Indian Americans in the US could be a major game changer in Indo-US ties.
As the United States and India inch closer towards consolidating common ground, Indians who settled in the US decades ago could help fasten the process. The recent visit by the Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, was a major event in the US media. Though the visit was not path breaking in terms of strengthening bilateral ties, the media glare surrounding it, certainly made calls for it.
The US and India are natural allies today. The Cold War era is over and India is gradually aligning itself with the US. India voted against Iran at the UN, in the debate on a nuclear Iran. The Americans also have vested interests in the Indian subcontinent. Testimony to this is the attention on the Af-Pak policy, Sino-US ties, the Nuclear Deal with India, et al, making the front page news over the past few months.
A lot of skilled Indians migratted to the US in search of better opportunities from the 60’s. These NRIs (Non Resident Indians) slowly climbed up the ladder of excellence in their respective fields. Today Indian-American community is one of the largest communities to come from the outside.
Get a perspective of this. Their strength is almost 3 million, a further hundred thousand are in unversities across the US. Almost one-third of Silicon Valley Engineers are from India. Ramakrishnan, a scientist of Indian Origin, shared the Nobel Prize for Chemistry this year. What’s more, the biggest Wall Street scandal today involves three Indians – the New York prosecutor, the accused and the chief witness. This could well be a scandal in Dalal Street, not Wall Street.
So what does all of this mean for Indo-US ties.Well, its only going to get better and already there are cat-calls for the same. Time for the pro-Pak approach of the Democrats to change. India is the United States biggest ally in the region.
