Indian-American, Bobby Jindal, created history on Saturday as he was elected as Governor of the Southern US State of Louisiana. Election of Jindal, 36, as the Governor of Louisiana, immediately brought jubilation among the Indian-Americans in the US.

Celebrations also erupted in Bobby Jindal's ancestral Khanpura village, near Chandigarh, on Sunday over his election as Governor with locals distributing sweets and performing bhangra.

Jindal, would be the first non-White Governor of Louisiana since Reconstruction once he takes oath of office in January 2008 and is the first South-Asian to be elected as the Governor of a US State. He won the race in his second attempt, after losing out narrowly to the outgoing Governor, Kathleen Blanco, in a closely contested election four years ago.

''Let's give our homeland, the great state of Louisiana, a fresh start,'' Jindal told his supporters in a victory rally soon after. At present a Congressman in the House of Representative, where he was elected for the second consecutive term last year, Jindal would now become the youngest current Governor of a US State. After Dilip Singh Saund (1957 to 1963), Jindal is only the second Indian-American Congressman.

Election results indicated that Jindal won more than 53 per cent of the total votes, far ahead of his nearest competitor Democrat Walter Boasso (18 per cent), followed by Independent John Georges (14 per cent) and Democrat Foster Campbell (13).

This is something, we all should take pride in and we should celebrate his success because this leads to many opportunities for others who are coming down the road, specially the youngsters.

Besides Jindal's charismatic personality, his track record in serving the state in various capacities in the past several years, observers said was mainly instrumental in his victory. Even before the elections, he was considered to be the frontrunner among all the 12 candidates in fray. His ability and his track record in Louisiana that he fixed the health care system among other things. Secondly, he also did quite well at the national level as a lawmaker representing his constituency in the Congress.

Finally Louisiana is considered to be having a lot of problem after Hurricane Katrina. New Orleans area in particular had tremendous problem. People were looking for a new leadership. They are hoping that Bobby Jindal would provide that leadership. Rooting out corruption and providing an effective administration were some of his election promises, which observers said led him to victory. ''Louisiana is soon going to be on the rise,'' Jindal said after his election.

Jindal's election becomes more significant, considering that Louisiana does not have a large Indian-American population unlike some of the major States like New York, New Jersey, California, Illinois and Texas.

Born on June 10, 1971 in Baton Rouge, Jindal was Indian American Person of the year in 2005. At the age of 24, he was appointed as the Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, in which capacity he fixed the health care system of the State.

In 2001, Bush appointed him Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services for Planning and Evaluation. He held this post till 2003.