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WHY THE THRIVING INDIAN DIASPORA IN THE US IS NOT AN ASSET ANYMORE!By Jaithirth Rao
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WHY THE THRIVING INDIAN DIASPORA IN THE US IS NOT AN ASSET ANYMORE!By Jaithirth Rao

Aug 23- Aug 29, 2025, In the News August 22, 2025 , by

The excessive publicity about Indian success stories and their high income and wealth levels has begun to breed envy and resentment in non-elite Americans.

The White House meeting with European leaders involved a brief press appearance by all of them. It was interesting to watch that all the European leaders spoke in English, and pretty reasonable English at that. Being an old man, I am in a position to reflect on the past. I just cannot imagine a Charles De Gaulle or even a Konrad Adenauer opting to speak in English before the international press. I remember that De Gaulle went to Montreal and stood up for a Free Quebec, but he did that in French. In some of my favourite podcasts—The Duran, Glenn Diesen—it has now become almost casually acceptable to refer to European countries as American vassal states.
Now, just consider some other world leaders. We have to assume that Xi Jinping does not know much English. He invariably speaks in Mandarin. Vladimir Putin probably has some working knowledge of English. But he always speaks in Russian. We know that Narendra Modi is pretty fluent in English. But he chooses not to speak in English. This may constitute proof that, among others, here are three countries that choose not to accept the mantle of being vassals. And therein may be the problem.
China is a manufacturing colossus and has a monopoly on rare earths; Russia has thousands of ICBMs; India has very few chips to play poker with. No wonder academics like Ashley Tellis and politicians like Peter Navarro are quite openly telling us that we should accept vassal status. In any case, we speak good English, even in our present condition. We need to do more than that. We should become like Europeans and reconcile ourselves to abject servility in front of “Daddy”. That a former Prime Minister from the Netherlands, the country of Rembrandt and Spinoza, who is now the NATO chief, feels comfortable being a comic courtier in the American throne room tells you something about the decline of the Dutch and the utter helplessness of Europe.
Europe got this way by skimping on defence expenditure, by becoming a continent of museums, cafes, parks and concert halls, by encouraging citizens to work fewer hours, by encouraging generous early retirements and above all by committing itself to a cosmopolitanism that quite simply denies that citizens and residents have duties. Fortunately, at least as of now, China, Russia and India have not succumbed to these fashions.

Lessons for Indian diaspora
Our media tends to over-personalise matters by focusing excessively on Trump. The issues are bigger and of a long-term nature. The Americans supported and encouraged China’s economic rise, hoping that over time China would become wound up in American soft power. That did not happen. They are therefore not going to make, what in their minds would be a second mistake: Support emphatically, the rise of an India, especially one which refuses to accept a servile status.
A credentialed academic like Tellis argues that it is in India’s interests to accept the American embrace unconditionally. India is unlikely to get the break which China got with a soft entry into the WTO. Navarro goes one step further. He suggests that India drop diversification and indigenisation of its weapons systems and stick to expensive American weapons with no technology transfer and consequent complete reliance on the whims of American suppliers who can at any time delay spares with arguments about supply chain problems. We have noticed these in recent times with jet engines.
The thriving Indian diaspora in the US has been an asset till now. Things may change. The excessive publicity about Indian success stories and their high income and wealth levels has begun to breed envy and resentment in non-elite sections of the American populace. There might be a campaign against H1B visas and even a gradual expulsion of persons stuck in a limbo with pending green cards and pending citizenship.
It is important to remember that, unlike in our country, where social change is slow, even glacial, such changes take place in America with lightning speed. Besides, one small change in the law can have very significant impacts. Lyndon Johnson’s one change in US immigration policies in 1965 led to the creation of the present Indian American efflorescence. A similar small change in any regulation can have deleterious effects this time around.
What choices do we have? We are a poor country, looking forward to a better future. We cannot imitate Russia or China. We need to navigate carefully in choppy waters. I believe that we are largely in agreement that we cannot opt for the European model of subservience and vassalage. In these circumstances, we need to take a fresh look at our PR strategy on handling multiple constituencies within the United States. If we focus exclusively on the political and bureaucratic class, we risk making the mistake that Israel has made in recent times and losing the wider PR battle.
The first thing we need to do is to stop crowing about successful Indian CEOs. We must strive to stay under the radar and project a benign image at local levels and stay steady, but non-confrontational in Washington. All of this is going to be very tricky and difficult. But let us have no doubts. The ground beneath our feet is shifting. And for the time being, the best strategy might be to stop crowing about us becoming a large economy (we are nowhere there in per capita terms anyway) or becoming a big power. We can lie low till our time comes. We can learn from our northern neighbour.
Jaithirth ‘Jerry’ Rao is a retired entrepreneur who lives in Lonavala. He has published three books: ‘Notes from an Indian Conservative’, ‘The Indian Conservative’, and ‘Economist Gandhi’. Views are personal.
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)

Courtesy: The Print

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