Jindal's election brought jubilation to many Indian-Americans, who viewed it as the emergence of a new era for the community in terms of their political empowerment.

Jindal, a Republican, will be the first non-white governor of Louisiana since Reconstruction once he takes oath of office in January and the first South-Asian to be elected as the governor in the U.S.

He won the race in his second attempt, after losing out narrowly to the outgoing Governor, Kathleen Blanco, in a closely contested election four years ago.

''Let's give our homeland, the great state of Louisiana, a fresh start,'' Jindal told his supporters in a victory rally soon after. At present a Congressman in the House of Representative, where he was elected for the second consecutive term last year, Jindal would now become the youngest current Governor of a US State. After Dilip Singh Saund (1957 to 1963), Jindal is only the second Indian-American Congressman.

Election results indicated that Jindal won more than 53% of the total votes, far ahead of his nearest competitor Democrat Walter Boasso (18%), followed by Independent John Georges (14%) and Democrat Foster Campbell (13%).

''This is something, we all should take pride in and we should celebrate his success because this leads to many opportunities for others who are coming down the road, specially the youngsters,'' Upendra Chivukula, the first and only South Asian Congressman in the New Jersey State Assembly told NDTV.Com.

Besides Jindal's charismatic personality, his track record in serving the state in various capacities in the past several years, observers said was mainly instrumental in his victory.

Even before the elections, he was considered to be the frontrunner among all the 12 candidates in fray. ''His ability and his track record in Louisiana that he fixed the health care system among other things,'' said Chivukula is one of the major factors for his historic election. ''Secondly, he also did quite well at the national level as a lawmaker representing his constituency in the Congress,'' he said.

''Finally Louisiana is considered to be having a lot of problem after Hurricane Katrina. New Orleans area in particular had tremendous problem. People were looking for a new leadership. They are hoping that Bobby Jindal would provide that leadership,'' Chivukula said explaining the reasons for Jindal's victory.

Rooting out corruption and providing an effective administration were some of his election promises, which observers said led him to victory. ''Louisiana is soon going to be on the rise,'' Jindal said after his election.

Jindal's election becomes more significant, considering that Louisiana does not have a large Indian-American population unlike some of the major States like New York, New Jersey, California, Illinois and Texas.

''America is a land of opportunity. When there is someone qualified like Bobby Jindal - irrespective of his ethnicity, people are willing to give a chance because of his ability to run the State Government,'' Chivukula said.

Terming it as a historic occasion, Jay Chaudhari, president of the Indian-American Leadership Initiative told NDTV.Com: ''We believe that Jindal's status (as Governor) would attract attention of Indian Americans in prominent roles.''

However, Chaudhari was quick to caution Jindal on his social policies like mandatory prayers in schools, which he said could affect Indian Americans.

''We hope that he proceeds with caution on his social policies which may be troubling to some Indian Americans,'' he said.

Son of immigrant Indians, Amar and Raj Jindal, Piyush ''Bobby'' Jindal converted from Hinduism to Christianity as a teenager.

Born on June 10, 1971 in Baton Rouge, Jindal was Indian American Person of the year in 2005. At the age of 24, he was appointed as the Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, in which capacity he fixed the health care system of the State.

In 2001, Bush appointed him Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services for Planning and Evaluation. He held this post till 2003.

Source: USAToday, October 1, 2007 [ return to top ]