From left, WLP spring interns, Chirag Shah, Meghana Mudiyam, Amy Kotwani and Bharathi Sundaram on the steps of the Capitol. (Photo Christopher Dumm)

While most first generation Indian Americans have focused on professional accomplishments, many come to understand that the next stage in the overall process is for the community as a whole to accomplish its political goals. These sentiments underscore Gopal Raju’s motives when he founded the Indian American Center for Political Awareness (IACPA) in 1993 and a year later when the center initiated its Washington Leadership Program (WLP). The program has grown and gained respect from the Indian community-at-large, members of Congress and their staff and, most important, from the participants themselves. Many members of Congress have spoken out in praise of IACPA’s WLP. For example, Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY), who has hosted interns from the program during the past three summers, has called this program “among the very best of its kind in Washington.”
Since 1995, WLP has placed 132 students, who have interned with 11 Senators, 46 Congressmen and eight other offices, making it the largest and most successful Asian-American internship program in Washington, D.C. Last year, the program expanded its scope by sending six interns to visit India from Aug. 10 to 18 to understand the political process of the world’s largest democracy, interact with policymakers and think tanks.
This year, the WLP has expanded to include a new spring class. Four interns have been chosen to participate in WLP’s first non-summer program. In addition to the traditional activities of WLP classes such as meetings with provocative community leaders and their Congressional experiences, participants in this WLP class will also collaborate on an issue paper. They will all contribute to an in depth analysis of an issue that strongly impacts the Indian-American community. This paper will be published by IACPA.
Since most of the interns do not plan careers in public policy, it is important to stress that this program is not just beneficial to those who think about eventually running for a public office or working for a branch of the federal or local government.
Quite clearly, it also benefits those who plan to go into other fields such as law, medicine, hotel management or computer science. Actions by the government affect every individual in this country and those who understand the processes well are best able to succeed in any walk of life.
The program’s first intern, Sudhanshu Dwivedi from the University of Minnesota-Morris, was placed in Representative Sherrod Brown’s (D-OH) office in the spring of 1995. The Congressman was so impressed with him and the overall program that he has hosted subsequent interns every year thereafter. Dwivedi’s reflections on the program have been typical of virtually everyone who participated after him. He stated that it was one of his “most educational experiences.”
He remarked that he was able to “both observe and participate in the daily work of a Congressional office,” which provided him with “new perspectives into our governmental processes.” Dwivedi “hoped that the program might develop so that other Indian-American students might have a similar opportunity.”
By 1996, WLP grew to 16 participants who were selected from over 50 applicants. Their exciting adventures literally began on their first day in the program, when they learned that Congress was about to consider an amendment offered by Representative Dan Burton (R-IN) designed to cut aid to India. The group immediately went to Capitol Hill to assist in the successful lobbying effort against the passage of this amendment.
By 1997, published reports credited the program as “the largest and best Asian American Congressional internship program in the country.”
By 1998, nearly 150 Indian-American university students applied to participate in the program. Just as all WLP “classes,” in addition to their Congressional assignments, the 15 interns in 1998 spent a great deal of time in seminars, discussions and retreats designed to enhance their leadership capabilities and their understanding of their Indian-American heritage.
They met with Indian leaders from the left and right of the political spectrum; from Maryland Delegate Kumar Barve (D-MD) to noted author Dinesh D’Souza. They also held meetings with representatives of the Hispanic Caucus and the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies to enhance their networks and to determine how to coordinate political activities.
(Ralph Nurnberger is Washington Associate for the Indian American Center for Political Awareness (IACPA). He is also a professor of international relations at Georgetown University and Senior Partner in Nurnberger & Associates, a Washington-based government relations firm.)