Donald Trump put out a statement aimed at a particular section that makes up less than 2 per cent of America’s population.
The Republican challenger to Kamala Harris spoke strongly in favour of Hindus across the world and fans of Narendra Modi in America with a long Diwali greeting that was a far cry from what The New York Times calls his “scattershot style” .
“I strongly condemn the barbaric violence against Hindus, Christians, and other minorities who are getting attacked and looted by mobs in Bangladesh, which remains in a total state of chaos,” he posted, touching on a topic that many see Washington’s hand in.
“It would have never happened on my watch. Kamala and Joe have ignored Hindus across the world and in America,” he said.
Insisting that the Democrats “have been a disaster from Israel to Ukraine to our own Southern Border,” he vowed to “Make America Strong Again and bring back Peace through Strength!
“We will also protect Hindu Americans against the anti-religion agenda of the radical left. We will fight for your freedom. Under my administration, we will also strengthen our great partnership with India and my good friend, Prime Minister Modi,” he said.
Modi is one of the few world leaders Trump has consistently praised, along with the likes of Hungary’s right-wing ruler Viktor Orban.
Even without the Modi reference, his post was well aimed at the large Gujarati-American diaspora.
“Kamala Harris will destroy your small businesses with more regulations and higher taxes,” he wrote. “By contrast, I cut taxes, cut regulations, unleashed American energy, and built the greatest economy in history. We will do it again, bigger and better than ever before—and we will Make America Great Again.”
He signed it off with: Also, Happy Diwali to All. I hope the Festival of Lights leads to the Victory of Good over Evil!”
Trump’s call to the desi diaspora comes at a time the race to the White House is in dead heat. Every vote counts, specially in the seven key swing states seen as crucial to the result: Georgia, Michigan, Arizona, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Wisconsin and Nevada.
The latest CNN polls showed that Harris has a narrow advantage in Michigan and Wisconsin, while she and Trump remain tied in Pennsylvania.
In Michigan, Harris holds a lead over Trump by 48 per cent to 43 per cent among likely voters, according to the findings.
Harris also leads Trump in Wisconsin, where 51 per cent support her to 45 per cent for Trump, but the race is tied in Pennsylvania, with both at 48 per cent. They were both at 48 per cent in the final New York Times/Siena College poll.
A survey this month by the Carnegie Endowment found that 61 per cent of registered Indian-American voter respondents plan to vote for Harris, and 32 per cent for Trump.
It said 67 per cent of Indian-American women intend to vote for Harris and for men it is down to 53 per cent. Conversely, 22 per cent of the women intend to vote for Trump while a significantly larger share of men, 39 per cent, plan to vote for him.
A large number of Indian Americans are upset with Trump over his immigration policy, which like most of his other policies can be anything at any time. “The US is a country of immigrants and a controversial discussion is going on. We cannot ignore the fact that immigrants do bring value to the US economy,” Ajay Houde, CEO & co-founder of Annoviant, a medical device startup in Alpharetta, Georgia, told. “When it comes to the Indians typically, they are coming here either for education or they come here with education,” he said.
But a large number of Indian Americans are also fans of Narendra Modi who cram buses to travel across America to watch him speak at stadium-size venues.
It is this demographic that Trump’s statement is aimed at.
This is not the first time Trump has come out as pro Hindu. At a Hindu-Republican event in New Jersey – the American state where any garba artiste of any standing in Gujarat has performed – Trump had declared before the 2016 election: “We love Hindus… And if elected, you would have a true friend in the White House.”
It didn’t work last time, but then that election wasn’t this close.
