Indian-American Pols Running High

Did Bobby Jindal set a trend by being elected America’s first Indian governor in 2007? Currently, there are eight Indian-Americans running for office in the U.S., more than ever before. Nikki Haley, who is the favorite to win South Carolina’s gubernatorial race, converted to Christianity when she married—Jindal converted to Catholicism when he was four, and then and asked to be called “Bobby” like “that boy on The Brady Bunch.” There is concern in the Indian-American community that candidates are Americanizing themselves too much. Haley and Jindal "were really ambitious about their politics, and they could not do it being Hindu or their old religion," said Vidya Pradhan, editor of India Currents magazine. But some disagree. "This campaign is all about vision and values and policies," said Raj Goyle, who is running for congressional nomination in Wichita, Kansas. "I don't spend time thinking about differences, I think about ways that Kansans can come together."