First there was the announcement that Nick Rathod is joining the Obama-Biden Transition Project as Director of Inter-Governmental Affairs. That’s great news in itself. Rathod was one of the founders of South Asians for Obama or SAFO, a group that was instrumental in mobilising the community in turning out for the President-elect despite initial fears that since many were loyal to the Clinton brand and usually apathetic about American politics, they would sit this election out. Now comes the play for the economy, expected to be the focal point of Obama’s initial months in office. Among the just-appointed Economics and International Trade Team Leads is Anjan Mukherjee, a New York-based Managing Director with Blackstone.
Everyone knows about Nicholas Burns, the former Under Secretary of State in the US State Department, who was the point man for the Bush Administration when it came to working out the modalities involved in getting the India-US civilian nuclear deal through. Burns retired from the State Department on February 29 but remained on as a Special Envoy for that particular issue. He is currently Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy and International Politics at Harvard’s John F Kennedy School of Government.
He was in New York on Thursday at an event organised by the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for the Advanced Study of India.
Now, Burns came out in support of President-elect Barack Obama’s diplomatic platform over a month before the November 4 elections. Burns does not believe that India needs to be overly concerned over Obama’s recent comments on Kashmir. As for the non-proliferation hawks taking over US foreign policy and possibly delaying or even scuppering the nuclear deal, Burns believes it’s just to early to pontificate (as most pundits do) on what an Obama Administration’s actual positions will be. Here’s part of an interview with the diplomat who worked under both of Obama’s predecessors, George W Bush and Bill Cinton:
San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris will run for the Attorney General of California in 2010. She’s probably THE Indian-American politician to watch out for in the future because of her proximity to President-elect Barack Obama. Harris, like Obama, comes from a multicultural background - with an African-American father and an Indian mother. She appeared frequently as a surrogate on TV news programs for the Obama campaign through 2008.
Another Indian-American, Subodh Chandra, had unsuccessfully run for Ohio AG in 2006. However, Chandra remains another politician from the community who worked with the OBama campiagn and could gain a higher profile in the years to come.
Apparently, US President-elect Barack Obama was unable to reach India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the phone over the weekend because the latter was traveling. This caused a fair amount of consternation on India over this perceived slight because Obama had already spoken to Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari. The two leaders, however, managed to connect on Wednesday and Singh invited Obama to visit India; an invitation that was accepted as Obama said he wanted to “make an early visit” to India.
Here is the official press release:
President-elect of the United States Mr. Barack Obama called the Prime Minister this morning. The Prime Minister congratulated him warmly and said that his historic victory was a source of inspiration for oppressed people all over the world.
President-elect Obama praised the Prime Minister’s contribution to the progress of India both as Minister of Finance earlier and now as Prime Minister. He said that the US-India strategic relationship was a very important partnership and that the new administration wanted to work together with India on all important global issues.
The Prime Minister said that relations between India and the United States were very good but that we could not be satisfied with the status quo. The Prime Minister conveyed his best wishes for the success of the new administration in meeting the enormous challenges that face the world and invited the President-elect and Mrs. Obama to visit India. He said that a warm welcome awaited them. The President-elect said that he wished to make an early visit to India.
Sooni Taraporevala is obviously nervous. Funnily enough, she’s nervous about a film. Now, Taraporevala is a veteran when it comes to the film industry - she has written the screenplay for movies like Salaam Bombay and The Namesake. However, what she has not done is direct a film. And now she’s out with her maiden directorial venture - Little Zizou. This humorous story is centers around a Parsi kid who idolises French legend Zinedine Zidane. It’s also the tussle between two Parsi families in Bombay. The film had its premiere at the Indo-American Arts Council film festival in New York and is expected to release in the spring of 2009. Taraporevala has mostly worked with director Mira Nair and in an interview, she starts by talking about how Nair, who was also involved with this project, helped her in this debut behind the camera:
There’s been plenty of criticism of Sonal Shah’s appointment to the Obama transition team, on the grounds that she had links with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America and her family is friendly with Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Here’s a report:
Sonal Shah responded to the attacks thus:
The following is a statement by Sonal Shah, Transition Board Member, for President-elect Barack Obama.
“As an Indian-American who has lived in this country since the age of four, serving on the Obama-Biden transition team is a unique privilege for me. A presidential transition is always a time of excitement and, in some cases, of rumors and unfounded gossip. I’d like to set to rest a few baseless and silly reports that have been circulating on the Internet. First, my personal politics have nothing in common with the views espoused by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), or any such organization. I’ve never been involved in Indian politics, and never intend to do so. Second, I’ve always condemned any politics of division, of ethnic or religious hatred, of violence and intimidation as a political tool. Some factually inaccurate internet rumors have attempted to link me to Hindu Nationalist groups through a variety of tenuous connections: Relief work I’m proud to have helped coordinate following the Gujarati earthquake of 2001, or cultural and religious affiliations of some of my family members, or apolitical humanitarian work I’ve been privileged to do as a founder of the NGO Indicorps and as the Director of Global Development for Google.org. Finally, I do not subscribe to the views of such Hindu nationalist groups, and never have. Ridiculous tactics of guilt by association have been decisively repudiated by the American people. I am delighted with what the victory on November 4 says about my country, and about our place in the world. I look forward to serving our President-elect in this time of transition.”
First there was the announcement that Nick Rathod is joining the Obama-Biden Transition Project as Director of Inter-Governmental Affairs. That’s great news in itself. Rathod was one of the founders of South Asians for Obama or SAFO, a group that was instrumental in mobilising the community in turning out for the President-elect despite initial fears that since many were loyal to the Clinton brand and usually apathetic about American politics, they would sit this election out.
Now comes the play for the economy, expected to be the focal point of Obama’s initial months in office. Among the just-appointed Economics and International Trade Team Leads is Anjan Mukherjee, a New York-based Managing Director with Blackstone.
