The community’s clout grows on Capitol Hill.
The record number of Indian American politicians who had successful run in the recently concluded elections is an indication of the growing influence that the community, which comprises 1% of the population, has on the political spectrum in the US, according to an Indian American analyst.
For the first time ever in the history of US Congress, Indian Americans will comprise 1% of its total members, wrote Ronak D. Desai, an Affiliate of the India & South Asia Program at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, in a post on the Forbes website.
The US Congress has a total of 535 members — 435 in the House of Representatives and 100 in the Senate. In the November election, four Indian Americans were elected to the House for the first time, while a fifth member was re-elected for a third term.
The newly elected Indian American representative to the Congress are Ro Khanna, Pramila Jayapal, Raja Krishnamoorthi and Kamala Harris. Ami Brea who won the elections for the third consecutive time will be the most experienced among the Indian Americans in the Congress.
The Indian American congressmen will follow the legacy of Judge Dilip Singh Saund, the first Asian-American to be elected to the Congress in 1956. After Saund, it took over four decades for an Indian origin to get a seat in the Congress till Bobby Jindal was elected as a representative of Lousiana before launching a successful gubernatorial bid in the state.
MR Rangaswami, the founder of the San Francisco-based nonprofit Indiaspora recently said: “Indian Americans are approximately 1 percent of the US population and for the first time ever they now make up 1 percent of the US Congress.”
“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,” he added.
In addition to the Indian American representation in the Congress, the president-elect Donald Trump has also named a number of Indian Americans to head important roles in his administration.
The transition team had earlier announced the appointment of Nikki Haley as the U.S. Ambassador to the UN, Seema Verma, as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and this week Balaji Srinivasan, as the commissioner nominee to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
In addition, Trump has also appointed Raj Shah as his deputy assistant and research director on the White House staff.
Desai says, the liberalization of the immigration laws in 1965 paved way for more Indians to immigrate to the US, thus increasing the size of the community. The Indian American community is one of the wealthiest and the most educated ethnic groups in the US.
The achievements made by the Indian American students in the US, especially in the SETM fields are commendable and the community has also produced entrepreneurs and executives holding top hierarchy positions in many leading companies, says Desai.
He also pointed out that Indian Americans are currently serving as US Ambassadors in Sri Lanka and India, Atul Keshap and Rich Verma, respectively.
Desai also names of Nisha Desai Biswal, the Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs and her deputy, Manpreet Anand as noteworthy Indian Americans serving important roles.