America
Indian community rallies behind Santino, Nasrin Ahmad
New York: Community
activists, business leaders and prominent Indian Americans from all across Long
Island – Democrats and Republicans – 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. “Both candidates were endorsed by the Indian
American Voters Forum,†said Varinder Bhalla, Chairman & Founder of the
political committee formed in 2003 to screen candidates in local elections.
The Forum’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. “I 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 Fund’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 Councilman’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 “re-election of Nasrin Ahmad in November will be the victory of every
South Asian American on Long Island.â€
“I wholeheartedly support Tony Santino for the position of
Town Supervisor of Hempsteadâ€, said Modi, adding “If 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€
“Mr. 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.
“Tony Santino has been a friend of the community for over
two decades and deserves our full support,†said Munjal, Convener of the first
India Day Parade in Hicksville.
“Nasrin 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 York’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.