Haley's appointment sign of political emergence
.Friday, 25/11/2016
http://epaper.dailypostindia.com/Details.aspx?id=168695&boxid=59544&uid=&dat=2016-11-25
New York: Nikki Haley's historic appointment to a cabinet-rank post by Republican President-elect Donald Trump that caps election of five Indian Americans to Congress this year has been welcomed by community as a sign of its political emergence.
Harpreet Sandhu, executive director of Friends of the American Sikh Caucus, said he was especially excited because Haley is a daughter of Punjab. Trump said he would be inclusive as President and her appointment shows he is living up to it, Sandhu said. Shalabh Kumar, the founder of Republican Hindu Coalition, described South Carolina governor's appointment as United Nations Ambassador as the "Third Diwali" after the festival itself and Trump's election.
Shekhar Narasimhan, a Democratic Party activist and fundraiser, said her
appointment "shows that we have made it" as a community. "We don't have to
agree on everything, on policy, but we can celebrate the fact that we now
have a place at the most important table in Washington, the cabinet," he
said.
The job of US Permanent Representative, or ambassador, to the UN is a
cabinet-level position unlike in most countries and goes to political
appointees because of its high visibility in the global arena.
Narasimhan said another sign of the community's growing influence in US
politics is the number of Indian American members of Congress going up from
one to five in this year's elections -- all of them Democrats. Of them,
Kamala Harris, is the first Indian American elected to the senate.
A D Amar, President of 'Indian Americans for Trump', said Haley has achieved
the status she deserves and it is good for India and the community. One of
the pioneers of non-partisan community activism, Thomas Abraham, said: "It
is a historic moment for the Indian-American community that one of its own
has been appointed to a top-level position."
