(Image source from: Politico)
Days after a survey revealed that Indian Americans are most likely to support Joe Biden in the crowded Democratic primary, the former vice president was hosted for a major fund-raiser by the biggest diaspora in the world.
On Wednesday, a fundraiser was organized by an Indian American surgeon Sanjay Khurana and his wife Mona, an IT employee, at their picturesque Manhattan Beach home. The event was attended by about 150 top Indian Americans from in and around Hollywood.
(Image source from: NDTV.com)
The fundraiser event comes days after President Donald Trump tried to woo Indian Americans by joining Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a mega rally in Houston.
During his almost 30-minute speech, Biden said he is running for president to restore the soul of America, to rebuild the middle class and to unite the country.
The democratic presidential aspirant said if Trump is elected to another term, it will fundamentally change the United States. Indian Americans have typically voted for the Democratic party candidates.
Biden said: “We can handle, God-willing, the next 18 or 16 months if he doesn’t get us into a war. We can handle four years of President Trump.”
He further said that the nation will still need to repair itself domestically and its image and relationships abroad.
“I believe four more years of Donald Trump will change the very nature of who we are as a nation, the very nature of we are and we can’t let that happen. There’s too much at stake,” he added.
Referring to his visit to Mumbai when he was vice present, Biden noted that India is the world’s largest democracy and some at the event were immigrants who became naturalized citizens.
Read: Indian Americans Likely to Support Joe Biden in Democratic Primary
Pointing that his great, great grandfather moved to the United States from Ireland in a coffin ship, Biden said: “We’ve been able to take the best of every country in the world, from every continent.”
“You all decided to come, you weren’t sure what was going to happen either. The people who came had resilience. They had hope. They had optimism. They were determined. They were, in fact, ready to be inclusive. You represent why we’re the nation we are,” Biden said.
In spite of all the bad news and fears about how Trump has impacted the nation, Biden said, he was more optimistic than ever about the nation’s future.
“The fact of the matter is we’re in a situation now where we have such an enormous opportunity. We’re better positioned than any country in the world to own the 21st century
“There is not a single thing we can’t do if we set out minds to it. And folks, everybody will benefit, the wealth, the poor, the middle class, everybody will benefit. And the world will benefit,” Biden said.
The recent survey by AAPI Victory Fund found that most voters of the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities, regardless of the candidate they supported, perceived Biden as having the best possibility of defeating President Trump.
By Sowmya Sangam
