Washington: Nikki Haley, the Indian-origin former governor of South Carolina and ex-ambassador to the United Nations, has announced her candidature for the Republican presidential nomination for the 2024 polls.
On Tuesday, in a video posted on her social media handles, Haley – who was born Nimrata Nikki Randhawa to Sikh parents – acknowledged her Indian roots, spoke of her political beliefs that resonate with the Republican base, attacked President Joe Biden and the “socialist left”, called out Russia, China and Iran, and declared that she was running for president. With her announcement, Haley has become the second Republican leader to announce her bid, challenging her former boss, Donald Trump who declared his candidacy last November.
With an image of Bamberg, the small town in South Carolina where she was born and grew up, Haley said, “The railroad tracks divided the town by race. I was the proud daughter of Indian immigrants. Not Black. Not White. I was different. But my mom would always say that your job is not to focus on the differences but the similarities. And my parents reminded me and my siblings every day how blessed we were to live in America.”
With the images in the background shifting to the 1619 project (a critique that points to the racist underpinning of American nationhood and has riled Republicans), a poster that read “racism is a pandemic” and of Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (a Democratic socialist Congresswoman), Haley then changed track, spoke to her party’s base and defended the American project.
“Some look at our past as evidence that America’s founding principles are bad. They say the promise of freedom is just made up. Some think our ideas are not just wrong but racist and evil. Nothing could be further from the truth. I have seen evil. In China, they commit genocide. In Iran, they murder their own people for challenging the government…Even on our worst day, we are blessed to live in America”.
Haley then spoke of her South Carolina roots and hailed the governance and economic record of the state where she served as governor.
Haley then made her case for the nomination. “Republicans have lost the popular vote in seven out of the last eight presidential elections. That has to change. Joe Biden’s record is abysmal. But that shouldn’t come as a surprise. The Washington establishment has failed us over and over again.”
With the background image moving to her greeting citizens, Haley said it was now time for new generation of leadership “to rediscover fiscal responsibility, secure our border and strengthen our country, pride and purpose”. She said that some people looked at America and saw vulnerability, the “socialist left” saw an opportunity to “rewrite history”, and China and Russia were “on the march” and thought US could be “bullied and kicked around”.
“You should know this about me. I don’t put up with bullies. And when you kick back, it hurts more if you are wearing heels. I am Nikki Haley and I am running for President.”
Democrats immediately attacked Haley, with Democrat National Committee chairman Jaime Harrison saying that Haley had served in Trump’s administration, embraced the “Maga agenda” (a reference to the Make America Great Again slogan that Trump deployed and Democrats use to point to extremism) and couldn’t identify a single policy difference with Trump’s agenda.
“Her governorship in South Carolina included signing an extreme abortion ban into law with no exceptions for rape or incest, endorsing a plan to end Medicare as we know it, pushing for tax cuts that benefit the ultra wealthy and corporations, and refusing to expand Medicaid to provide affordable health care access for hundreds of thousands of South Carolinians,” said Harrison. He added that Haley’s entry was the beginning of a “messy” 2024 primary race for the Maga base.
