Indian Americans do many things for America. They create businesses, pour revenue into the American economy and create millions of jobs.
They also add to the melting pot of this country. Many people celebrate Indian food and culture, and you’re insane if you don’t want to at least try it.
So when it comes to the representation of Indian Americans in national government, I’ve always felt that there’s been a lack of it, as Indian American politicians have always favored others’ needs rather than their own people’s needs.
Indian American politicians are not in solidarity with their people and are ultimately failing Indian American citizens.
As the second largest immigrant group in the country, the pathway to citizenship has been one of the most important issues for Indian Americans. They also face hate crimes as well as a lack of healthcare representation.
But Indian American government officials like Vivek Ramaswamy and Kash Patel are casting these needs aside, being staunch supporters of President Donald Trump and his administration. While there’s nothing wrong with supporting the current administration — as everyone is entitled to their own opinion — the policies and values of MAGA are in complete opposition to the needs of Indian Americans.
Coming from Gujarati descent, Patel has just been confirmed as FBI Director. He’s said that he will come after anti-Trump individuals, apparently having an “enemy list” that he will pursue retribution for while in the position.
Ramaswamy, of Tamil origin, has literally said that he is an “American first,” promoting a cause that focuses on American nationalism and anti-wokeness.
What are these individuals doing? Not caring about their own people. They’re in a country where they are a minority and have the opportunity to wield influence and power.
What do they decide to do? Side with a political movement that directly inhibits the growth and support of their own minority group. It’s the literal definition of pulling the ladder up behind you, and it’s extremely confusing as a minority to see other minorities not support you.
Then there’s Nikki Haley, a true hypocrite. After running an entire campaign that opposed Trump’s policies, once she conceded the race, she immediately supported him, totally shattering the values that built her career to pledge allegiance to Trump.
Nikki Haley isn’t her real name either. Her birth name is Nimarata Nikki Randhawa, a name of Sikh origin, and I feel that it’s incredibly convenient to just whitewash your name to get more votes. No white person would vote for someone named Nimarata Randhawa, but they would vote for Nikki Haley.
Now, as much as I’ve been targeting Republicans, Democrats aren’t safe from criticism either.
Even though I supported Kamala Harris during her run for the presidency, I felt that the conundrum of her biracial ethnicity was always going to be a talking point that didn’t work in her favor.
As she’s half African American and half Indian American, it feels that she’s forced to side with only one of her ethnicities; in trying to get the votes she needed, she sided with the former more than the latter.
This doesn’t mean she has completely neglected her Indian side. She’s been public about her Tamil ethnicity, but she hasn’t really done much advocacy work for Indian American citizens in comparison to issues African American citizens find important — not as much as I would’ve liked.
Pramila Jayapal, a Democratic congresswoman from Washington born in Chennai, India, has claimed to be a “lifelong organizer for immigrant, civil, and human rights.” In reality, she represents a suburb in Washington that has an overwhelming majority of Caucasians in comparison to Asian Americans.
Again, nothing wrong with representing those people, but when the voting constituency of your district is a different race than you, your prioritization of different policies might only reflect the ones that your voters share, not the ones that are important to Indian Americans.
Now, while most of these politicians I’ve mentioned can argue that they’re a good representation of their culture — which I would disagree with — Usha Vance, a woman of Telugu descent, is the only individual who is an objective example of failing as an Indian American.
She’s the worst of them all.
JD Vance, her husband and vice president of the United States, has promoted the rehiring of Marko Elez, a DOGE staffer who was resigned for stating in a now-deleted X post to, “Normalize Indian Hate,” a statement that Usha Vance has not commented on.
Not only did her husband not stick up for her and her identity, which is his duty as her partner, Usha Vance allowed this to happen with no retribution; this was an attack on all Indian Americans.
Asian Americans have to deal with JD Vance agreeing that Indians should face hate, and the fact that the second lady is unable to criticize it truly means she’s lost her heritage, pledging allegiance to a person that she’s deemed greater than her ethnicity.
These politicians are being put onto a platform to represent people. The skin color painted onto them at birth isn’t just cosmetic, it’s who they are. There’s no point in forsaking your entire identity to try and get power, especially if it’s for people who are directly antagonistic to it.
James Baldwin puts it best: “If one really wishes to know how justice is administered in a country, one does not question the policemen, the lawyers, the judges, or the protected members of the middle class. One goes to the unprotected — those, precisely, who need the law’s protection most! — and listens to their testimony.”
Listen to your people’s stories and hear what they have to say. This is the future of our country, and it’s time that y’all start representing your own people.
Joshua Abraham is a kinesiology junior and opinion writer for The Battalion.
