Indian American Student hired by Presidential Hopeful

S.R. Sidarth, the University of Virginia student who exposed George Allen's use of the word "macaca" and doomed his presidential campaign, is now a paid staffer for Bill Richardson in Sante Fe, NM.

In 2006 Sidarth was working for Sen. Jim Webb's campaign by video tapping Allen's stump speeches, when Allen singled him out twice by calling him a "macaca" and saying the infamous phrase "Welcome to America kid". Ironically, Allen is not originally from Virgina, while Sidarth was born there.

Allen is currently working for Fred Thompson's presidential campaign.

Co-Chair of the Congressional Taskforce on US-India Trade Supports Romney

Earlier today Congressman Chris Cannon (R-UT) who serves as the Co-Chair of the Congressional Task Force on US-India Trade announced his support for presidential hopeful Mitt Romney's campaign. Both Cannon and Romney's experience working with Indian businesses showcase the growing influence India's economy has in US policy. Romney explains in his message to Indian-Americans on India's 60th Independence Day how his own personal work experience with people of Indian descant has impacted him on the capability of a surging India.

-Anay

Jindal Wins Louisiana Governor's Race

Moments ago Indian-American Bobby Jindal was declared the winner of the governor’s race for Louisiana. Read the full article here.

Jindal, a republican, needed to win a 50% majority to avoid a runoff in November and won with 53% of the vote.

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

Chris Dodd on Indian-Americas

Democratic presidential candidate Chris Dodd recently filled out a questionnaire for USINPAC about Indian-Americans and issues related to them. Dodd talked about immigration reformed and strengthening US-India relations. He supports the full passage of the US-India Nuclear deal and would be in favor of seeing India’s induction into the UN Security Council. Read the rest of the questionnaire here.

Anay