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By K.P. Nayar | www.telegraphindia.com – Sun 4 Nov, 2012: Americans are all set to elect the first Hindu member of the US Congress, but Tulsi Gabbard, a sure-shot winner in Tuesday’s election from Hawaii, is not Indian.
She does not look Indian even when she wears a salwar-kameez and dons visible symbols of the Vaishnavite beliefs that she swears by.
Notwithstanding the absence of any Indian blood in Gabbard, Hindus in America are excited at the prospect that for the first time in US history, a member of the House of Representatives will take oath in January swearing by the Bhagvad Gita, from which she quotes at fundraisers hosted by Indian Americans.
From Houston to Washington, what seems like a continent away from her home state of Hawaii, Indian Americans are competing among themselves to host fundraisers for Gabbard. But unlike the fat cats among ethnic Indians in the US who fund Congressional campaigns here in the hope that those elected to office will lobby for their causes, these are ordinary members of the community who are genuinely excited at the prospect of a Hindu Congresswoman.
This correspondent met Gabbard at one such fundraiser organised by Jay Bhandari, the Virginia chapter president of the Global Organization of People of Indian Origin. The modest charge for a plate at this fundraiser was $50 per head: at least a quarter of this amount went into the actual dinner.
Gabbard appeared amused but was unsurprised by the enthusiasm among Indian Americans for her who is not one of their own. But she emphasised that because contributions from this community are similar to the five-dollar funding of Barack Obama’s re-election effort by poor Americans, ethnic Indians account for less than three per cent of the money she has raised for her election.
Gabbard, 31, was a curiosity in Washington not only because of her Hindu faith which she does little to hide, but also because she does not fit the stereotype of candidates for national office in America.
She was born in a place called Leloaloa in American Samoa. Ninety-nine per cent of Americans are likely to reach for an atlas when her birthplace is mentioned.
Gabbard’s parents had moved to Hawaii when she was only two years old.
Her father, Mike Gabbard, a practising Catholic, has been a member of the Hawaii Senate since 2006. But her mother, Carol, who has served as an elected member of the state Board of Education, is a Hindu.
At one time, the couple fraternised with followers of the Hare Krishna movement, for which Hawaii offers a fertile environment. The Hindu names of their five offspring ‘ Bhakti, Jai, Aryan, Tulsi and Vrindavan ‘ are the result of this association.
But Mike Gabbard’s association with the Hare Krishna movement is now a subject that is taboo. In 2004, when he sought the seat which his daughter is contesting now, his Hindu leanings became a controversial issue in the election. He lost.
According to the Honolulu media, when Tulsi Gabbard’s views were sought then about her father’s religious beliefs she called an inquisitive reporter a “skunk” and accused the media of “acting as a conduit for… homosexual extremist supporters”.
It is an indication of how far down the road of religious diversity Americans have travelled since then that Gabbard can now openly fight a Congressional election as a Hindu and Mitt Romney, a Mormon, can get the presidential nomination of a major political party here.
The first Indian American governor in the US, Bobby Jindal, was born a Hindu and converted to Christianity. He would never have won an election in his home state of Louisiana if he had been a Hindu. South Carolina’s governor Nikki Haley was born and brought up as a Sikh. She underplays her religion at birth and is officially a Christian.
Gabbard’s story is so unlike those of several Americans who rose to be this nation’s leaders, even its President. In 2002, when she was elected as a member of the House of Representatives in Hawaii at the age of 21, Gabbard became the youngest woman to hold similar office in the history of the US.
The following year, she joined the Hawaii National Guard and could, therefore, have avoided deployment to a war zone because of her duties as an elected legislator. Gabbard chose not to exercise that privilege and, instead, accepted two deployments to Iraq, and by extension, to neighbouring Kuwait.
Bill Clinton dodged military draft during the Vietnam war and the way George W. Bush avoided going to Vietnam using his influential family connections was a controversy that dogged him through his political career.
When Romney became eligible to be drafted into war, he went off to Paris on missionary work for his Mormon church. That mission and his status as a student before and after the work for the church enabled the presidential aspirant to avoid going to Vietnam. Dick Cheney, Vice-President under Bush, successfully applied for exemption from going to Vietnam as many as five times.
When Gabbard returned from her military deployments, she was elected to the Honolulu City Council. In between, she was a legislative aide to Hawaii’s long-time senator Daniel Akaka. The seat that Gabbard is now fighting for became vacant when Congresswoman Mazie Hirono decided to contest for the US Senate.
It is a seat that is used to electing candidates who are different from the norm. If Gabbard is a Hindu, Hirono is a Buddhist. Gabbard’s opponent, Republican Kawika Crowley, is homeless. He sleeps in his van which is also his campaign headquarters.
Crowley gets little support from his party because its leadership knows that Gabbard is certain to win this heavily Democratic seat. Besides, as Obama’s birthplace Hawaii’s vote in Tuesday’s election will be overwhelmingly Democratic.
The Democratic Party has recognised Gabbard as one of its future leaders. In recognition of her potential, she was given a speaking slot at the party’s national convention in Charlotte this year. In a clear indication that she has come to Bill Clinton’s attention, his former chief of staff, John Podesta, hosted a fundraiser for Gabbard in Washington recently.
In marked contrast to the Indian American event which was superior in enthusiasm, a plate at Podesta’s lunch was billed at between $1,000 and $1,500 per head.
The fundraiser was a good augury for Gabbard who can look forward to a bigger political role if Hillary Clinton is a presidential candidate in 2016.
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