Samosa Caucus: Indian Americans in US Congress are emerging as a power blocPosted in Articles, Asian Diaspora, Media Archive, Politics/Public Policy on 2017-05-14 22:41Z by Steven |
Samosa Caucus: Indian Americans in US Congress are emerging as a power bloc
Hindustan Times
New Delhi, India
2017-05-14
Yashwant Raj, U.S. Correspondent
 Potentially presidential: Congresswoman Kamala Harris. (File photo) |
A new power bloc rises in the US. Can an Indian American some day be president of the United States?
As the young Congressman peered intently at the faces of Indian Americans around him in a small, crowded hall inside the Indian embassy in downtown DC, he felt a rush of emotion; he felt beholden to them. “I stand on your shoulders to be in the United States Congress,” he said, tapping the podium, as was his habit, with his pen. “Please visit me in our office; my office is your office, and anything you need on any issue, you come to us and we will help you. Pramila, me, Ami, Ro and everyone else – we are at your service.” He calls them the “Samosa Caucus”.
That was Raja Krishnamurthi, one of five Indian Americans elected to the US Congress that started its 115th two-year term in 2017. The three he mentioned by their first names were Pramila Jayapal, Ami Bera and Ro Khanna – all elected to the House of Representatives – and Kamala Harris, the one he missed, is the fifth of the group and the first American of Indian descent elected to the Senate.
They are all Democrats, relatively young – with Bera, Harris and Jayapal the oldest, at 51 – and brimming with hope, plans and ambition. They made history in the past election by winning in record numbers. They are now caucusing as a group in the US legislature in the tradition of India Caucus, the Black Caucus and various other groupings, which, however, are officially recognised as such.
The Samosa Caucus is not there yet, but a beginning has been made…
Read the entire article here.