Haley, the former governor of South Carolina and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, was born Nimrata Randhawa to Indian immigrants from Punjab and goes by the childhood nickname “Nikki.” She’s private about her Sikh background and emphasizes her conversion to Christianity. She even listed her race as “white” on a 2001 voter registration card.
-NBC News
[…]
Jindal — born Piyush, not Bobby — has dismissed his Indian identity at times, rejecting the label “Indian American” and referring to his skin tone as just a “tan,” while also looking to wealthy Indian families like the Kailases, big Louisiana landowners, for political and financial support.
Why?
I can tell you this generation of Indian Americans embrace Indian culture like nobody’s business.