It is something many of us have been thinking. But, as is often the case, it was Shashi Tharoor who put it best. You may recall that Tharoor recently led a delegation of Indian parliamentarians to the US to canvas support for India at a time of turbulence in our relationship with America.
While he was there, he noted, “One of the points we raised was why the Indian-American diaspora has been so silent about all of this.” The delegation met US legislators, and one congresswoman told them that “not one phone call has come to her office from any Indian-American voter asking her to support a change of policy.” This was echoed by other members of Congress.
Obviously, Tharoor was surprised because he added, “If you care about the relationship with your motherland, then you also have to fight for it, speak for it and make more of an effort to press your political representatives to stand up for India.”
Tharoor is not the only one. Many of us have been taken aback by the silence of the diaspora. A few American politicians of Indian origin — Ro Khanna, Nikki Haley — have spoken up. But at a time when India needs as many advocates as it can get in the US, it is rare to find an Indian-origin politician who has made the issue their own. Not Kamala Harris. Not Vivek Ramaswamy. And not many others.
Indian-Americans overestimated their importance
Nearly all those PIOs who once told us how wonderful Donald Trump was, and how good he would be for India, are now strangely subdued as Trump follows policies clearly detrimental to India’s interests, or jeers that India has a “dead economy.”
Trump’s Indian-origin chamchas and cheerleaders got both the man and his attitudes wrong. Now they shy away from calling him out or using their much-vaunted leverage to make him change course. Many of these same people had long claimed that the Indian diaspora was hugely important and influential in US politics, and that Democrats were bad for India-US relations while Republicans and Donald Trump and his supporters, in particular, were well-disposed towards us.
Clearly, they overestimated their own importance and influence. It is now open season on India and Indians as far as the American right-wing is concerned. (And no, the haters don’t bother with terms like ‘Americans of Indian origin.’ To them, we are all just Indians.)
Of course, the issue is complicated. When you leave your country and make your life elsewhere, you must try to identify with your new country’s interests and leave your old country’s politics behind. It’s even harder if you are not white.
During the Second World War, Italian-Americans and German-Americans had to work extra hard to demonstrate their loyalty to the US rather than to the countries of their ancestors. But they had it easier than Japanese-Americans — 12,000 of whom (most of them US citizens) were imprisoned for no crime other than their ethnicity.
So yes, I understand why Indian-Americans might hesitate to appear too pro-India in the current climate. But you don’t always have to choose between one country and the other.
Millions of American Jews, for instance, are openly proud supporters of Israel and advance its interests without worrying about being seen as anti-American. They do not fall strangely silent when Israel is under pressure, as so many once vocal Indian-Americans have in recent months when Trump has gone after India. (It helps that American Jews are what Indian-Americans sometimes pretend to be: the most politically powerful ethnic and religious minority in the US.)
Conveniently side-taking and side-stepping
One reason we are so surprised by the unwillingness of the diaspora to speak up for India is because, in recent years, so many Indian-Americans have chosen to openly identify with Indian politics or take sides in our discourse. When Indians at home point out that, as Americans, they are in no position to lecture those of us who have chosen to stay in India and advance our country’s prospects and interests, they respond that even with US passports they still care about their motherland, admittedly from several thousand miles away.
Personally, I don’t believe people who leave India lose the right to comment on our internal affairs. Ideas of belonging go beyond passports. I welcome and respect contributions from Americans of Indian origin who want to tell us how India should be run. They are perfectly entitled to be heard.
My concern is different. When people of Indian-origin who have nothing in common with each other except their foreign passports trade on their ethnicity to form voting blocs to influence US politics and organise “Howdy” rallies (such as the Houston event in 2019) where the likes of Trump are venerated, don’t they think they should also do something to advance India’s interests especially when the Prime Minister of our country is a star speaker?
Were they Indians then, when the going was good? And are they Americans now, when things aren’t so smooth?
Indian-Americans have two choices. They can do what American Jews have done with Israel and support India’s interests while being completely loyal to America. Or they can point to their passports and say that, as Americans, they cannot be expected to advance India’s political and economic interests.
Both positions are fine. But you can’t identify with our politics in good times and then walk away in bad times.
If you do, then every time you comment on Indian politics or tell us which Indian politician you support, people in India will not take you seriously. The importance of the Indian diaspora lies not so much in the fact that it is a diaspora, but in that it is supposed to be Indian.
Vir Sanghvi is a print and television journalist, and talk show host. He tweets @virsanghvi. Views are personal.
(Edited by Prashant)
You kinda answered your own question. The Israeli lobby remains a unique entity in US politics. No other nation commands that power. Also not all Jews support Israel.
As for howdy Modi, how many of those Indians were American citizens vs just green card or hb1 visa holders? And India hasn’t necessarily been very supportive of the overseas Indian community. There is still a pervasive attitude of seeing NRI as others and Indians who remain in India as true sons of the soil. The government only sees NRIs as a cash cow whether it is for FDI or gouching for visa fees. The relationship has to go both ways.
It also a testament to the poor foreign policy planning of India, who seem to think personal relations supercede national interests. And that they pinned their hopes on the diaspora to help change government policy. You don’t see the Chinese or Russians or Turkish govt foreign policy dependent on their diaspora populations.
By comparing Indian Americans to Jewish Americans, you’re clearly showing that you have very superficial understanding of USA and its politics and culture. Jews can promote Israeli interests, sometimes even at a cost to American interests because many American Christians and especially evangelicals support Jews and Israel for religious reasons. This has been widely discussed and written about, especially in the last few years.
This is not at all the case with Indian Americans who, even if they have been in USA for decades, have to be careful not to unleash the racism that lies just below the surface in this society. As an example, see how Vivek Ramaswamy was attacked when he said that American children should focus more on academics if America is to do better. It’s no wonder that in this administration, Indian Americans are afraid to speak out. (Meanwhile, a recent report has said that American children continue to do badly in Math and Reading compared to other developed countries.).
So please do a bit of serious research before throwing out this “Indian Americans should do more for India” line.
Its maybe a Gujrati thing.My wife is a gujarati as are you.I think a large majority of Indians in the US are of Gujrati etnicity.The gujaatis love the fact that India is being ruled by 2 Gujratis,the 2 richest men in India are gujratis .The gujratis are known to be good business people but are at the very lowest rung of the ladder in terms of any Guts or aggression.Do you know of ANY gujrati in the armed forces…I dont think so..The gujjus DONT have the same amount of balls as the american Jews..”Gujaratis account for over 20% of the Indian American community in the U.S., though they represent only about 6% of India’s total population.”
“it’s understood that Gujaratis comprise a very small fraction of the Indian Army’s personnel, contributing about 2% of total Army personnel. Other states, such as Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Punjab, contribute far higher numbers of soldiers to the Indian Army. ” I REST MY CASE.
Good article by Mr. Sanghvi.
The working class Indian Americans in USA are mostly apolitical. It is the business class Indian Americans who are political, but have no teeth. In fact these guys thrive because of working class Indian Americans. And they are less educated. Also these guys are too afraid to speak because if they do, they may be driven out of USA. So India cannot depend on these guys and must play the strong silent diplomacy.
Someday all indian origin people of America, citizens or non citizens will surely face backlash irrespective of their economic or political status. Probably companies will stop hiring indian origin people gradually. It is time for those indian Americans to come back and start their businesses in India.