Community activists, business leaders and prominent Indian Americans from across Long Island gathered in Albertson last week to endorse Anthony J Santino, candidate for Supervisor of the Town of Hempstead, and Nasrin Ahmad running for re-election as Town Clerk. “Both candidates were endorsed by the Indian American Voters Forum,” said Varinder Bhalla, chairman and founder of the INVF, an organization formed in 2003 to screen candidates in local elections.
Representatives from several other organizations also endorsed the two candidates, among them Sunil Modi, president of 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 Association of Indians in America; 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.Businessman Harry Singh Bolla and cancer physician and recipient of India’s Padma Shri award Dr. Dattatrey Nori, as well as Meena Chopra of the Akbar chain of restaurants were also present.
Santino, the recipient of many awards from Indian-American community organizations, was praised for his two decades of support for the community for which he was recognized by India’s Consul General in New York Dnyaneshwar Mulay on India’s Independence Day Aug. 15 last year.
Those present also praised Ahmad. “Nasrin is a very important leader of the South Asian community of Long Island and is worthy of our total support”, said Goenka. Her office processes marriage and birth certificates as well as passports, among its 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 Indian American Leadership Initiative; Rohit Vyas, founder president of New York’s Diwali Mela, Nassau County Human Rights Commissioner Thomas George; and Alpa Singhvi, deputy county attorney of Nassau County.
