Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: More than Indians, it is the Pakistanis who keep a sharp eye on how India-born experts have grabbed top positions in global organizations, be they in the social media, academia, or technology behemoths—Google, Microsoft, Twitter, etc. The latest grouse of some Pakistanis is that now a bankrupt Islamabad may have to beg before Gita Gopinath, the Indian-born American economist recently elevated as the First Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Gopinath, 50, was the IMF’s Chief Economist until last month when she decided to return to academia as a Professor at Harvard University. The IMF, to keep the eminent economist, promptly promoted her to the second-highest office.
But these are relatively ‘minor’ achievements of the Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) or the Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs), although they are the first batch of truly ‘Global Indians’ in the 21st century.
These Indian-born leaders’ mettle would now be really tested in the USA and the UK where they are likely to take a shot at the top political offices—President of the United States, and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
In the US, its 49th Vice-President Kamala Devi Harris, 57, who took office with President Joe Biden in January 2021, is being seen to succeed President Joe Biden as the next person to occupy The White House, maybe in 2025.
She is the first woman, ‘colored’ Vice-President, and the highest-ranking female official in U.S. history, as well as the first Asian-American, to hold this second-highest office in Washington.
But her many qualifications have got her enemies as well, in her own Democratic Party and outside. These enemies include misogynists, Christian fundamentalists, White Supremacists, and, of course, the Republicans. Her supporters rue she had been ‘deliberately’ handed responsibilities—like handling the sensitive issues of illegal migrants into the USA—where she might not deliver as expected. If these failures pile up, her opponents may deny her nomination to the top office.
In the UK, the case is slightly different. Rishi Sunak, Chancellor of the Exchequer (Finance Minister) is now being considered replacing incumbent Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who routinely gets embroiled in controversies.
Recently, Johnson ran into political trouble when he got embroiled in a “Bring Your Own Booze” scandal—a liquor party despite the ongoing public restrictions in Omicron times when millions of Britons are battling Covid-19.
Rishi Sunak, 41, is the son-in-law of Infosys founder N R Narayana Murthy.
Even if Kamala Harris and Rishi Sunak do not make it to the top office, the fact that they are being seen in the reckoning is proof enough that India-born people are getting their place in the sun, even being tipped to hold the highest offices in the countries they adopted as home.
And this is only a beginning….