In the immediate aftermath of Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal’s announcement his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination on Wednesday, comedian and former "Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell" writer Hari Kondabolu was quick to launch an epic Twitter rant against Jindal’s race-baiting. Eventually donning the hashtag "#bobbyjindalissowhite," Kondabolu’s creation spread like wildfire across social media, getting picked up by Aasif Mandvi and also spawning "#Jindian," trending in India, and continuing to grow in strength.
Despite having once embraced his Indian-American identity (and continuing to play it up for donations), Piyush "Bobby" Jindal is now quick to play down his heritage and attack President Obama for stoking racial conflict fires, as he said in his announcement speech:
"I am done with all this talk about hyphenated Americans. We are not Indian-Americans, African-Americans, Irish Americans, rich Americans or poor Americans. We are all Americans,"
Given his hypocrisy, Kondabolu had this to say about his hashtag in an exclusive statement to Colorlines:
Like most politicians, I find Bobby Jindal disingenuous. However, as an Indian-American progressive & comedian, I felt I had to respond harshly & quickly after he announced his candidacy for President. Bobby Jindal uses his "Indian-American" identity to support his American Dream narrative & to get money from the older Indian community in the US, who are simply happy to see a Brown face in office, regardless of their politics. Yet, he distanced himself from this identity by talking about the end of hyphenated identities & buying into the idea that we were all Americans first. This is a way to pander to Mainstream America. As is the fact he claims he picked the name "Bobby" (His birth name is Piyush) because that was his favorite character on your Brady Bunch. I mean, come on! Also, I completely disagree with his politics & he’s a goofball & I’m a comedian.
Given that, we rounded up the ten best #bobbyjindalissowhite Tweets from South Asians and South Asian-Americans from the past two days right here:
10)
#BobbyJindalIsSoWhite @nikkihaley wishes she had married him
— rashne limki (@rashnelimki) June 26, 2015
9)
#BobbyJindalIsSoWhite he thinks Lahore is a French prostitute
— Humza Hussain (@HumzaxHussain) June 26, 2015
8)
Bobby Jindal so white he likes a side of chai tea with his naan bread #bobbyjindalissowhite
— no whining zone (@desifemme) June 24, 2015
7)
#BobbyJindalIsSoWhite he asked his alma-mater Brown University to identify as just "University"
— Shailee Koranne (@ssshailee) June 26, 2015
6)
#bobbyjindalissowhite is so white he thinks North Punjab is The full name of Kanye’s kid
— The Kominas (@TheRealKominas) June 25, 2015
5)
Bobby Jindal is so white he wears bindis to coachella Bc that’s his ~*thing*~ #bobbyjindalissowhite
— Varshini (@varshini_ini) June 24, 2015
4)
#bobbyjindalissowhite he thinks Desi is Lucille Ball’s husband.
— LaVidaLopa (@LaVidaLopa) June 25, 2015
3)
You might be #Jindian if you like the Pussycat Dolls’ version of Jai Ho more than A.R. Rahman’s. #bobbyjindalissowhite
— Pooja Paode (@stayjalati) June 25, 2015
2)
@TheRealKominas #bobbyjindalissowhite he will play Ghandi in upcoming biopic
— Imran Q (@ImranQ805) June 25, 2015
1)
Bobby Jindal is so white that he’d accuse me of "race-baiting." #bobbyjindalissowhite
— Hari Kondabolu (@harikondabolu) June 25, 2015
See one we missed? Let us know in the comments!