In his election campaign, one of the biggest promises by Democratic party’s presidential candidate Joe Biden to the Indian-Americans was adequate representation of the community in his cabinet. Now, he has made clear the first Indian-American name in his administration.
Mala Adiga will serve as the policy director for Biden's wife and first lady-elect Jill. According to Hindustan Times, Adiga hails from Kakkunje village in Karnataka’s Udupi district. She belongs to the family of K. Suryanarayana Adiga, founder of Karnataka Bank Limited, and Aravind Adiga, the author who won the Man Booker prize in 2008. She is an experienced education policy hand, having worked for the Biden Foundation as director for higher education and military families. During the Obama administration, she was deputy assistant secretary of state for academic programmes.
A lawyer by training, Adiga had been a clerk for a federal agency and had worked for a Chicago law firm before joining the campaign of former president Barack Obama in 2008, reported news agency ANI. She started in the Obama administration as a counsel to the associate attorney general.
Who could be the other Indian-Americans in his administration?
Many names come to mind. On the campaign side, Biden has relied strongly on Amit Jani as the Asian American and Pacific Islanders Outreach (AAPI) Director and Muslim Outreach Coordinator. Jani’s nomination had come under a cloud of controversy after some Muslim groups claimed he was close to PM Modi, highlighting a tweet of him congratulating the Indian prime minister for his ‘Howdy Modi’ rally.
Then there are the members of the ‘unity task force’ nominated jointly by Biden and the left wing of the Democratic Party. Progressive Congresswoman from Seattle Pramila Jayapal is a co-chair of the health care task force. Climate change activist Varshini Prakash, 26, from Boston is the youngest member of the climate change task force. Executive director of the Sunrise Movement, a leading organisation focused on climate change among young people, Prakash will serve alongside former secretary of state John Kerry. Legal luminary Chirag Bains has been named co-chair of criminal justice reform task force along with former acting assistant attorney general Vanita Gupta. Eminent economist and former lobbyist Sonal Shah has been named to the economy task force.
