Donald Trump Speaks Hindi in New Ad Running on Indian-American Channels (Video)

Donald Trump recently declared himself a "big fan of Hindu," and in keeping with the theme, a new ad airing on Indian-American TV channels has snippets of his speech from a "Hindus for Trump" event in New Jersey held earlier this month, along with a clip of Trump speaking in Hindi.

The ad begins with a greeting celebrating Diwali, the Indian festival of lights and arguably the most important holiday in the culture, followed by video of Trump lighting a lamp or "diya" at the New Jersey event organized by the Republican Hindu Coalition.

Trump then promises the Indian and Hindu community a "true friend in the White House" and reinforces his vow to end "radical Islamic terrorism" when the ad moves to a still photo of a Mumbai hotel that was attacked by terrorists in November 2008. More than 200 people were killed in the attack, and nearly twice as many were injured.

Trump says he looks forward to working with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, before he says in Hindi, "ab ki baar, Trump sarkaar," which loosely translates into, "this time, a Trump government." The tagline is taken from the Indian prime minister himself, who used the slogan in his 2014 campaign to oppose the corruption that had been rampant during the reign of Congress, Modi's opposing party.

Indian-Americans are the highest earning Asian-Americans in the U.S. and while they largely vote Democratic, alignment with the Republican Party has increased in 2016. According to a survey conducted by National American Asian Survey, in the 2016 election, 53 percent of Asian Indians identify as Democrats, 37 percent as independent and a mere seven percent identify as Republican. About 60 percent of Asian Indians say their primary vote choice is Hillary Clinton and 7 percent say their choice is Donald Trump.

In ways, Modi's governance can be compared to what Trump has promised, as the Indian prime minister has cut down on bureaucratic inefficiencies, similar to Trump's promise of "draining the swamp." However, there are stark differences between the two: Modi comes from a humble background, the son of a tea seller, while Trump's father was a successful businessman who loaned his son money to build his so-called empire. And while both Trump and Modi are seen as anti-establishment candidates, Modi has had a very successful run as a politician, specifically when he served as prime minister of the Indian state of Gujarat.

By likening himself to Modi, Trump's appeal to the Indian and Hindu community is obvious, as the ideology for Modi's party, the Bharitiya Janta Party or BJP, is Hindutva, a form of Hindu nationalism. Hindus make up a majority of the Indian population and the event organized in New Jersey was largely focused on the Hindu community and not the Indian community as a whole.

The New York Times noted that Trump's stop in the non-battleground state of New Jersey in October was hardly typical for a presidential nominee so close to election day.

The ad is paid for by the Trump campaign.

Shalli Kumar, an Indian-American donor to Trump and chairman of his Indian-American Advisory Council, told BuzzFeed News the ad was running on all Indian-American channels 20 times a day.

One thing that is quite notable about the ad is Trump's Hindi, which he speaks with relative ease. Kumar told BuzzFeed he said the sentence about 15 times to practice.

The Trump campaign was not immediately reached for comment.

Image Screenshot via YouTube