http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/ashley-tellis-goa-diaspora-rising/articleshow/56688651.cms
A few days from now, the Trump administration is expected to name Ashley Tellis as US Ambassador to India. With his brash promises to tear up and renegotiate existing treaties and agreements, President Trump is causing much heartburn in many countries. But when it comes to India, he promises better days are ahead. Although it's yet to be seen whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi can recapture the open-armed warmth he shared with outgoing President Obama, the appointment of Tellis - a Mumbai-born Bandra boy (with Goan roots) - would be an excellent portent. The Senior Fellow of Carnegie Endowment for International Peace is a foreign policy veteran with deep experience of connecting India and the USA. He's the best possible choice for these uncertain times. If it happens, the Tellis appointment will be just one part of an impressive surge to the political front lines by a new generation of Indian Americans. For decades, Indians in the USA were distinguished by the highest levels of income and education of any ethnic group. Still, none of that translated into the public sphere. But the same national elections that turned up Trump also saw Kamala Harris become the first Indian-American in the US Senate (her mother was from Tamil Nadu). Then, even before inauguration, the new President named Nimrata (Nikki) Haley his Ambassador to the United Nations. Just 44 years old, Haley was previously the youngest governor in the USA, a daughter of Sikh parents elected rather remarkably from the extremely conservative state of South Carolina. Four other Indians are in this US Congress, including dynamic 40-year-old Ro Khanna, who represents Silicon Valley. Much is being made of the fact that Indian-Americans in politics are finally coming around to something like proportionate demographic representation. There are now probably around three million of them in the USA, or roughly one per cent of the population. Now one per cent of Congress is Indian-American. But there's nothing similarly commensurate about the emergence of Ashley Tellis. Goans are a negligibly minuscule segment of the Indian diaspora. Even in India, they are a barely measurable 0.1% of the population. Yet, in every sphere of measurable achievement, this minority within a minority makes its presence felt with accomplishments far disproportionate to numbers. Across the Atlantic in the UK, the Goa diaspora is particularly dramatically over-represented in the political sphere. Labour Party grandee Keith Vaz has represented Leicester East since 1987. He's the longest serving "Asian" Member of Parliament ever, a member of the prestigious Privy Council and a former minister for Europe. His sister, Valerie Vaz was elected MP from Walsall South in 2010. She is also vice chairwoman of the Labour Parliamentary Party. Across the aisle is the vivacious Suella Fernandes, who was elected from Fareham in the Conservative Party wave that overwhelmed the British political sphere in 2015. A lawyer educated at Cambridge University and the Sorbonne, Fernandes was a prominent voice in favour of Brexit, the controversial withdrawal from European Union, which the UK public voted for in 2016. In the Lusosphere, there are many examples of Goans in top-flight politics. Last week, Antonio Costa made a joyous trip to his homeland, but two other Goans previously briefly held the office of prime minister of Portugal. There is also Jorge Barreto Xavier, who served as equivalent of culture minister of Portugal. He, too, made a symbolically important return to Goa recently, debuting a photo exhibition and delivering the keynote address at the Goa Arts and Literature Festival 2016. Across in Macau, the sole non-Chinese member of the legislative assembly is Jose Pereira Coutinho, who spearheads the only pro-democracy party in the territory. In recent years, the young democracies in Timor and Mozambique both featured senior ministers of Goan descent. All this spectacular contemporary political legacy inevitably comes into sharp focus when Goa prepares to go to the polls. Two facts become painfully clear. The first is the unaccountable chasm between diaspora and state affairs. In other parts of India - notably Gujarat and Punjab - successful sons and daughters of the culture are welcomed to have a positive effect in their ancestral land. Not so in Goa, where the local politicians prefer to tend a cesspool that only suits them. But the bigger issue is the sheer quality of candidates. Even by the extraordinarily poor standards of the rest of India, the state political sphere is an endless lineup of duds and the dubious. This year there is a fresh element, but will it manage to break through the morass?