Shalabh Kumar, an Indian American supporter and fund-raiser of US President elect Donald Trump, is certain that the last-minute campaign by his lobby group Republican Hindu Coalition (RHC), in the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan, helped in garnering the support of thousands of Hindu American voters and winning the election. “We are going deep into the numbers now and in all these three crucial states, the margin of win for Trump has been sizeable and above 50,000 votes. We will work on a professional poll among Hindu Americans; but I’m certain that at least half those numbers were Indian American voters ,” Kumar told Times of India from Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Florida, where he was with the Trump campaign team and close aides.
Kumar, who was amidst the audience during Trump’s victory speech at the West Palm Beach Convention centre on Tuesday night described the atmosphere as electrifying. “The popular YMCA song [by Village People] had become a standard for all his rallies and when President Trump did a little dance with it, the huge crowd was dancing along last night,” Kumar said.
He added that many Hindu American voters, who were targeted through his $1 million plus campaign, in the three battleground states, over the last four days before the elections, were still undecided about who they would vote for. “Most of them were at the crossroads and many from southern India identified Kamala Harris as Indian American largely because of her name. Through our campaign we highlighted that Trump has recently supported Hindu minorities in Bangladesh and in Canada and is a good friend of India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. We also pointed out that Harris has never supported Hindus, in India or in America, but has always rooted for Muslim minorities,” Kumar said.
He added that Usha Vance, the Indian American wife of Republican Vice-President elect J.D. Vance, is a non-political person. “She is very smart, and we would like her to be more visible in public life. However, second and third generation Indian immigrants like her have a different perspective from those of us who came to the US from India and many of them shy away from public life. However, her husband is a high-powered politician and it is likely that she too will become more involved in public life and community affairs,” Kumar said.
Addressing concerns over a stricter immigration policy, Kumar said that the Republican President elect is a firm believer in meritocracy and was likely to address reforms, that would benefit skilled Indian professionals, during his second term. “With a majority in the Senate and House, President Trump will be able to spearhead immigration policy to help the DALCA kids who age-out because their parents, on work permit visas, have to wait for many years on green card queues,” Kumar said. Further, Trump was likely to push for reforms to deal with the messy system of country caps that pushed Indian professionals on H-1B visas into very long green card queues, he said. “He is likely to address legislative change on immigration that is merit-based and will help Indian professionals.”
Kumar, who was amidst the audience during Trump’s victory speech at the West Palm Beach Convention centre on Tuesday night described the atmosphere as electrifying. “The popular YMCA song [by Village People] had become a standard for all his rallies and when President Trump did a little dance with it, the huge crowd was dancing along last night,” Kumar said.
He added that many Hindu American voters, who were targeted through his $1 million plus campaign, in the three battleground states, over the last four days before the elections, were still undecided about who they would vote for. “Most of them were at the crossroads and many from southern India identified Kamala Harris as Indian American largely because of her name. Through our campaign we highlighted that Trump has recently supported Hindu minorities in Bangladesh and in Canada and is a good friend of India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. We also pointed out that Harris has never supported Hindus, in India or in America, but has always rooted for Muslim minorities,” Kumar said.
He added that Usha Vance, the Indian American wife of Republican Vice-President elect J.D. Vance, is a non-political person. “She is very smart, and we would like her to be more visible in public life. However, second and third generation Indian immigrants like her have a different perspective from those of us who came to the US from India and many of them shy away from public life. However, her husband is a high-powered politician and it is likely that she too will become more involved in public life and community affairs,” Kumar said.
Addressing concerns over a stricter immigration policy, Kumar said that the Republican President elect is a firm believer in meritocracy and was likely to address reforms, that would benefit skilled Indian professionals, during his second term. “With a majority in the Senate and House, President Trump will be able to spearhead immigration policy to help the DALCA kids who age-out because their parents, on work permit visas, have to wait for many years on green card queues,” Kumar said. Further, Trump was likely to push for reforms to deal with the messy system of country caps that pushed Indian professionals on H-1B visas into very long green card queues, he said. “He is likely to address legislative change on immigration that is merit-based and will help Indian professionals.”
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