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No more career politics: Why some Indian Americans are betting on Trump

Supporting Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's vision on immigration and terrorism, prominent Indian-Americans have said the mood in the US is "anti-establishment"

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump (Reuters)
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump (Reuters)
Press Trust of India Washington
Last Updated : Oct 24 2016 | 11:45 AM IST
 Supporting Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's vision on immigration and terrorism, prominent Indian-Americans have said the mood in the US is "anti-establishment" and the country cannot afford any more of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton's "bad judgements".

The current mood not only in America but across the world is "anti-establishment", said eminent New York attorney Anand Ahuja, Vice President of political action committee 'Indian- Americans For Trump 2016'.

"People are sick of career politicians. Regime change is the call of the day, if we take that into consideration, there is possibility that Trump will be president," he said.

Trump is being projected as anti-immigrant but the New York-based billionaire is not against legal immigration but illegal immigrants, Ahuja said.

"Trump is saying that we should stop illegal immigration and the waiting period from the front door should be reduced.

Why should legal immigrants have to wait for so long to come (and settle) in this country," Ahuja said.

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Renowned attorney Rajiv Khanna said Trump, as a president, would be a good partner for India, particularly in the issue of dealing with terrorism which is the number one problem in the world and Trump is the right person to deal with it.

"Trump may not be politically correct always but he understands what radical Islam is doing to this world," he said, citing Trump's comments that Muslims in the US have to be the "eyes and ears" and report any suspicious behaviour.

"I am not one of the people who believes that you should ignore a problem. If the problem is there the problem is there. I do believe that radical Islam is bad for the world, not just for India and the US, but it is bad for the world. It needs to be dealt with and addressed," Khanna said.

He does not condone Trump's behaviour towards women and that he needs to change in this regard, Khanna said, adding that while Bill Clinton is one of his all time favourite presidents, he is not proud of his record with women either.

"If you look for perfection in a presidential candidate then we would get mediocrity and with (Hillary) Clinton that is what we get - mediocrity. She has poor judgement, she defines her job very narrowly. She pushed us into the Iraq war which was a bad judgement," he said.

Khanna said Clinton's handling of the emails was a bad judgement as is her proposal to let Syrian refugees in the country without proper screening.

"Bad judgement after bad judgement. I do not think this country can take more bad judgements. I respect Clinton, I think she tries hard but she just has bad judgement," he said, adding that the election is going to be a close one and Trump still has a chance to win.

"I think he (Trump) does have a chance and I hope he makes it," Khanna said.

Ahuja said Trump has been in the favour of increasing the Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) category from the current 20,000 limit to about 50,000.
Such a move could benefit Indian students who are among the majority in the US pursuing higher education in the STEM fields, Ahuja said.

There is anger among Americans that illegal immigrants are taking away jobs but Trump is in favour of competent and well- educated people coming and settling in the country, he said.

Trump has described Indian students as brilliant who after studying in the US return to their country and set up businesses, Ahuja said.'

"Trump has questioned why the US cannot absorb these students, why you let them go back to their countries. There should be some system by which we can absorb them here in the US," Ahuja added, adding that the liberal media and Democrats do not want to discuss real issues affecting the common man in day to day life.
"They are beating around the bush and everyday bring up something against Trump," he added.

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First Published: Oct 24 2016 | 11:33 AM IST

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