About a month before the election, Donald J. Trump visited our little corner of the world. He stopped by Edison, NJ alas just five minutes shy of New Brunswick. The town of Edison is known for its large community of Indian immigrants, mostly hailing from the northwestern state of Gujarat. At first glance, one may question why the the former candidate, who has relied on anti-immigrant sentiments and racist fear-mongering against minority groups to energize his base, would show his face in a town with an overwhelmingly South Asian population. He came to speak at a charity event, Hindus United Against Terror, held by the Hindu Republican Coalition (HRC), whose values closely relate to the Indian Bharat Janata Party (BJP). The BJP is a Hindu Nationalist political party supported by India’s socially conservative right wing. Narendra Modi, the popular and current Prime Minister of India and the former Chief Minister of Gujarat, belongs to the BJP party.
The roots of the HRC’s ideology make it clear why the organization gravitates toward Trump. One reason for this development is that like Prime Minister Modi, Trump addresses the public’s strong distrust of the federal government, and makes passionate appeals about curbing corruption. Trump claimed that he would be able to push all his policy goals through, a message that resonated with the HRC, because of the bureaucracy and red tape that has historically plagued India’s lawmaking efforts. Like the BJP, the HRC values free enterprise and entrepreneurship, hence their endorsement of Trump because of his supposed business acumen. While the claims of an inefficient and corrupt government drew the support of this bloc of Indian-American voters, perhaps the biggest and most enthusiastically received appeal is Trump’s admonishment of Muslims in this country and abroad.
Muslims and Hindus have had a long and painful history in India. When Modi was Chief Minister of Gujarat, highly publicized Hindu-Muslim riots took place. Although Modi does not openly advocate for Hindu nationalism, many members of the BJP maintain radical beliefs that push for “Hindu domination” of the country. Many of these prejudices have followed the Indian immigrant population into the States. Bigotry is essentially what is bringing the HRC and Donald Trump together. However, the HRC is by no means representative of the entire Indian-American voting bloc. According to the National Asian American Survey, 67% of Indians in America supported Hillary Clinton, while only about 7% supported Donald Trump.
Still, Trump’s appearance at this event did not disappoint. He came in strong, boasting about how well he was performing in polls. Then, he delved into the meat of why he was invited, starting off with all of his Islamophobic hits, to please the crowd. He vowed to defeat ISIS, saying Congress would “make it hard,” but he could push his policies through anyway. Of course, Trump did not pause to explain how he would tackle these challenges. When he got around to the phrase radical Islam, “something President Obama would never say,” the audience erupted into more cheers and applause. He went on to discuss the alliance between India and the United States, assuring the event participants that under his presidency, the two countries would be “better, no—best friends.” In classic Trump fashion, he did not finish without a gaff when he said that he was “a big fan of the Hindu and a big fan of India,” mixing up the religion and the country. All in all, it was a telling display of his understanding of this voting demographic.
By: Foram Raval