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For the young and the employed, it is often difficult to spare time for anything unrelated to work, much less politics, but young Indian-Americans working as professionals seem to be defying that notion as they involve themselves in volunteer work for candidates for the upcoming presidential election.
People in their early or late twenties and thirties from New York and New Jersey have got busy this election year to give some time from work to party candidates. Almost all of them this correspondent spoke to are batting for the Democratic Party, and support the candidature of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
While it was difficult to get an exact count of how many Indian-American volunteers are working from the Tri-state area for the Democratic campaign, some young political activists Desi Talk spoke to, put the figure of leading volunteers in leadership roles close to 100. There are many others giving some of their time and energy to campaigns.
How do they juggle two completely different roles, working for a living, and yet pursuing their passion for politics by getting involved in the political process?
A partial answer came from Radhe Patel of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York.
The 23-year-old, who is an analyst in the Deputy Chancellor for Operations’s office at the NYC Department of Education, acknowledged it is hard to volunteer with a fulltime job, but she does it anyway.
“I often stay late at work and demonstrate a commitment above the other analysts for my professional development, but I also need to make time on nights and weekends for this additional commitment of mine,” she told Desi Talk.
“I think this (workload) discourages some young people from getting involved with the campaign because they are overwhelmed by their work schedules,” Patel, who is not batting for any particular candidate but supports the Democrats, added.
That it discourages many, who has job and family responsibilities, is borne out by the story of Sanchay Agarwal of Edison, New Jersey. Agarwal knows the local Democratic movers and shakers because he worked in the past on the campaigns of U.S. Congressman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and former Democratic New Jersey Assemblyman Upendra Chivukula.
“I used to be very active in the Democratic campaign until a couple of years ago, but these days with my work commitments, I hardly have any time, and I’m not actively involved with the Democratic presidential campaign this year,” he told this correspondent.
The same is true of Shekar Krishnan, a Queens-based attorney, who is not as active now but keeps in touch with the developments in the Democratic presidential campaign.
Those who manage time to work for the party campaigns however, say their sheer zeal and interest in the political process carries them through. For example, Amit Jani, a Jersey City resident and regional representative for ‘South Asians for Hillary’ in the New Jersey region, said he considers it his duty as an American citizen to become involved civically and politically in all elections – from local to presidential.
“For me it’s important, irrespective of time constraints, that I have a voice in the electoral process and believe that my involvement as a whole will ultimately make a difference in choosing our next president,” Jani,26, a Rutgers alumnus active since his college days, told Desi Talk.
Jani, a 2012 Washington Leadership Program Fellow, during which he worked at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in the Office of the Secretary, admits campaign volunteers make sacrifices to commit to their chosen candidate’s cause.
“But we do so because we truly believe in the candidate’s message, and believe that they will be the best representative to lead our country,” Jani said.
“It is important for everyone to be invested in our upcoming elections because it really determines the direction of our country, and ultimately not just our way of life, but that of our children in the future as well,” he asserted.
Although it’s hard, some people seem to have found a way to balance their work between two completely different worlds.
Patel has found a unique way of making time for political activism. “One way I’ve made it work is by setting one night every other week as ‘work night’ with my friends. If your peers also have personal projects whether campaign related or not, then if you get together at a coffeehouse and work together, you can support and encourage each other. It no longer seems like work!” said Patel, who is not formally associated with any Democratic club, or organization but attends Democrat events in New York when she finds time. Originally from Chicago where in an adjacent district, Raja Krishnamoorthi is running for the US. Congress, Patel helps with phone banking whenever possible, and also spreading news of his endorsements and other key information via social media.
“I help the DNC’s AAPI desk via social media to bring attention to voter issues for the AAPI community,” Patel said refering to the Democratic National Committee’s Asian American and Pacific Islander outreach. “Since it’s through the DNC, I don’t work to explicitly support either Hillary or Bernie, but instead just want to support the Democratic Party and get voters important information,” she said.
Both she and Jani stressed the need for Indian-Americans to vote, have their voices heard, and be engaged in the issues that matter to the community so that decision-makers focus on these things.
“We need to show we matter and come out in force during this election, to start moving the marker on the things that are important to us,” Patel said.
Twenty-year-old Jenica Patel of Whippany New Jersey, a student at Seton Hall University, agrees with Radhe Patel, although she admits that she started getting involved in campaigns only a few years ago to help the community.
Jenica Patel has been canvassing for many counties throughout New Jersey, and she says her goal is to inform voters about the elections coming up, the new candidates and simply how they can take one step closer to making the community stronger by voting.
“My goal is to make a better understanding of the political process for kids and adults who do not vote and to make them vote and explain why it is so important for the community,” Jenica Patel, who gives time almost every weekend for political work, said.
These volunteers said that the job really entails connecting with people and engaging the community through which they can manage voter registration drives, canvass through neighborhoods, speak directly with voters and organize communities to become more involved.
“This is especially true in the South Asian community, where we are beginning to become more active. In a community where language access is still an issue, and in which even if these folks want to get involved in politics, they might not have the resources or knowledge to do so,” Jani said.
“This is why having the South Asian community become more active in this campaign for Hillary is so important so that they can connect better and get others in our community more engaged as well,” Jani said.
The point was further elucidated by Harin Contractor, chairman of the Washington Leadership Program in Washington D.C. While it is true that there is some involvement of the Indian-American community in the political process, it is not on the same level as other communities. “That’s a fact and that is why the community needs to get involved in the campaign and we need to have seats at the table and when we have that it will make a big difference,” Contractor said.
He acknowledged that interest in getting involved in the political process seems to be increasing, if the profiles of the applicants to WLP internship this year are any indication.
“For the first time since its inception in 1995, we are seeing a notable increase in the number of applicants who are pre-med students. Obviously, young people from our community are taking inspiration from the Surgeon General Vivek Murthy. I am sure there will be a surge in interest in politics and the political process in the months and years ahead as more Indian-Americans occupy positions of influence and visibility,” Contractor said.
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