No one expected that with only 4 months left before the 2024 United States presidential election, Biden announced that he would withdraw from the race and instead support Kamala · Harris as the Democratic candidate in the election.
So Kamala · Harris, who became the first female vice president in United States history in 2020 and the first woman in United States to have both African and India ancestry, has become the closest India woman to the presidency in United States history four years later.
As long as she wins the support of the party to become the Democratic candidate, defeats Trump, and removes the "vice" word of vice president, she will once again create a new history in United States!
▲Kamala · Harris
But with four months remaining, it will undoubtedly be an extremely difficult task for Harris's campaign to defeat Trump, who has just escaped death and can be called the "strongest version".
Looking at the world, in addition to supporters within the Democratic Party, the most wishing for Harris's election is none other than India netizens.
After all, Harris, who has India roots, won, so rounding off doesn't mean India wins? Some Indians have even begun to wonder what positive impact Harris's rise to power will have on U.S.-India relations.
It is no wonder that Indians are shy, in recent years, in various fields around the world, especially in political circles, the Indian community has indeed been out of the limelight and attracted enough attention.
India elites around the world
According to statistics, as many as six politicians with India backgrounds have held the positions of the country's top leaders in many countries, the most widely known of which is United Kingdom former Prime Minister Rishi · Sunak.
After Truss, the then leader of the ruling Conservative Party in United Kingdom, was forced to step down in 2022, the situation inside and outside the Conservative Party was extremely grim, and Sunak was appointed as the Prime Minister of United Kingdom.
As a result, Sunak was forced to resign in public after the Conservative Party suffered a crushing defeat to Labour in the parliamentary elections. So much so that those who are not optimistic about Harris now think that Sunak is a lesson for Harris.
▲Sunak's resignation speech
In addition to United Kingdom, President Irfan ·Ali of Guyana, President Rubon and Prime Minister Jugnauth of Mauritius, and President Chang · Shan Dorjee of the Republic of Suriname are all of India descent who have reached the pinnacle of power.
Historically, there have been more cases of India ethnic 19 in power in various countries. More than 10 top leaders of the country, including Portugal, Malaysia, Ireland and Fiji, are of India descent. In Mauritius in particular, politicians of India origin have held power nine times in history.
In addition, the proportion of Indian ethnic groups among the leaders of government agencies has also increased visibly.
According to the 2021 list of Indian government leaders in various countries, more than 200 ethnic Indians hold leadership positions in as many as 15 countries around the world, and more than 60 of them hold key positions in the highest executive decision-making bodies such as the cabinet.
Taking United Kingdom as an example, when the former Prime Minister Johnson was still the prime minister, there were three India ministers in the United Kingdom cabinet, including Sunak, who was the chancellor of the exchequer at the time, Priti ·Patel, the home secretary, and the secretary of commerce, energy and industrial strategy, Alok · Sharma.
▲Johnson's cabinet
And in the business world, India are also mixed.
Taking United States as an example, the total population of United States India is about 4 million, accounting for only about 1% of the total population, but the influence of this group in the economic field is surprisingly large.
According to data from the Harvard Business Review, among the world's top 500 companies in the United States alone, the proportion of Indian CEOs once reached 30%. Well-known companies such as Twitter, PepsiCo, IBM, Motorola, Nokia, etc., are or have been CEOs by employees of Indian origin.
And when it comes to Internet technology, that is the strength of India.
Among the so-called three giants of United States technology, Google, Microsoft, and Apple, two of the current CEO positions of Google and Microsoft are held by engineers of India origin.
▲Google CEO Sundar · Pichai
It can be said that in Silicon Valley, which is known as the technology center of United States, nearly one-third of engineers are from India, and the proportion of management is even higher than that of India ancestry.
Indian people in the United States are not content to work for white people all the time, and they are also keen to start their own businesses. In Silicon Valley, the proportion of founders who are India in the 80s was only 7%, in the 90s it rose to 13%, and in recent years this number may have reached about 30%, and it is not an exaggeration to say that United States Silicon Valley is about to be occupied by India people.
In United Kingdom, the economic influence of the Indian community should not be underestimated. According to a 2023 "United Kingdom Rich List", three of the top eight richest people have India ancestry.
In particular, the first-ranked Kobi · Sinduja family has repeatedly won the status of the richest man in United Kingdom.
▲The first, fourth, and sixth are all of India origin
In the academic community, Indian or Indian people have also maintained considerable influence, and in the world's top universities such as Harvard University and the University of Chicago, there are many cases of Indian origin serving as deans of colleges.
The question is, the number of Chinese abroad is not a minority, even more than Indians, why is the development of Indians much better than Chinese?
The advantages behind the rise of India
If there are only individual cases, it can be boiled down to individual opportunities and capabilities, but such a comprehensive and large-scale case is enough to prove that India can generally eat abroad, by no means simply by luck, and there are systemic factors behind this.
First of all, we have to mention the language advantage, due to the long period of colonial rule in United Kingdom, English as a strong language in India's government, business and education continued after India's independence.
Although the India government has been trying to support the Hindi language and protect its own language and culture, because the ethnic groups, cultures and histories of southern and northern India are quite different, the non-Hindi-speaking areas in the south have always resisted the promotion of Hindi, and English has become the de facto lingua franca of India.
Due to the long-term use of English, for most India, English is their mother tongue. Although to outsiders, Indian people have a serious English accent, but for themselves, India English is even authentic English.
If you can't understand Indian English, Indian people will even think that you have a hearing problem.
▲ Interviews with confident India on the streets
For us, we lack a native English speaking environment, and we are somewhat limited in our pronunciation when communicating with foreigners. However, India overseas do not have the language barrier, do not worry too much about accent problems, and tend to be more likely to mingle with local native English speakers.
Compared with the popularization of English, the impact of the British colonial government on the Westernization of India's institutions and education was more far-reaching.
Politically, United Kingdom helped India establish a modern system of political participation and representation, while introducing a legal and judicial structure based on the English legal system, establishing high courts and lower courts, and introducing United Kingdom legal principles and procedures to India.
It can be said that it was the United Kingdom colonizers who transformed India from a geographical concept into a unified state, while the United Kingdom savagely transformed India into a process of modernization more in line with the expectations of capitalist countries.
In colonial education, United Kingdom also spared no effort to spread Western political ideas and ideologies to India, such as liberalism, constitutionalism and parliamentarism. These education policies have had a profound impact on India's intellectuals, politicians, and social leaders.
As a result, after independence, India's political system obviously stitched the characteristics of the Anglo-American political system, and at the same time had the shadow of the United Kingdom parliamentary cabinet system, the United States federal presidential system and other systems.
You say he is a parliamentary cabinet system, it has the concept of a federal and a president, and the president is the head of the country, you say he is a federal presidential system, and it has the concept of a parliament and a cabinet, not only the cabinet, but also the federal parliament composed of the president, the House of Commonwealth (the upper house) and the Lok Sabha (the lower house).
▲ Parliament of India
Therefore, India have been familiar with Western political elections since childhood, and they are more comfortable with real practice.
Reflected in the ability to campaign, in terms of campaign ability, level of organization and mobilization, and intra-group support, Indians are obviously better than Chinese with similar political election opportunities and education levels.
In 2017, a India-American politician named Ao Miancheng was elected leader India of the New Democratic Party by a majority of Canada politicians in Canada, becoming the first minority to lead a federal party in the and a member of Congress for Burnaby South's constituency in 2019.
A big part of his election was that his campaign signed 47,000 new members, raising more money than his three opponents combined.
A typical negative case is that his rival, Wang Xiaobao, a Chinese candidate, was disqualified from running because he rejected other ethnic groups during the election campaign and violated local pluralistic values.
From the perspective of the ethnic distribution of Canada parliamentarians, the number of Indian ethnic groups is also crushing Chinese. In Canada, 21 Indians were elected to parliament in 2105, accounting for about 45 per cent of the total number of ethnic minority MPs. In 2019, the number of Indian elected members increased to 22, compared with only eight Chinese MPs during the same period.
▲ Canada politicians are sincere
In addition, similar political backgrounds and backgrounds will not make foreigners have the feeling of "not my race, their hearts will be different", and to a certain extent, it will naturally narrow the distance between India and European United States.
In the context of the difficult situation in Sino-US relations, if Chinese and Indian people run for the same office in the United States at the same time, electors tend to raise suspicions about the motives of Chinese candidates, while Indians rarely have such concerns.
Moreover, India people attach more importance to political rights, and they are very active in voting in elections, while the political awareness of voting is much weaker than that of Chinese.
According to statistics, the average voter turnout of Chinese voters abroad is at least 10% lower than that of other ethnic groups. Studies have even shown that the proportion of the Chinese population in a constituency is inversely proportional to the voter turnout in that constituency, with a 1% increase in the Chinese population decreasing by about 0.1%.
In the face of this, it is not difficult to understand that in overseas political circles, the Indian community can make a difference.
India huddles are widespread
Another key word in which India are thriving abroad is unity.
As we all know, many schools in China will have a variety of hometown associations, and overseas student groups also have such hometown associations, which unite and help many international students to better adapt to overseas life. But after work, overseas Chinese rarely participate in such activities.
And the Indians are different. Not only do they live in groups, they often live near their friends who are also Indian, so that sometimes most of the residents of the same neighborhood and the same apartment are Indian.
▲An India settlement in Singapore
Moreover, India attach great importance to organizing and using the resources of their own ethnic group, and there are not only hometown associations, but also long-term religious organizations, entrepreneurs' associations, and even various associations and lobbies to help compatriots run for election.
China's huddle often has to pay attention to avoiding suspicion, but India huddle is not pretending, not only does not shy away from the advantages brought to them by this "huddle", but instead systematizes and professionalizes it.
In 1992, a group of Indian entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley established the Silicon Valley India Entrepreneurs Association, which specializes in providing mentors, networking, business incubation and financial support for newcomers to India, in an effort to cultivate a new generation of Indian entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley.
After decades of incubation, Silicon Valley has established a mature India ecosystem where Indians communicate with each other.
▲India festival events in Silicon Valley
Through various professional organizations such as the Silicon Valley India Entrepreneurs Association, overseas Indians recommend jobs to each other.
So much so that once an Indian comes in a company, soon his relatives and friends will follow, so that employees wonder, why are there more and more Indian faces in the company?
In addition, Indian ethnic groups have established various associations and lobbies to help their fellow ethnic groups run for election, canvassing for them, raising funds, etc.
From 1987 to 2019, Keith · Watz, a India-American United Kingdom member of the House of Commons representing Leicester's East End, has been able to maintain his 32-year record as a member of parliament because of the gathering and unity of the Indian people in the constituency.
Knowing that there are currently more than 30 million Indian expatriates overseas, it is not difficult to understand that this group of Indians can have such achievements with such a strong ethnic support.
▲Keith (male) and his supporters of India origin
Of course, not all Indian expatriates are among the upper echelons of society, after all, there are many Indians who have emigrated overseas and ended up washing dishes in restaurants.
It can only be said that the success of India is also inseparable from its similar way of thinking to Westerners, good education and personal efforts, opportunities and other factors.
In the presence of systematic discrimination against ethnic minorities in white society, huddles are just a helpless resistance of Indians, and it also reflects the essence of the fact that ethnic minorities such as Indians are still in a vulnerable position overseas from another perspective.
When white people also need to huddle together to keep warm, that's the other way around.
Having said that, this time to storm the presidency, with female, African-American, and Asian-American labels, the buff can be called a stacked Harris, who can guarantee that she is not another puppet under the Democratic Party establishment elite?