Washington: It has been a good political season for the Indian diaspora. Weeks after Rishi Sunak became first prime minister of the United Kingdom of Indian descent, Indian-Americans have once again done well in the American midterm elections at different levels.
MR Rangaswami is the founder-chairman of Indiaspora, an influential non-profit that serves as a network of Indian-origin leaders across diverse fields. An entrepreneur and investor based in Bay Area, Rangaswami spoke to HT about the success of the diaspora, India-US ties, and India’s global profile. Edited excerpts: (Here reproduce two questions related to politics)
Indian-Americans have done well in the US midterms. What do these results mean for the community?
Over 300 Indian Americans ran for office in the 2020 cycle and the momentum has only grown. This time, the election of Shri Thanedar at the federal level (Thanedar has become the fifth Indian American in the House of Representatives), and Aruna Miller at the state level (Miller has become the Lt Governor of Maryland) shows the continuing success of our community and bodes well for the 2024 elections.
What is the mood in the diaspora on India’s political story? There are two competing narratives. One focuses on India’s political stability and strong development-oriented leadership. The other focuses on perceived democratic backsliding and rising majoritarianism.
That debate is going on within the diaspora. The younger diaspora feels India needs to change in certain ways. The older diaspora, people who grew up in India and moved here, have a different feeling. So there are competing voices. But Indiaspora’s role is very clear. We will not make public statements on anything. We will privately communicate with the government as to the concerns in the political sphere, because a tweet is not going to help one way or the other. But it is fair to say that the diaspora has competing ideas of how India should progress. There is a large pool of diaspora that were born and raised in the US, and they were raised in a different type of democracy than India. There is no right or wrong way. All democracies are messy. The diaspora shouldn’t mess with Indian politics and Indians shouldn’t mess with foreign politics.
