Ro Khanna, the newly-elected Congressman from California’s 17th District, will represent the voice of Silicon Valley in U.S. policy making, but the 40-year-old grandson of an Indian freedom fighter believes his role should not be limited to that.
It is in his District that Tesla, Apple, Intel, Yahoo and eBay are headquartered and Mr. Khanna believes convincing the Valley’s technology giants to set up shop and create jobs in the hinterland of America must be the focus of his legislative career.
“I had great admiration for my grandfather, Amarnath Vidyalankar. He made great halwa and told me stories from the Mahabharata, taught me the value of public service and human rights,” Mr. Khanna said in a conversation with The Hindu on Thursday, at a restaurant on Capitol Hill. Vidyalankar spent four years in jail as a freedom fighter and later became a member of Indian Parliament. Grandson of an Indian freedom fighter representing the Silicon Valley in the U.S. Congress is what Mr. Khanna would call a reversal “of the colonial model of the world”.
Innovation economy
Two unsuccessful runs for Congress brought him closer to the people and made him successful the third time. “I was always very excited about growth and innovation and technology. But then I realised even in my district there are people left behind by these trends. I won by focusing on who the technology revolution was leaving behind.
“By saying that yes, we need innovation, but we also need equity. We have to have inclusion... technology is displacing jobs. We need to help people get the skills and tools to compete in this innovation economy.”
Mr. Khanna said technology companies are also increasingly sensitive to the political reality of America. “They are very sensitive… Especially after this election. That is the central challenge — how do we bring these jobs to middle America... how do we bring innovation and jobs to parts of the country that don’t have them. How do we convince Apple. Google, Cisco and Yahoo to invest in Ohio, Michigan and Indiana... How do we educate the workforce there?”
Mr. Khanna had the backing of investor Marc Andreessen, Yahoo’s Marissa Mayer, Salesforce’s Marc Benioff and Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg during the campaign.
The Congressman, however, does not think companies can be forced to stay in the U.S. defying factors of competitiveness that force them to manufacture overseas. “I think we need to create new jobs in robotics, artificial intelligence, computer engineering…We will have to figure out how Apple and Intel and Google and Yahoo to create jobs in middle America. How [to] educate people with skills that are needed to do these jobs. We need to bring these innovation clusters to more parts of the country that have been left behind. They have to help build this country’s economy.”
He is of the belief that his political ideas will have the backing of the Democratic Party. “That is the right policy for the country, and that is the right political strategy for the party.”
Mr. Khanna is a practising Hindu and is proud of his identity as an Indian American. In one of the most diverse Congressional districts in the U.S., he says his identity favoured him. “Indian Americans are treated with a lot of respect.”
He has visited India many times, spending summer holidays at the family home in Nizamuddin in Delhi. “I have great pride in my heritage and of course my faith.”
On the question of H-IB visa programme that brings a lot of Indian IT workers to America — which is likely to be reviewed by the incoming administration, Mr. Khanna said: “We have to reform the process. We have to plug the loopholes, make sure that people are not exploited, and are paid the market wages. We need to develop computer engineers and talent in the United States. We also have to be welcoming to immigrants. And it is a balance.”
Mr. Khanna thinks the anti-immigration rhetoric that dominated the recent election campaign is a passing phase. “We are the most diverse Congress in the country’s history. And my district is the future of America, which is incredibly diverse. I don’t think what we are seeing is an anti-immigration sentiment as much as it an economic anxiety. We have to show the new jobs and new opportunities are available for everyone. That is the antidote,” he said.
