When Piyush Met Bobby

Piyush Jindal is every South Asian immigrant parent’s dream. After graduating from Brown University at the age of twenty, he was not only accepted to Harvard Medical School, but also to Yale Law School. He ended up studying at Oxford as a Rhodes scholar and later went on to become the governor of Louisiana. His Ivy League accolades and successful career make him the perfect candidate for South Asian immigrant parents to point to and say to their children, “Why can’t you be more like Piyush?”

Bobby Jindal, on the other hand, is an embarrassment to the South Asian immigrant story. Despite his own immigrant parents, at the first Republican presidential primary debate he said, “Immigration without assimilation is invasion.” He is also quoted as saying, “I’m tired of hyphenated Americans. We’re not Indian- Americans or African-Americans or Asian- Americans. We’re all Americans.” Bobby’s denial of his heritage makes South Asian- Americans distance themselves further from him than he does from them—making him lose the one community he should receive the most support from as a presidential candidate.

Jindal was not always a staunch advocate for a non-hyphenated America. In fact, he once openly donned his Piyush hat and embraced his hyphenated identity, if only to gain early political support. During hearings and media interviews, he regularly lauded the accomplishments of his Indian-American family and community. In fact, he cosponsored a resolution to recognize and honor “the contributions of Indian-Americans to economic innovation and society generally.” He is even quoted as self-identifying as an Indian- American. After his first bid for governor of Louisiana failed in 2003, he appeared at the Asian-American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA) to accept an award, saying, “The first reason I wanted to come today was to thank you. I came to you as a 31-year-old Indian-American and said I want to be the next governor of Louisiana, and you embraced me… You truly were my family.”

The Indian community also became some of his most loyal donors. During his 2004 election campaign for a seat in the House of Representatives, Jindal raised more than $2 million from Indian-American political action committees and cultural organizations. He even received support directly from India. When he was elected as governor of Louisiana in 2007, residents of his father’s village in Khanpur, India celebrated in the streets after many had spent days praying at a local temple for his success. Resident Ujagar Singh said, “Bobby’s success is our success. His story begins here. The quality of the fruit depends on the roots.”

Having exploited his Indian-American identity and his parents’ immigrant story to successfully climb the political ladder, Jindal did a 180-degree turn away once he reached the top. And so Piyush became Bobby. With a presidential ticket in mind, he cut his allegiances to his Indian-American supporters and instead tried to buy others, and himself, into the idea that we are all Americans first. To South Asian-Americans watching this process, they saw late-bloomer Jindal suffering from a classic pubescent case of American Born Confused Desi-ism. This debilitating affliction occurs when second generation South Asian children living in a white community are in denial about the fact that they are indeed not white. Symptoms include calling one’s mother “mom” instead of “mama” on the phone in front of white friends. At a speech for a conservative foreign policy think tank, he was quick to defend his disguised ABCD-ism: “To be clear—I am not suggesting for one second that people should be shy or embarrassed about their ethnic heritage. But, I am explicitly saying that it is completely reasonable for nations to discriminate between allowing people into their country who want to embrace their culture, or allowing people into their country who want to destroy their culture, or establish a separate culture within.” In other words, he is saying that it is reasonable to discriminate and to do so against immigrants who do not meet his subjectively high levels of assimilation.

Jindal’s misguided ideas of forced assimilation and identity are not the only issues. The most egregious issue is his tapping into mainstream America’s xenophobia and fear of terrorism to win their votes. In this process, he has pinned his old allies as enemies in order to cast a wider net of support. In a speech in which he frames his robust response to the Democrat’s weak-kneed foreign policy, he quickly equates immigration without full assimilation to threats of terrorism. He maintains, “The fact is that radical Islamists do not believe in freedom or common decency nor are they willing to accommodate them in any way and anywhere… in the West, non-assimilationist Muslims establish enclaves and carry out as much of Sharia law as they can without regard for the laws of the democratic countries which provided them a new home.”

The sadness here is that we finally have a South Asian-American in office and instead of promoting our interests, Jindal is attacking us like almost every other white Republican politician—and, arguably, attacking us even more harshly than they do. It seems that in order to compensate for his South Asian background, he believes he must prove himself to the white Republican party by being extra critical of South Asian immigrants. Instead of refusing to live in a discriminatory post-9/11 world, he promotes generalizations and profiling of innocent South Asian-American immigrants. Instead of understanding that part of being a proud immigrant is the ability to combine the best part of both cultures, he insists on completely abandoning his heritage. If we South Asian-Americans cannot depend on one of our own, whom can we depend on? If we cannot even trust a Piyush, how are we supposed to trust a Donald, a Jeb, or a Marco?

Then, it is no surprise that South Asian- Americans have expressed a deep, public disapproval of the uber-hypocritical Jindal. Why would we want someone who refuses to admit that he is one of us and who actively speaks against us to represent us? After he announced his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination in June, the South Asian-American Twittersphere exploded with indignation. Led by outspoken Indian-American comic Hari Kondabolu and comedian Aasif Mandvi, #BobbyJindalIsSoWhite and #Jindian quickly became trending hashtags. Mandvi wrote, “u might be a #Jindian if u r the son of immigrants who is anti-immigrant. #bobbyjindalissowhite.” Another poignantly wrote, “#bobbyjindalissowhite that if he were President, he would get off Airforce 1 and detain himself.”

According to the Center for American Progress and AAPI Data, 84 percent of Indian- Americans and 68 percent of Asian-Americans voted for Obama in the last election. Also, Jindal’s approval rating as Louisiana governor has plummeted over time. In 2011 he was at 64 percent; in 2012, 51 percent; in 2013, 38 percent; in 2014, e rebounded with 48 percent; and, in 2015, back down to a measly 31 percent. However, it is important to note that the South Asian community’s disdain for Jindal does not come from differing political views or impressions of his leadership ability, but rather from the denial of his identity. One must not forget the South Asian-Americans who willingly supported Piyush early in his political career. Suresh Gupta, a doctor who held a fundraiser for Jindal’s first run at governor said, “So what if he’s Republican? So what if he’s Christian? I don’t care about those things. But you can’t forget about your heritage. You can’t forget about your roots.” The quality of the fruit depends on the roots.

It is confusing to understand why Jindal strays so far from his Indian heritage when he could use it to his advantage. Perhaps he views his darker skin as a political liability in a majority white Republican stage, or maybe he truly wants to pretend that race does not exist. The latter reason might then explain why the first painting visitors see at his office in the Louisiana State Capital is a self-portrait of himself, with his skin painted, in an unsettling shade of white. Whatever his reasoning is, Jindal is missing out on a key political asset. In a post-Obama political world, it has become clear that one’s diverse experiences and unique identity can be used to stand out in an otherwise monotone crowd. If he were to reclaim his hyphenated identity, he would come across as a much more confident, honest candidate to both South Asian-Americans and non-South Asian- Americans. Until then, the obviously confused brown elephant will continue to be in the room.