Desis in the (White) House!

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We have talked extensively here about one particular South Asian American member of the Obama-Biden transitional team. But are there others? Facebook informed me earlier this week that Parag Mehta left his job as the Director of External Communications at the Democratic National Committee — the highest-ranking staff position held by a South Asian in the Democratic Party. Now we know why, he is the latest South Asian to join the Presidential Transition Team. parag-mehta-4005.jpg

Parag Mehta, 31, has been named the deputy director of inter-governmental affairs and public liaison of the Obama-Biden transition team, charged with outreach to Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and other minority groups.

He said that besides outreaching to Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, his mandate would also include reaching out “to lesbians, gays and bi-sexuals and also a couple of issue areas. So, I will be reaching out to these groups too besides Asian Pacific Americans.” But, Mehta explained that “the office is not just for minority groups. The office also includes small businesses, doctors, lawyers, rural farmers-so it’s a pretty large portfolio.”[IndiaDem]

The central Texan native was deputy political director for Howard Dean’s 2003 presidential bid, and directed the campaign’s ethnic outreach. Prior to joining the DNC, Mehta served as the deputy political director for America Votes. He holds a masters degree in public administration from Syracuse University and served in both the Clinton and Bush administrations as liaison to the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.[NewAmericaMedia]

Mehta will be leading a conversation in a post-election webinar hosted by SAALT this Tuesday, November 25th at 1pm PST where people can ask him questions they have on the transition team. nick rathod.jpg Working next door to Mehta in the transition team office is another desi face, Nick Rathod.

Nick Rathod, 33, has been appointed director to the Office of Inter-governmental Affairs. Rathod is the national outreach director of South Asians for Obama and one of its founding members. He also co-founded South Asian Americans Leading Together.[NewAmericaMedia]

Preeta Bansal.jpg Lawyer and former Clinton insider Preeta Bansal’s name has also been floating around the transition team.

Reports also suggest that the former solicitor general of New York, Preeta Bansal, currently a senior advisor on the Obama campaign, may be considered for the position of Solicitor General in the Department of Justice.[AsianWeek]

Other desi names that have been popping up in regards to the transition team are that of Arti Rai, Anjan Mukherjee, Rachana Bhowmik, Subhasri Ramanathan, Natasha Bilimoria and Puneet Talwar. Also rumored are Neera Tanden, Hrishi Karthikeyan, Dave Kumar, and Kris Kolluri.

Though considered just a “temp job”, this may be one of the most important temp jobs I’ve ever seen. What is remarkable to me is just how transparent and AAPI-accessible the transition team is, especially compared to every past presidential transition team. From the President-Elect’s Change Website, to broadly being able to track the transition team at Public Citizen’s Becoming 44, to having conference calls hosted by APIA Vote to explain the transition team process for the APIA community, I feel that I finally have the transparency I need to hold my elected official accountable.

As far as accessibility, I’m pretty confident in saying that there has never been this many desis involved in a Presidential Transition Team before, and I can say with certainty that this will only lead to an increased representation of South Asians in the White House. Not just any South Asians, but leaders that our community has looked to in the past to advocate for our community – people that we have as facebook friends, in our Gmail contacts, and most importantly, readers of Sepia Mutiny – are going to be in the White House. And there’s something just thrilling about that.

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About Taz

Taz is an activist, organizer and writer based in California. She is the founder of South Asian American Voting Youth (SAAVY), curates MutinousMindState.tumblr.com and blogs at TazzyStar.blogspot.com. Follow her at twitter.com/tazzystar

17 thoughts on “Desis in the (White) House!”

  3. Nick is a fundamentalist Christian who, I believe, advocates for the conversion of Hindus in India.

  5. So, are there just a complete lack of Muslim South Asians from Pakistan/India/Bangladesh in politics, or does Sepia Mutiny just make a point of highlighting Hindu Indian accomplishments? The staggering lack of coverage of South Asian Muslims in positions of power is disturbing–either because it is true or because they are not covered on this site.

  6. 5 · LizardPeople said

    So, are there just a complete lack of Muslim South Asians from Pakistan/India/Bangladesh in politics, or does Sepia Mutiny just make a point of highlighting Hindu Indian accomplishments? The staggering lack of coverage of South Asian Muslims in positions of power is disturbing–either because it is true or because they are not covered on this site.

    You wonder out loud if there is a lack of Muslims in the administration while in the same breath take this blog to task. I guess your policy is to “Shoot first, ask questions later” ? Look at the bloggers at this site, two observant Sikhs, and Orthodox Christian, a right-libertarian contributor of Christian heritage, one Bangladeshi-Muslim and a Hindu Gujurati. Does that lineup scream “Hindu centrism” to you? I think this would give them the benefit of the doubt.

  7. 6 · sloppyjoe said

    5 · You wonder out loud if there is a lack of Muslims in the administration while in the same breath take this blog to task. I guess your policy is to “Shoot first, ask questions later” ?

    What are you even talking about? Unlike you, I can hold two separate concepts in mind and articulate them in one sentence and formulate them into one question. I am sorry that you cannot hold binary possibilities for the seeming lack of Muslim desis in political office.

    It doesn’t matter who the bloggers’ backgrounds are. The Bangladeshi American blogger here never writes about Bangladesh, and I doubt if she is aware of much that goes on there. In contrast, the Indian bloggers are relatively well informed about India.

    It never hurts for bloggers to be a little more self aware of what “South Asia” they consistently promote.

  8. The Bangladeshi American blogger here never writes about Bangladesh

    First, this is an American centered blog and we write distinctly about the the hyphenated American stories, not those of the South Asian motherland. And I DO write about Bangladeshi-American issues, and I DO write about Muslim issues. Remember this? Or this? Or this? Or this? You can type in Taz into the search option and you’ll see that all I DO is try to bring stories of Islam and Bangladeshis (as well as stories on race, punks, and voting) into the mainstream dialogue here.

    But with regards to the original question – I didn’t highlight any South Asian Muslims IN THIS PIECE because there have not been ANY Muslims, regardless of race, incorporated into the transition team. Trust me, I looked. The Muslim blogging world is tip toeing around this gently – The Rahm nomination as well as having Shah on the transition team does not give the perception of a Muslim friendly president-elect. But we know that Congressman Keith Ellison is tight with Obama, so I think as Muslims we are just kinda waiting to see what happens with the transition team.

    As a South Asian Muslim in politics, I have rarely come across another. If I did, I’d blog about it.

  11. 1 · Caramel said

    Wow so young. Funny that he says he is reaching out to American Asians, Pacific Islanders…and lesbians and gays lol.

    Why is that funny? Just curious.

    I hope he knows that South Asian and LGBT are not mutually exclusive.

  12. 11 · Kam said

    I hope he knows that South Asian and LGBT are not mutually exclusive.

    If by “he” you mean Parag, I can promise you he knows that. I know him IRL. 🙂 He’s good peeps. Hell, he’s great.

  13. nice to see desi-americans involved in the political game! but, i do hope that obama chooses some muslim-americans in his administration; they have helped him get elected. some polls estimate that 89% of muslim-americans voted for obama.

  14. tabassam — stats please? I haven’t seen any reliable figures on muslim voting yet, let alone the number of muslims in America.

  15. From NEWSWEEK:

    The American Muslim Task Force on Civil Rights and Elections released a poll today of over 600 Muslims from more than 10 states, including Florida and Pennsylvania, and it revealed that 89 percent of respondents voted for Obama, while only 2 percent voted for McCain. It also indicated that 95 percent of Muslims polled cast a ballot in this year’s presidential election—the highest turnout in a U.S. election ever—and 14 percent of those were first-time voters. The Gallup Center for Muslim studies estimates that U.S. Muslims favored Obama in greater numbers than did Hispanics (67 percent of whom voted for Obama) and nearly matched that of African-Americans, 93 percent of whom voted for Obama.