By Sushil Kutty
Does Alphabet\Google CEO Sundar Pichai, have a pronounced Harris bias? Kamala Harris of Indian-Jamaican origin is up against Republican former President Donald Trump, close pal of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. But India-born Sundar Pichai is a left-leaning head honcho now charged with anti-Trumpism. This, as Indian-Americans across the USA have been energized after President Joe Biden left the stage and asked Kamala Harris to take his place.
Estimates put the number of Indian-Americans at 5 million and growing. Sundar Pichai is one of the 5 million and has thrown his weight behind Democrat Kamala Harris. Does the charge against Pichai stick? Of course, without an iota of doubt. If Sundar Pichai is left-liberal, Kamala Harris is ultra-left and the two rock. That apart, Kamala is part-Indian and Sundar Pichai is Indian to his very hair-roots.
Interesting thing is, if Sundar Pichai is up to his neck in Harris-o-mania, the Trumpists have ‘X’ owner Elon Musk showing his bias for the 45th President. Musk is seriously in pursuit of setting up his electric vehicle shop in India and his Bromance with Modi is strikingly familiar with his calf-love for Trump. Sundar Pichai and Elon Musk want their “chosen one” in the White House and are prepared to go to any extent.
Even otherwise, nearly 70 percent of Indian-Americans have their fingers locked with Kamala Harris while around 29 percent have struck it cozy with Donald Trump, and want him back in the White House come January 2025.
Both Sundar Pichai and Elon Musk have been charged with “election interference”. While Pichai traded flak with Trumpists for “Google’s autocomplete” not showing the assassination attempt on Trump, Elon Musk made fun of Kamala with a parody on a Harris campaign ad, didn’t matter it was altered and played around with.
The fact is, President Joe Biden’s exit from the Presidential race opened the sluice gates for Indian-American voters and with Kamala Harris poised to be the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate, Indians backing Candidate Kamala Harris are above Cloud 9! Nobody thought Kamala would be taking on Donald Trump and now that it has happened, Kamala has their back.
Call it bias. Call it love or like. With Kamala Harris talking, Indian-Americans aren’t lagging. The political profile of Indian-Americans has risen multifold since the Democratic-baton was passed on to Indian-Jamaican Harris. The pulsation and the subdued excitement! Indian-Americans say they are in a win-win position. An Indian-origin Second Lady if Trump wins and an Indian-origin President if Kamala Harris becomes the 47th.
Kamala Harris’ rising profile has galvanized Indian-Americans across the spectrum. Even as Indian-origin Trumpists haven’t given up on Trump, who still tops Harris in the polls and wouldn’t be easy to dislodge unless there is a presidential debate and a second old man bites dust.
How quickly the mental acuity tables turn will be the story!
Kamala is the first female presidential nominee of colour. The fervour around her is electric. She shares a Tamil Nadu-connect with Sundar Pichai, who studied in a Chennai college. Kamala’s mother is ‘Madrasi’ while her father is Jamaican. If that sounds like a mix of Reggae and Carnatic, then she’s truly Jamaican-Indian.
But even if Kamala wasn’t Indian-Jamaican, Pichai would still have been charged with Democratic-bias. It has to do with ideology. Indian-Americans have always sided with the Kennedys, and the Clintons, the Obamas and the Bidens. Besides, Sundar Pichai is on record, like Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, that “Muslims and minority communities should get all the help.”
Point is, Donald Trump is emphatic that “ultra-liberal Kamala Harris will deliver crime, chaos, mayhem and death to US” and the Trumpists have marked Harris as “worse than Joe Biden.” Could it be that Kamala Harris gives the heebie-jeebies to Trumpists? The explosive start after Biden opted out Kamala got can scare the toughest bloke in the block!
Come to think of it, the number of Indians with political leanings in recent news cycles is stunning, starting from Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy to Kamala Harris and Usha Vance, wife of Trump’s Vice Presidential pick JD Vance. Indian Americans are kicking the can ahead as if there would be no tomorrow, or perhaps knowing that there will be many more tomorrows for Indian-Americans going ahead!
The problem is Indian-Americans haven’t yet got a finger on how much of a political-heft they have. They have a chance to prove. The Indian-American cannot just sit in cozy nooks and corners with luscious paychecks. They have to get out of the corners and position themselves centre-stage. As to whether Sundar Pichai has a bias or not, that is his beautiful mind. It must not be for nothing that his parents named him, ‘Sundar’! (IPA Service)
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