Indian Americans for Hillary 2008,' a newly-formed group to mobilise the community to support US Senator Hillary Clinton's presidential bid on Thursday, made a high pitch for electing the New York democrat as the first woman President of the United States.
Ahead of the group's June 27 fund-raising dinner for Clinton in New York City, which is expected to be attended, among others, by Arcelor Mittal chairman Lakshmi Mittal, S P Hinduja of the Hinduja Group and Union Minister Praful Patel, the organisers explained during the launch of the group why Clinton should be the choice of the Indian Americans.
New York hotelier Sant Singh Chatwal, who is a close friend of the Clintons and the initiator of the group, said if there was ever a time for the Indian-American community to mobilise, the time is now.
"The Clintons have so far done a lot for India and the Indian-American community. Hillary Clinton has been to India four times and Bill has been there over five times. Let us also not forget that the former President co-founded the AIF immediately after the Gujarat earthquake to help the hapless people," Chatwal said, adding that both of them had supported the Indo-US civilian nuclear cooperation with India.
"The Clintons supported us and it is time for us to give them back. We believe that the Clintons have emotional ties and relationship with India and it is time to bring a friend who knows about India and who knows about the Indian-American and that is why we support Hillary for President," Chatwal told Rediff India Abroad.
Among those who were present at the launch included Congressman Joseph Crowley, Christine C Quinn, Speaker of the New York City Council, Mike Patel, former president of the Asian American Hotel owners Association and community leaders like Dr Bhupi Patel, Kamal Dandona, Tejinder Singh Dandona and H R Shah.
Image: Indian-American businessman Sant Chatwal (centre) with Congressman Joseph Crowley and New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn during the launch of 'Indian Americans for Hillary 2008'.
Text: Suman Guha Mozumder | Photograph: Mohammed Jaffer-SnapsIndia
Also Read:
'Indian-American community has miles to go'
Jay Goyal is Democrat's 'poster boy'
Diaspora's Political Impotence
Hillary smashes fund-raising records
More from rediff