Washington: Presidential candidate Joe Biden’s campaign Thursday announced launch of its outreach to the influential Indian-Americans in 14 languages. The move reflected the, reflecting the linguistic diversity of an ethnic voting community. Both Joe Biden and President Donald Trump are seeking the Indian-American votes in key battleground states. Among the languages Biden is using there is Oriya too.
For instance, “America Ka Neta Kaisa Ho, Jo Biden Jaisa Ho,” (America’s leader needs to be like Biden). This line has been picked from a popular electioneering slogan from the world’s largest democracy, India.
Opposition Democratic Party’s election slogan in 14 Indian languages comes four years after the phenomenal success of Trump campaign. In the 2016 election campaign, the slogan, ‘Ab Ki Trump Sarkar’ (This time, Trump government) became very popular. This slogan was on the lines of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 2014 election catch-line ‘Ab Ki Baar Modi Sarkaar’.
Ajay Bhutoria is the national finance committee member for ‘Biden for President 2020’. He said the campaign is planning to reach out to the Indian-American voters in their own languages. Currently Bhutoria is collaborating with the ‘Biden Asian American and Pacific Islander’ (AAPI) Team to communicate directly with Indian-Americans. They are doing so in more than 14 languages including Hindi, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Urdu , Kannada, Malayalee, Oriya, Marathi and Nepali.
Bhutoria, in a statement, acknowledged that this is influenced by his upbringing in India. There elections are community celebrations, with catchy slogans and rallies featuring Bollywood music on loudspeakers.
The slogan ‘America Ka Neta Kaisa Ho Joe Biden Jaisa Ho’ has been created with a specific aim. It has been done to generate similar enthusiasm among Indian-American voters in the United States. The presidential elections are scheduled for November 3. Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee, is challenging Republican incumbent Donald Trump.
Bhutoria hoped that his digital outreach will motivate more Indian-Americans to become engaged in politics. Hence they will register to vote, and cast their ballots for former vice-president Biden this November.
“The Biden campaign felt that there was a need to create campaign graphics in regional Indian languages. This is because our diverse community feels even more connected to Joe Biden,” said Neha Dewan, national director, ‘South Asians for Biden’.
“As vice-president, Biden often reminds us that immigrants are a core chapter of the American story. ‘Our country’s ability to draw hard-working people from every culture and every nation has always made us stronger’,” said Dewan.