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THE
DIASPORA ALSO COUNTS
After
having spent a night yelling for and cheering Al Gore at his headquarters
in Nashville, Tennessee, Dinesh Sastry's voice is limp. Sastry, one of
the most effective fund-raisers in the Democratic Party, helped raise
$1.6 million in the Silicon Valley alone. Indian-Americans have always
cherished Democrats for historic reasons, says retired history teacher
Kanak Dutta. They perceive Democrats as being more appreciative of immigrants
and their rights, she adds.
Her faith
in the Democrats is challenged by Ravi Singh, founder of election.com,
who said it was natural for the community to appreciate Republican emphasis
on can-do policy. Besides, Bush describes himself as a compassionate conservative,
says Singh. That should go well with Indian-Americans who tend to be fiscally
conservative, even those who have not voted for him.
Sastry and
Singh, both of whom are in their late 20s, are rejoicing not only at their
own high-level involvement in American politics but also at the increasing
number of Indians who have contested state assembly elections; and the
increasing financial clout of the community. "Indians have not only
arrived in medicine, high-tech world, the arts and business but also in
politics," says Edward Royce, a Republican congressman. In Minnesota
last week, Satveer Chaudhary, 30, a Democrat, became the first Indian
American to be elected to a state Senate.
Of the $20
million raised in the last one year in Silicon Valley, Indian entrepreneurs
contributed nearly $2 million, most of it going to the Democrats. In Florida,
a wealthy cardiologist Zac Zachariah was involved in raising over $2 million
for Bush and other Republican candidates this year. Indian-Americans across
the US have raised over $10 million within the community and in conjunction
with other groups in this election year. The Indian community is now truly
a force to reckon with.
-Arthur
J. Pais in San Francisco
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With
all the noise about the cabinet resolution on dilution of the government’s
stakes in public sector banks, is anyone buying shares of these banks,
asks V. Shankar Aiyar in 