President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Republican Party activist Harmeet Dhillon, a supporter of the farmers' protest in India and one who had raised allegations of "Indian death squads", to be the assistant attorney general for civil rights.
"In her new role at the DOJ (Department of Justice), Harmeet will be a tireless defender of our Constitutional Rights, and will enforce our Civil Rights and Election Laws FAIRLY and FIRMLY", Trump said on Truth Social announcing on Monday.
Trump also noted that she "is a respected member of the Sikh religious community".
On social media X, Dhillon who goes as "@pnjaban", has been vocal in her support for the farmers' protest and raised what she said were "apparently Indian death squads operating in North America targeting Sikh activists".
In a criticism of the administration of President Joe Biden, she virtually accused it of a cover-up, writing, "Our government refuses to provide details. Why"?
The mention of "death squads" was an apparent reference to the case filed against an Indian citizen and a former RAW official accusing them of plotting to kill a Khalistani activist in the US and echoes Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's accusations against India.
Mentioning her family's agrarian roots, another post by Dhillon said, "I stand with the #FarmersProtests"!
In another post, she urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to meet with the protesters and make a compromise.
"As the Punjab-born descendant of farmers, my heart breaks to see Punjabi farmers assaulted for protesting Indian gov't's pro-big-corporation farm bill that will destroy their farms, way of life, and culture. Hear them, meet with them, & compromise, PM Modi", she posted.
She has been named for the post of assistant attorney general for civil rights, which does not directly have international responsibilities and it does not oversee the two controversial cases involving India.
The ongoing case alleging the conspiracy against the Khalistani will not come under her purview as it will be the domain of the assistant attorney general of the national security division.
The case alleging bribery by Indian business leaders is under the deputy assistant attorney general in charge of the Criminal Division.
Trump has not announced names for those positions.
"Throughout her career, Harmeet has stood up consistently to protect our cherished Civil Liberties", Trump said in his Truth Social post.
He added, "Harmeet is one of the top Election lawyers in the Country, fighting to ensure all, and ONLY legal votes are counted".
If confirmed by the Senate, Dhillon would become the second Indian American to lead the nation's top civil rights body after Vanita Gupta, who served in the position under former President Barack Obama and then was associate attorney general for two years under President Biden.
Dhillon ran an unsuccessful campaign last year to become chair of the Republican National Committee.
She is a member of the Republican National Committee and has offered a Sikh prayer at the Republican National Conventions in 2016 and 2024.
In the 2020 election, she was a legal advisor to the Trump campaign.
She was the co-chair of the Women for Trump, a group mobilising women's support for his election.
Her career as a civil rights career has focused on the rights of conservatives and their causes, which she is expected to bring to the DOJ.
Trump said that she took on Big Tech for censoring our Free Speech, representing Christians who were prevented from praying together during COVID, and suing corporations who use woke policies to discriminate against their workers”.
During the Covid pandemic, she filed a lawsuit against California, New Jersey, and Virginia for their lockdown policies that forbade churches from conducting worship services.
She also sued the University of California Berkley on behalf of a youth group for preventing a right-wing activist from speaking there.
Another case she took up was that of a White man who alleged that he was fired by Google for writing a memo crticising the company's diversity programmes.
She has also sued the extreme leftist group, Antifa, for allegedly attacking a journalist.
Another lawsuit she has filed is against a California hospital group on behalf of a woman who said that the doctors there gave her sex change treatment when she was a minor.
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