Speaking to The Indian Express, Amin, 69, who is currently visiting India, said Kashyap, a Republican, is a first-generation ‘politician’ as both sides of his family have no political links in India or the United States of America. “I watched the hearing along with my wife from 8 pm till 1.40 am… He started his career as a public defender in Miami Dade, where most of his clients were accused of drug dealing. His familiarity with the US judicial system developed from there…,” Amin said.

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“Then he went to Washington DC, appointed by the Obama administration as a senior advisor to the Congress-elect committee on security and anti-terrorism. His daily task was to brief the select committee and then President Obama. His specialty lies in anti-terrorism. Kashyap has seen gradual growth and is way beyond resilient. It is not self-evident when you meet him but we know that this job (FBI Director) is not going to put any pressure on him. He will be able to deal with it,” he added.

US Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) shakes hands with Kash Patel as they break for a vote on the day Patel testifies before a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Reuters)Stating that the family, which is based in Anand district, is anxiously waiting for Kashyap’s confirmation, Amin said, “None of the two families on the side of his mother and father have a political background. So, whatever Kashyap has done is self-made. People in India are now aware of the allegiance he has to Donald Trump but we do not discuss the dynamics of that association.”

On Thursday, Kashyap greeted his parents with a “Jai Shri Krishna” at the beginning of the hearing and was seen touching their feet at the end of the hearing, leading to media discussions about his regular emphasis on his “Indian roots”. In fact, Amin says Kashyap mentioned that his parents — Pramod and Anjana– had “travelled all the way from India” to be with him during the hearing as they were in the country on an annual vacation since the dates for the hearing were not confirmed when they planned the visit. Kashyap also acknowledged his sister Nisha who “travelled the oceans” to be by his side.

His uncle said, “My sister (Anjana) and brother-in-law (Pramod) were in Vadodara, where they own an apartment and visit regularly. They were unsure about the dates of the confirmation when they arrived in India but were able to go back in time once it was confirmed. Nisha is based in London and wanted to be with her brother on the big day…”

“Kashyap’s inclination towards Indian culture is a deep personal belief system that the family follows, which is of Hindu culture. Although two generations of the family have grown up outside India, the family associates with Indian culture. The current generation of the family, to which Kashyap belongs, is mostly adaptable; it depends on where they are. If we are at an Indian event, one would not be able to tell that (they have not grown up in India),” he added.

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Amin said that Kashyap visits India regularly. “Kashyap is a devotee of Shiv, Hanuman and Ganesh. At his apartment in Washington DC, he has a separate temple space dedicated to the gods…He is known as ‘Kash’ across the world but for the family he is Kashyap.”

While Kashyap’s family had migrated to the US after fleeing from Uganda during the Idi Amin coup in 1971, Amin stated that his parents married after Pramod had settled in the US.

“Pramod Patel lived in Jinja in Uganda and worked as an accountant. He fled in 1971 and arrived in the US via Canada. It was in 1977 that he came to India and married my sister and she moved to the US. Our family (Amins) were initially in Zanzibar and then Tanga in Tanzania but my father had sent my sister to India for education so she studied at MS University and lived here when we moved from Tanzania. Pramod is also an almunus of MS University’s Faculty of Commerce”, he recalled.

“While we lost our father in 1983, after her marriage, I moved to the US in 1985 and my mother and younger brother joined me separately later. Now all of us are settled in the US, including Pramod Patel’s siblings… but we have homes in India, which we visit annually,” he said.