Joe Biden team is packed with desis
Less than 100 hours ahead of his historic inauguration, US President-elect Joe Biden has either nominated or named at least 20 Indian Americans, including 13 women, to key positions in his administration, a new record in itself for this small ethnic community that constitutes one per cent of the country's population.
As many as 17 of them would be part of the powerful White House complex.
Topping the list is Neera Tanden, who has been nominated as Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget and Dr Vivek Murthy, who has been nominated as the US Surgeon General.
Vanita Gupta has been nominated as Associate Attorney General Department of Justice, and on Saturday, Biden nominated a former Foreign Service official Uzra Zeya as the Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights.
Mala Adiga has been appointed as Policy Director to the future First Lady Dr Jill Biden and Garima Verma would be the Digital Director of the Office of the First Lady, while Sabrina Singh has been named as her Deputy Press Secretary.
For the first time ever among the Indian-American nominees include two who trace their roots to Kashmir: Aisha Shah, who has been named as Partnership Manager at the White House Office of Digital Strategy, and Sameera Fazili, who would occupy the key position of Deputy Director at the US National Economic Council (NEC) in the White House.
White House National Economic Council also has another Indian American, Bharat Ramamurti, as Deputy Director.
Gautam Raghavan, who served at the White House in the previous Obama Administration returns to the White House as Deputy Director in Office of Presidential Personnel.
Among Biden's inner circle is his top confident for year Vinay Reddy, who has been named as Director Speechwriting.
Young Vedant Patel all set to occupy a seat in the White House lower press, behind the briefing room, as Assistant Press Secretar y to the President. He is only the third-ever Indian American to be part of the White House press shop.
Three Indian-Americans have made their way to the crucial National Security Council of the White House, thus leaving a permanent imprint on the countr y's foreign policy and national security. They are Tarun Chhabra: Senior Director for Technology and National Security, Sumona Guha, Senior Director for South Asia, Shanthi Kalathil: Coordinator for Democracy and Human Rights.
Sonia Aggarwal has been named Senior Advisor for Climate Policy and Innovation in the Office of the Domestic Climate Policy at the White House and Vidur Sharma has been appointed as Policy Advisor for Testing for the White House COVID-19 Response Team. Two Indian Americans women have been appointed to the Office of the White House Counsel: Neha Gupta as Associate Counsel and Reema Shah as Deputy Associate Counsel.
During the campaign, Biden had indicated that he would rope in a large number of Indian Americans.
“As President, I'll also continue to rely on Indian-American diaspora, that keeps our two nations together, as I have throughout my career,” Biden had said in his address to the Indian-American community during a virtual celebration of India's Independence Day on August 15, 2020.