Ritu Jha–
“She resilient,” says veteran Indian American Republican Dr. Sampat Shivangi, describing former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley and her presidential campaign. Haley, who lost to former President Donald Trump in both Iowa and New Hampshire this month, has refused to quit, while her other rivals — Indian American entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis — have both ended their campaigns and have endorsed Trump.
Dr Shivangi, founder of the Republican Indian National Council, told indica, “It is only right that she did not quit.”
On her part, Haley, while congratulating Trump on his second consecutive victory, said on Tuesday night, “New Hampshire is first in the nation, it is not last in the nation,” referring to her decision to continue with her campaign. “The race is far from over.“
As of 4 am ET on Wednesday, Trump (77) had won 54.6% of the vote, while Haley (52) was trailing at 43.2%, with 91% of the votes counted. Trump has a comfortable lead of over 35,000 votes. He is projected to win New Hampshire, and take 11 delegates with him.
In the Iowa caucuses, Haley stood third with 19.1% votes, whereas Trump won 51%, and won by a landslide. DeSantis received 21.2% and Vivek Ramaswamy came fourth with less than 8 percent of the votes.
Prakash Kopparapu, chairman of the Indo-American PAC-IA, told indica “No Indian-origin candidate can win without connecting with the community. She is still not highly connected even in her state South Carolina where she has served twice as Governor, and can win there,” but he sounded skeptical.
Dr. Amit Desai, founding director, United States-India Relationship Council (USIRC) had been supporting Ramaswamy since March 2023 and raised $51,000 for him.
Now that he is has ended campaign, Desai informed indica when that the “USIRC is still working on it (whom to support). Officially we have not endorsed anyone yet. We had endorsed Vivek but he is out now. We will wait till South Carolina primary.”
Haley thanked her Indian-origin parents, for teaching her to give back and called herself “a fighter.”
Haley’s father Ajit Singh Randhawa and mother Raj Kaur Randhawa are from Punjab, India.
Dr. Shivangi said, “She is Indian and she acknowledges that she went to Golden temple, and met Prime minister Narendra Modi in 2014.” However, he also echoes Kopparapu. He said his office is in touch with Haley’s aides. “But she is hard to reach,” he said.
Dr Shivangi said that Haley did not endorse Trump during his first term as President (2017-2020), but he “still appointer her UN Ambassador.” When indica asked him whether Haley should get Secretary of State, Dr. Sanghvi said, “At present, she is very critical of Trump. She has no option but to show she is better than Trump.”
He added, “Vivek (Ramaswamy) did not have much experience and that was the problem. He also wanted to abolish the FBI, the IRS and more government organizations. These institutions are the pillars of America, you simply cannot say you want to abolish them. Trump doesn’t say shutting down FBI. Though Vivek is smart, he has no experience in governance.”
Vibhuti Jha, a staunch Republican who supported Ramaswamy, said he will not support Haley but Trump. “Yes, she is of Indian ancestry but I was supporting Vivek Ramaswamy and contributed to his campaign… I want some young blood to be encouraged.”
Lauding Ramaswamy, Jha said, “During the Trump presidency we did not have any war and this is one of the rare thing happened,” Jha said.
There are consistent accusations that Haley gave up her Indianness and that she is no longer Sikh. To this, Jha said, “I have nothing against change of faith. You do not go by nationality… I would see whose policies are more suited to my ambitions and my connections. I am more on the Republican side.”
He added, “She may have said she is not dropping, but I’d prepare Trump and show that he still supports India. You seem he is the kind of person you love to hate.”
According to the American Community Survey of the US Census Bureau, there are more than 4 million Indian Americans, while the 2022 US Census data says that Indian Americans are the richest ethnic community in the US with a median income of $151,585.
The Indian American Attitudes Survey (IAAS)— conducted between September 1 and September 20, 2020, in partnership with the research and analytics firm YouGov, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Johns Hopkins-SAIS, and the University of Pennsylvania states, “Indian Americans view U.S.-India relations as a low priority issue in this electoral cycle, emphasizing instead nationally salient issues such as healthcare and the economy.”
