Discussing the Indian Lobby
Ibrahim Safi – The Public Trust
As of 2026, there is a growing awareness towards AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) and its influence in American politics, especially regarding American foreign policy [1]. The resulting American involvement in the Middle East via war and interventions, as well as near-unconditional support for Israel, has resulted in an increasing backlash towards AIPAC and its affiliated groups. Younger demographics are especially critical, often seeking increased sovereignty for the US and objecting to the nature of the Israeli state and the Zionist vision for which it is the vessel [1]. Increasingly, a question is being asked by more and more Americans: How much of the American government is under the sovereign control of the American people, and how much does foreign influence impact policymaking? One group that has been scrutinized recently is USINPAC (United States India Public Action Committee). Commonly known as ‘the Indian lobby,’ USINPAC was founded in 2002 by Sanjay Puri and Vikram Chauhan with a stated purpose to represent the Indian-American community [2]. However, in practice, it is an organization that lobbies for the Indian government’s interests [3].
USINPAC’s website clearly states that its objectives are to boost US-India defense and trade relations, increase immigration quotas and availability for Indian citizens, support Indian origin candidates for American political, judicial and executive offices, and bolster US support for Indian geopolitical interests [2]. The last point is key as, for most of India’s post-independence history, the US allied with Pakistan against the USSR whilst India allied with the USSR [4]. Following the end of the Cold War, the US took a more neutral stance, encouraging a diplomatic solution while remaining highly critical of Indian human rights abuses in Kashmir, particularly against Kashmir’s Muslim majority [5]. However, in the past decade, the US has become increasingly silent on the Kashmir issue, even as abuses increased under the BJP government, the ruling party of India which propagates the Hindu Supremacy ideology. Their tacit agenda is to suppress, replace, or cleanse the Muslim population of Kashmir. This objective is also becoming the case for Muslim and Christian populations across India [4]. According to Jaideep Singh, this change in foreign policy stances is a result of USINPAC lobbying, turning a hostile relationship into a tacit partnership between the two nations [3]. Additional achievements of USINPAC towards US policy include cutting US aid for Pakistan (previously considered US allies), brokering the US-India civil nuclear cooperation agreement [6], funding a US consulate in Hyderabad aimed towards helping Indian citizens attain visas to enter the US, getting India excluded from the DHS special registration for immigration program, increasing Indian inclusion in H1B programs (Indian citizens make up ~70% of H1B visa holders as of 2025) [7,8], as well as classifying Kashmiri independence groups as terrorist organizations, tacitly delegitimizing their cause and labeling them as Pakistani proxies in front of the international community [3].
These actions, however, are typical of public action committees of foreign countries, as seen in AIPAC. But what truly makes the case of USINPAC and the broader scope of affiliated organizations unique is the involvement of diasporic politics involving the domestic politics of both India as well as their host countries [3]. One key organization is OFBJP (Overseas Friends of the Bharatiya Janata Party). Affiliated with the ruling party of India (though avoiding using ‘BJP’ as part of their name in public documents to circumvent legal issues), the OFBJP claims to be a communal and activist group; however, in actuality, they are foreign proxies of the BJP [9]. According to OFBJP-USA’s own charter and website, their explicit goals are to foster US-Indian strategic initiatives, promote a positive image of India and the BJP (tacitly the fascist inspired Hindutva) to the American public, and increase the presence of Indian national media. One of their main successes was facilitating the collection of remittances as well as political donations from the Indian-American community [3]. According to the IOM’s World Migration Report, the IRS surmises that a traceable flow of 150 billion USD had been donated from the US to the Sangh Parivar (Hindutva organizations) [10]. However, the total amount donated remains unknown and can only be surmised, as undisclosed channels (often including charitable donations, informal fundraising, family foundations and remittances, OFBJP networks, and electoral bonds) cannot be counted [10]. A natural question arises, as we do not often see other diasporic groups donating billions of dollars towards the political machinations in their countries. Yet it appears society as a whole has taken no issue that vast sums of money, money that could be reinvested into the US to grow the local economy, is being donated towards political campaigns, in this case to a political organization that has explicitly taken inspiration from Nazism [11]. Lastly, as discussed in a previous article, there is an increasing Hindutva presence in the US. The Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS), which is largely being facilitated by organizations such as OFBJP, actively promotes RSS ideology and politics in the US, eliciting further support for RSS operations in India [3]. Given USINPAC’s repeated hosting of BJP officials and their cooperating on multiple occasions with OFBJP-USA, it is fair to assume that many interests are shared between the organizations. The actions of OFBJP-USA fall under the broader Indian lobby [3].
According to former US Consul to India Mahvash Siddiqui, an inchoate crisis with H1B fraud, particularly from India, with around 80-90% of H1B applications being fraudulent [12]. With many of the H1B candidates contributing large donations back to India, the Hindutva groups are strengthened, allowing for their vision to be carried out.
We must ask ourselves if this is something we can accept. In 2024, remittances alone made up 3.5% of the Indian national GDP [13], and this figure only seems to be increasing. Should we as Americans accept the fact that Indian politics is increasingly being imported into the US? Should we accept that Indian lobbying groups are increasingly influencing our government to get involved on behalf of not just India but also the fascist RSS [11]? Should we accept that billions of dollars that could be invested in industry and jobs in the US are instead leaving our country to fund activities that our government, only 30 years ago, considered acts of terrorism [14]?
Sources
1. Gallup. "Israelis No Longer Ahead in Americans' Middle East Sympathies." Gallup, 2026, news.gallup.com/poll/702440/israelis-no-longer-ahead-americans-middle-east-sympathies.aspx. 2. "About Us." USINPAC, usinpac.com/about/. 3. Dargan, Jaideep Singh. "Ethnic Lobbying and Alliance Formation: USINPAC and the Evolution of the U.S.-India Bilateral Relationship." MA thesis, Georgetown University, 2011, repository.digital.georgetown.edu/downloads/cdb09232-f818-4e9b-a6a9-c2db27fabe79. 4. Stimson Center. "Revive the South Asia Strategy." Stimson Center, 2025, stimson.org/2024/revive-the-south-asia-strategy/. 5. U.S. Department of State. "2024 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: India." U.S. Department of State, 2024, state.gov/reports/2024-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/india. 6. Marwaha, Sanjay. "USINPAC and the U.S.-India Nuclear Deal: Lasting Influence or One Shot Victory?" Journal of South Asian and Middle East Studies, 2009, researchgate.net/publication/44117816_USINPAC_and_the_US-India_Nuclear_Deal_Lasting_Influence_or_One_Shot_Victory. 7. "Achievements." USINPAC, usinpac.com/about-us/about-us-about-us/achievements/. 8. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. "Characteristics of H-1B Specialty Occupation Workers: Fiscal Year 2024." USCIS, 2025, uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/reports/ola_signed_h1b_characteristics_congressional_report_FY24.pdf. 9. "About Us." Overseas Friends of BJP – USA, ofbjp.org/. 10. McAuliffe, Megan, and L. A. Oucho, eds. World Migration Report 2024. International Organization for Migration, 2024, publications.iom.int/books/world-migration-report-2024. 11. Golwalkar, Madhav Sadashiv. We or Our Nationhood Defined. Bharat Publications, 1939.Chaudhary, Neha, and Saarang Narayan. "Hindutva in the Shadow of the Mahatma: M. S. Golwalkar, M. K. Gandhi, and the RSS in Postcolonial India." Modern Asian Studies, vol. 58, no. 4, 2024, pp. 885–911. 12. Siddiqui, Mahvash. "'Industrialized' Fraud in the H-1B Visa Program." Parsing Immigration Policy, episode 231, Center for Immigration Studies, 20 Nov. 2025, cis.org/Parsing-Immigration-Policy/Industrialized-Fraud-H1B-Visa-Program. 13. World Bank. "Remittances (% of GDP) – India." World Bank Open Data, data.worldbank.org/indicator/DC.DAC.TOTL.ZS. 14. U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. 2026 Annual Report on International Religious Freedom. USCIRF, 4 Mar. 2026, uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/2026-03/USCIRF_2026_AR_3326_NEW.pdf.
