Indian-American couple releases campaign video for Biden, Harris

A Silicon Valley-based Indian-American couple has released a musical campaign video targeting Indian-Americans in the battleground states and urging them to vote for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and his Indian-origin running mate Senator Kamala Harris.

On the last day of the four-day Democratic National Convention on Thursday, Biden, 77, formally accepted the presidential nomination of the Democratic Party. Harris, 55, scripted history in US politics as she became the first Indian-American and Black woman to get a major party's vice-presidential nomination on the third day of the virtual Democratic National Convention on Wednesday.

"Living in Silicon Valley, we are at heart innovators; we have applied that creativity to rapidly grow the outreach to key South Asian voter groups in support of Vice President Biden. It is extremely important that we all come together as a community to fight for what is right," Vinita Bhutoria said after the release of the video on Friday.

Vinita, along with her tech entrepreneur husband Ajay Jian Bhutoria, starts the video saying, "America Ka Neta Kaisa Ho: Jo Biden Jaisa Ho." The political couple, who had earlier hosted Jill Biden at their house early this year for fundraising, is currently working on three unique video adverts in support of the Biden-Harris campaign. The first of the series was released on Friday.

"Indo-Americans are the crucial margin of victory in Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Florida, Wisconsin, and Nevada," said Ajay.

Running into 143 seconds, in the backdrop of music, Indian-Americans in various languages, including Hindi, Gujarati, Punjabi, and Bengali, are appealing to their community members in the battleground States to vote and support Biden and his running mate Harris in the November presidential elections.

"As an absolutely essential swing vote, it is essential that Indo-American political representation increases. We have made immense leaps forward, but we will continue working hard to further push the envelope of what is possible," Ajay said.

The video highlights the culture of Indo-Americans in the USA connecting to mainstream politics and highlights the engagement of all ages of Indo-American community, said Raj, a young Indian-American student from Claremont McKenna College in California.

"It shows hope for the future for the Indo American community. The video shows the ocean of political activism and new waves by Indian Americans. The video connects people from different parts of India living in the USA and speaking in multiple languages, all united in the fight to elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris," Raj said.

"This is the first time ever in US elections, the Indian community is coming forward in big numbers to publicly show their engagement in the democratic process and candidate preferences. This is a big change from just being a donor or campaign volunteer. This election onwards the impact of the whole South Asian Diaspora in American politics will never be the same," said Neil Banerjee, a Silicon Valley technology executive.

The video was created by Ritesh, founder of Awesome TV and his team, based in New York.

"We wanted to inspire all South Asian American Indians to be involved and support candidates that support our causes!" said Ritesh.

The outreach is supported by South Asians for Biden, Impact Fund, They See US Blue, Indian leadership council, and will be released by Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) for the Biden team, a statement said. The first video was gaining attraction on various South Asian social media groups.  

(Image Credits: Twitter/@ajainb)