Indian Americans Form Historic Group in Democratic Party
India Post, News Report, N.C. Srirekha, Posted: Aug 13, 2004
NEW YORK-- In a historic first, the Democratic National Council (DNC) has created an Indo American Leadership Council (IALC), giving the Indian American community a voice at the head table of political activism.
The IALC was formed during the Democratic National Convention in Boston where Senator John F. Kerry was officially nominated as the party’s candidate for President in the forthcoming elections. The nascent organization’s first challenge to establish its credentials is to raise a sum of $2.5 million before the elections.
“This is some of the biggest news for the Indo American community this election cycle,” Rohit ‘Ro’ Khanna, Executive Director of the IALC told India Post. Khanna, a prominent Democratic Party campaigner, had lost his bid for the Congress in the primaries. “It’s a pretty big deal for the community that we have a presence in the Democratic National Council (DNC), and with the involvement of some very prominent community leaders, we have a unified voice now.”
“It’s a step in the right direction,” said Niranjan Shah, a major Democratic contributor. “It’s not a solution in itself, but at least it’s a beginning. Elections are just three months away and the time is very short (for the Council) to show dramatic results. It is a slow process, like planting a seed.”
According to Khanna, getting an institutional presence was a great step forward for the community – one that will get stronger and more powerful with each election cycle.
Unlike the Indian American Republican Council (IARC) formed last year by Republican sympathizers in the community, the IALC is not an independent body, but a wing of the DNC working within the party structure.
Besides the IALC, there are five other DNC leadership Councils: the Women’s Leadership Council, the Hispanic American Leadership Council, the Asian Pacific Leadership Council, the Gay and Lesbian Leadership Council and the African American Leadership Council. The goal of each Council is to raise $2.5 million until November 2, 2004.
Regular weekly meetings with key DNC leaders are being held and strategies are discussed to reach the goal. The key leaders who are attending or will be attending on behalf of the Council are Vin Gupta, Ramesh Kapur, Niranjan Shah, Mahinder Tak, and Deven Verma. The executive director of the Indo American Leadership Council is Rohit “Ro” Khanna who is at the DNC full time until the general election.
The Trustees who are committed to raising $250,000 include: Dilip Barot, Sabeer Bhatia, Swadesh Chatterjee, Samir Desai, Vin Gupta, Talat Hasan, Ramesh Kapur, Sunil Paul, Pat Sarma, Niranjan Shah, and Deven Verma.
Any individual who contributes $25,000 will automatically become an official member of the Indo-American Leadership Council. In addition to the above-mentioned individuals, prominent Council members include: Anil Bhandari, Anil Deshpande, Vin Dham, Prabhu Goel, Anil Godhwani, Rajat Gupta, Sridar Iyengar, Krishan Joshi, Vinod Khosla, Kumar Mallavali, Suhas Patil, Sunil Puri, Raj Rajadhyaksha, Rao Ramineni, Kanwal Rekhi, and Ranvir Trehan.
Hoping that the Council would become a permanent feature within the DNC, Khanna said its formation is consistent with what he firmly believes – a presence for the Indian American community at the higher levels of mainstream national politics.
Fundraising is going to be a critical part of this organization, the success of which will establish the community’s readiness to be involved in national politics, Khanna said. The Council has already raised half a million dollars of its targeted $2.5 million. “If we meet this target, the DNC will make the IALC a permanent feature of the Party,” Khanna said.
“The biggest thing is working together, where many of the community leaders were working in an ad hoc manner in their individual capacity,” Khanna added. “As a minority community, we need to show our ideas to make our presence felt, and as the Council establishes itself, we will do it. It will help Indian Americans with the visibility in the party they need to make a difference in mainstream politics.”
The basic premise of IALC’s formation was to increase the visibility of the community, Khanna explained. “Once the community becomes visible, representation follows,” he said. “Already members of our community are working furiously at all political levels.” The other idea behind the IALC is to project a unified front for the community. Making a generic observation on the nature of Indians, Shah said, “We as a community are very lukewarm when it comes to group effort. Indian community lacks unity. We tend to not to trust each other as historically there is a sense of insecurity.” It is in this light, he says, the IALC assumes significance as an effort to bring together the various groups and individuals who are all doing good work in their own right.
In the last five years, since the Al Gore campaign in the last Presidential elections, the Indian American community has pumped in huge sums of money, Shah said. “Our people are doing well and pumping in money because they want to be part of the mainstream, but are not pulling it together. The Council will be one vehicle to pool all the money together,” he said.
Typically, Shah explained, even though the Indian American representation at any given fundraiser is a mere one or two percent, their contributions often amount to more than 10 percent of the money raised. “Now that’s significant, but what do we get in return?” he asks raising rhetoric. “The problem is different groups are working in different directions and there is no collective credit coming to the community.”
“The positive thing (about the community) is there are a lot of wealthy people, intellectuals, and by nature, willing to write checks to be part of the mainstream. That, in itself, is a big deal,” Shah adds.
The setting up of the IALC is a great move forward for the community, Shah said, adding that it would be a slow process before one sees more concrete results. “In two or three years, maybe by the next Presidential elections, things will be a lot different,” he promised.
However, the unique aspect of the IALC is every individual gets credit for any individual effort or money raised. “At the end of the day, the funds are routed through the Council, which will be aggregating them,” explains Khanna.
And that, Khanna feels, will be the biggest sustainability factor for this organization. “The failure of most umbrella organizations is because one individual tries to take all the credit. Here, we hope to build an institution that is not affiliated to any one individual,” he adds.
“Very few people realize how significant the formation of the IALC is,” said Talat Hasan, a Bay Area-based entrepreneur. “Some of those involved have worked very hard to achieve this.”
Hasan, who has been a contributor to the Democratic Party for many years, became actively involved in fundraising activities over the past one year. “After 27 years of working in the corporate world, I am now working in the non-profit world,” said Hasan, who has over the years successfully sold off her two companies dealing in semi-conductors.
In the longer term, if the IALC becomes an ongoing thing, the people who will lead it will help put the infrastructure in place and facilitate the working structure. “But right now the biggest challenge is to raise funds. It’s a significant target to achieve so all we are doing is to get on the phone and bang on doors!” she said, “Time is so short, we are tapping mostly high-end individuals. There is not enough time for grass root outreach.”
The response to IALC has been very enthusiastic from whoever has been approached for funds, Hasan said. “In fact, we have had a couple of Republican sympathizers also generously donating to our funds,” she said proudly.
Another one of IALC’s main goals is to field and support Indian American candidates, Hasan said. “The time has come to field our own candidates, but for that we first need to have clout in the party and we can get clout only by raising money.”
That the Indian American delegates put up a visible presence at the Democratic National Convention was evident from the key roles some of them were given to play during the convention, including being invited to be seated on the podium during the various sessions. Maryland House delegate Kumar Barve and Smita Shah (daughter of Niranjan Shah), as Vice Chairman and member respectively of the DNC Rules Committee, probably played the most important roles among the Indian American representatives at the convention.
Being seen at the convention in itself is not a big deal, Hasan will have you believe. “It just adds another dimension to your political visibility. The real work happens outside of the convention.”
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