He was a prominent financial backer of Donald Trump's presidential campaign in the 2016 election.
Kumar became an active citizen lobbyist on Capitol Hill in 2012 to support Texas Congressman Ted Poe's bill to cut off foreign aid to Pakistan. He then founded the National Indian American Public Policy Institute (NIAPPI), a think tank focusing on issues relevant to Indian Americans.
In 2013, he was responsible for taking the Chairwoman of the House Republican Conference Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Congressman Aaron Schock, and Congresswoman Cynthia Lummis to visit the then-Chief Minister of Gujarat (and future Indian Prime Minister) Narendra Modi and invite him to the United States. This Congressional visit, came at a time when Modi was still banned from entering the United States, thus ending his isolation from US lawmakers.
He has also worked closely with Steve Bannon, former CEO of the Trump 2016 campaign. Bannon had supported Kumar in his efforts to lift the Modi visa ban. Bannon, Chairman Pete Sessions and Kumar are responsible for coining the phrase “Ronald Reagan of India” to describe Narendra Modi.
In August 2016, Kumar was named Chairman of the Indian Advisory Board for the Trump campaign. In this capacity, he designed the "Abki bar Trump Sarkar" ("This time, Trump government") campaign to sway Hindu/Indian voters, borrowing from the slogan popularized by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his 2014 campaign.
