There are 535 members in the US Congress—100 senators and 435 representatives. But the honourable Shashi Tharoor had made sweeping claims about the Indian American diaspora based on the words of just one in that cohort. Had he asked more of us in the diaspora who have been advocating for robust US-India cooperation for decades, he would have heard something else entirely—loud and clear.
Just as India and Indian citizens have a duty to pursue their national interest, the United States and its citizens, including Indian Americans, have a duty to pursue ours. This recognition is not a betrayal of our heritage, but a simple fact of citizenship and the Indian civilisational ethos that courses through our veins—an ethos that compels us to coexist peacefully across differences, abide by the laws of our adopted lands, and positively contribute to the societies we live in.
As American citizens of Indian origin—whether born in India and naturalised in the US or born here yet holding India as a sacred homeland—we are indeed in a unique position to provide nuance to often one-dimensional narratives about India and Indians. We can help the American public and elected leaders understand ground realities in India and dispel disinformation, not as mouthpieces for any Indian government or political party, but as Americans who straddle both cultures and are engaged in the democratic processes of our own country.
And we do.
Countering one-dimensional narratives
People across the community do this consistently, whether through advocacy organisations, trade associations, academia, or in their personal capacity. Many provide expertise to counter misinformation and highlight areas of shared interest between the world’s largest and oldest democracies.
Just a few examples: a historic US-India Civil Nuclear deal was signed; a push by the biased US Commission on International Religious Freedom to sanction India has been blocked; anti-India bills seeking to condemn India over the abrogation of Article 370 failed; and that Pakistan is a state sponsor of terrorism became ingrained in US policy (recent events notwithstanding).
But, and this is a crucial “but”, we do so always at a distance. We do so without a full picture, without any formal role in shaping India’s policies, and always within the strictures of US law. It is disingenuous, dangerous even, to suggest we do otherwise.
We also need to talk about those diasporic entities which are on the frontlines of actively misinforming policymakers and the American public about India because of their own ideological and political grievances against the current government in power. This cohort is a minority voice that does not reflect the mainstream diaspora nor the actual story of India. But it is effective.
Fuelled with dark money from foundations like Tides, Open Society, and Ford, this cohort takes advantage of the fact that their partisan narrative about India is also the preferred narrative of legacy media (which is also overrun with leftist ideologues and the politically aggrieved), and allies with movements that are at their root anti-India. The diaspora is not a monolith, and while Mr Tharoor upbraids Indian Americans for apathy, he says nothing of the old Indian guard ecosystem that nurtures and exports internal political and communal divides outside India’s borders.
So how do other countries, namely India’s neighbours, seem to succeed in getting their narratives into the ears of American policymakers?
Also read: The Indian diaspora is under attack. What has gone wrong?
Influence of foreign powers in the US
According to US Department of Justice disclosures, Pakistan spends roughly $6,00,000 monthly, amounting to more than $7 million a year on Washington DC lobbyists.
China, like the US and other large countries with diverse global interests, also invests significantly to expand its influence. It leverages both centralised institutions and decentralised networks of state, quasi-state, academic, corporate, and NGO actors. It is a strategy likely involving hundreds of millions spent on operations beyond the reach of laws like the US’s Foreign Agents Registration Act, in addition to the countless millions spent on registered lobbying by Chinese technology firms, media, and other organisations linked to the government.
In contrast, the Government of India’s latest annual spend is approximately $275,000 per month.
And the handful of India-study-focused centres at American Ivy Leagues funded by Indian billionaires? They too often house so-called experts who obscure facts rather than clarify them, and testify before local, state, and federal governmental bodies here to censure India and even Indian Americans. While in an ideal world, the perspectives of mainstream Indian Americans should carry the most weight, the fact is that there’s a revolving door between those holding elected office to make policy and lobbyists who are paid to shape policy, and a South Asianist activist-media-academia ecosystem that’s well-oiled and more active than ever.
Also read: The silence of Indian-Americans: Be Indian when going is good, American when things aren’t smooth
Targeting the diaspora
All of this must also be viewed against a background where Indian Americans and non-immigrants of Indian origin are facing an unprecedented wave of anti-Indian animosity and mistrust.
The dual loyalty trope, an old and ugly American tendency to cast doubt on minorities, and one idiotically used by far-left Indian-origin South Asianists, is being recycled and aimed our way.
This is not just limited to online ugliness.
Khalistan supporters and their South Asianist allies have leveraged allegations of extra-territorial assassinations against the Government of India to pass a law in California, SB509, currently on Governor Newsom’s desk for a final signature or veto at the time of this writing. If signed, this law will seriously threaten the civil rights of diverse immigrant communities with broad and ambiguous definitions of “transnational repression” and “foreign agents.”
Ideologically motivated activists would have a mandate to train California law enforcement to unfairly subject entire ethnic, national origin, or faith-based groups who oppose their agenda to mass surveillance and profiling. Indian and Hindu Americans who sound the alarm over targeted attacks by the Khalistani activists against our institutions and houses of worship are specifically characterised as “proxies” engaging in “transnational repression” on behalf of India.
And now there is a similar bill in the US Congress. If Indian leaders want more support from the Indian Diaspora, there are practical impediments, some as a result of their own actions, that they cannot ignore.
Statements like Mr Tharoor’s don’t merely misrepresent the diaspora; they embolden those who never believed we were true Americans to begin with and those who don’t seem too concerned about scoring self-goals. It also conveniently overlooks decades of under-development of Indian institutions capable of advancing Indian perspectives in a systematic and credible manner.
Moreover, to take the diaspora’s hard-fought gains, the sacrifices endured, and the commitment demonstrated and portray us in a crude caricature of “not lobbying for New Delhi” is deeply offensive. Worse, it reduces Indian Americans to pawns devoid of agency or genuine patriotism for our adopted homeland and undermines the very goodwill that Indian Americans have painstakingly cultivated across the political spectrum as Americans.
We agree India deserves a stronger voice on the global stage. Expecting Indian Americans, increasingly under attack from both ends of the political spectrum, to continue sacrificing and paying for it, however, is not a sound strategy.
Mr Tharoor is a seasoned statesman and thinker. Which is why his words carry weight, and consequently why they must be measured. Indian Americans do not exist to serve as proxies for the Government of India. We exist as Americans\—citizens endowed with rights, responsibilities, and loyalties rooted in this soil.
The ties we hold to India are profound, yes — spiritual, cultural, historical, familial. They enrich who we are and how we see the world. But they do not negate our fundamentally American identity nor the fact that our first duty as civic actors is here.
Suhag A. Shukla is the co-founder and executive director of the Hindu American Foundation. She tweets @SuhagAShukla. Views are personal.
(Edited by Saptak Datta)
The musings of Suhag Shukla sound like the discreet charms of Anti national. Indian Americans should surrender their citizenship, their H1B’s and return to India to build a new Swadeshi Atmanirbhar Bharat. This kind of hypocritic sophistry will not be tolerated. They are facing what the minorities of the world are facing and they deserve to be kicked in their backsides by white supramacists in US for their extreme betrayal of India in its time of need… JAI HIND..
I concur with the author. I believe that over time, our government, media, etc., set unrealistic expectations. Indian diaspora members are accountable to their current nation of residence. Only Indian nationals have an obligation to protect India’s interests. The Indian diaspora outside faces its unique challenges. However, I am glad that Trump has given us several wake-up calls in every front. The solution is, make India powerful and independent over time so that no one can threaten our growth and prosperity. China is a good template to follow.
In other words, American Indians will work with/ collaborate with India only if and when it’s convenient for them. If not, they’ll dump India as usual. Nothing new in this behaviour. Thanks.
This has been my worry for a long time. Members of the Indian diaspora in USA are bound by their Oath of Allegiance. Given the hardening mood against immigration in America and the fact that relations between the two governments are going through a period of stress, they should not be placed in harm’s way.
Ok. We know and accept whatever you have written. But with the growing anti-india sentiment in the west out of jealousy, oneday you or your children will surely face discrimination. Then you will not have any other choice except India. So do the same thing with India as you are doing with America . I agree Sashi Tharoor has no business to ask for Indian Americans to support India and jeopardize their personal safety.
The author is right but also note that the so called “benefits” or PIO tags or the defacto “mein ghar aagaya ma” stuff also has to stop. Once you are a citizen of US, stay and respect the US laws and take its side. But don’t expect anything from India either.
The problem is that most people of Indian origin- atleast the first gen migrants- have this expectation which is wrong. That is exactly what the political class exploits.
Don’t give – but don’t expect preferential treatment either, you are not longer an Indian citizen
I agree with the writer. Did Tharoor actually speak to Indian Americans or other Congressmen or women before making that statement? It was a ludicrous statement.
I know that some Muslim Americans have been calling their representatives about Israel’s actions since the war began. Did that make any difference? American policy is not made by immigrant citizens calling their representatives.
Someone in an earlier article, I think in THePrint, had compared the influence Jews have over US politics with the non-existent influence of Indian Americans. It was a laughable comparison because Jews, for historical and religious reasons, have a position that Indians or any other immigrants can never have. And the backlash to Jewish influence in American politics is very much underway.
Indians somehow take stories of successful Indian immigrants too seriously and imagine that they have more power in their adopted countries than they actually do.
And no, it’s not as if Indian Americans are with India in good times but not in bad. It is Indian media that keeps jumping with joy when an India-born CEO is announced.
Yes we have cultural ties with India that we are proud of and derive strength from. But working with the US government is the job of the Indian government. Maybe the Indian government needs to see why other countries without a successful diaspora succeeds and India fails.
While it’s laudable that ThePrint is willing to publish diverse content, I question the decision to feature this individual. Her position as an apologist is well-documented, and I struggle to see the value in granting space to such an opportunist. Contrast this with diaspora communities in other nations, which consistently engage in proactive advocacy for their homelands. These individuals, however, seem to only benefit from good relations and become invisible when India is ‘under attack.’ I believe voices like these, which lack genuine and consistent engagement, should not be given a platform in national discourse. If the goal is to protect these shirkers now, then our collective duty must be to ensure that their views, values, and future relevance are permanently minimized and dismissed