Analysis | In the US, did ‘Howdy Modi’ rally turn Indian-Americans into Trump voters?

The Texas event may have changed some minds but Indian-Americans are primarily Democrats, and love for Narendra Modi doesn’t translate into love for Donald Trump’s immigration policies

Back home, the opposition has castigated Modi for breaking with tradition and seemingly endorsing a sitting US leader for re-election

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump speak to a crowd of over 50,000 at the “Howdy Modi” community summit in Houston, Texas. Photo: EPA

Published: 8:47pm, 25 Sep 2019Updated: 11:13pm, 25 Sep 2019

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s red-carpet welcome in Texas was unprecedented – not just in its scale for a foreign leader, but also for the way a sitting Indian leader seemingly endorsed a United States president for re-election.

Last Sunday’s “Howdy Modi” rally saw 50,000 Indian-Americans – some crossing state borders – gather at a stadium in Houston to see the premier praise Donald Trump.

“In the words of candidate Trump: abki baar Trump sarkar [this time, a Trump government],” Modi said with a smile, using a slogan the US president had used while campaigning before the Indian-American community in 2016.

The phrase is extrapolated from Modi’s own wildly successful 2014 campaign slogan, “Abki baar Modi sarkar”.

Yogesh Pandey, 47, a cybersecurity expert who attended the event in Texas – a key battleground state in the 2020 US election – said while he used to vote Democrat when former president Barack Obama was in office, the “mindset did change at the Howdy Modi event”.