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Rediff.com  » News » Indo-American legislator urges community to get politically involved

Indo-American legislator urges community to get politically involved

May 05, 2006 15:04 IST
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A fourth-term Indian American state lawmaker Kumar Barve has urged Indian immigrants, numbering approximately 20,000,000, in the US to participate in local politics because "in America that is the only way to influence policy".

Barve, whose grandfather migrated from Indore in Madhya Pradesh to the US in 1911, is now the majority leader in the Maryland House of Delegates.

He said most Indian Americans are professionals leading upper-middle class lives in America's suburbs.

"They are more focused on foreign policy than community affairs," he said.

Speaking at a luncheon recently hosted by the Asia Society and the South Asian Journalists Association in Washington, he said, "This does not mean that Indian Americans could be complacent. Every member of the community should work hard to become more politically visible in order to be counted as US citizens with a voice in policy-making."

He added it is also important that Indian Americans compete for elected office.

"Nobody listens to you unless you have a vote in the legislature," the Indian American lawmaker said.

Just as other minority groups such as African Americans, Jewish Americans and, increasingly, Hispanic Americans have been recognised for their contributions to American society, Indian Americans need to be recognised too, he said.

But it will not happen "if you remain silent" and ambivalent about your presence in the United States, he added.

He said many first-generation Indian immigrants remain undecided about whether to return to India or settle as US citizens. As a result, they do not participate as much as they should in community affairs such as becoming members of school boards, county councils and grassroots movements, he said.

Another problem, according to Barve, is the false notion that an Indian American needs a constituency of fellow citizens to be elected.

"I got elected in a district with less than 1 per cent Indian Americans. It is not necessary to be a majority in a constituency to be elected. It is far more important to have a seat at the table," he emphasised.

Barve represents a legislative district with a population of 110,000 in Montgomery County, Maryland.

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