Indian Americans welcome Kamala Harris as likely Democratic presidential nominee

Washington: Several prominent Indian Americans on Sunday welcomed the prospect of Vice President Kamala Harris becoming the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee and described it as a historic moment for this small ethnic community.

Harris, 59, on Sunday announced that she will run for presidency after her boss President Joe Biden announced that he would not seek re-election in the November general elections and instead endorsed her to be the party’s nominee.

Harris was soon endorsed by several top Democratic leaders.

“As an immigrant who came from India to America over four decades ago, it thrills me to see that an Indian-American is the presumptive nominee of one of the two political parties for United States president,” M R Rangaswami, an influential diaspora leader who lives in San Francisco, told PTI.

“The contribution of the Indian diaspora to American society, including politics and public service is increasing in a big way. This shows the maturation and integration of our community,” he said.

Over 150 Indian-origin leaders serving at senior levels in the Biden administration. On the Republican side, we saw two serious Indian-American contenders for the presidential nomination, Rangaswami said.

Vice President Harris’ ascension as the presumptive presidential Democratic nominee represents a significant opportunity for US-India relations, Ronak D Desai, a partner and leading India practitioner at Paul Hastings LLP and an expert on bilateral ties, told PTI.

"She has been a key architect of the current administration’s India policy... While Delhi can generally expect continuity in strategic ties should she prevail in November, there is no doubt she will shape bilateral ties in her own way,” Desai said.

Observing that Harris’ unprecedented political rise is a potent testament to the power and promise of the Indian diaspora in the United States, Desai said a potential Harris presidential administration portends well for bilateral ties between the US and India.

“With ties continuing on their upswing, Harris has played her own unique role in fostering closer US-India ties. She has forged close relationships with key Indian decision-makers and has been a central figure in nurturing Washington’s relationship with Delhi. Throughout her national public service tenure, Harris has consistently recognised the importance of the US-India strategic partnership and its impact not just for both countries, but the rest of the international community,” he said.

“US-India relations can expect continuity, stability, and growth under a Kamala Harris White House. The vice president and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee has long recognized the power of the bilateral relationship and worked to strengthen it further. Any potential changes in policy will focus more on style than on substance,” Desai said.

Jai Bhandari, a Democratic party delegate from Virginia to the Democratic National Convention, exuded confidence that Harris would be able to defeat Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

“This is really a good decision Biden has taken within a time frame and it will make a lot of things happen in the favour of the Democratic Party as well as for the presidential post. Now it is much easier for Democratic Party candidate Kamala Harris to win over Trump,” Bhandari told PTI.

“I am 100 per cent positive that she is going to win. She can defeat Trump because many people did not like the way Trump acted like a dictator. He is not ready to accept the result if the result comes against him. This is a danger for a democratic country. I believe that Kamala Harris is the right choice for this position. She has a lot of experience being vice president. She knows the foreign policy. She knows other things also, how the president and establishment and administration works,” he said.

Sanjeev Joshipura, the Executive Director of Indiaspora, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organisation of global Indian diaspora leaders said the Indian diaspora is a little over 1.5 per cent of the US population.

Yet the recently released Indiaspora Impact Report, published in conjunction with the Boston Consulting Group, shows that just under 4.5 per cent of senior public service positions in the US government are held by people of Indian origin. The number of senior Indian diaspora public servants has grown by 150 per cent in just over 10 years.

“Three per cent of leadership roles in specific governmental agencies like the National Science Foundation, Centers for Disease Control and Environmental Protection Agency are held by the Indian diaspora. Moreover, the Indiaspora Government Leaders list evidence of a global propensity to public service among the Indian diaspora across several countries. This speaks to the desire of the Indian diaspora to contribute positively to society, in the USA and around the world,” Joshipura said.