Former US President Donald Trump has coined a slogan in Hindi hailing the India-US friendship in an attempt to woo Indian-American voters ahead of the mid-term elections in November.
Trump in a video clip released by the Republican Hindu Coalition (RHC) says "Bharat and America sabse achhe dost". It translates to "India and the United States are best friends".
In the 30-second clip, Trump is seen with his supporter and Chicago businessman Shalabh Kumar of RHC. He appears to be rehearsing the slogan.
The new slogan is inspired by the phenomenal success of the 2016 slogan of Trump in Hindi "Abki Baar Trump Sarkar" [This time it's Trump government] which had caught the imagination of the Indian-Americans then and had played a key part in his victories in some of the key swing states.
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Kumar, who has been instrumental in both Trump’s slogans "Abki Baar Trump Sarkar" and "Bharat and America sabse achhe dost", told PTI in an interview this week that he and the RHC plan to run Trump's latest slogan in the ethnic Indian media to gain Indian-American support and vote for Republicans the November 8 mid-term elections.
"The end goal is to heavily support five [Republican] candidates for Senate" where the margin of victory is going to be "less than 50,000 votes. Some might be even 10,000 votes or 5,000 votes," Kumar said
These Senate races are in the states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin, Arizona and Georgia, he said, adding that the small Hindu community in these states can make that difference.
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"The Hindu vote will make the difference. That's the biggest block of independent voters. We are going to have a [national] campaign [with focus on these states] which is going to be close to what the 2016 campaign was," said Kumar.
Kumar and the RHC were an important part of Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. However, the two fell apart in the 2020 presidential elections.
Kumar told PTI that early this year he met Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida on March 21. There have been a few meetings after that as well.
Indian-Americans comprise slightly more than 1 per cent of the total US population and less than 1 per cent of all registered voters. Trump is targeting those voters with Hindus in particular.
Political observers and the latest polls indicate that Republicans are most likely to regain the majority in the House of Representatives whereas Democrats are expected to control the Senate.
Democrats are favoured to win the Senate with the post-election tally of 48-54 seats out of 100 and Republicans are expected to win the House with a post-election tally of 208-45 seats out of 435, according to the Polling forecaster and analysis wesbite FiveThirtyEight.
"Democrats currently have a lead in the race for Senate. This is in part because in few key races, Republicans have selected weak candidates...Things have improved for the Democrats in the House, though they are still underdogs. Following the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe Vs Wade, polls in the Congress have inched towards Democrats," said FiveThirtyEight.
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(With PTI inputs)
