Even a decade back, the chances of a Rishi becoming the PM of Britain were as high as a Ramaswamy becoming the president of the US. But, hey, that’s how the globalised India dice rolls. Vivek Ramaswamy, a 37-year-old tech entrepreneur, announced his 2024 presidential campaign on Wednesday as a Republican nominee. He’s the second desi to throw the pagdi into the ring. While the desi quotient of Nikki Haley, who announced her candidature for Potus on Valentine’s Day, may be low – despite Nimrata Nikki Haley nee Randhawa stating, ‘I was the proud daughter of Indian immigrants – not Black, not white. I was different.’ – the latest entrant from a South Asian gene pool couldn’t have a more ‘Indian-techie-from-the-Valley’ name, even as he comes from Ohio, a fair distance from Kerala and Mysore his parents emigrated from.
Interestingly, both Indian-origin candidates are Republican contenders out to convince the American people to put ‘America First’. Imagine a prime ministerial candidate with family origins in another country making a bid for the top job here in India. Oh, never mind the imagination. Chances of a President Ramaswamy taking up the still very White, and one-time-only Black White House is slim. But what the hell. One day, who knows, a Trump descendant may well give it a shot to become PM of a non-American democracy.
