Washington: The Indian American community’s political coming of age crossed another milestone when President Joe Biden nominated Shefali Razdan Duggal, a Democratic party activist and fund-raiser, as the US envoy to the Netherlands.
Duggal, an immigrant to the US from Kashmir, India, “is an experienced political activist, women’s rights advocate, and human rights campaigner”, the White House said in an announcement, citing several civic awards she has received and her service as the National Co-Chair of Women for Biden, and as a Deputy National Finance Chair at the Democratic National Committee.
While there have been a few Indian-American ambassadors from the US foreign service, notably Atul Keshap, till recently the ambassador to Sri Lanka, Geeta Pasi, the ambassador to Ethiopia, and Krishna Urs, who served as the ambassador to Peru, this is the first time a grassroots party activist has been nominated as ambassador to a major country. Richard Verma, who was the ambassador to India from 2014 to 2017 served in the state department before going to New Delhi.
Duggal, 50, a Kashmiri who was born in Haridwar and moved to the US with her family when she was two, has been a fundraiser for the party. After schooling in Ohio, and degrees from New York University, she began her political career volunteering for Senators Ted Kennedy and Dianne Feinstein. She worked for the Obama campaign in 2008 and 2012, and for the Biden campaign. She will now have to be confirmed by the US Senate. Incidentally, India’s ambassador to the Netherlands, Reenat Sandhu, who took up her post this past week, is the wife of India’s ambassador to US Taranjit Sandhu.
