New York: Community activists, business leaders and prominent Indian Americans from all across Long Island â€“ Democrats and Republicans â€“ gathered in Albertson last week as what looked like a mini political convention, to express their solidarity and explicit support for Anthony J Santino, candidate for Supervisor of the Town of Hempstead, and Nasrin Ahmad for Town Clerk. â€œBoth candidates were endorsed by the Indian American Voters Forum,â€ said Varinder Bhalla, Chairman & Founder of the political committee formed in 2003 to screen candidates in local elections.

The Forumâ€™s endorsement was supported by Sunil Modi, President of the NY Association of Indians in America, Surender Dhall, President of the World Punjabi Organization, Usha George, President of Indian Nurses Association of New York, Mohinder Verma, President, Indian American Business Association of New York, Benjamin George, Chairman, Long Island Malayalee Association, Animesh Goenka, former National President of AIA, Gobind Munjal, past President of the India Association of Long Island, as well as Inder Bindra, former President of the Nargis Dutt Memorial Cancer Foundation.

Business tycoon Harry Singh Bolla and the internationally acclaimed cancer physician Dattatrey Nori, as well as Meena Chopra of the Akbar chain of restaurants were also there to express their support.

Bhalla recounted the support received by the community from Santino over the past two decades for which he was honored by Ambassador Dnyaneshwar Mulay at the Consulate of India on August 15 2014. â€œI am pleased that Ambassador Mulay recognized the dedicated services of Councilman Santino and honored him for his unsurpassed commitment to the Indian community on Long Islandâ€, said Dr Nori, who himself was recently honored by the President of India and conferred Padamshree, one of the highest civilian awards by the Government of India.

Santino was named Shanti Fundâ€™s Man of the Year in 1997 and honored by the India Association of Long Island in 1999 and Gujarati Samaj of New York in 2004. The Councilmanâ€™s outreach to the Indian American community includes active participation in the Five Towns Indian Association and the Elmont-based Kerala Center. Both organizations have honored Santino for his work on behalf of all Indian Americans on Long Island.

Endorsing Ahmad for Hempstead Town Clerk, Bhalla stressed that â€œre-election of Nasrin Ahmad in November will be the victory of every South Asian American on Long Island.â€

â€œI wholeheartedly support Tony Santino for the position of Town Supervisor of Hempsteadâ€, said Modi, adding â€œIf we were to create a \'mainstreaming scale\', asking questions like \'Has our community created a place for itself in mainstream America?\', \'Have we integrated ourselves well enough?\', \'do our American counterparts in business or politics see us as part and parcel of the local communities?\' we would see that the Indian community on Long Island would score higher than our counterparts in other regions of the country, for which the credit goes to political leaders like Tony Santino and Nasrin Ahmad.â€

â€œMr. Santino understands the needs of small businesses and hardworking Americans on Long Island and has earned the respect and support of our communityâ€, says Bolla who heads a conglomerate of gas stations, convenience stores, auto repair shops and car washes in the Town of Hempstead and across the New York metropolitan area.

â€œTony Santino has been a friend of the community for over two decades and deserves our full support,â€ said Munjal, Convener of the first India Day Parade in Hicksville.

â€œNasrin is a very important leader of the South Asian community of Long Island and is worthy of our total supportâ€, said Goenka about the incumbent Town Clerk whose office processes marriage and birth certificates as well as passports, among other responsibilities.

The Santino Ahmad endorsement meeting was also attended by Matthew Thomas, Treasurer, Long Island Malayalee Association, Gunjan Rastogi and Jyoti Gupta, both executive committee members of IALI, Rohit Vyas, Founder President of New Yorkâ€™s famed Diwali Mela, Thomas George, Human Rights Commissioner and Alpa Singhvi, Deputy County Attorney of Nassau County.

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CAPTION: Indian American leaders and prominent members of the community gathered in Albertson to endorse Nasrin Ahmad, Town Clerk and Anthony J Santino, Republican candidate for Supervisor of Hempstead Township (seated fourth and fifth from left) for election on November 3rd.

Indian community rallies behind Santino, Nasrin Ahmad