Harmeet Dhillon in Trump’s cabinet

Perhaps one of the most celebrated Sikh women members of the America’s Republican Party, Indian American Harmeet Kaur Dhillon, 56, is all set to have the rare honour of becoming the cabinet member of the forty-seventh U.S. President Donald John Trump. Harmeet Dhillon will be sworn in less than two weeks on January 20, to be specific, as the member of the US President-elect Donald John Trump’s Cabinet member.

The only other prominent Indian American Sikh woman who rose to the top level in Trump 01 Cabinet position was Namrata Randhawa, nee, Nikki Haley. Donald Trump appointed her as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Though then very little was known about the Sikhs in the United States, however, an extemporaneous short look at the Sikhs’ history in the U.S. apprises us that ever since the first Punjabi Sikh, Dalip Singh Saund, came to California in the 1920s, and studied at an Ivy academic institution of this state, the University of California, Berkeley, the Sikh community’s aggregate population in the US has currently grown to nearly three lakhs. Dalip Singh Saund came from a farming family of the village Chhajul Wadi in Amritsar district of Punjab.

Be that as it may, Harmeet Kaur was born in 1969 in Chandigarh to physician Tejpal Singh Dhillon and Parminder Kaur Dhillon. During the Second World War period, Harmeet’s father was working for the British army when her parents migrated to the UK. They later moved to New York when Harmeet was two-year-old. She attended elementary school in Bronx, NY. She continued her education in North Carolina, acquiring her first degree from Darthmouth College (B.A.), and juris doctor, J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law.

Married early, she settled down in San Francisco and became a member of the Republican Party, rising quickly, specializing law practice areas: California Campaign law; commercial litigation; contract enforcement; sexual harassment; internet and privacy law; laws relating to the intellectual property rights. She thus soon drew near to the circles close to Donald Trump and lost no time in becoming his ‘fiercest loyalist’. This raised ‘alarm signals’ among civil rights leaders about her various stands.

President-elect Donald J. Trump nominated Harmeet K. Dhillon on December 10 last to be the US assistant attorney-general for civil rights. Harmeet is an extremely popular, amply qualified, both academically and professionally for the position. Harmeet, whose name literally means ‘meek’, ‘mild / moderate’, ‘one of divinity’, is said to be a ‘street fighter’. She is an extraordinarily prosperous Republican; articulates at the party’s every national platform, once had ambition to become the president of the Republican Party’s San Franisco branch. Harmeet was a vice-chairperson of the California Republican Party and has also been a member of the Republican Party’s prestigious National Convention that ordains and governs the party’s national policies and programmes, including picks and nominates national level political positions, such as presidential candidates.

Besides being a noted lawyer, an eminent attorney, Harmeet was said to have set up six business law branches of The Dhillon Law Group. Harmeet’s a nationally recognized attorney ‘trusted boardroom adviser and a passionate for individual, corporate and individual clients.’ Her law group maintains its offices across many U.S. states including- Florida, California, Virginia, New Jersey, New York among others.

Harmeet Dillon’s official professional legal description elaborates: “We provide the experience, skill and long-term partnerships necessary to enable our clients to establish and grow their business – from formation through exit and every issue in between. We listen carefully to our clients’ goals, and our experienced business attorneys tailored counsel to achieve desired outcomes.’’

Supported by nearly half a dozen local attorneys Harmeet’s partners, including Nitjot Paul Singh, John-Paul Deol and Krista Baughman among others, work closely with Dhillon, and represent clients on numerous tedious and cumbersome property disputes, business conflicts, such as internet privacy rights, laws relation to freedom of press, intellectual property rights, real estate, social media law, employment and labour discords and disagreement, etc. Harmeet has successfully contested and won kaleidospic legal battles.

Meanwhile, being an accomplished person, Harmeet has revelled in many fields: she is known as an adept ‘civil rights warrior’, who is believed to have once ‘shut up Pier Morgan’. As an independent person, she has indulged in hiking, knitting, sailing, a frequent socialite. She has been married thrice; her third husband, the late Sarvajit Singh, died in August 2024. President-elect Donald Trump has praised Harmeet Kaur as one who supports America’s ‘cherished civil liberties…free speech, while there been widespread severe criticism of her orthodox ‘Sikh ideologies.’ She is a confirmed Republicans while most other Indian Americans members of the US Congress are confirmed Democrats. All the seven are members of the House of Representatives.

Harmeet is known for her ‘unwavering advocacy and bold instances.’ She often makes ‘unafraid’ statements about India’s domestic political issues though she has scanty attachment with India, having migrated from the country when her medical doctor father went to the UK and Harmeet was barely two-year-old. She has often made controversial and contentious declarations and has incurred displeasure of her community and local Indian American population. However, President-elect Donald Trump’s social media platform, Truth Social, conspicuously brands her as a marquee ‘tireless defender of our constitutional rights’ and ‘a respected member of the Sikh religious community.’

Finally, Harmeet will be one of the six Indian American Hindu / Sikh faith members of the Trump 02 Cabinet; also when the US’s 47th President-elect, the 78 -year-old Donald J. Trump takes over on his inauguration scheduled for January 20, 2025, the day when the United States’ 46th US President, the 82-year-old Joesph R. Biden retires after being an enormously active gentleman politician in 50-years of the nation’s public life.

Prof. M. R. Dua, former professor-head, journalism department, Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), New Delhi, and an ex-faculty Journalism, California State University, US.