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Indian Americans hesitant to vote for Harris says Democratic community leader

Thursday, 24 Oct, 2024

Washington, DC: Senior Indian American leader Swadesh Chatterjee has said the community is hesitant to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris in the November 5 election as she has not developed a base among them in her previous roles as Senator or the Attorney General of California. 

A Padma Bhushan awardee of 2001, the Democratic community has created the "Indian Americans for Harris" group and has been campaigning for her not only in the state of North Carolina, where he is based, but is also organising support for the vice president in other battleground states. 

While accepting that the community is hesitant to vote for her overwhelmingly because they do not know her well, Chatterjee said that Harris, as the Attorney General of California, did not build up an Indian American base and was not a part of any community meetings or any of their events as a Senator. 

"She did not have that kind of base though she is of Indian origin," he told PTI in an interview. 

Chatterjee said his observation on the challenges that Harris is facing in the last fortnight of her historic campaign for the presidential polls is based on the feedback he and his team has received from Indian Americans. 

"It can be a challenge, although they (the Harris Campaign) are trying to address it. They knew very well that Kamala did not have loyalty from both the Asian American and South Asian community," he said in response to a question. 

The Indian American leader said the community as a whole is very fragmented. "Indian Americans who are a bit affluent think that (Republican nominee) Donald Trump will reduce tax. Also, people who have got that little bit about Hinduism, think Trump will be better for US-India relations because of the Howdy Modi and Namaste Trump events in Texas and Ahmedabad, respectively." According to Chatterjee, Harriss did not recognise the contribution of her mother and her Indian heritage when she was a Senate member. 

"But, when she was nominated as vice president, she really got into the Indian American community. A lot of community leaders supported her and she got elected. (President) Joe Biden also supported Indian Americans," he said. 

Chatterjee said he has put up a video and built a website to "try and let people know that she is of Indian origin". 

"She acknowledged that at the Democratic convention. So please respect the party line and please support (her). That's the message I wanted to give to the community," he said. (PTI)