How India funds Bush's
campaign By Siddharth Srivastava
NEW DELHI - There is more than one
reason US President George W Bush should thank Indians,
whether in the United States or India, as the buildup to
elections in the US slated for November gathers steam.
Indians are contributing handsomely to Bush's campaign
funds while, until recently, there was a band of more
than 100 dedicated call-center executives who were
handling Bush's fundraising and vote-seeking campaign
for the
Republican Party from the outsourcing hubs of Noida and
Gurgaon, which adjoin the national capital Delhi.
While the Internet provides fertile ground for
spoofs on Bush's job being outsourced to India, his task
is certainly being made a lot easier by Indians. Until
recently, HCL eServe, the business process outsourcing
(BPO) arm of Shiv Nadar-promoted HCL Technologies,
handled Bush's nationwide fundraising campaign over the
telephone.
HCL has been very reluctant to
provide information about the project, but now that it
is over it is more forthcoming, though strictly off the
record. According to reports, for 14 months between May
16, 2002, and July 22, 2003, HCL eServe had more than
100 agents working in seven teams soliciting financial
contributions for the Republican Party. A report that
appeared in the Hindustan Times this Sunday says the
task was to mobilize support for President Bush and
solicit political contributions ranging between US$5 and
$3,000 from legions of registered Republican voters. The
report further adds that the voters' database was
provided by the Republican National Committee (RNC), the
party's premier political organization. The contract for
running the campaigns was originally awarded by RNC to
Washington-based Capital Communications Group, which
provides consulting services to government and private
clients for cultural and political networking. For cost
and efficiency gains, the company outsourced the work to
HCL Technologies, which in turn sent it offshore.
Nobody from HCL BPO Services is willing to go on
record to talk about the deal, but sources in the
company told Asia Times Online that such a project was
under way for a long time, with more than 10 million
registered Republican voters contacted for pledging
funds. Estimates put the extent of funds pledged due to
efforts from India at more than $10 million, with the
retrieval of the money being followed up by the RNC.
According to the sources, the calling process involved a
high degree of automation in order to limit human
intervention, with voice recording and recognition
technology. In this way the US respondents would not
have any idea where the calls were coming from, with
foreign-accented instead of Indian voices being used.
HCL eServe also ran at least seven other
campaigns to gauge voter moods, including simple
yes-or-no polls on such issues as abortion rights.
Though HCL executives are tight-lipped, there is a
possibility that there are still some projects on hand,
with respondents being asked about their views on the
war in Iraq.
While it seems that the fundraising
contract was called off because most Republican voters
had been covered, sources also say that the backlash
against outsourcing in the United States as well as
pressure from the anti-outsourcing lobby within the
Republican Party might have also contributed to the
cancellation. It may be recalled that the Indian BPO
sector has seen exponential growth over the past few
years, with estimates that the
information-technology-enabled sector will exceed $20
billion by 2008.
Bush's India connection,
however, does not end with the call centers. There's
also a lot of money being contributed by
Indian-Americans.
It was former US president
Bill Clinton who actively sought to build bridges as
well as cultivate the Indian community in the United
States, recognizing their numbers - more than 2 million
- as well as their immense money-power as global
information-technology (IT) pioneers. The 2004 US
elections are witnessing Indian-Americans reaching out
to Republican Bush as a reaction to the virulent
anti-outsourcing campaign being orchestrated by
Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. Further,
given the strides that Indo-US relations have taken
under Bush, politically, economically and militarily,
the Indian community feels much more comfortable in
maintaining this continuity. Bush has himself indicated
his pro-India proclivities by promising that he will
visit the country next year if he wins re-election.
Although India has been unhappy with some of the recent
steps taken by the Bush administration, including the
granting of special non-NATO (North Atlantic Treaty
Organization) status to Pakistan, India's relations with
the United States have been by and large on the ascent.
In an interview to the Economic Times before the
results of the elections in India were declared, Sharad
Lakhanpal of Texas, a doctor and president of the
American Association of the Physicians of Indian Origin
who is one of the biggest fundraisers for Bush, said:
"Indo-US relations are at an all-time high under the
current administration. There has been good chemistry
between President Bush and the [Atal Bihari] Vajpayee
government. President Bush told me himself that [Prime
Minister] Vajpayee has been a good friend and is a good
man.
"The current administration has appointed
several Indian-Americans to high positions. The
fundraising will pay dividends for the Indian-American
community and for Indo-US relations if the president
wins ... re-election. Indians are increasingly
recognized in the mainstream US politics," Lakhanpal
added.
Although business has reacted with alarm
at the Sonia Gandhi Congress-Left combination taking
over from the Vajpayee dispensation, there isn't likely
to be much of a rollback in the economic reforms program
in India. After all, the man tipped to be finance
minister, Manmohan Singh, is the original architect of
India's liberalization agenda.
Though
Indian-Americans have been seen as close to the
Democrats, it is estimated that the community has
already raised more than $500,000 for the Bush campaign.
Bobby Jindal, Republican candidate for Congress, raised
more than $800,000 in the first quarter ending March 31,
and has $760,000 cash on hand. More than $575,000 of the
contributions came from Louisiana donors. A Republican
rally in that state that raised more than $1 million for
the 2004 Bush-Cheney presidential ticket late last year
had several prominent Indians in attendance.
In
a speech widely quoted in India, Congressman Joe Wilson
recently praised Lakhanpal and Narender Reddy, a doctor
from Georgia, for raising more than $100,000 each for
the president and categorized them as Bush pioneers. He
said longtime Bush supporters Zach Zachariah and
Raghavendra Vijayanagar from Florida each raised more
than $200,000, calling them the "Bush rangers". "These
leaders have rallied the Indian-American community
behind Bush," Wilson said.
Dr Vijaynagar serves
as chair of the Indian American Republican Council,
while Mammen Zachariah, a cardiologist at Holy Cross
Hospital in Florida and Zach's brother, is a big
fundraiser. Zach co-chairs Bush's Florida re-election
campaign and his connection to the family dates back to
George Bush Sr, for whom he organized several successful
fundraisers. Zachariah also raised more money for Bush's
1992 campaign than any other individual. Florida
Governor Jeb Bush appointed Mammen to the Florida
campaign, while Zach helped found the Indian American
Policy Institute, a think-tank to promote
Indian-American interests, and chairs the Florida
Council on Economic Education.
While praising
the Indian community, Wilson, who co-chairs the
Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans,
said: "I am proud of the Indian-American community for
their loyal support to President Bush."
It all
augurs well for India if Bush is re-elected. If he is
not, there will remain a bunch of call-center executives
who will always be informed about the Republican way of
electioneering.
Siddharth Srivastava
is a New Delhi-based journalist.
(Copyright 2004 Asia Times Online Co, Ltd. All
rights reserved. Please contact content@atimes.com for
information on our sales and syndication policies.)
How India funds Bush's
campaign
Republican Party from the outsourcing hubs of Noida and
Gurgaon, which adjoin the national capital Delhi.
