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

The Clinton's & India

Senator Clinton's support in the Indian American community has been getting a lot of coverage of late. This piece in the Washington Post is typical. I think that USINPAC Chairman, Sanjay Puri, makes a good point in the article. The fact is that both Bill and Hillary Clinton have a long history reaching out to the Indian American community and Indian Americans clearly appreciate that the Clintons feel warmly towards India.

As the community continues to get more and more involved in politics, we will certainly see a lot more articles on campaign contributions. That is to be expected, and it is good for community that our active participation and fundraising in noted in major publications. It really highlights how important it is for community leaders who are fundraising for any candidate to go the extra mile to comply with the letter and spirit of campaign finance laws. It would be a real shame if a few bad apples tarnish the reputation of the community when proper political participation and fundraising is something we should all be proud and excited about.