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
SHRUTI BHATNAGAR
Shruti Bhatnagar, is a member of the Montgomery County, Maryland, Democratic Party Central Committee, on which she is Co-Chair of the precinct organization that includes 257 precincts. She is an executive member of the Maryland Democratic Party’s AAPI Diversity Leadership Council, Chair Emeritus and Board member of the MD Dist.18 Democratic Caucus. She has led several grassroots organizing hundreds and thousands of volunteers to participate in GOTV activities including canvasses, phone banks, volunteer trainings and voter registration events. In 2020 she led the poll watching program to organize over 400 volunteers for voter protection for 11 early voting centers in Montgomery County, MD, organized AAPI’s to make calls for the Biden-Harris campaign, and the Georgia Senate run-off races for Jon Ossoff and Reverend Warnock.
Shruti was lead organizer in Montgomery County, MD for the 2017 Women’s March in Washington on behalf of the Women's Democratic Club and the Indian American Democratic Club that she founded in 2016 to engage and organize Indian Americans in the political process. After actively volunteering for two coordinated campaigns and Jamie Raskin's campaign for Congress, Shruti's passion to make a difference inspired her to run for public office in 2018. She finished 12th in a competitive race with 33 candidates running for an At-Large County Council seat. She is an alumna of the Emerge Maryland and Emerge America Bootcamp programs.
As a community advocate, Shruti is working with other activists to fight climate change and leading conversations on environmental and social justice issues. She is also advocating for progressive legislation and policy that promotes and protects the well-being of Maryland women and families as a board member of a statewide coalition.
Shruti brings a wide breadth of leadership experience in nonprofit, community and other organizations. She has served as the Commissioner on the County's Commission of Children and Youth, served in various leadership roles as board of Directors for the Maryland State, Montgomery County Council and Local Schools Parent Teacher Association (PTA), is a founding member of a coalition formed to combat hate crimes, support victims of hate and community groups helping resettle families.
