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Vote Bush out, Indian Americans urged
Indian Americans are being asked to vote out Bush, which ?has been unjust to immigrants and minorities?.
Politicians ranging from an Illinois state senator to a US Congresswoman are calling upon Indian Americans to vote out the Bush administration, which they say has been unjust to immigrants and minorities.
Congresswoman Janice D. Schakowsky, who has visited India twice and is a member of the India Caucus, has urged Indian Americans to turn out in large numbers and not take the election results for granted.
"This election is all about turnout," she said.
"The dismaying things that President George Bush's administration has inflicted on this country has made us think about what the US could have been," she said.
"Bush has spent $200 billion on the war in Iraq. We could have spent that money to alleviate all the hunger in the world, make a serious assault on AIDS, or address the critical issue of water shortage (around the world)," she said at the annual dinner of the Indo-American Democratic Organisation (IADO).
Chicago Alderman Ed Smith, who has spent two years in India, added: "I am worried about this country. George Bush wanted to be president in the worst possible kind of way, and he has done it. A day will come when we will be afraid to walk down the street, for fear of being blown up (by terrorists)."
Indian Americans should vote Bush out of office, Smith said. "America is a great country and I am not letting some idiot blow it up all for us."
Illinois State Representative Louis Lang has also asked Indian Americans to register as voters.
"If you want to know how important a single vote can be, then look at Florida (in the 2000 elections). How much different would our country have been if they had counted the votes properly? How different would the US have been if Al Gore had been president?" Lang said.
"Bush does not have a record to run on. He has a record to run from," Lang said to applause from the 700 plus audience who included Indian community and business leaders.
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan was conferred an honorary membership of the Indo-American Democratic Organisation. Thanking IADO, she said: "I think I have got this honour because I can tell the difference between daal and naan."
IADO president Selma D'Souza, an attorney, launched a blistering attack on the Bush administration for the harassment of minorities and violation of civil rights.
D'Souza said: "We don't want four more years of this administration. I have never thought I would see any president do so much damage in three and a half years."
According to activists, many Indian Americans do not register to vote, partly because they are unwilling to do jury duty.
