California senator and Indian American Kamala Devi Harris announced her plans to seek to be elected to the most powerful political position in the world. While she is not the first person of Indian descent to make such an announcement, her candidacy is the first credible one by an Indian American. Harris is widely seen as a serious contender for the Democratic Party nomination and, therefore, the Oval Office. That the name of another Indian American, Nikki Haley, is always mentioned when cocktail conversation in Washington weighs possible Republican alternatives to Donald Trump is a sign of how far Indian Americans have progressed in the hyper-competitive world of the US politics.

The Indian American immigrant population has often been called the “model migrants” and earned high points for its level of education, prosperity and integration. But less commented upon is the speed with which Indian Americans have entered the realm of US politics. In the recently concluded US midterm congressional elections, a remarkable 37 Indian Americans ran for office — roughly double the number that ran in the last congressional contest. Kamala Harris was the first Indian American to break through into the Senate, the US Congress’s upper house. Notably, in one house seat in Illinois, both the Democratic and Republican candidates were of Indian origin. While only a handful of Indians won seats, the fact that an immigrant population of barely five million, most of whom arrived largely in the past century, is having so much political impact is significant. There are some obvious reasons for the ease with which Indian Americans have entered the US political fray. One is their high levels of education and wealth. Another is there proficiency in English, unusual among non-white immigrant groups. A third is the degree to which they have merged into the larger American population. Indian Americans are widely scattered with minimal ghettoisation. Instead, they are found largely in white middle class suburbs and have taken on the political, cultural and social values of middle class educated Americans — one reason three quarters of Indian Americans are Democrats.

However, none of this explains the speed with which Indian Americans have entered US politics. The likes of Kamala Harris, Nikki Haley and Bobby Jindal are all second generation Indian Americans. More striking is how Indian Americans are found sprinkled throughout the US political systems — working as congressional aides, running political action committees, raising party funds and actively participating in local and regional politics. Nothing could cement the argument that India and the US are “natural allies” as well as the election of the first Indian American president.

First Published: Jan 23, 2019 07:51 IST