In another significant moment for the movement against caste discrimination in the United States, a Bill to make caste discrimination illegal was passed by the California State Assembly on Monday, August 28, with 50 votes in its favour and only three against it. It was earlier passed by the state’s Senate in May this year. With its passage in the state Assembly, California will become the first US state to ban caste discrimination. The legislation will add caste as a protected category under ‘ancestry’ in California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act, Education, and Housing codes.
I am Indian and know people who have moved to the US. Irrespective of which party they supported in India, most Indian-Americans support the Democrats in the US. This is because of two reasons:-
The Indian political landscape is to the left of the US landscape. So right-wing parties in India are often similar, policy-wise, to centrist Democrats or moderate Republicans.
Even rich, upper-caste Indians face racial discrimination in the US.
Lol, suuuuure
???
In the 2020 Carnegie endowment survey, ndian-Americans preferred Biden to Trump 72% to 22%. The three biggest issues for them were economics, healthcare and racism.
From the people whom I know, the biggest concerns were the lack of free healthcare and free / cheap higher education, and racism. Nowadays gun violence and restrictions on abortions are also factors they consider.
Oppressor uppercaste Indians want democratic values, secularism, and affirmative action in countries where they are a minority so that they can benefit from those policies. Where they’hold the reigns of power, they want casteism, religious extremism, and patriarchy.
@givesomefucks
Exactly. In each situation, they are supporting the party that would benefit them.
Indians fleeing Modi and then voting Biden over trump in America doesn’t mean India is more leftwing than America…
Ah, so that’s the issue. What I meant is that in India, things like food, healthcare, higher education, electricity and internet are free or heavily subsidised. There is also a general expectation that the government should regulate prices of essentials, and even our rightwing parties at least pay lip service to the constitutional principles of socialism and secularism.
So when Indians move to the US, they get much better salaries, but suffer from racism and miss things like cheap healthcare and free uni. So they would support politicians who promise to fix these things, which are usually the Democrats.
Now it makes sense…
You’re comparing how rich high caste people are treated in India compared to America. And it seems like the only things you know about India are what they tell you, or the ones still in India claim it’s like.
I’m talking about the low caste Indians coming here to get away from the racism they experience over there and the fact that their children are starving and the Indian government doesn’t give a single fuck about them.
I am saying that rich upper caste Indians in the US would vote for the Democrats (because the Democrats promise to solve the issues they face there) while continuing to support rightwing parties back home (to maintain their privileged status). Obviously lower-caste Indian-Americans would also support the Democrats; that goes without saying.
I am an Indian living in India, who has Indian-American friends and relatives. I don’t remember any of them supporting Trump; even those who supported the BJP in India supported Sanders or Biden in the US.
Did you forget Modi publicly supporting Trump’s 2020 presidential bid with “Abki baar Trump sarkar!” and a beaming Trump by his side and a stadium full of cheering Indian-Americans?
@givesomefucks : This was in September 2019 when Indian Americans hosted a ‘Howdy Modi’ event .
I didn’t. Both Modi and Trump seemed to think that support for the BJP would translate into support for Trump. And yet, Indian-Americans voted overwhelmingly for Biden (see the poll I linked above).