America
We are not hyphenated Americans, but Americans, says Bobby Jindal
By
Arun KumarWashington, June 25
Louisiana's
Indian-American governor Piyush "Bobby"Jindal launched a historic bid
for the US presidency recalling his parents' journey to the land of
"real opportunities" yet seeking to distance himself from his heritage.
His
dad, who "grew up in a house without electricity or running water" and
"was the only person in his family to get past the 5th grade" and "mom
came to Louisiana because they believed in America," said Jindal
Wednesday announcing his bid for Republican nomination.
"And when
they got here they found that the legend was true," said Jindal, 44,
who became America's youngest governor when elected to his first term in
2007, standing before a before a giant American flag at an event
centre in the New Orleans suburb of Kenner as supporters waved "Geaux
Bobby" ( Go in French) signs.
"And they found that America is
indeed the land of the free and home of the brave," he said painting
himself as a doer among a crowd of talkers as he became the first
Indian-American and the 13th Republican to join the 2016 White House
race.
"The guy in the White House today is a great talker, and we
have a bunch of great talkers running for President," said Jindal
referring to President Barack Obama and his rivals. "We've had enough of
talkers, it's time for a doer. I'm not running for president to be
somebody, I'm running for President to do something."
But even as
he talked about his immigrant parents from Punjab "coming to an
idea...and that idea is America," he set himself against immigrants.
"We cannot allow people to immigrate to this country so that they can use our freedoms to undermine our freedoms."
"That's
exactly what has happened in Europe, where they have 2nd and 3rd
generations of immigrants who refuse to embrace the values and culture
of the countries they have moved into," Jindal said. "We must not let
that happen here."
And accusing Democratic frontrunner Hillary
Clinton of "already trying to divide us by ethnicity, by gender, and by
economic status," Jindal said: "As for me, I'm sick and tired of people
dividing Americans."
"And I'm done with all this talk about
hyphenated Americans. We are not Indian-Americans, Irish-Americans,
African-Americans, rich Americans, or poor Americans - we are all
Americans," he said returning to a now familiar campaign theme.
Jindal's
pronouncement came as no surprise to the over three million strong
Indian-American community, which gave enthusiastic support to his
Congressional and gubernatorial campaigns, but now feels alienated with
such talk.
As Pearson Cross, a political science professor at the
University of Louisiana at Lafayette who is writing a book on him told
the Washington Post: "There's not much Indian left in Bobby Jindal."
Once
considered a rising star of the Republican party, he has lost support
within his own party too which he once chided to stop being the "stupid
party.
In his announcement, he also took a swipe at Jeb Bush
suggesting that the Republican frontrunner was "saying that we need to
hide our conservative ideals. But the truth is, if we go down that road
again, we will lose again."
Jindal's entry into the race came two
days after a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll found him sharing the
bottom of a list of 16 candidates with zero percent of Republican
primary voters picking him as their top choice against Jeb Bush's 22
percent.
So much so that he faces the danger of being eliminated
from presidential primary debates starting August six as Fox News and
CNN are limiting the first two major debates to the top 10.
Time
magazine suggested Jindal faced an "uphill climb to the nomination", the
New York said "his bid appears to be a long shot", while the Washington
Post in an editorial said Jindal had "lost his way" and Republican
primary voters seeking a winner would be "more interested in a governor
with a stronger record."
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at [email protected])