Community Conversation
with Farooq Mitha
NEHA DEWAN
Neha has long been active in both local and national politics. Most recently, she founded and served as the National Director for South Asians for Biden, an organization dedicated to engaging, educating, and mobilizing the South Asian community to elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. In 2016, Neha served as the National Co-Chair for South Asians for Hillary and was appointed by Hillary Clinton to the National AAPI Leadership Council.
Previously, in 2015, Neha was appointed as a guest of honor by the Consulate General of India in New York City where she was selected to speak about gender equality for International Women's Day. During the 2012 presidential campaign, Neha chaired the New York Chapter of South Asians for Obama and also served on the steering committee for Lawyers for Obama in New York. For several years, Neha served as an Officer of the New York Democratic Lawyers Council, an organization affiliated with the National Lawyers Council of the Democratic National Committee and comprised of Democratic lawyers and voting rights activists. Similarly, for many years, Neha served as an advisory board member of New Leaders Council, a national organization focused on training and supporting progressive political entrepreneurs. She has also been active in her local community board and political clubs. Neha served as the President of the South Asian Bar Association of New York in 2012, and now sits on the organization’s Board of Directors.
Mobilizing the South Asian Community & Building Political Power
DR. SNEHASIS GANGULY
Dr. Snehasis Ganguly is an active member of the Canton Michigan Democratic Club and a co-founder of SAMOSA (South Asian Michigan Organization for Serious Action). He has been involved in Democratic organizing since the 2008 and 2012 Obama campaigns. In 2016, he expanded his efforts by working on phone banking and poll greeting for the Hillary Clinton campaign and local races. After the 2016 elections, Snehasis became involved in protest marches, including organizing with his daughter's high school to attend the "March for Our Lives" in Washington DC.
In 2018, Snehasis held fundraisers for Democratic candidates at his house, took candidates to different organizations like temples and Gurdwaras, helped organize candidate forums, housed organizers at his house, and participated in door knocking, phone banking, and texting. Snehasis also registered voters at Canton gurdwaras and temples. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he used his position at Ford to provide equipment to hospitals such as masks and ventilators. He also used his campaign outreach to help people in various ways, including providing food, laptops, and general aid.
After the 2020 Michigan elections, Snehasis continued his political activism by writing postcards for out-of-state campaigns, such as the Georgia runoff elections. He continued his efforts in the 2022/2023 cycle by supporting the One campaign in Michigan, Postcards for Georgia runoffs again and the runoff in the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Snehasis believes in forming alliances with diverse Democratic groups and has organized with the Bangladeshi community, Chinese Americans, Mom's Demand Action, Arab Americans, and African diaspora in Michigan. He is passionate about state supreme courts, as they are the ones where people cannot vote on party lines. He believes that the nature of the US Supreme Court has made state courts extremely important in protecting people's rights. Snehasis wants to combine a data-driven approach with grassroots organizing to energize voters.
