A win for equality in New York!
The state legislative session has ended without movement on S.6531/A.6920 - bills that would have singled out and stereotyped Hindu and Indian Americans under the guise of social justice. As our press release explains, discrimination is already prohibited under existing laws. There is no need for new religiously coded classifications that target any one group.
For two years, our grassroots volunteers, community members, and Dalit-Bahujan leaders pushed back against these flawed proposals and the fabricated claims used to justify them. Importantly this includes the false allegations of caste-based discrimination at Hindu temples in the US!
These are not harmless feel-good policies. A 2024 study from @RutgersU found that increased caste-focused messaging can fuel prejudice against Hindus and Indian Americans. Policymakers need to take note.
Read and share for more details: https://t.co/l3J45k5OhL
It ain’t over till the fat lady sings. I personally talked to more than a dozen folks who mailed in or dropped their ballots on June 2nd. Many called me to seek advice on who to vote for. This race is long from over.
Last nights early returns have us outside the top two. I won't sugarcoat that.
But here's why I'm not ready to call it. 👇
📊 The math at this hour:
• ~54% of ballots in CA-14 remain uncounted
• In-person voting: 100% counted — but only ~15% of expected total
• Mail-in: only 46% of expected has been counted. Ballots cast Friday or later are almost certainly NOT in tonight's totals
• Meaning ~55% of mail ballots were cast in the final 5 days — sitting at the Alameda County Registrar right now, waiting to be processed
💪 Why this matters for us:
Our biggest mobilization push was concentrated in those final 5 days. We knocked doors. We texted nearly 250,000 voters. We dialed tens of thousands more. We drove neighbors to Vote Centers. We pushed our community — historically the lowest-turnout demographic in CA-14 — to show up at the end.
If that push worked the way our team believes it did, those votes are in the uncounted pile right now.
This race isn't over. Not because I'm being naively optimistic — because the math literally hasn't been finished. Alameda County will be processing ballots throughout the week.
Whatever the final count shows, here's what I know:
We built a coalition that didn't exist before this campaign. Diverse communities, leaders, educators, business owners — people who'd never been brought together for a single candidate stood up for us.
I'm proud to stand among you. 🙏
More updates as the count progresses.
#RakhiForCongress #CA14 #EastBay
9 candidates are on the ballot in CA-14 today.
Rakhi Israni is the only one endorsed by community partners on the @garryslist voter guide from Fremont-native @garrytan & @ycombinator.
Your vote carries 50+ years of consequence.
Polls close at 8pm. 🗳️
“If you don’t have political representation, you become the target,” says Rakhi Israni, congressional candidate.
If you are in the Bay Area, please support and vote for @RakhiIsraniCA on June 2.
At a time when representation matters more than ever in USA, the Bay Area has a chance to send a strong Indian-American voice to Congress.
The latest CBS Interview Segment. CA-14 hasn't had a new representative since 2013. It's time.
We need new leadership. Not the career politicians that got us here.
Join us. Vote by June 2.
#RakhiForCongress#CA14#VoteByJune2
@aishabbwahab will be a disaster for our district. it is because of people like her that people like Trump become president. She is divisive, in bed with special interest, and lacks the required qualification. We have to make our vote count in the primaries.
https://t.co/pQ3NShO3dK
Article- highly critical of Aisha Wahab's leadership - shows how she flip-flops on her candidacy - how her campaign funding has too many gaps and questions and how she has been losing credibility within her democratic establishment and with the public. Serious questions raised whether she can be trusted to represent the districts best interests.
In defense of Indian 🇮🇳 democracy!
During Prime Minister Narendra Modi most successful visit to Norway a minor incident happened. A Norwegian journalist demanded that the prime minister starts holding press conferences. She claimed that Indian democracy is in bad shape.
May be its time to pause? May be its time to be a bit curious to the world’s largest democracy?
Two weeks ago five Indian states and territories held elections. The turn out in the battlefield state of West Bengal was 94%. In the last local election in Norway it was 62%, in many European local elections turn out is below 50%. Can voting in massive numbers be a signal Indians trust their democratic process?
In the same election BJP won big in Assam and West Bengal. It lost even bigger in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Can this diversity be a signal that Indian democracy is reflecting the will of the people?
The journalist referred to a democracy ranking putting India at 157 in the world, behind many dictatorships and deeply troubled states. When a ranking is so obviously contrary to common sense, why not ask critical questions to those making the ranking rather than demand that leaders shall comment on nonsense? I recommend Salvatore Babones book “Dharma democracy”. The book debunks convincingly the flawed methodology of these rankings.
It was referred to a ranking claiming it’s very dangerous to be a journalist in India. Reality is that it is more dangerous to be journalist in the US and far more dangerous in the vast majority of other nations in the world.
Let’s be real. India is not perfect. Of course there are incidents. India has a population the size of North America, South America and Europe combined. But India is much more peaceful than Europe or the Americas. That’s remarkable - given the ethnic, language and religious diversity of India and the many development challenges.
Unless we consider democracy a form of government only suited for some very small, peaceful and homogeneous Western European nations, may be we should commend Indian democracy?
India is the only major former UK colony which became and has remained a democracy. Its sometimes claimed that the Brits taught India democracy. If that was the case why isn’t Myanmar or Pakistan or the Gulf kingdoms democracies??? Reality is that Indian democracy is both homegrown and extraordinary successful.
.@YashicaDutt Temples don’t operate on “invitations." It’s open for anyone and everyone.
Inner sanctums aren’t a VIP lounge for anyone’s caste or identity. Sacred spaces have rules, just like hospitals, courts, or even backstage areas at theatres. Temples are devālayas (residence of the deity), not touch-and-feel museums.
And just for your assurance, no, there’s no “post-visit purification ritual”, that’s not a thing.
A parallel: I’m not going to scream “untouchability” because I’m not allowed into an operating room. Access is based on function, not identity.
Temples are open to anyone who comes for darshan and prayer in that spirit, not as a space to test limits or recast sacred boundaries as discrimination.
This is also a neat summation of how leftist hostility towards Hindus works in the diaspora. They regularly traffic in blatant propaganda, then when Hindu groups push back, they're attacked as Hindutva fascists. It's tiresome and predictable.
The American Dream made my family.
Trump and broken politics are taking it away from the next generation.
Today our first TV ad goes live across the East Bay. It's about my family. It's about yours.
Watch and share.
#CA14#RakhiForCongress#AmericanDream#ImmigrantStory #EastBay #PoweredByPeople
@ind_thought@RakhiIsraniCA@mercnews@EastBayTimes Rakhi is a moderate, the extreme left has ruined the democratic party. I see Rakhi bringing in common sense politics to DC, which seems to be lacking these days.
This is what good governance looks like. @RajSalwan is undoing horrible decisions of the past and most importantly listening to his constituents. The right turn on Fremont and Mowry will be back yeah!!!
Last night, we made it clear: we want to restore the dedicated right-turn lane at Mowry Avenue and Fremont Boulevard.
This is about common sense. It’s about reducing congestion, improving traffic flow, and responding to what our community has been saying loud and clear.
Good government means listening, fixing what is not working, and making practical decisions that improve daily life.
We’re going to keep working to make Fremont move better for everyone.
#FremontCA #TrafficSafety #GTD
@aishabbwahab is the worst choice for CA-14. She has wrecked havoc on housing, safety and the community. She is the reason people like Trump become president. CA-14 voters have common sense and have had enough of Wahab.
Swalwell May Be Replaced by First Afghan Muslim Congresswoman https://t.co/DOJVbrE3p2
#AishaWahab Weak on punishment for solicitation and Terrible on punishment for child predators. Read for yourself below 👇
“State Sen. Aisha Wahab’s gender politics though make Swalwell look like a feminist.
Sen. Aisha Wahab, the first Afghan or Muslim senator, who had joined with her political allies to amend Senate Bill 1414 to protect those soliciting 16-year-olds for sex. Worse still, the process weakened the punishment for child predators.
Sen. Wahab shut down efforts to bring more witnesses to testify in support of the bill.
“Solicitation is not trafficking. Solicitation is not prostitution. Solicitation is a verbal request of an action in exchange for money that is usually sexual in nature,” the first Afghan Muslim politician had argued.
And the resulting bill, according to Sen. Grove, allows child sexual solicitation to “still be charged as a misdemeanor, punishable by as little as 2 days in jail OR up to a $10,000 fine.”
“Are you forcing these amendments on me, Madam Chair?” Sen. Grove had asked.
“Most likely, yes,” Sen. Wahab retorted.”
@EastBayTimes@mercnews@Oaklandside@BerkeleyScanner@PleasantonNews
@LivermoreVine
@DublinPatch@HaywardDaily@UnionCityCA@Fremont_CA
@CityofNewarkCA
@AlamedaCounty
@ACSOSVote
@joegarofoli@JeremyBWhite@JeremyBWhite
The East Bay is home. Every week brings new conversations, new community events, new neighbors joining the fight. This campaign is happening at your kitchen tables, in your community halls, on your sidewalks. Thank you for welcoming us in. 🧡
#RakhiForCongress, #CA14, #Home, #Fremont, #FremontCA, #UnionCity, #UnionCityCA, #NewarkCA, #DublinCA, #Livermore, #LivermoreCA, #Pleasanton, #PleasantonCA, #Hayward, #HaywardCA, #CastroValley, #CastroValleyCA, #SanLorenzo, #SanLorenzoCA, #Sunol, #SunolCA, #Ashland, #AshlandCA, #EastBay, #TriValley, #AlamedaCounty
I knew @aishabbwahab was cheap, but she seems to be stooping even lower. Covering your opponent’s signs? really!!! She was divisive and destroyed the district as a state senator now she wants to destroy the nation. CA-14 voters will not let that happen.
Wahab has been a failure as a state senator and wants to do the same in congress. This is her only way to be employed. she will be unemployed if she did not do this. It is time to fire her for good.
For a district that is struggling with housing shortages and increased home/rent prices - Aisha Wahab - the Senate Housing Chair had surprisingly stated that California needs to move away from 'development, development, development...'
Surprised?? Read on -🧵1/4
#CA14#EastBay