Louisiana’s Indian-American Governor Piyush “Bobby” Jindal on Wednesday launched a historic bid for the US presidency, recalling his parents’ journey to the land of “real opportunities” yet seeking to distance himself from his heritage. Jindal’s dad, who “grew up in a house without electricity or running water” and “was the only person in his family to get past the 5th grade” and “mom came to Louisiana because they believed in America,” said Jindal after announcing his bid for Republican nomination.

“My name is Bobby Jindal. I am Governor of the great state of Louisiana, and I’m running to be President of the greatest country in the world, the United States of America!” proclaimed Bobby Jindal as he set his sights on the race to the White House.

With this announcement, Jindal has become the first Indian-American to run for the US President. But, he considers such categorisation to be divisive and prefers to be only ‘American’. Accusing Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton of “already trying to divide us by ethnicity, by gender, and by economic status,” Jindal said: “As for me, I’m sick and tired of people dividing Americans.” “And I’m done with all this talk about hyphenated Americans. We are not Indian-Americans, Irish-Americans, African-Americans, rich Americans, or poor Americans – we are all Americans,” he added, returning to a now familiar campaign theme

Jindal’s pronouncement came as no surprise to the over three million strong Indian-American community, which gave enthusiastic support to his Congressional and gubernatorial campaigns.However, Jindal’s remarks seems to have backfired. Instead of wooing over the Indian-American community, who are among the richest ethnic communities in the US, he seems to have ticked people off.And the best manifestation of this could  be seen on Twitter, even as his speech was on as #BobbyJindalisSoWhite began trending spawning some hilarious jokes on the potential White House candidate. To Sample a few

https://twitter.com/TheGreatFuran/status/613945031578091520

https://twitter.com/TheHumerus/status/613942359412375553

#BobbyJindalIsSoWhite his only reference to India is Slumdog Millionaire.

— NumbYaar (@NumbYaar) June 25, 2015

I find this trend racist ? #bobbyjindalissowhite

— Mrs Batman (@zainity) June 25, 2015

#bobbyjindalissowhite – He cuts his roti with a knife and fork #Jindian

— Adnan Rasool (@adnanrasool) June 25, 2015

#BobbyJindalIsSoWhite that he needs a tan ?? https://t.co/7UEE83yyaT

— बाबा Bambaiyya (@BabaGlocal) June 25, 2015

#bobbyjindalissowhite he almost replaced Shahrukh Khan on this commercial. pic.twitter.com/IQstmeCq9R

— Anup Kaphle (@AnupKaphle) June 25, 2015