San Francisco, July 28: Having made waves in medicine, business, law, information technology and other professional sectors, Indian-American are now looking to making their presence felt in the political arena. The trend is epitomised by Bobby Jindal, the 32-year-old second generation Indian-American who is the republican candidate for the election for governor of Louisiana. Jindal and Kumar Barve, the democrat majority leader in the house of Maryland, were among the speakers at a major day-long seminar held in San Francisco on Saturday to train Indian-Americans of varying degrees of experience on how to interject themselves in the political process at various levels.

The political training & networking conference was organised by the Indian American Leadership Initiative (IALI), which plans to train thousands of Indian Americans to run for office. The goal is to elect 10 Indian-Americans to federal office, both the Congress and the senate, by the year 2010, by focusing on lower political offices and working their way up the ladder. For years, Indian-Americans have been sitting on the stands cheering for those in the political court, but now has come the time for the community to be on the court, was the sentiment expressed at the well-organised and well-attended conference.

Bureau Report