The Indian community is experiencing an unprecedented political success with all of its five elected members being nominated to the key Congressional panels, reported Forbes. Four Indian Americans – Ro Khanna, Pramila Jayapal, Raja Krishnamoorthi and Kamala Harris – were elected to the US Congress and the fifth, Representative Ami Bera, re-elected for a third term.
5 Indian American lawmakers in key congressional panels
M.R. Rangaswami, the founder of San Francisco-based non-profit Indian diaspora, said to Forbes, “This doesn’t count the scores of Indian Americans senior staffers serving on Capitol Hill working for dozens of members on both sides of the aisle.”
Judge Dilip Singh Saund was the first Asian American to be elected to Congress in 1956. Nearly four decades later, Bobby Jindal was elected to the House of Representatives from Louisiana.
Donald Trump’s election to the White House is also proving a boon to some members of the Indian community, according to the report.
South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley is to become the first-ever Indian American US Ambassador to the United Nations while Indiana native Seema Verma will run the Centre for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Indian-American Community lauded for growing ties with US
Several other Indian Americans are to receive presidential appointments in the new administration. The recent elections and appointments are a part of a relatively new, larger trend: the growing success of the Indian Americans in the public service arena, reported Forbes.
Since the American immigration laws were liberalised in 1965, Indians had travelled to the US and the Indian American community has become the wealthiest, most educated diaspora in the country.
Nisha Desai Biswal serves as Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs while her deputy, Manpreet Anand, is also an Indian American.
Judges like Sanjay Tailor in Chicago’s Cook County, several Indian Americans are serving as “Article III” judges, judges who are nominated by the President and confirmed by the US Senate. In 2013, Sri Srinivasan became the first Indian American appellate court judge who has been unanimously confirmed by the Senate to the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals. Kentucky District Court Judge Amul Tharpar’s name is being floated as a possible contender for the vacancy under Donald Trump.
“As Indian Americans have continued to succeed and prosper in the United States, their sense of commitment to the United States, a desire to give back, and simultaneously strengthen and be a part of the fabric of the country has also grown as well,” Sanjeev Joshipura, director at Indiaspora, said to Forbes.
By Premji
