June 06, 2005
A house divided?Politics
The SJ Mercury dissects the conflict between Indian American technocrats and religious/cultural leaders in the Bay Area. This may well be a microcosm of what we’ll soon see in other areas of the country where large Indian American communities exist:
When Dr. Romesh Japra was building his cardiology practice at Washington Hospital 25 years ago, Hindus wanted their own temple. Fremont’s then-mayor, the late Bill Ball, told the doctor the Seventh-day Adventists were moving out of their church. Japra wrote a personal check for $10,000 to cover part of the down payment and the Fremont Hindu temple was born. The first in the Bay Area, it became part of the bedrock for Silicon Valley’s Indo-American community.
Since the late 1970s, when Japra established himself as a leader in the Indo-American community, thousands have arrived from India, many armed with engineering degrees. The 2000 census revealed that 40 percent of all Bay Area high-tech workers were Asian, and many high-profile Silicon Valley companies were founded or co-founded by Indians.
Despite their land of common origin — which they remind outsiders is a complex mix of more than 1 billion people — the high-tech engineers and the Indo-Americans who preceded them are not united. Some old-timers say the technocrats care more about making money than about the grass-roots community. And to some highly skilled high-tech workers, Japra is a maharaja — Hindu prince — who reflects a past they came to America to escape.
The rift has played a part in preventing the community from realizing its shared goal: gaining political power.
“We have to stop backbiting,” said Mahesh Pakala, 40, a Fremont entrepreneur who is friends with both groups. “We’re killing ourselves. We have to think big. We have to get ourselves a politician.”
We’ve all observed this sort of thing before. It’s the classic old world mentality vs. new world mentality that we see in discussions with our parents. The technocrats have an organization that they claim to run like a “start-up” and the old-timers put on their yearly fair for networking and building community ties. In theory the former is run with business-like efficiency and thus can influence big time politics with money and connections. The latter relies on “who you know” and a turning-out-the-vote model.
“We’re struggling to get a political agenda,” said Yogi Chugh of Fremont, senior vice president of the Indian American Forum for Political Education, a group that Japra used to head. “I just wish the leaders would get together. We won’t accomplish much if we do it alone. We need to work together and define a strategy for the next decade. Otherwise we’re going to be taken for granted.”
That agenda could emerge from an unprecedented conference of at least seven major Indian groups and about 50 congressional leaders June 29 in Washington, D.C. Physicians, hotel owners and business leaders are hashing out an agenda that will include core issues like speeding up family reunification visas, repealing portions of the Patriot Act, bettering U.S.-India relations, and pouring federal funding into math and science education.
Most important to many leaders is just being accepted in the mainstream.
“The community is searching for equality, a seat at the table,” said Triloki Pandy, an anthropology professor at the University of California-Santa Cruz. “Even though they have made a lot of money, they realize that to tell the story that `Yes, we have made it’ in the American context means that they have to somehow convert their economic will into political power.”
I worry a great deal about the attitudes expressed above. There seems to be a naive belief that there can be some sort of consensus among all Indian Americans as to what should be part of a political agenda. It should be easy to find issues of importance that all groups have in common but the ambition here seems to go further and believe that everyone is after the same ends. If reading SM has taught us anything it’s that there are both left of center and right of center South Asians on almost every issue. Some of the contingents above seem to believe that just getting brown folks elected is an end in itself. Off-center folks however will resist even that seemingly “basic” agenda item. The following quote is sure to rile some:
The community has made small political gains in the last year or two. Nationally, Bobby Jindal, a Republican from Louisiana elected last year, is now the only Indo-American congressman. There are six Indo-American state legislators throughout the country, and this year in Fremont, Anu Natarajan became the first Indo-American appointed to the city council. A smattering of Indo-Americans sit on Bay Area special districts and school boards.
abhi on June 6, 2005 04:30 PM in Politics · T·r·a·c·k·b·a·c·k address · Direct link · Email post
These fellas are fighting over new and old methods, meanwhile the president of the AIA(whom I know personally) regularly hangs out with Bush and got him to celebrate Diwali at the White house.
And what's this thing about temple building now? Every time I go to a Hindu temple (I've been to temples in Cincinnati, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Washington, Virginia, New Jersey and Buffalo) the only thing you see there is uncles and aunties doing ha ha hee hee and networking and exchanging cards. Its a bloody sham.
Hey...wtf? I should blog about this this seems like a good subject to rant about.
Is the author trying to make a mountain out of a molehill? The real issue in the story seems to be a gap between Dr. Japra and the community, not between the older generation and the younger generation. Don't get me wrong - there will always be a gap between generations, but is it so serious?
Unfortunately, Dr. Japra comes off as the villain in the story. I truly wonder if it's warranted?
PS: I found it slightly humorous that the author mentioned his 16,800 sq ft home ("the largest in Alameda county") shortly after repeating others' allegations that he is an arrogant leader.
Maybe someone who lives in the Bay Area can tell us if the article was accurate...
Well, some people don't understand that identity politics has limits and needs to be flexible and address other things besides group membership. They should read Thomas Frank or Lisa Duggan or talk to people who don't share their politics, but they probably won't. If I were cynical, I might think it has something to do with their being either foolish or power-hungry.
For example, as a Bangali and somewhat progressive, I would almost never align myself with a group or space that conflated Indian and desi.
As a proud ex-Fremontian, I'm glad SM posted this. I've been to Fremont Hindu Temple on countless occasions (it still has stained glass windows from the old church), and in contrast to ananghbai's observations in other ciies, FHT for the most part consists of pious Desis who pray quietly for a few minutes, put a few dollars into the donation box, and leave soon after.
Although I've met both old-school and new-wave Indians in my city, from my experience I have to say that the Fremont Desi community is predominantly the latter. Consequently, we're underrepresented in local politics and the community. It's just like the article says: well-off Indians see no reason to participate in such things. For example, back in my high-school years I never saw an Indian parent show up at a PTSA meeting. Indian parents (mine included) would avoid getting involved in any way, unless of course Rintu's Chemistry AP grade slipped down to a B+.
While Indians in Fremont need to be more active in the community, I think that this participation has to be at an individual level. I'm wholeheartedly against the doctrine of identity politics because it makes the racist assumption that all of us brown folks are the same. I personally could care less about issues like "bettering U.S.-India relations", which Dr. Japra's old organization is putting such emphasis on.
This idea of all "desis" or "brown people" sharing the same values and beliefs worries me too. Up here in Canada and particularly around the suburbs off Toronto there are a lot of minority candidates running for MP (Member of Parliament-National) or MPP (Member of Provincial Parliament-Provincial) positions and I find many people voting for a particular person because they are Indian or Punjabi.
I have no issues with supporting "one of our own" but I do take issue with the fact that certain party leaders nominate representatives based on the ethnic makeup of certain ridings (so basically as a way to get votes). This manipulation of voters is old news, but it is so very dear to my heart.
I see this a lot with my generation now (late teens-early twenties) who are for the most part apathetic when it comes to politics but will "vote for the brown person" just so they can "rep" without taking the time to find out what the platform of that candidate or party is.
Don't be so worried, people. If identity politics is not your thing, then you don't have to attend that conference or support it in writing and in conversation. I'm glad desis are uniting to make political waves....or ripples at the least. I'm sure the numerous groups to be represented are filled with heterogeneous elements, and that they'll come up with a common policy.
Lets not be uber-deconstructionalist....despite differences, there can be basic consensus along racial lines, just like such consensus can exist along economic class lines, religious lines, etc. Its not fair to demote ethnic affiliations as somehow an illegitimate basis for political change. Sure there will be diverging viewpoints. Does that mean the conversation must end? Or does it mean that the conversation was just beginning?
Damn that was some corny isht...but you get my point.
v, I appreciate what you're saying and I don't think ethnic affiliations are always illegitimate, but I think it depends on what form they take. A Bangladeshi masjid or cultural association with members scattered across the outerboroughs of New York might be really different (I don't know know enough about them) from the Jindal-supporter described above or some particularly nasty things I've seen people do professionally that were justified on the basis of identity politics. I'm also pretty cynical when people get all up in arms when their sensibilities as a desi get offended in pretty surface-level ways, but don't seem to give a rat's ass about anything else.
Props Saurav, extremely well put. Fremontian desis (and I'm sure Desis in other communites as well) have the problem of being concerned only about themselves and not giving back to the community as a whole; I don't see organizing politically to promote only Desi affairs to be much of an improvement over the way things currently are.
I agree that the Desi temples are now more of a social-gathering envioronment where one has to 'pay respect' to the original 'sponsorers' (usually rich Desi doctors or businessmen) in addition to the Gods.
Not to mention all the politics and North vs. South Indian camps that are at loggerheads with each other on each and every trivial adiminstrative and religious issue.
Desi's will never be united - not in India, not anywhere else in the world.
despite differences, there can be basic consensus along racial lines
Heil vurdlife!!!
Why do we keep using the term desi in this context ? Would a Pakistani immigrant ( a bona fide desi) really support Jindal because Jindals represents him ? In fact he might vote against Jindal just because Jindal is of an Indian ancestry.
Agree 100%. Its always the ones who give token support to a cause (that invariably benefits them in the short term) that is a problem. Happens in so many other contexts too, like for instance many Hispanics and Blacks who opposed racial profiling pre-2001 but are for it post-2001. I'm just hoping this convention is made up of people who are truly interested in addressing issues in the long run, and more importantly, putting up the money to support it.
It is important for ALL Indo Americans interested in political visibility and in getting Indo American candidates elected to any public office, to participate in "Fridays In Fremont". This is a group of Indo Americans who meet every Friday night in Fremont at the Chaat Cafe (corner of Fremont and Mowry). 9 PM every Friday.
For further details please call Kim Singh at 650 346 5998, Chinmoya at 510 676 1995 Yogi Chugh at 650 619 1789