As next gen of Indian-American politicians emerges, they hail India-US ties, Modi visit

Indian-American politicians are making their presence felt in state Houses and local politics in the mid-western and south-western United States.

Aftab Karma Singh Pureval’s mother was born in Tibet, fled to India after the Chinese conquest of her homeland, grew up in a refugee camp in Mysore, and studied in Delhi where she met his father.

Indian community members hold posters of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during Unity rally, ahead of his visit to the US, in Washington. (PTI)

Pureval’s Sikh grandfather was a brigadier in the Indian army. His parents immigrated to Ohio in the US in 1979. While growing up, Pureval used to visit his maternal family in Kathmandu and paternal home in Delhi’s Vasant Vihar neighbourhood.

Today, he is the first South Asian to be elected mayor of a major mid western city as Pureval governs Cincinnati in Ohio. A rising star in the Democratic Party, he is also on the national advisory board to re-elect Joe Biden for president.

Ranjeev Puri’s parents moved to Wisconsin and helped set up the Oak Creek gurudwara, the first Sikh place of worship in the state. Puri worked with Pureval when both worked in student government when they went to Ohio State University two decades ago and then joined the team of the Barack Obama campaign in 2012.

Stung by a mass shooting that killed six people in the gurudwara his parents had nurtured and prodded on by Obama to enter electoral politics, Puri, whose family had moved to Michigan, spent almost a decade doing grassroots work for the Democrats in Michigan among the South Asian community and campaigning against gun violence.

Today, he is the majority whip in the Michigan state House, determining his how party’s lawmakers vote at a time when Democrats, after 40 years, have control over the trifecta of the House, the Senate and the governor’s office.

Amish Shah, who was born and raised in Chicago, was a physician who worked for the National Football League and helped all 32 teams standardise emergency care procedures. In 2012, NFL suggested he do a one-year sport medicine fellowship in Arizona. Jain agreed, and loved the state so much that he not only decided to stay on there but enter electoral politics. A member of the House in Arizona from central Phoenix, Shah now plans to contest for the US House of Representatives in the next election cycle.

Pureval, Puri and Shah represent the next generation of Indian-American politicians who are making their presence felt in state Houses, city councils and local politics in mid west and south west America. While there has been focus on the five Indian-American members of the US Congress who informally call themselves the samosa caucus — Amy Bera, Pramila Jayapal, Ro Khanna, Raja Krishnamoorthi and Shri Thanedar — the next generation of desi politicians are climbing up the American political ladder and, in a few years, will become influential voices on the national stage.

Neil Makhija, son of a doctor in a Pennsylvania district, ran Indian-American Impact, an organisation that works to boost South Asian presence in American politics, and is today poised to become the commissioner of the Montgomery city council. The seat was held by the current governor of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, till 2017.

One of his predecessors in Impact, Aruna Miller, is the first Indian-origin lieutenant governor of any state, and a state as crucial as Maryland in Washington DC’s neighbourhood. When Pureval became Ohio’s mayor, Pavan Parikh took over his position as the Hamilton County clerk of courts, a county with barely any Asian-American population.

As diverse as their personal and political experiences are, five features bind all of them. The Indian-Americans rising up belong to the Democratic Party, affirming the findings of recent Pew study which found that 68% Indian-Americans support Democrats.

They are deeply embedded in local politics of their neighbourhoods, city and state and are committed to the idea of making American politics more inclusive. They span from the liberal to the progressive end of the political spectrum. They are all fiercely proud of their Indian roots and own it as a part of their political identity.

And they all want stronger India-America ties and are looking forward to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit. Pureval proudly said he had been invited to the state dinner Biden is hosting for Modi.

In conversations with HT, Pureval, Puri, Shah and Makhija, on the sidelines of an annual summit organised by Impact in Washington DC recently, spoke about their lives and politics, and the relationship of their home country with their country of origin.

Pureval spoke about his roots, the crisis of identities he grew up with, how he was asked to Anglicise his name, the role of empathy and self-deprecatory humour in winning the mayorship in a city that is largely white. On India-US ties, he said, “The relationship is profoundly strong. There are few partners more important to the US than India given the challenges we are seeing in many parts of the world. The simple fact that India the largest democracy in the world makes it a natural ally of the US and it’s incredibly important for world stability that both countries continue to be close.”

Puri, whose work is focused on civil rights protections in his state, said the relationship between India and the US can never be strong enough and there is a “fine alignment” between the two countries. “There is a lot we can offer each other. India’s best export is human capital that has come to this country. A lot of the success that US has had can be attributed to brilliant minds who have come from India,” he said. “And I am hopeful of a strong relationship between those two countries and finding ways to find overlap.”

Shah, who is inspired by his Jain values of non-violence in thought, word and deed, non-absolutism and understanding one doesn’t have monopoly over truth, and non-materialism, believes that having real conversations, face-to-face with people, can play a big role in battling the political fault lines which so visible in a state such as Arizona.

On India-US ties, he said, “India is a democracy. It has been a partner economically; we depend on India for Ankit of economic and trade activities. India has benefited from the relationship. That has to continue. Both nations have learnt how to work with one another.”

Saying that people once assumed that India would go along with Washington, he said that it is clear India would do what’s best for India. “And that’s what every country does,” shah said. “As long as we go into it with a mutual degree of respect, we will have a productive relationship.”