Sunday, September 30, 2007

Indians on the Hill

The Washington Post just published an article on the growing influence of Indian-American groups in Washington. Using the example of the landmark US-India nuclear deal, the article points out that even politicians who use nuclear nonproliferation as a staple of their strategy came around in bipartisan form to overwhelmingly accept the deal. Why was this? Many attribute it to the powerful presence of Indian lobbyist groups on the Hill.

Sanjay Puri, Chairman and Founder of USINPAC, is interviewed on why he founded the group and the position USINPAC and other Indian-American groups will have in the future. USINPAC 2008 Web Director Varun Mehta was also quoted in the article using the example of Obama’s swift reaction to the memo his campaign sent out attacking Hillary Clinton’s ties to wealthy Indian-Americans and alleged support of outsourcing.

Throughout the article it is mentioned that many of these new Indian-American groups are trying model themselves after Jewish-American and Israeli lobbyist groups that have had success in representing a small minority of the country on the Hill. What are you thoughts? Is this the right path for Indian-Americans? Where would you like to see the community in the future? Tell us what you think of the article!

Anay Shah
Blog Editor

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The success of the community and the linking to American ideals truly makes the Indian American cohort an important cohort moving forward in US politics. What is interesting though is how the community is willing to listen and learn as they move forward instead of sticking to a set group of people they support or causes they back. Although many think that Hillary has the Indian American community in the bag you'd be surprised what they really think!