Indian Americans Flex Muscle at Democratic Convention

The rise of the Indian American is one of the best-kept secrets in American political life, said event chair Anurag Varma.

Whats interesting to me, observed Preeta Bansal, a member of Sen. Barack Obamas presidential election steering committee, is that [the Obama campaign] looks to our community to open our minds and heart, and not just open our wallets.

Barack Obama is someone rooted in his identity but not confined by it, Bansal continued. We, too, are rooted in our origins as Indian Americans, but are not confined by them.

The cocktail hour reception was held on the opening day of the Democratic convention, which has drawn over 35,000 attendees to the mile-high city and 15,000 members of the press, including a contingent of media from India and Pakistan and the South Asian diaspora. Dozens of Indian American business people, delegates and elected officials mingled over drinks at the reception.

Among the prominent Indian Americans there were many of the 37 Democratic delegates of Indian descent, along with Bansal, a former New York Solicitor General now working on the Obama campaign; Kamala Harris, district attorney for San Francisco; Rep. Raj Goyle of Kansas, the first South Asian elected official in that heartland state; Rep. Jay Goyal of New Jersey; Michigan state Senator Hansen Clarke; Rep. Anu Natarajan of Fremont, Calif.; New Jersey Transportation Commissioner Kris Kolluri; and the District of Columbias chief technology officer, Vivek Kundra.

Read More