Indian Americans are a rising political force, says Frank Islam, an eminent NRI and imp member of Biden’s poll campaign team

Oct 20, 2020

Washington/New Delhi: Famous NRI Frank Islam, who has been entrusted with a very significant responsibility by Presidential candidate Vice President Joe Biden in his poll campaign, says Indian Americans are a rising political force in the US.

”The Indian American community has worked had to push its way to relevance in American politics over the past two decades, as each election has seen the representation of the community go up.The substantial number of Indian American candidates who are on the ballot this year is proof of the strides that have been made,” Islam said in an exclusive interview to India News Stream. 

In case of Joe Biden’s victory in the coming election, Senator Kamala Harris will be leaving the Senate to serve as the Vice President of the United States.

Besides, Democrat Sara Gideon, who is half Indian American, also has bright chance of defeating incumbent Senator Susan Collins in Maine. Gideon, Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives, currently has lead over Collins by 6.5 percentage points in RealClearPolitics average of polls.

In addition to Gidon, Republican Rik Mehta, a biotech entrepreneur, and lawyer, is taking on Senator Cory Booker in New Jersey. Mehta is a heavy underdog against Booker, a popular senator, and former presidential candidate.  His candidacy, however, indicates the rising importance of Indian Americans in the electoral process.

There are four Indian American members of the US Congress who are contesting again – Representatives Ami Bera, Ro Khanna, Pramila Jayapal and Raja Krishnamoorthi – with very bright chances of being reelected. 

Frank Islam sees these numbers as very significant because, he says, in a democratic society, participation and representation in the political process matters greatly as it influences the shaping and structuring of policies and programs and how they are executed on the ground.

The eminent Indian American, who has been associated with Democratic Party campaign for a long time, says that India American votes would matter very much in a close election, but says this election was not going to be close one.

”If you recall, when Trump won in 2013, his margin in three crucial swings of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, was around 70,000. Pennsylvania and other battleground states such as Florida, Georgia, Ohio and North Carolina have enough Indian American votes to swing the election one way or the other. However, at this point, it appears that this election is unlikely to be a close election,” he said.

”There is one thing that has made our job easier: the failure of President Trump’s administration on multiple fronts and its impact on the nation. There is a groundswell of opposition to Trump’s reckless policies, which have made the country less secure and its people more vulnerable. Every single day, hundreds of thousands of people across America are donating money to the Biden campaign. In two successive months, the Biden campaign has raised more than $350 million, which is a record.

Asked about the major poll planks of Biden which are attracting the peoeple, Frank said Vice President Biden is running on a whole gamut of issues, ranging from economy and healthcare to immigration, climate change and racial justice.

The current administration has made America weaker and polarized and a more divided country, and Trump has not conducted himself as the president of all Americans, conducting himself from Day 1 as the president of his base. America has never been more divided since the Civil War days. Biden has said that he will serve as the president of all Americans and will unify the country, he said.

In Islam’s view, the biggest failure of Trump has been in tackling the coronavirus pandemic, the biggest health crisis the nation has faced in more than a hundred years. As a result, more than 222,000 Americans have died and more than eight million have been infected. Even though he knew about the dangers posed by the pandemic, he didn’t act. In fact, he downplayed its seriousness.

Another consequence of Trump’s failure to contain coronavirus is the tanking of the U.S. economy, he says, pointing out that since March, when the virus swept the country, millions of Americans have lost their jobs. Many have jobs that don’t pay them enough to maintain a decent standard of living. Biden has promised to tackle the health crisis and fix the economy.

”He has also vowed to reverse Trump’s immigration policy. Trump has declared Mexican immigrants as rapists and announced a so-called Muslim ban. For more than 200 years, America used to be a nation that welcomed immigrants with both hands. Biden will make America once again a welcoming place for immigrants,” he said.

Asked how challenging the campaigning he finds this time, Islam said, ”Raising money, whether it is for a campaign, or a business venture, is time-consuming. You need to call people and persuade them to contribute. You have to make a case about the importance of making the contributions. Until the Coronavirus pandemic hit, we relied on fundraising events to raise money. In such events, you invite the candidate or a top surrogate, who interacts with the donors and thanks them in person. But because of Covid, conducting physical events is out of the question.”

A major difference this time around is most of the campaigning and fundraising are virtual. Vice President Biden started campaigning in person only in the last few weeks. Also, in prior elections, an army of volunteers and paid staff knocked the doors of potential voters in the run-up to the elections, in what is known as Get-Out-The-Vote effort. This year, most of the mobilization is virtual, he said.

About his prevevious responsibilities in Democratic Party campaigns, Frank said,” I have been a long-time donor and fundraiser for the Democratic Party. Over the past decade, I have contributed more than a million dollars to various Democratic causes and campaigns. I have raised money for the campaigns of the last three Democratic presidential nominees, President Barack Obama, Secretary Hillary Clinton and Vice President Joe Biden. For the Clinton campaign, I was a member of the National Finance Committee. I serve in the same role for the Biden campaign as well.”

Islam, who started as an information technology entrepreneur in the US, heads the FI investment group which he set up in 2007 after selling the QSS which he had founded in 1994 with one employee and turned it into a concern employing 2000 people with revenues of approximately 300 million dollars before its sale.

He is a civic leader, philanthropist and thinker. Besides he has served on the board of various prestigious institutions and has multiple industry awards to his credit.

He has also emerged as a writer and thought leader, having penned two books: Working the Pivot Points: Making America Work Again’, and ‘Renewing the American Dream:A Citizen’s Guide for Restoring Our Competitive Advantage. He also contributes occasionally to international magazines and newspapers.

Born in a samll village of Azamgarh district in Eastern Uttar Pradesh, He had migrated to the US at the age of 15, when he was studying in Aligarh Muslim University, and did his masters in computer science from the university of Colorado.

–INDIA NEWS STREAM