For Modi, Houston guaranteed a huge turnout of Indian Americans. Trump may need them to win Texas in 2020 | The Indian Express

For Modi, Houston guaranteed a huge turnout of Indian Americans. Trump may need them to win Texas in 2020 | The Indian Express

Written by Ashutosh Varshney |Updated: October 5, 2019 11:26:02 am

The writer is Sol Goldman Professor of International Studies and the Social Sciences at Brown University, where he also directs the Center for Contemporary South Asia at the Watson Institute. He is a contributing editor for The Indian Express.

For Modi, Houston guaranteed a huge turnout of Indian Americans. Trump may need them to win Texas in 2020

Indian Americans are perhaps not more than 4,00,000 in number, but if Texas becomes a “swing” or “battleground” state, ready for a political flip, even such small numbers might ultimately matter.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with US President Donald Trump at the “Howdy Modi: Shared Dreams, Bright Futures” event at NRG Stadium on September 22, 2019. (AP)

That Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally in Houston, Texas, was a grand spectacle is beyond doubt. But grandeur aside, there are some questions that require fuller answers.