'He is the only president, the only American politician, who had the guts to stand with Hindus.'
Purnima Nath serves as the secretary of the Republican Party of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, a key battleground state.
She is the founder of iExit and HindusAndTrump, initiatives focused on promoting Hindu issues and conservative values within the South Asian community.
"Kamala Harris hasn't visited India in the last four years as vice president. If she was a proud heritage holder, she would have visited India first, because that is her mother's land." Purnima Nath tells Rediff.com US Special Correspondent Abhijit J Masih.
You've been an outspoken supporter of Donald Trump. Can you share what personally draws you to his leadership and political vision?
I align with him because he's very straightforward. Whether you like him or dislike him, it's a secondary question, but you are certain that you're going to get the truth out of his mouth, there's no filter.
The career politicians, they spend a lot of time in order to polish themselves, to try to figure out which audience wants to hear what.
I'll give you an example on how fraudulent career politicians are. Kamala Harris have been running ads in Michigan, where there's a large Muslim population, promoting herself as a pro Palestine supporter.
Similarly, in Pennsylvania, she's actually enticing the Jewish population with pro Israel messaging.
I align with President Trump as he is an anti war, pro business guy.
When we look at his delivery on one term, our lives were much better. So to me, the career politician is a massive turn off for me, because they actually try to pretend and tell you what you would like to hear.
Donald Trump, coming from outside the political arena, I find him very outspoken, straightforward and you get what you pay for.
As someone who has been actively involved in Republican politics, what has it been like to work alongside Donald Trump's team and supporters as a woman of color?
There's a lot of truth in it that there's less diversity. When I go to Republican party meetings, I'm the only Hindu Indian brown color sitting there.
It's not like I'm looking for somebody else or I'm demanding you better bring other people.
I didn't become a Republican because the Republican party had outreached to me, particularly, or the Indian community or the Hindu community.
There's a quote from John F. Kennedy -- 'Don't look for what the country can do for you, look for what you can do for your country.'
I align with that thought process that you can't always ask for it, sometimes you have to give and that's how I got involved in Republican party politics.
I realized that Trump's policies were better. I became a Trump supporter because I had done my research.
I looked into the policies. And obviously my Hindu faith also started giving me some ideas, some in my own philosophical journey towards my understanding of abortion, immigration and good versus evil.
Given that Wisconsin is a key battleground state, how do you assess the Republican party's chances and what strategies have been employed to ensure success, particularly when Democrats seems to be confident about the state?
Wisconsin is a swing state, but we have done our best. I live in Milwaukee county which is one of the top two counties that actually decides how the state is going to do because of the high population.
Milwaukee city has almost half a million people, it is ruled by Democrats, and there's no way a Republican or a conservative can actually win. But I still ran as a conservative.
I still had to bring my perspective as an opposition in this county because everybody who's running, brings their liberal ideology and one sided agenda. But at the same time, people like us, we are voicing our concerns. We are voicing our opposition views. We are voicing what is right for us.
I have seen a massive shift after these four years of disaster. In my county, we have highest population of black people, and we have seen the low income, black people are the ones actually shifting towards Trump because they understood it was difficult for them.
It's the same thing that has happened to the Indian community in general. There's a 20% dip in Democrat voters from Indian American voters.
That has happened because we have understood in the last few years; even before, that the Democrat party is not standing for us.
They are pushing anti CAA resolutions against Hindus and India, they are standing for Kashmir separatism, pushing Khalistan separatism from this soil, and they're actually trying to impose caste on the Hindu Indian community in America. I think we're frustrated at this point of time.
What are the two foundations initiatives that you started -- iExit and HindusAndTrump?
First one is iExit, its Indian exiting the left. Through this initiative, we communicate with Indian Hindu people that the Democrat party is not good for family, for society, for foreign policy and not good for the country that we live in.
However, at that point of time, I realized that Indian people, the Hindu people, were very self conscious and image conscious. They were not associating with Trump at all.
So then I started HindusAndTrump in order to make sure that they actually come to the right side, not sit on the center and as an independent and vote for Trump.
We may be a small community, but our views align with traditional family values. We are non violent people. We haven't come over here to take over this country. We haven't come to impose our own faith over here.
Over the last couple of election cycles, I have seen a massive shift of Hindu Indian Americans shifting towards the right side.
Even now we have seen a massive shift coming towards Trump, and one of the credit certainly goes to PM Modi.
So, all these things that I'm trying to do over here is to make sure that we as a micro minority Hindu Indian American community is not defamed or trashed, is not shamed for our own faith and our heritage.
That's my background, that's my identity, that's my heritage, that my tradition, that's my faith and that's my belief.
I'm not going to bend or convert that in order to be accepted by somebody in a different country.
Indian Americans have traditionally leaned Democratic, and now with an Indian American running for President, why do you believe some Indian Americans might still lean toward Donald Trump and the Republican party instead of supporting 'one of their own?'
First of all, identity politics is something that I absolutely despise. It should be based on merit and capability.
I'll answer this question in two parts. On merit, Kamala Harris is not a presidential candidate of the Democrat party today. It was basically a coup that was executed to sideline Joe Biden.
A massive Deep State agenda was executed and it was shown to the normal public that this was all cool and nice. This particular person has not won anything. She was installed.
What primary did she actually win to be the official nominee of the party? Now, from an identity standpoint, she actually never took pride in her Indian heritage.
She talks about her mother all the time, but she never used the Indian identity as a pride, instead talks about South Asian identity.
She's a master fraudulent politician. She succeeded in her game, but people are also opening their eyes.
We know that she hasn't visited India in the last four years as vice president.
If she was a proud heritage holder, she would have visited India first, because that is her mother's land.
So you don't have to have the same heritage and background to understand that the person is good for you and the society as a whole. Example, Trump is worshipped in India too.
I don't care whether she has Indian background or not, her policies are disappointing. Her policies are really harming the people of this country.
Now she wants to turn the page because she failed as vice president. What did she build better?
In your view, what key issues matter most to Indian American voters today, and how do you think the Republicans can better address those concerns compared to the Democrats?
It is inflation or whether it is from a perspective of merit based opportunities, or whether it is education institutions, where they're actually pushing gender changes without the knowledge of the parents.
The Indian people are not used to that kind of stuff. Although we assimilate within the American community, our culture didn't teach us that you can leave our children in the hands of the government and they can do whatever they want to do with that child.
We have our differences, but at the same time, and we understand our differences and that's how the society had grown. This kind of imposition through school system is very disturbing.
They are pushing books on sex education. Our Indian society is not like that, we don't want our child to be taken away from us through the school system.
The whole primary care gender education is not going to fly. It's not flying with the Indian American community. Immigration is also a major issue.
If Donald Trump wins the 2024 election, what do you think would be the top priorities for his second term, particularly when it comes to engaging with Indian Americans and India?
He is the only president, the only American politician, who had the guts to stand with Hindus. Donald Trump is going to not only be good for us as American people of all backgrounds, but I think he's going to be good for the world peace as well.
I don't think Donald Trump is going to be bad for India, especially with the fact that he spoke for Hindus.
He said that the Hindu community globally is going to be protected by him. At least he made the statement. That's why I aligned with him.
It's going to be very good for India. It's going to be good for American citizens. It's going to be good for global peace too.
It doesn't matter what the media has portrayed him to be, or labeled him with, he's good for humanity, that's pretty clear in terms of what he has done in the past.
The Left is frightened of him, that is why they want to eliminate him.
Feature Presentation: Rajesh Alva/Rediff.com
