Jiten Agarwal, a prominent Indian American business and community leader and CEO of QuantAi, a global data and AI company, is one of the hosts of a high-profile reception for Republican Presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump, later this week in Houston, Texas.
Not surprisingly, the reception has a fund-raising component to it, with the US Presidential election, which remains too close to call between Democratic candidate and US Vice-President Kamala Harris and Trump, coming up next month.“The event is expected to raise over $5 million. There is a lot of support and contributions, for the event, from Americans; with only a few big Indian American donors including Swapnil Agarwal, CEO & managing partner Nitya Capital, Houston,” Agarwal, who had earlier hosted a fund-raiser for Republican vice-presidential nominee J.D. Vance, told the Times of India.
“There is a lot of support for Republican Party within the Indian American community, especially among business owners and CEOs, of both small and large businesses. The establishment dislikes Trump and Trump voters dislike the establishment. Hence ‘support for Trump’ is tough ball game. Like mainstream American community, there are some conservatives within the Indian American community who are Trump’s staunch supporters, while other traditional conservatives do not like him at all. However, all agree that the Republicans are needed to win and govern the country now,” Agarwal said about his support for the Republican Presidential nominee.
He feels that the upcoming US Presidential election is not about choosing the most likable person but about choosing between two vastly different ideologies and policy framework including US foreign policy in the current decade of conflicts. “Trump, during his past presidential tenure between 2016 and 2020, has proven that his administration can deliver on immigration, foreign policy, world peace, law and order, and domestic economy in an effective manner. There was no major conflict during the Trump administration, and America was on a path to prosperity until the pandemic hit in 2020,” Agarwal said. He added that the current situation, under the Biden/Harris administration, since 2020 in USA has been marked by chaos during withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, handling of Russia-Ukraine war, Israel-Hamas conflict, high inflation, huge influx of illegal immigrants in US and bumps in US-India relations. “A weak foreign policy has emboldened America’s foes. Switching Biden for another progressive candidate, Kamala Harris, is not going to solve the problem. I always support capitalism and have almost no appreciation for the policies of liberals leaning towards the extreme Left, especially profligate spending that has produced the highest inflation in 40 years. Given the choice of the two Presidential candidates this year, we need to think about the country we want to leave to our next generations, before voting,” he said.
Having worked closely with the campaign of Indian American Republican Presidential candidate and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, before she dropped out of the race, Agarwal feels that her campaign did not resonate among the Indian community in the US. “I do not think that Haley dropping out has had any impact. It was not easy to gather support for her from the Indian American community as many did not consider her a visionary leader and a strong contender against Trump. She offered a good conservative alternative in my opinion, but there was nothing new she had to offer. People perceived her as an establishment candidate and perception plays an important role in politics. If she had been picked by Trump as a VP candidate, a much wider support for the Trump ticket, from the Indian American community, was likely,” he said.
Though Agarwal has hosted an event in support of the Republican vice-presidential candidate, he has not interacted with Vance’s Indian American wife Usha Chilukuri Vance and feels that she is not actively involved in her husband’s campaign. “Vance spoke very highly about her during my personal interaction with him. He owes his success to his wife and appreciates the values Usha [Vance] represents having grown up in a Hindu household. J.D. Vance is highly impressed by Hinduism. He had a separate Hindu ceremony officiated by a Hindu priest, honouring his wife’s cultural heritage at his wedding. He talked about the shared principles that guide their family life despite their diverse religious backgrounds,” Agarwal said.