The thesis that humanity at the present stage of world history is experiencing unprecedented changes has already become a cliché – the world is indeed witnessing the most controversial trends associated with globalization and regionalization, the rise of old and new challenges and threats, the problems of sustainable development, changes in the information environment. The phenomenon of diaspora is also undergoing a rapid transformation, expanding the traditional understanding of the processes in international relations.
One of the new diasporas gaining influence in world politics is the Indian diaspora, which is of interest to researchers. Many Indian researchers have a strong belief that Indian Americans will be as influential in the U.S. public life as the Jewish diaspora was, and the Indian government has hopes of using the Indian diaspora as an instrument of “soft power” for India, which could help “the world’s largest democracy” influence the foreign policy guidelines of the United States. Although India, as an established regional power, justifies its claim to great power status through its resource, economic, political, cultural-civilizational and military potential, the Indian government considers “soft power” to be one of its main instruments of influence, but it is not so long since India began to use its diaspora as an instrument of “soft power.
The Indian government, led by J. Nehru, initially assumed that successfully embedding the diaspora in the institutions of the host countries would provide more security for the Indian minority than direct support from the Indian government. However, soon afterwards, in 1972, the repression of the Indian minority by Ugandan President Idi Amin showed that the INK leadership’s projections were extremely optimistic.
A radical change in attitude towards the diaspora came in 1998 with the BJP’s ascension to power under A.B. Vajpayee, as reflected in the establishment of the Indian government’s Committee on Diaspora Issues in 2000, which produced a 600-page report on the diaspora. But the real change came when the Narendra Modi-led BJP came to power, subordinating the Ministry of Indian Affairs Abroad to the Ministry of External Affairs, thereby underscoring the importance of the Indian diaspora in India’s foreign policy. Narendra Modi urged Indians to be “India’s ambassadors” in their host countries, not to forget their homeland and to invest in all the programs that the Indian government carries out.
It is worth recognizing that since independence in 1947 India has indeed used a set of tools that can be classified as inherent to the concept of “soft power,” but a truly effective means of “soft power” for India would be the Indian diaspora in general and in the United States in particular, which through the characteristics of its sectoral employment and the success stories of its individual representatives could promote a positive image of India on the world stage, gain political influence and contribute to a favorable foreign policy.
A kind of watershed in the history of the Indian diaspora in the United States can be seen in the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965, which abolished quotas on the arrival of migrants from individual countries and came at a time when the service industries characteristic of post-industrial society were developing in developed countries. From 1990 to 2005, the total number of people of Indian origin grew by 184 percent, making the Indian diaspora the fastest-growing diaspora in the United States. Indians, meanwhile, ranked first in the number of H-1B visas issued, which are intended for high-skilled workers.
Since the 1990s Americans of Indian origin have been active in election campaigns at all levels, although back in 1957 Dalip Singh Sound, an American of Indian origin and a Sikh, became the first Asian-American congressman in the United States. Bobby Jindal, who became a Congressman from the state of Louisiana in 2004, was a resounding success. He also managed to become the first governor of Indian origin in the state of Louisiana in 2008 from the Republican Party, and already in 2010 Nikki Haley became the first woman of Indian origin to become the governor of the state of South Carolina from the Republican Party. Later, Nikki Haley was appointed Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations Security Council, which was enthusiastically received by the Indian community both in the United States and in India itself.
However, the determining factor for the success or failure of the Indian diaspora in the United States is the degree to which Indians are integrated into American society and adopt American values and attitudes, and to succeed in the political sphere any Indian American must be more American than Indian, which makes politicians disengage from the diaspora.
An example would be the previously mentioned Bobby Jindal. The American politician took the name “Bobby” deliberately and at a conscious age, giving up the name Piyush and being baptized according to the Catholic rite. In 2016, the politician decided to enter the presidential race and claimed that he “was born an American, not an Indian-American,” and after his grandparents died, even his parents stopped visiting India. Jindal’s political beliefs were influenced by the characteristics of his constituency in Louisiana, where the population is dominated by devout Catholics and far-right voters, prompting the politician to reassess his relationship to his family’s past and his historical roots.
Nikki (Nimrata Randhawa) Haley was also raised in the American tradition, renouncing her native religion, Sikhism, in favor of Christianity, but has never been shy about her Indian origin and has said she has no intention of giving it up. At no time has Nikki Haley, as the US Permanent Representative to the UN Security Council, been seen to be particularly sympathetic to India. She answers only to the United States government, which makes it impossible for her to make any concessions to India.
This is explained by the “double loyalty” of the Indian diaspora, which means simultaneous loyalty to the host country and their homeland, and which in the conditions of American society makes Indians keep only their cultural identity, while political activities are for those Americans who are ready to rely on American values, as the example of Bobby Jindal and Nikki Haley proves.
As a result, all the aspirations of the Indian government regarding the diaspora in the U.S. as an effective political instrument of influence rest on the need to “Americanize” any Indian living in the United States. Newly minted U.S. citizens remember their origins and do promote a positive image of India abroad, but they are not capable of being integrated into the U.S. political system in a way that would allow them to influence the superpower’s foreign policy. No matter how much they say that the “melting pot” has long since turned into a “salad bowl,” even representatives of a civilization as great as India have to give up their heritage as soon as they enter U.S. politics.