Infighting among Indian American organisations

Washington, July 23 (UNI) Infighting has broken out among the various Indian American political organisations over claims of credit just days before the Indo-US Civilian Nuclear deal is all set to move to the floor of the House of Representatives for a full debate and vote.

These organisations are vying with each other in claiming credit for mobilising the maximum members of the Congress in the House and the Senate to get the enabling legislation ratified by the two foreign relations panels of the House and the Senate last month. The House International Relations committee voted 37-5 and the Senate foreign Relations Committee passed it by 16-2 majority.

It is now slated to go before the full House sometime later this week while the Senate would take it up after the summer recess in September.

The US-INDIA FORUM, one of the several organisations, engaged in mobilising support of the lawmakers, put out a statement today calling upon all members of the Indian American Community and ''their organisations to stay focused on getting the legislations passed instead of being carried away by the developments and claiming credit where none perhaps is due.'' The US-INDIA FORUM is a Texas based Organisation and it has considerable influence in Texas. The Forum takes credit for bringing in 15 law makers, 13 in the House(37% of the HR5682) and both Texas Senators,(20 per cent of the S2429) as Co Sponsors to the legislations in the House and the Senate.

''We believe in getting the job done quietly and in a fashion that makes our organisation effective in its own way'' the Forum Chairman Ashok Mago said in a statement.

He said ''of late it has been rather distressing to see many in the Indian American Community and Organisations taking credit for developments in the US-India Civilian Nuclear legislation when in fact they have brought little to nothing to the Table.

Pathetic still is the practice of rushing to press conference and putting out statements taking credit, directly or otherwise for things that have not been under their control under any stretch of imagination.'' The US-INDIA FORUM in Dallas has been quiet all these months but feel compelled to tell Our Story and for two reasons, the statement said.

First, letting the Community and the Media know what we have brought to the table. And secondly, to send a message to our fellow Indian Americans Leaders and organisations-- Please Take Care of Your Own Backyard and LET OTHERS WORRY ABOUT THEIRS.

The statement said that some of the most active and quiet members of the Forum include Nirmal Nilvi, Ramesh Gupta, Narinder Monga, Raj Tanna, Satish Gupta, Dhiren Shah, Deepak Chavda, Sanjeev Khanna, Ravi Jain, Dilip Shah, Dilip C Shah, Nagesh Koganti, Om Singla, Piyush Patel, Paul Pandian.

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