Guest of Honor at the Gala

‘I have been the very fortunate recipient of the (WLP) interns’

Guest of honor Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton speaking at the benefit gala at the Mandarin Oriental New York on Nov. 13. (Photo: Mohammed Jaffer/SnapsIndia)

I am honored to be here. I wish that the Senate was not quite so demanding, because as has already been mentioned, I intended to come and enjoy our dinner and visit with all of you in a leisurely way.... I have been the very fortunate recipient of the interns, the young people you sent, I know they are a very big presence in the back there, and I am told that two of the interns ---- one of my interns and another intern who served in the Senate that I wanted to recognize ---- are here. But Samir Arora, I think, is here. Samir did an excellent job in my office and I hope someday I will get him back in some capacity. Neil Kataria, I think, is here. These are just two of the examples and I know there are others as well as to why this is so important to support. But I learned something quite interesting.

I was fortunate enough to be seated next to Mr. Pawar and I thank you and welcome you. What he told me was that he had been in the Parliament for 35 years with the Congress Party and he had been on an exchange program for young leaders in 1966 where he worked in the office of Senator Robert Kennedy. So it’s so important to reach out to young people, to give them these opportunities, and I particularly want to underscore the importance to the Indian-American community taking on this responsibility. The Indian American Center for Political Awareness has been around for 10 years thanks to a lot of good personal support. But the work it’s done is beyond the personal. Individuals, like the two young men that I just acknowledged, will be given experiences that they can then use on behalf of their own futures. But as we have already heard, it is important for the entire community to provide those opportunities.

Every day in the United States Senate I am in a wonderful position to watch how laws are made, how our government works. In our democracy ---- just like in the Indian democracy, the largest democracy ---- the oldest democracy, we know very well that we must keep replenishing our resources in a political way just as we do in a personal and economic and academic and many other ways as well. We have to keep bringing in young people, we have to keep raising awareness, we have to keep creating new leaders. So I am very impressed and grateful that the Center has been around for 10 years and I hope it will only grow bigger and provide more opportunities for young people to have this first-hand experience. I also want to send my congratulations to the honorees. I am very appreciative of the personal support that so many here in this room have given to me, both in my campaign where I had wonderful events done for me by members of the Indian American community from Atlanta to California and certainly right here in New York, and I take very seriously the obligation I have to be a Senator who isand acceptable and listening and responsive to the concerns of this community. Because I am very proud of the incredible accomplishments of the Indian American community. I don’t think there is a more accomplished community in our country and I am also hopeful that the leaders of this community in every walk of life will be able to not only contribute, as you are, to building a stronger future for the United States, but also to reach back and assist in building a stronger future for the people of India.

We are living in a very dangerous time right now in our world and we are having to create a broader understanding that crosses borders to bring people together. This is one of my goals. I worry that sometimes in our country it is too easy to forget what makes America great, what makes America a land of opportunity and a beacon of hope. It is not because we are the greatest military power in the world, we are, but that is not the source of our strength. The source of our strength is the way we have created a diverse pluralistic democracy that holds out the promise of hope and democracy for everyone willing to work hard and make the sacrifices that are necessary to build strong lives, strong businesses, strong society. And we have to be sure that we take that message far beyond our borders. And it is imperative that the United States and India develop an even stronger and deeper relationship and partnership. I was very honored during my husband’s presidency to go to India as a way of visibly demonstrating the beginning of a new era of friendship and partnership and my daughter and I had an extraordinary time. And then my husband and my daughter got to go back to India ---- I couldn’t go, I was running for the Senate here in New York ---- but that trip was absolutely transforming of American Indian relations. And in a few days my husband will be back in India ---- as many of you know he has spent quite a bit of his time after his presidency working to build up strong relations between India and the United States. So this will remain one of my goals and one of my priorities and it will be a great honor to work with you individually, to work with you through the Center and to do all that we can to make it clear that the Indian American community is not only financially successful, not only academically successful, not only leaders in every walk of life; but creating a different kind of new America that we so desperately need to have here at home and as an example and a model around the world in partnership and friendship with the people of Indian origin who have so much to give to us.

So thank you for what you’re doing and I look forward to many years in the future of working together.

Guests at the Gala