election and the 2012 election of Bera, Piyush “Bobby” Jindal was the only other member of Indian American descent elected to the legislative branch of the federal government. Following the 2016 election, Harris made history as the first Indian-American to be sworn into the United States Senate. Candidates for president Since 2016, at least one Indian-American has run for US president. This time two Indian-Americans have announced their candidacy.

The first, Nikki Haley is one of the Republican Party’s prominent faces.

Haley, born Nimrata Nikki Randhawa to Punjabi Sikh parents who migrated from Punjab to Canada and then to the US in the 1960s. Haley is the two-term Governor of South Carolina and the former US Ambassador to the United Nations. [caption id=“attachment_12745852” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Nikki Haley became the first Republican to challenge Donald Trump in the GOP field. AFP[/caption] Haley in February became the first Republican to challenge former US President Donald Trump in his 2024 bid for the White House. Jindal previously ran for president in 2016 and Vice-President Kamala Harris made a similar bid in 2020. Also running for president in the Republican primary in 2024 is Indian-American tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. Ramaswamy’s parents migrated to the United States from Kerala and worked at a General Electric plant in Ohio. The 37-year-old made the announcement during on Fox News in February. A second-generation Indian American, Ramaswamy founded Roivant Sciences in 2014 and led the largest biotech IPOs of 2015 and 2016, eventually culminating in successful clinical trials in multiple disease areas that led to FDA-approved products, according to his bio. He has founded other successful healthcare and technology companies, and in 2022, he launched Strive Asset Management, a new firm focused on restoring the voices of everyday citizens in the American economy by leading companies to focus on excellence over politics. Contributions to the economy According to BBC, Indian-Americans have the highest median income of all immigrant communities. The Times of India quoted a study from think-tank Migration Policy Institute (MPI) as saying that Indian-American households had an income of $150,000.

That’s more than double of other immigrant and US households – which is at $70,000.

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The same study estimated that around 49% of Indian immigrant adults held a graduate or professional degree. That’s leagues higher than the 15 per cent of foreign born and 13 per cent of native adults who hold such degrees. According to the 2010 census, 70 per cent of Indian Americans over the age of 25 had college degrees, 2.5 times higher than the national average. The nearly 200,000 Indian students in the United States contribute $7.7 billion annually to the US economy. It accounted for 23 per cent of total remittances in 2020-21. More than 20 Indian-Americans are also heading up top US companies including Sundar Pichai of Google and Satya Nadella of Microsoft, Shantanu Narayen of Adobe, Vivek Lall of General Atomics, Punit Renjen of Deloitte, Raj Subramaniam of FedEx, Arvind Krishna of IMB and Ajay Banga of Mastercard. [caption id=“attachment_12490132” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Sundar Pichai, chief executive officer of Alphabet. Reuters[/caption] Interestingly, since 1999, 73 per cent of the US National Spelling Bee winners have been Indian-Americans as per NDTV. Paying taxes Meanwhile, top American lawmaker Rich McCormick heaped praise on Indian-Americans noting that the community which constitutes about one per cent of the US population pay about six per cent of the taxes. In his first speech in the US House of Representatives, the Congressman from Georgia urged for a streamlined immigration process. He also paid special tribute to Swati Vijay Kulkarni who is set to return to India after serving as the third consul general in Atlanta. “I rise to this occasion to just appreciate my constituents, especially those who have immigrated from India. We have a very large portion of my community that’s made up of almost 100,000 People who have immigrated directly from India. One out of every five doctors in my community is from India. They represent some of the best citizens we have in America, we should make sure that we streamline the immigration process for those who come here to obey the law and pay their taxes.” McCormick, who represents the 6th Congressional District of Georgia, further said that although the Indian-American community makes up only 1 per cent of American society, they pay about 6 per cent of the taxes. He lauded the community for their productiveness and for being the law-abiding citizens of the country. “Although they make up about 1 per cent of American society, they pay about 6 per cent of the taxes. They are amongst the top producers, and they do not cause problems. They follow laws. They don’t have the problems that we see other people have when they come to the emergency room for overdoses and depression anxiety because they’re the most productive, most family oriented and the best of what represents American citizens. God bless my Indian constituents,” said the US Congressman. McCormick, a physician by profession, also stated he looked forward to meeting with Dr Swati Vijay Kulkarni, Consul General of India in Atlanta as her term ends. “We look forward to meeting with Ambassador and God bless Dr Kulkarni and as she finishes her appointment as Indian consulate general to Atlanta,” he said. With inputs from agencies Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.