FRAGRANCE OF IDEAS
The Donald Trump administration has formally taken over in the US for the second term on 20th January 2025. The experiences of the first term and also of the intervening period between the two terms have indeed a great role to play this time for President Donald Trump. The appointments made by the President and the executive orders issued by him are reflective of the same. What has been observed is that the new administration has involved a number of Indian-Americans in its fold via their appointments in certain key positions in the US. This is surely a significant development that has made an impact on the discussions and debates on the subject of the change of regime in the US. It has its ramifications not only in the US but also in India and attention has been drawn to this development in the other nations of South Asia too.
These appointments suggest that the Indian-Americans living in the US have contributed to the progress and prosperity of the US as an integral part of the socio-political system and milieu therein. Moreover, their presence in various important fields in the US have surely added value to the life of the people and the nation-state and the appointments made by the Trump administration are straightaway a recognition of their invaluable contribution. These developments will surely raise certain expectations in India as well but might give a lot of worries also to those who have been consistently opposing India and Indian interests at a global level.
It is important here to go through the list of these appointments to understand the nature of the appointments and their impact in future. From an Indian point of view, such appointments earlier were far and thin and the impact had also been insignificant. Moreover, those negligible appointments were also not in tune with the reflective impact so far as their Indian connection was concerned. Things have drastically changed over the years in regard to the Indo-American relationship. The global positioning of India has also taken a big stride under the stewardship of PM Narendra Modi for the last more than a decade. Therefore these appointments all the more assume greater significance.
Usha Bala Chilukuri Vance, the wife of the Vice President JD Vance, is now the first Indian-origin Second Lady of the US. The Yale Law School read Usha is a practicing lawyer and has Indian immigrant parents from the erstwhile united state of Andhra Pradesh in India. She earlier lived in San Diego and is known for her academic sparkle. She married JD Vance and both are following American and Indian traditions in their life. She surely will have to perform the role of the Second Lady and thus also take forward the visibility of the American and Indian cultural impact in the top echelons of the American official system for the next four years.
Kashyap Kash Patel, is the new Director of the high profile Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). His parents immigrated from Uganda during the 1970s when the Indian origin citizens faced ethnic cleansing in Uganda. His family has its roots in the state of Gujarat. Kash Patel has great experience in intelligence reform and national security related matters. He has a vast training in international law and is originally an alumni of the University of Richmond. He assumed a very trusted space in Trump’s inner circle and also earned his trust as an adviser on intelligence and security related issues. He is now supposed to provide effective leadership to the all important national security concerns as the head of the FBI.
Vivek Ganapathy Ramaswamy, 39-year old Yale and Harvard student, is originally an Indian immigrant raised child whose parents came from Kerala. He is an author and a biotech entrepreneur in the US; and is now the head of the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) which is responsible for reducing bureaucracy and streamlining government in the US. He will be doing his job while partnering with Elon Musk and will focus on the issues relating to minimizing spending of the Federal government and modernizing agencies. This is indeed a new initiative on the part of the Trump administration to bring a different and fresh perspective to the governance of which innovation, efficiency and modernity would be an important part. He was initially a probable candidate for the Presidential elections under the Republican banner but later on extended his support to Donald Trump in his campaign for the Presidency.
Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic Congresswoman, is now the new Director of National Intelligence in the US. She served four terms as a member of the Congress and was also the first Hindu member of the House. She also ran for the Presidency in 2020. A military veteran who has served three postings in Africa and the Middle East has vast experience in the fields of intelligence and foreign policy. Tulsi recently shifted to the Republican Party and was entrusted with the important responsibility by Donald Trump. She made history while deposing before the Senate Intelligence Committee for her confirmation on 30 January 2025 in the Capitol by saying that ‘the Democrats had accused her of being Trump’s puppet, Modi’s puppet, Putin’s puppet. What truly unsettled them was that she refused to be their puppet’. She continued and said that “Yes, Yes I hate racist bigotry against Hindus & Hinduism and I also hate that we have leaders who cosy up to Islamic extremists”. Tulsi was born and brought up in a multicultural household and professes Hindu traditions.
This time there are six members of the Indian-American ethnic community who have taken oath as the members of the House of Representatives in the US. They are called “samosa-caucus” and include Dr. Ami Bera, Suhash Subramanian, Shri Thanedar, Ro Khanna, Raja Krishnamoorthi and Pramila Jayapal. Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, representing the seventh Congressional District of Washington state, is the first ever Indian American woman to be elected to the House of Representatives. These developments are a shocker to the anti-Indian lobby and the deep state in the US which have been creating troubles on and off to the detriment of the Indo-American interests and who never looked to the rise of India positively.
The presence of the Indian community in the oath-taking ceremony of the new President in the White House on 20th January this year speaks volumes about the future that is unfolding for both the US and India. The External Affairs Minister of India, Dr. S. Jaishankar represented the government of India in the high-profile ceremony and held important meetings thereafter with the newly appointed Secretary of State, Marco Rubio and the Quad foreign ministers in Washington DC. The follow-up deliberations with the other branches of the US administration and the Indo-American community gathered a lot of interest throughout the globe.
In the background of these events, the External Affairs Ministry in New Delhi has confirmed that PM Modi and the President Donald Trump would be meeting soon to take the relations between the two strategic partners ahead. In this connection, it is perceived that PM Modi would be visiting the US in the second week of February following which there would be the Quad Summit this year scheduled to be held in New Delhi. At a time when the era of economic protectionism is back and is replacing the era of global economic liberalization, every nation needs hard bargainers as their prime leaders as negotiators, and this is true about India and US as well. Trump and Modi are recognized as hard bargainers which has been duly acknowledged by Trump himself. It is here that the reflection of India in the Trump administration will be expected to deliver.
Undoubtedly, the Trump administration will be very strict and fast on issues like illegal immigration, country-based manufacturing, tariffs on goods from other countries and the situation in the Middle-East and Russia-Ukraine war. The government of India under the leadership of PM Modi has reflected on these and such other issues a number of times. There are major areas of unanimity on these issues between the Trump administration and the Modi government. India that faces the illegal immigrants issue itself in its own backyard has already clarified that the issue of the repatriation of the illegal immigrants from India in the US would be solved amicably. India is also ready to take them back with guarantees and assurance for them; and at the same time, it would surely pursue the H1B visa issue with interest, care and caution.
The government of India is supposed to actively monitor the developments concerning the movement against the H1B visa holders in the United States. Various departments of the government of India like Information Technology, External Affairs, Commerce and even PMO are working to make sure that the professionals from India working in the US legally are not put to any unpleasant situation. It is here that the bonhomie between Modi and Trump will have to address the key issue. In this context, all eyes remain focused on the ensuing tour of PM Modi to US and his interactions with Donald Trump and his administration, Indian-American community and the important and key players in the administration having Indian background.
(The author is a senior BJP & KP leader, human rights defender, author and columnist and can be reached at [email protected])
