As gaffes go, Donald Trump mistaking “Hindu” for “India” shouldn’t rate too highly. The Republican candidate isn’t known for his knowledge of the world, nor did the 5,000 Hindu Republicans he addressed in New Jersey worry too much about mixed metaphors. It also didn’t seem to matter much to those who gathered more for a Bollywood event that 70 per cent of the three million-plus US Indians have committed to Hillary Clinton. The fact remains they were made to feel important by one candidate, even if he’s the one whose campaign is in a bit of a tailspin.
There was no assurance from Mr Trump that Indians will get more H-1B visas, that is more relevant to the issue of IT jobs in the US and elsewhere, against which Mr Trump made several promises aimed at white male voters, who he hopes will pick him on November 8. The demographic dividend the real estate mogul with investments in western India may have hoped to gain from Indian-Americans is very limited. The one trend emerging from the run-up to the 2016 polls is that India figures in US calculations more than ever. Indians may not have as much influence over who gets into the White House, but they know they have made strides in their adopted land. Mr Trump may simply have recognised that.
