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Biden, 'Team of Six' Democrats to woo Indian-American Diaspora

Democratic nominees Joe Biden and Kamala Harris at a campaign. Teuters

Sandeep Dikshit
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, August 13

Having announced Kamala Harris his running mate, Democratic candidate Joe Biden will begin his battle with incumbent Donald Trump for the Indian-American votes with a special message on India’s Independence Day.

Read also: Lessons from the US

Of special interest will be the six Democrats who will feature with him. They include four Indian-Americans, three of them women. It is expected that these six will play a prominent role in Biden’s foreign policy pitch during the elections.

I-Day launch

Democratic candidate Joe Biden to kick off battle for Indian diaspora votes on I-Day
The ‘team of 6’ includes four Indian-Americans, three of them women
The four are Seema Sadanandan, Sonal Shah, Nisha Biswal and Richard Varma

Some of them will also help fine-tune Biden’s message for the Indian diaspora whose large section is also looking at the Republicans, especially because of the tough words spoken by some Democrat leaders on Kashmir and the turmoil due to CAA and NRC.

A former flatmate of Biden’s daughter, Seema Sadanandan has been involved with the former Vice-President’s social work and has spoken on police reforms even during Barack Obama’s first tenure as President.

Another Indian-American is Sonal Shah, who once called herself a proud Vishwa Hindu Parishad member, but recanted from her involvement and condemned the Gujarat riots after joining the Obama administration in 2009.

Nisha Biswal has remained in the limelight here as she became president of the US-India Business Council soon after handling the India desk among other responsibilities at the State Department during the Obama administration.

Honoured by the Modi government with the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, Biswal like the fourth Indian-American Richard Varma has been deeply involved with policy matters involving India and is aware of the pressure points and red lines. Varma had served three years as the US Ambassador to India and is closely associated with the Democrats.

The other two — Jakes Sullivan and Tony Blinken — were heavyweights in the Obama administration and are tipped for posts of National Security Adviser or even Secretary of State if Biden wins in November.