Washington: US vice-president Kamala Harris had to cast a tie-breaker vote to confirm the nomination of Indian-American Kiran Ahuja to head the Biden Administration’s Office of Personnel Management after a political stand-off that ignited a furious debate in the Senate on racism in America. The nomination of Ahuja, a 49-year-old attorney and daughter of immigrants from India, was opposed by Republican lawmakers who argued that her past record on critical race theory, the liberal academic movement that seeks to examine racism in the US, would infiltrate government policies, directives, and appointments.
“I’m worried that President Biden is nominating to federal office individuals who do not believe the history of this nation is worth celebrating... she (Ahuja) wrote that we must free the nation from the daily trials of white supremacy,” pro-Trump Senator Josh Hawley, said, describing critical race theory as an ideology “that says the US is rotten to its core. That says our society is defined by white supremacy. That thinks that all Americans are either oppressors or oppressed.”
After the Senate vote was tied, Harris had to step in to break the impasse to confirm Ahuja, who was the second Indian-American nominated to a key post after Neera Tanden’s nomination to the Office of Budget and Management was torpedoed by lawmakers. Ahuja had earlier served as the OPM’s chief of staff during the Obama administration.
The Biden administration’s choice of Ahuja came amid a roiling debate on critical race theory, which nativist Republicans say is divisive and false, but which most liberals argue needs to be discussed and taught in schools so that Americans confront racism they say has been glossed over for decades. The debate has drawn into the fold many Indian-Americans, who with some exceptions, have typically steered clear of racial justice issues in the past. But many nativist are outraged by efforts of the left-liberal constituency to mainstream critical race theories, including bringing it into school curricula. Over the weekend, America’s conservative constituency erupted in anger over a gay pride event in Seattle that sought to charge whites a “reparation fee” to attend a parade.
