Asks Shashi Tharoor: Should Indians be proud of Bobby Jindal?

Answer: Indians should be as proud of him as black Americans might be about Clarence Thomas being on the Supreme Court.

It's good that Tharoor acknowledged that his classification of the "two kinds of Indian migrants" is overly simplistic. He also doesn't mention that the leadership of an Indian dominated hoteliers' association invited Narendra Modi to speak at their convention, a couple of years ago. Like among their non-Indian counterparts, there are Indian-American businessfolk who would not let a pesky pogrom, or the general misery of fellow humans distract them from their all-important pursuit of profit. They may not like the prospect of their children being required to pray to somebody else's god, but they like even less the slightest drop in their profits. These are the Indians who would be giddy about Jindal and his bonafide conservative stripes in the Louisiana state Capitol.

Incidentally, if there were something to be proud of, the pride would be South Asian, not just Indian. The petty distinctions that tear up the motherland are pointless here. I wouldn't, however, blame non-Indian South Asians if they'd rather we kept this particular instance of "pride" to ourselves.

[Shashi Tharoor | Bobby Jindal | India | South Asia | Louisiana]

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