Bobby Jindal

About Bobby Jindal

Piyush "Bobby" Jindal (born June 10, 1971) is a Republican politician, and the current governor of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Before his election as governor, he was a member of the United States House of Representatives from Louisiana's 1st congressional district, where he was elected in 2004 to succeed current U.S. Senator David Vitter. Jindal was re-elected to Congress in the 2006 election with 88 percent of the vote. Jindal was the second Indian-American to serve in Congress.

On October 20, 2007, Jindal was elected governor of Louisiana, winning a four-way race with 54% of the vote. At age 36, Jindal became the youngest current governor in the United States. He also became the first non-white to serve as governor of Louisiana since Reconstruction, the first elected Indian-American governor in U.S. history, as well as the second Asian-American governor to serve in the continental United States after Gary Locke of Washington.

Jindal (pronounced /ˈdʒɪndəl/) was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana to recently arrived Punjabi Indian immigrants Amar and Raj Jindal, who were attending graduate school. His father left India and his ancestral family village of Khanpura in 1970. His mother, Raj Jindal, is an information technology director for the Louisiana Department of Labor. According to family lore, Jindal adopted the name "Bobby" after watching The Brady Bunch television program at age four. He has been known by that name ever since—as a civil servant, politician, student, and writer—though legally his name remains Piyush Jindal.