Nikki Haley has an Asian background and is a descendant of Sikh immigrants from Punjabi, India.
Former US ambassador to the United Nations and former South Carolina (South Carolina) governor Nikki Haley released a video on February 14, announcing her participation in the Republican nomination for the 2024 presidential election. She became the first Republican to challenge her former boss, former President Donald Trump. BBC North America news editor Gareth Evans tells the story of the Indian immigrant descendant’s journey to become a presidential candidate.
In 2010, at the age of 39, Nikki Haley became the youngest governor of the United States and has since become a prominent figure in the country. Her victory in her home state of South Carolina marked multiple pieces of history — she was the conservative southern state’s first female governor and first Asian-American governor.
Her candidacy was underwhelming from the start.A friend recently told Politico: “It’s one thing that no one thinks of her. At that time, we only had ten people who thought she would be elected.” Romney; Utah U.S. senator and former Massachusetts governor) and Sarah Palin (former Alaska governor) endorsement.
Her victories in male-dominated fields have made her a rising star in the Republican Party, and it is hoped that she can change the party’s image of male dominance. “It’s been a particularly good night for the thousands of people in this state who believe in this underdog campaign,” she told the crowd at a victory rally for governor.
The 51-year-old served two terms as governor between 2011 and 2017, in which she somewhat demonstrated her stance on major issues. She established the image of a mainstream conservative and business-friendly leader, and concentrated on attracting major companies to South Carolina. She said at the time: “If you come to (South Carolina), the cost of doing business will be low. We will be one of the states with the lowest cost of unionization.”
She describes herself as pro-life and supports South Carolina’s legislation to curb abortion. Haley, who signed legislation to crack down on illegal immigration during his first year as governor, has since criticized Trump’s border policies. She has said she supports — and will defend — gun rights.
image source,Getty Images
Nikki Haley was elected governor of South Carolina in 2010, and observers have since viewed her as a rising star in the Republican Party.
Perhaps the pivotal moment in her governorship, which made her nationally famous, was the 2015 break-in of a white supremacist at the Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston. ; also translated Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church), shot and killed nine black congregants.
Haley said at the time that the attack “shattered my world”; prosecutors said the purpose of the shooting was to start a race war. The photos showed the gunman holding the Confederate flag (Confederate flag) used by the slave states of the South during the American Civil War, which is still seen by some as a symbol of racism. At that time, the Confederate flag was still flying on the state capitol, and the people quickly rebounded against the flag.
Haley fought off opposition to the Confederate flag for years, but finally reversed course. Five days after the church shooting, she ordered the removal of flags from all state government premises. Haley’s decision kicked off a process that, a month later, saw the state legislature pass a motion to remove the Confederate flag after a sharp and stirring debate.
“That flag has its place, but it doesn’t represent all South Carolinians,” she said after signing legislation to remove the Confederate flag.
But in 2019, Ms. Haley told a conservative radio host that the Confederate flag symbolized “service, sacrifice and tradition” and that the Charleston gunman had “hijacked” the Confederate flag. Haley then faced backlash over his remarks.
In the interview, she also said that the media tried to control the direction of public opinion about the shooting. “They want to make it a race issue, they want to make it a gun control issue,” she said.
At the time, House Democrat JA Moore of South Carolina criticized Haley for “disgusting as he continues to exploit this tragedy for political motives.” Moore’s sister was killed in that attack.
The June 2015 Charleston church shooting became a pivotal moment in Governor Nikki Haley’s career.
Haley mentions her background from time to time – her real name is Nimrata Nikki Randhawa (Nimrata Nikki Randhawa), she was born in Bamberg, South Carolina, and is a Punjabi Sikh in India ( Punjabi Sikh’s immigrant family, who ran a clothing store. She has said she was exposed to racist taunts as a child, and in a video announcing her candidacy for president, she says she grew up “not black and white — I was different.”
In her memoir, published in 2019, she wrote: “We grow up as outsiders, and that’s not uncommon. All over the world, non-me is always seen as outsiders. America is different, the community actively accepts us .”
Haley once said that although she has personally experienced racial discrimination, she does not believe that the United States fundamentally discriminates against different ethnic groups. At the 2020 Republican National Convention, she said: “That’s a lie. America is not a racist country.”
As soon as this remark came out, some netizens criticized Haley for avoiding using her own name (Nimrata), and some even claimed that she was “whitewashing” her identity. But a spokesperson for her later told USA Today that she was born with her registered middle name, Nikki.
She met Michael Haley while she was an accounting student at Clemson University, and she decided to take her husband’s surname after they married in 1996. They had two weddings at the time – one Methodist and one Sikh – and have since had two children.
After graduating, Haley helped run the family clothing business before moving into senior positions in the private sector. She turned to politics in 2004, winning a seat in the South Carolina legislature and serving three terms before being elected governor.
image source,The Washington Post via Getty Images
Nikki Haley was a high-profile anti-Trump, but later accepted his nomination to serve as the US ambassador to the United Nations.
During the 2016 presidential election, Haley lashed out at Trump, not only endorsing many of Trump’s rivals, but also threatening that she was “not a (Trump) fan.” Haley said Trump represented “everything that I teach kids not to do in kindergarten.”
But she accepted the president-elect’s nomination in 2017 to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and resigned as governor of South Carolina.
She served two years at the United Nations, and unlike many of Trump’s early appointees, Haley never publicly feuded with the president. She has consistently pushed the Trump administration’s pro-Israel stance, taking a hard line on North Korea and Russia.
She stepped down as ambassador ahead of the 2018 midterm congressional elections, amid speculation that Haley would challenge Trump for the 2020 presidential nomination or seek to replace Mike Pence as vice president. But she chose to return to South Carolina, was invited to speak from time to time, and also published two books.
After the Capitol riots on January 6, 2021, she publicly criticized Trump — “We have to admit he’s let us down,” she told Politico. In a speech the day after the riots, she said: “His actions since Election Day will be judged harshly by history.”
Since then, her perception of the former president appears to have changed. In 2021, she vowed not to challenge Trump for the White House, but she has changed her position in recent months, declaring the need to achieve “generational change”, and the finger seems to be directed at the 76-year-old Trump.
“It’s time for a new generation of leaders to rediscover fiscal responsibility, secure the frontier and strengthen the country,” she said in announcing her candidacy.
