NRI PULSE STAFF REPORT
Bamberg, SC, July 6, 2025: Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley announced the passing of her mother, Raj Kaur Randhawa, in an emotional post on social media platform X on Friday.
“Yesterday, we lost the strongest, most courageous, unafraid woman I have ever known,” Haley wrote. “She was feisty and fun, smart and witty, and deeply faithful and generous.”
Haley revealed that her mother passed away on July 4th, a date the former South Carolina governor said was fitting for someone who loved America so deeply. “I’m convinced she left us on 4th of July because she wanted to go out with a bang,” Haley posted, “but the beauty of it all is that she loved this country and all it gave to her, my dad, and our family for over 50 years.”
Raj Randhawa, a Sikh immigrant from India, came to the U.S. in the late 1960s with her husband Ajit Singh Randhawa, a professor. Together, they raised four children. Raj Randhawa held a master’s degree in education and taught in South Carolina before launching a successful clothing and gift store, Exotica International, where Nikki Haley worked as a teenager.
“She loved her family more than anything,” Haley wrote in her tribute. “My strength and determination came from her. I will forever be proud to say I am my mother’s daughter.”
Haley lost her father in December 2023, and in her post, she expressed comfort in the thought that her parents are now reunited. “I pray she is now holding hands with my dad once again. I already miss you so much. May you forever shine in God’s grace,” she wrote.
Cover photo courtesy: Nikki Haley/X.
