‘P. Sarojini’
New York, US (CWBN)_ The Indians and Pakistanis in the US join hands in the rally of US Presidential election 2020. The adversary relationship between India and Pakistan is well known to the world. There exists a cold rivalry between the two countries since partition, which continues till date. But in the US, the situation is different. Here the two communities fall under the same South Asian diaspora. Hence, they coordinate and participate together in many activities including political campaigns. The Indian Americans and Pakistani Americans in the US are maintaining a healthy and friendly relationships, especially when it comes to government policies.
The friendly relationship between the Indian-American investment banker Shekar Narasimhan and Dilawar Syed, a Pakistani American and a tech entrepreneur in California is one such notable example which reveals the healthy friendship between the two communities. Now, the two prominent personalities belonging to the different communities have joined hands in the rally of US Presidential election 2020.
Mr. Narasimhan recalled the time when he first met Mr. Syed. He said that he met him at a party in White House and added “He [Mr. Syed] has access to different networks that I didn’t”, and expressed his desire to work with him for he hailed from a different community and lives in another part of the US.
Mr. Syed too spoke about their friendship. He said “Our hearts met and I found one person in the room who happened to be a fellow South-Asian American who was as emotional as I was”.
Asian American and Pacific Islanders Victory Fund (AAPIVF)
The two candidates soon became close and co-founded the Asian American and Pacific Islanders Victory Fund (AAPIVF), a group that aims to bring out the voices and opinions of people from these communities in local and national politics. This organisation includes more than 2 million people in the US, but their voter registration is comparatively lower than the national averages for other communities. And this is one such issue which Mr. Narasimhan and Mr. Syed would want to change through their organisation.
In the current Presidential election, their group supported the Democratic candidate Joe Biden for presidency in January. The two candidates said that they believe that the victory of Joe Biden will lead to a “more equal, just” America.
Further, they added that there are many common things between Indians and Pakistanis such as: they speak similar languages, their passion towards cricket, their interest towards Bollywood and also similar history in food habits. Mr. Syed said apart from these common things, the one thing that brought us together is “Our values are the same.”
The dispute between India and Pakistan is well known to the world. The rivalry started with the independence from the British in 1947 which was followed by the merciless historical partition of the subcontinent along with religious violence and dominating power over the border region and Kashmir, which still continues.
The two members openly stated that they avoid discussion on Kashmir. Mr. Narasimhan said “We try and avoid it. We say to each other, look, this election is about domestic issues”. The same policy is being followed by many Indian and Pakistani Americans too. They say that the dispute between the two countries had never disturbed their friendship in the US.
Mr. Narasimhan openly stated that they are more concerned about the internal issues that could affect their routine lives and future in the US and also the lives of their dependents who were born and raised in the US, rather than the India-Pakistan dispute which is no longer a big factor for them. Mr. Narasimhan said “My son says what happened 50 or 60 years ago in India and Pakistan, what does that has to do with me?”
Mr. Syed spoke about the American Muslims. He referred to the September 11 attack and said that this incident led to threats against Muslims, Sikhs and people of Arab and South Asian descents in the US earlier. He said that Mr. Trump is responsible for “a rise in hate, bigotry and anti-immigration sentiment”. He added that “[With] the events especially in the Trump administration, I did put my faith on my sleeve. I said I want people to know this is what a Muslim American looks like.”
Concerning the number of members in the diaspora organisation, the Pakistani-American community accounts for nearly a million, while Indian Americans accounts for about 4.5 million. Both communities seem to support the Democratic party. The presidential election survey of 2016 reported that 88% of Pakistani Americans and 77% of Indian Americans voted for the Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and only 5% of Pakistani Americans and 16% of Indian Americans voted for Trump.
For the upcoming presidential election this year, the members of both the diaspora have together come up with the decision to rally support for the candidate of their choice, for both the presidential election as well as the Senate and Congressional seats.
With many election campaigns going on in favor of both the Presidential candidates, the diaspora members from different states also participate in their campaign to endorse their candidates. Indian American Manu Mathews and his Pakistani American friend, Rao Kamran Ali have been campaigning for their local Democratic candidate, Candace Valenzuela, in Texas. Referring to the tension between India and Pakistan, Mr. Mathew said “We try and avoid conversations we know we are not going to agree on”.
On the other hand, India-born realtor Raj Kathuria and Pakistani American Shahab Qarni have been campaigning online for their Republican candidate Mr. Trump. Mr. Kathuria said that his parents migrated from the newly-created Pakistan to India during partition and had faced lots of troubles and tensions during that time. But at the same time, he said that it doesn’t affect his life in the US and added “What affects us is the local politics”.
According to the 2020 Indian American Attitudes survey, the response from Pakistani Americans is still unclear, but above 70% of the Indian Americans support Mr. Biden in the forthcoming presidential election. This ensures highest support for the Democratic party as always.
This is in contrast to the close friendship between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Mr. Trump, who declared “You have never had a better friend as president than President Donald Trump” at the event named “Howdy Modi” in the US last year. The relationship between USA and India has been healthy in the past years with the two leaders visiting each other’s country and declaring their friendship to the world.
But the thoughts and mindset of the Indian Americans seem different. They do not seem to consider the US-India relationship to be a prime factor while choosing to vote in this election. Instead, they are more focused on the domestic issues which could affect their future life in the US. And like many other Americans, they too consider the economy and healthcare to be the most important issues. Hence, the members of the diaspora organisations in the US focus more on their safe stay in the US and they tend to choose the candidate who will favor their community in the future.
