What is the Trump card that woos Indian Americans

It is one of the many perplexities of modern day politics that a politician who has such extreme views on India and Indians can find favour among the Indian diaspora in the US. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has strong and, often offensive, views on just about anything. From wanting to build a wall to block out Mexicans to denying entry to Muslims into the US, he has gone on record with some of the most outrageous statements from any modern day politician.

“They are taking our jobs. China is taking our jobs. Japan is taking our jobs. India is taking our jobs. It is not going to happen anymore, folks,” he famously said during the US primaries. Ironically, it was such hyperbole that probably forced the world to sit up and take notice of a candidate initial dismissed as a credible contender for the post of the world's most powerful man. “I′m pretty confident that the overwhelming majority of Americans are looking for the kind of politics that does feed our hopes and not our fears, that does work together and doesn′t try to divide, that isn′t looking for simplistic solutions and scapegoating,” said US President Barack Obama earlier this year, much before Trump emerged as the Republican Party's official US presidential nominee. But many Americans seem to have flocked to whatever Trump, often referred to as The Donald, was selling and the Indian Americans are a solid chunk within that under the umbrella of “Indian Americans for Trump”. Like its hero, the group may have started out as a maverick on the fringes of politics but has gradually gained momentum. Trump's unforgiving stance on terrorism, his promise to stop illegal immigration, his reference to business ties with India, albeit vague, and his tough position on China and Pakistan are among the many reasons they site for this hero worship of the billionaire politician. According to 2014 statistics by the Pew Research Center, a majority of the Indian American community tends to be supporters of the Democratic Party, with only a small minority in favour of the Republicans. The latter tend to be from the wealthier strata of society who are often unhappy with the status quo. Anand Ahuja, vice-president of Indian Americans for Trump, believes that in fact there are far more supporters of The Donald that won't come out until voting day because of the 70-year-old New Yorker's negative image. He in fact likens the American businessman-turned-politician to Prime Minister Narendra Modi: “I normally jokingly say both are very strong headed and both have their own controversies." This group distances itself from another outfit that has been extremely vocal in its support for the Republican party nominee for the November 2016 elections - “Hindus for Donald Trump”. “Some 4 million Hindus reside in the United States. As a group, we have a higher per capita income than any other group. We also have the highest average education levels, the highest proportion of people employed as managers, the highest number of entrepreneurs (one in seven), the largest donations to charity, and are the least dependent on government. Self-sufficiency is a given in our community, and we don't spend more than we earn. Hindu-Americans pay almost $50 billion per year in taxes, and we expect the government to be as judicious with its income as we are as individuals,” says Shalabh "Shalli" Kumar, chairman of the Republican Hindu Coalition.

He's our hero. We are praying for Trump because he is the only one who can help mankind.-Vishnu Gupta, Founder of Hindu Sena