Indian-Americans voted for Democrats

NEW YORK: Almost 60 per cent of Indian Americans are registered Democrats and the well-educated, affluent immigrant group largely voted Democratic on Tuesday. However, the midterm elections showed that President Bush’s pro-India policies swung a bigger share of the community’s vote for Republicans this year.

Take for instance the New Jersey contest where Democrat Senator Robert Menendez won narrowly against Republican challenger Thomas Kean. Indian Americans living in New Jersey surprised political pundits by backing Republican Kean and raising funds for his campaign. “Two years ago the Indian American community may have blindly supported the Democrats. But this time we asked; what are the Republicans doing that we don’t like? And, we found we like what they are doing to build a relationship with India,” said New Jersey voter Amisha Sethi who crossed over to back the Republicans. 

The only Indian American in Congress Republican Bobby Jindal of Louisiana was re-elected with a thumping majority in Tuesday’s polls with strong backing from Indian Americans in a sign that the community has come of political age. Jindal won 87.9 per cent of the votes.

Sanjay Puri, chairman of the US Indian Political Action Committee (USINPAC), said there were several hot-button issues for Indian Americans who took part in the polls. “The Indian nuclear energy deal was right up there with green cards and visas. Then there is the corollary issue of outsourcing. Democrats are strongly allied with the labour unions which are against outsourcing. These issues had implications on how people voted,” Puri told DNA. 

“The H1-B expansion is something we have been pushing hard. It will be interesting to see how Democrats play to that because it got caught up in the whole border security and immigration issue. But we do have some good friends in the Democrats who have been very supportive on this issue,” added Puri.    

In May this year, the US Senate voted to approve a new immigration bill, which includes measures to increase the cap on H-1B work visas to 1,15,000 from a stifling 65,000 with a 20 per cent increase on an annual basis. The push for more work visas began in early April when Republican Senator Arlen Specter’s immigration reform bill introduced provisions for hiring more foreign professionals and was endorsed by the Senate Judiciary Committee. The bill has cleared the Senate and is backed by President Bush — but will now have to be reconciled with measures approved by the House of Representatives.

Republicans and Democrats want stronger trade ties with India and are comfortable with New Delhi emerging as a leading buyer of arms. A Congressional study showed the top arms buyer in the developing world in 2005 was India with $5.4 billion in purchases. The US was one of India’s top arms suppliers and even a Democrat-controlled Congress is likely to support arms sales to India as it creates jobs in the US.

If the Republicans under Bush appealed to Indian Americans by adopting pro-India policies, then Democrats found their own way to woo them. In the run-up to the midterm elections, Democrats gave Indian venture capitalist Kamil Hasan a seat in the powerful Democratic National Committee because of his fund-raising abilities.

For the Bay Area’s 1,55,000 Indian Americans, Hasan’s appointment signifies political clout. His goal is to raise $5 million through a new Indian fund-raising council in time for the 2008 presidential election. His job includes raising money and voting on Democrat party resolutions. Hasan said; “It’s a clear acknowledgment that the Indo-American community has made major contributions. We want to make a major impact on where this country should go, and to be involved as a player.”