As reports surfaced about US President Donald Trump's ad buy to target the Indian community in America, Indian analyst and author of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's biography Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay said Indians in America would vote as Americans and not as Indians.
On being asked why the BJP is incapable of influencing polls in the US, Mukhopadhyay told Sputnik that Indian-American voters are already polarised between the democrats and republicans, which gives them little room to make a difference.
"I don't know how many Indian-Americans would be guided by the desires of the BJP. On the face of it, it doesn't look possible as elections have already been polarised between the Democrats and Republicans," he said.
Trump's official visit to India was cornered by speculations that India is giving a platform to the US President to garner the support of the Indian-American community in the US.
However, in response to a question raised by Sputnik on 20 February, the Indian Ministry of External affairs had categorically denied that the assumption that Trump's visit to India is to seek political benefit from the growing Indian-American community.
On the contrary, India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party member BL Santosh, a close aide of the country's Home Minister Amit Shah, remarked that the US Democratic front-runner, Bernie Sanders, is compelling India to play a role in influencing the US elections.
His remarks came in response to Bernie Sanders' sharp attack on Trump for not taking a strong stand against the Delhi riots which were taking place during his India visit between 24 and 25 February. He said, "this is a failure of leadership on human rights".
Over 200 million Muslims call India home. Widespread anti-Muslim mob violence has killed at least 27 and injured many more. Trump responds by saying, "That's up to India." This is a failure of leadership on human rights.
Over 200 million Muslims call India home. Widespread anti-Muslim mob violence has killed at least 27 and injured many more. Trump responds by saying, "That's up to India." This is a failure of leadership on human rights.https://t.co/tUX713Bz9Y
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) February 26, 2020
Responding to this, Santosh tweeted: "How much ever neutral we wish to be; you compel us to play a role in the Presidential elections. Sorry to say so- but you are compelling us."
Trump's visit to India was compared to the grand event 'Howdy Modi' held in Houston, Texas, where Trump had greeted Modi. It was marred with allegations of Trump trying to win the support of the 1.2 million eligible Indian-American voters in the US polls.
Modi hosting Trump in India's Ahmedabad recently was seen as a stage to mobilise a considerable chunk of Indian-Americans many of whom hail from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state of Gujarat.
With 80 per cent of Indian-Americans voting for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the 2016 US Polls, as per the polling exercise undertaken by the Asian American Legal Defence; mobilising this lot may provide favourable gains for the Republicans party, represented by Donald Trump.
Low on discussions of official and pressing issues between the United States and India, such as the H1-B visa issue, Trump's two-day state visit to India was characterised by events such as the 'Namaste Trump' (Welcome Trump) event with a crowd of over 100,000, a high-profile roadshow in Gujarat, and a visit to the Mughal-era Taj Mahal monument in Uttar Pradesh, ahead of the signing of a $3 billion defence deal in New Delhi.
