Indian-Americans raise over $10 mn for Clinton Campaign

Washington, October 28

Indian-Americans are believed to have raised at least USD 10 million towards the election campaign to elect Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton as the next president of the US.

At least two of the Indian-Americans–philanthropist Frank Islam from Maryland and Shefali Razdan Duggal from California–alone have helped raise a million dollar each for the presidential campaign of the former First Lady and the secretary of state, campaign insiders told PTI.

The Hillary Campaign does not give details of the major fundraisers and the amount of money raised by them.

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It does have a group called ‘Hillblazers’ which has list of individuals who have contributed and/or raised USD 1 lakh or more for Hillary for America, the Hillary Victory Fund, and/or the Hillary Action Fund since the launch of this historic campaign on April 12, 2015.

Among those listed in the latest list of Hillblazers released by the Clinton Campaign are more than 30 Indian Americans, each of them raising a minimum of USD 1 lakh.

However, these Indian-Americans are reported to have raised much more than that, campaign insiders said.

For instance, Ajay and Vinita Bhutoria from San Francisco are understood to have contributed or raised more than USD 5 lakh for the Hillary Campaign.

Among other Indian-American Hillblazers as released by the Hillary Campaign are Monica Arora and Raj Goyle from New York, Raj Fernando from Chicago, Mahinder Tak from Maryland, Seema R Hingorani from New York, Shekar Narshiman from Virginia, Kamil and Talat Hasan from California.

While there is no compilation of fundraising figures based on ethnicity, multiple sources said they estimated that the conservative amount of money raised by Indian-Americans for Clinton is at least USD 10 million.

It is also believed that Indian-Americans are only second highest fundraiser after the powerful and influential Israeli-American community.

Among other Indian-Americans who figure in Hillblazers are Shradha Agarwal from Chicago, Ankit N Desai from Washington DC, Aashish and Dinyar Devitre from New York, Sanjay Govil from Maryland, Maneesh K Goyal from New York, Margaret and Shashikant Gupta from Virginia; Amrita and Ashok Mahbubani from Alabama, Deven J Parekh from New York, and Reshma M Saujani from New York.

Radhika Shah from Silicon Valley, Rishi Shah and Smita Shah from Chicago, Kabir and Noreen Shahani from Seattle, M Osman Siddique from Virginia, Amy Singh from Chicago, Smita Singh from San Francisco, Pradeep and Ranjana Sinha from Atlanta have also raised a minimum of USD 1 lakh  for the Hillary Campaign.

In addition to these recognised Hiillblazers, several thousand Indian-Americans have contributed to the Clinton Campaign either though fundraisers at a much smaller scale or through online.

While there is no official compilation of funds raised by Indian-Americans, one could be sure that it could not be less than USD 10 million, a campaign insider said, adding that it could touch even USD 15 million or more.

The Trump Campaign, according to informed sources, lags far behind when it comes to the Indian-Americans raising money for the Republican candidate.

Chicago-based Shalabh Kumar claims that he has given or raised more than USD 1 million to the Trump campaign and this is the highest fundraiser for the Trump Campaign.

OpenSecrets, a non-profit body which compiles all the fund-raising figures, indicates that the actual amount donated by Kumar could be less.

In its latest report, OpenSecrets said Kumar in all has made USD 2,20,100 for the Republican National Committee in July. He also made a personal donation of USD 5,400 to Donald Trump Campaign the same day on July 1, 2016.

Except for Kumar, not many Indian-Americans have opened up their wallet for Trump, who has made an unprecedented effort to reach out to the Indian-American community.

The Trump Campaign has refused to release the list of its bundlers. PTI