WASHINGTON, Jan 17, 2021 (BSS/PTI) – US President-elect Joe Biden has
nominated at least 20 Indian-Americans, including 13 women, to key positions
in his incoming administration, a record for the small ethnic community that
constitutes one per cent of America’s population.
As many as 17 of them, including Neera Tanden who has been nominated as the
Director of Management and Budget, would be part of the Biden administration
in the powerful White House complex.
The January 20th inauguration, the 59th in all, where Biden, 78, would be
sworn in as the 46th President of the United States is already historic in
the making as for the first time ever a woman, Kamala Harris, would be sworn
as the Vice-President of the country.
Harris, 56, is also the first ever Indian-origin and African-American to be
sworn in as the Vice President of the United States.
It is also for the first time ever that so many Indian-Americans have been
roped into a presidential administration ever before the inauguration. Biden,
a Democrat, is still quite far away from filling all the positions in his
administration.
Topping the list is Tanden, who has been nominated as Director of the White
House Office of Management and Budget and Dr Vivek Murthy, who has been
nominated as the US Surgeon General.
Vanita Gupta has been nominated as Associate Attorney General Department of
Justice, and on Saturday, Biden nominated former foreign service official
Uzra Zeya as the Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy
and Human Rights.
“The dedication that the Indian-American community has shown to public
service over the years has been recognised in a big way at the very start of
this administration! I am particularly pleased that the overwhelming majority
are women. Our community has truly arrived in serving the nation,” Indiaspora
founder M R Rangaswami told PTI.
Mala Adiga has been appointed as Policy Director to the future First Lady
Dr Jill Biden and Garima Verma would be the Digital Director of the Office of
the First Lady, while Sabrina Singh has been named as the White House Deputy
Press Secretary.
For the first time, the Indian-Americans nominated for Biden administration
include two who trace their roots to Kashmir: Aisha Shah, who has been named
as Partnership Manager at the White House Office of Digital Strategy and
Sameera Fazili, who would occupy the key position of Deputy Director at the
US National Economic Council (NEC) in the White House. White House National
Economic Council also has another Indian-American, Bharat Ramamurti, as
Deputy Director.
Gautam Raghavan, who served at the White House in the previous Obama
administration returns to the White House as Deputy Director in Office of
Presidential Personnel. Among Biden’s inner circle is his top confidant for
years Vinay Reddy, who has been named as Director Speechwriting.
Young Vedant Patel is all set to occupy a seat in the White House lower
press, behind the briefing room, as Assistant Press Secretary to the
President. He is only the third-ever Indian American to be part of the White
House press shop.
Three Indian-Americans have made their way to the crucial National Security
Council of the White House, thus leaving a permanent imprint on the country’s
foreign policy and national security.
They are Tarun Chhabra: Senior Director for Technology and National
Security, Sumona Guha, Senior Director for South Asia, Shanthi Kalathil:
Coordinator for Democracy and Human Rights.
Sonia Aggarwal has been named Senior Advisor for Climate Policy and
Innovation in the Office of the Domestic Climate Policy at the White House
and Vidur Sharma has been appointed as Policy Advisor for Testing for the
White House COVID-19 Response Team.
Two Indian-American women have been appointed to the Office of the White
House Counsel: Neha Gupta as Associate Counsel and Reema Shah as Deputy
Associate Counsel.
Also, for the first time in any administration, the White House would have
three other South Asians in key positions — Pakistani-American Ali Zaidi as
Deputy National Climate Advisor White House; Sri Lankan American Rohini
Kosoglu as Domestic Policy Advisor to the Vice President and Bangladeshi-
American Zayn Siddique: Senior Advisor to the White House Deputy Chief of
Staff.
During the campaign, Biden had indicated that he would rope in a large
number of Indian-Americans.
“As President, I’ll also continue to rely on Indian-American diaspora that
keeps our two nations together, as I have throughout my career,” Biden had
said in his address to the Indian-American community during a virtual
celebration of India’s Independence Day on August 15, 2020.
“My constituents in Delaware, my staff in the Senate, the Obama-Biden
administration, which had more Indian-Americans than any other administration
in the history of this country and this campaign with Indian Americans at
senior levels, which of course includes the top of the heap, our dear friend
(Harris) who will be the first Indian-American vice president in the history
of the United States of America,” Biden had said in his video address. Biden
and Harris will be sworn in as President and Vice President of the United
States during a largely-virtual swearing-in ceremony on January 20.
But it won’t be a typical inauguration, for several reasons. The ongoing
coronavirus pandemic and fresh security concerns following a pro-Trump mob
breaching the Capitol last week have combined to force some major changes to
what is a historical American day.