Ritu Jha-
Former US Vice President Joe Biden, who also is the Democratic presidential candidate in the upcoming November election, along with his running mate Sen. Kamala Harris on Saturday greeted Hindus celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi, the annual celebration of the birth of Lord Ganesha, and blessed them to “find a path to new beginnings.”
Biden tweeted: “To everyone celebrating the Hindu festival of Ganesh Chaturthi in the U.S., India, and around the world, may you overcome all obstacles, be blessed with wisdom, and find a path toward new beginnings.”
Harris retweeted his greetings and added that she joins him “in wishing everyone celebrating a very happy Ganesh Chaturthi.”
Although Harris is identified as a Baptist Christian, she had asked her aunt to break a coconut, to symbolic the breaking the ego and humbling yourself before God, at a Ganesh temple in Chennai when she was running for California Attorney General, according to media reports. Ganesh is the Hindu God of new beginnings and a fresh start.
Her aunt broke 108 coconuts as offering to Lord Ganesh, and Harris won the election, according to published reports.
Meanwhile, California-based Ajay Bhutoria, who serves on the national finance committee of Biden for President 2020 and is on the Biden campaign’s Asian-American Pacific Islander (AAPI) national leadership council, has released a video that features his wife, Vinita Bhutoria, and their friends advocating in various Indian dialects a vote for Biden and Indian-American Harris.
The couple have been key leaders in the Biden 2020 campaign since its inception, were instrumental in organizing an event on India’s Independence Day, August 15th, which featured a special message from Biden and Harris, the release of an official Biden platform on Indo-US relations and increasing Indo-American political representation in the US.
“Living in the 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 through a press note.
The political couple is working on three unique video ads in support of the Biden-Harris campaign, with the first of the series being released today.
“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 stated Neil Banerjee, a Silicon Valley technology executive.
The video was created by New York-based Awesome TV, a South Asian streaming network that features programming and news targeted to a primarily South Asian audience in North American and includes Bollywood, Hollywood, and original content.
“We wanted to inspire all South Asian American Indians to be involved and support candidates that support our causes!” said Ritesh Parikh, founder of Awesome TV.