WASHINGTON: In a historic breakthrough for Indian-Americans, five from the community were sworn in as members of the US Congress. All of them are Democrats, and three for them are from California. Kamala Harris will become the first to become a Senator. Meanwhile, Ami Bera, the only Indian-American in the 435-member House of Representatives, got re-elected last November and will be joined by the other four.
The others include Ro Khanna from California, Raja Krishnamoorthi from Illinois and Pramila Jayapal from Washington state. Harris, whose parents are from Chennai and Jamaica, represents both- the Indian-American and the African-American community. She was administered the oath of office by Vice President Joseph Biden, when she swore on a copy of the Holy Bible held by her husband Doug Emhoff.
In members of the 115th Congress, 91 per cent identify as Christians. Among the 293 Republicans elected to serve this term, just two identify as Jews- Lee Zelding of New York and David Kustoff of Tennessee. Both serve in the House. Democrats are also overwhelmingly Christian, but there is more religious diversity on this side. Among the 242 Democrats in the Congress, there are 28 Jews, three Buddhists, three Hindus, two Muslims, and one Unitarian Universalist. There is also one member who identifies herself as religiously unaffiliated- Kyrsten Sinema from Arizona.
While Bera and Khanna are US-born (Los Angeles and Philadelphia respectively), Pramila Jayapal and Raja Krishnamoorthi are India-born (Chennai and New Delhi respectively). Krishnamoorthi has an engineering degree from Princeton and a law degree from Harvard, and Jayapal has an MBA from NorthWestern University. Both have done immense community work.
But the star of the line-up is Kamala Harris (law degree from University of California), who served as the state's attorney general and is now the junior Senator from California. A rising star in the Democratic Party, she is already being spoken of as the next generation of the party's leadership even as Clintons and Obamas fade into dusk.
