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“The US Presidential Election: Implications For India And The Indian Diaspora”

Dr. Vishnu Bisram, a New York-based political NACTA pollster and international journalist on Indian Diaspora matters, was an expert panelist at a special edition of a ZOOM meeting, on the topic, “The US Presidential election: Implications for India and the Indian Diaspora”. Photo contributed.

“The US Presidential Election: Implications For India And The Indian Diaspora”

By Dr. Kumar Mahabir
Guest Contributor

Kumar MahabirThe presidential election in the United States, this year, is historic in more ways than one. For the first time in history, the Indian-American vote is being openly sought.

Indian-Americans number about one million, the same number as (East) Indians in the Caribbean. Indian-Americans are just one percent of the population, but do not be fooled by the number.

In Trinidad, the one per-cent Syrian/Lebanese/White community is just one percent, but they control the government, politics, media, economy and financial institutions.

For the US Vice President, the Democrats have nominated Kamala Harris, who is of mixed Indian and African-Jamaican heritage. This, in itself, is historic, and also US President, Donald Trump, has been courting Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.

In the Caribbean, Indians in Guyana, and the Guyanese Diaspora in the US, have not forgotten the help of the Trump government in restoring democracy in the recent troubled elections.

The following are highlights of a special edition a ZOOM meeting, held last Friday (October 30) on the topic, “The US Presidential election: Implications for India and the Indian Diaspora”. The Pan-Indian public meeting was hosted by the Indo-Caribbean Cultural Centre (ICC) and moderated by Dr. Kirtie Algoe of Suriname.

The featured speakers were: Purnima Nath (USA/India), an Indian-American engineer-turned-author, entrepreneur, activist and former candidate for the Milwaukee County Executive (Wisconsin); Vandana Jhingan (USA/India), a TV ASIA Hindi Khabar US Correspondent & Commissioner of Schaumburg Board of Health and Sister City Commission (Chicago); Dr. Vishnu Bisram (USA/Guyana), a New York-based political NACTA pollster and international journalist on Indian Diaspora matters; and Dr. Indira Rampersad (Trinidad and Tobago), a political science and international relations lecturer, at the University of the West Indies (UWI).

The discussant was Dr. Baytoram Ramharack, an Adjunct Associate Professor of Political Science at Nassau Community College in New York.

Nath said, in part:
Purnima Nath 1The US and India are natural allies, due to their shared values of democracy (oldest and largest), freedom of religion, freedom of expression, tolerance, and acceptance. These countries also share the same major threats, primarily, communist China’s expansionism, radical Islamic terrorism, and fascism. President Trump deserved a second term.

Vandana JhinganJhingan stated, in part:
On September 22, 2019, the US witnessed a landmark event: “Howdy Modi” in Houston, Texas. About 50,000 Indian-Americans gathered in Houston to listen to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This was the largest-ever gathering, with a foreign political leader, in the US. This meeting was followed by President Trump’s solo trip to India. In the history of the US, he is the first president to make a solo trip to India,

Dr. Bisram commented, in part:
How will Indo-Guyanese vote? There are no polls among Indo-Caribbeans in the US or Indo-Caribbean people in the region. But, based on my estimates of people I conversed with and interviewed, a surprising 25 percent will vote for Trump, because of how the Guyana election was resolved — with Trump being seen as a saviour.

An opinion poll, conducted among Indian-Americans, by a group of scholars, revealed that some 28 percent are voting for Trump. My own interaction among Indo-Caribbeans and Indian-Americans finds that in this election, there is also a higher voter turnout among both groups than in previous elections.

African-Guyanese and African-Caribbean turnout and voting trends are in line with that of Black Americans. Some 93 percent are voting for Democratic Presidential Candidate, Joe Biden. I have not come across many African-Guyanese or Black Americans, who say they are voting for Trump. But a significant number of evangelical Black Americans — as indeed most White evangelicals — are voting for Trump.

Dr. Rampersad offered, in part:
Dr Indira RampersadThe vote of the Indian-American community is critical to the outcome of the election, for two reasons: their contribution to campaign financing and their potential impact on the swing or battleground states. Their financial contribution has exceeded US $5 million in 2020. Joe Biden’s running mate, Kamala Harris, has had a significant impact on courting both financial and political support from the Indian-American Diaspora. By the dint of her ethnic background, Harris is uniquely poised to attract support from African-Americans, Indian-Americans, Indo-West Indian, African-West Indians, and particularly Dougla (racially mixed) West Indians, since she is, herself, a Dougla of Indian and African-Jamaican heritage.

Dr. Ramharack opined, in part:
Dr. Baytoram Ramharack
No reliable data from polling, past or present, are available to make an educated projection. Besides, as we have seen in the 2016 elections, polls can be unreliable. Indians represent about 1 percent of the US population and 1 percent of registered voters. This community is economically well-off, upward mobile, and an educated minority in the US. While it may be difficult to ascertain how much weight their votes will carry nationally, there are some indications that if this is a close race, they will have some influence in the battleground and swing states.

Dr. Kumar Mahabir — a resident in Trinidad and Tobago and the Vice-Chairman of the Indian Caribbean Museumis an Assistant Professor in the Centre for Education Program at the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT). He obtained his Ph.D. in Anthropology at the University of Florida, and is the author of 12 books, including two national bestsellers, “Caribbean East Indian Recipes” and “Medicinal and Edible Plants used by East Indians of Trinidad and Tobago”.

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