Indian-Americans are taking over the United States, President Joe Biden said on Thursday while referring to the high number of people in his administration from the community. The US President has appointed at least 55 Indian-Americans in his administration to key leadership positions in less than 50 days of his presidency. Indian-Americans are almost in every wing of government, ranging from Biden’s speech writer to NASA.

Biden, interacting virtually with NASA scientists, who were involved in the virtual landing of Perseverance at Mars, said, “Indian-of-descent Americans (sic) are taking over the country. You (Swati Mohan), my Vice President (Kamala Harris), my speech writer (Vinay Reddy).”

Mohan, an Indian-American scientist, led the NASA team at the time of Perseverance’s landing at Mars and is leading the guidance, navigation, and control operations of NASA’s Mars 2020 mission. 

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After swearing-in as the 46th president of the US, Biden created history, by appointing at least 55 Indian-Americans to key positions in his administration, of which nearly half are women and a sizable number of them are working in the White House. 

The number does not Vice President Kamala Harris, who was elected, and Neera Tanden, who withdrew her nomination this week from the position of White House Office of Management and Budget Director.

So far, the Obama-Biden administration (2009-2017) has the distinction of appointing the largest number of Indian-Americans in any administration. Although,  the previous Donald Trump administration was not lagging far behind as it appointed the first-ever Indian-American with a cabinet rank and inside the National Security Council.

Also Read | List of all the executive orders President Joe Biden has signed so far

In the past week, Indian-origin Dr Vivek Murthy testified before a Senate Committee for US Surgeon General, while Vanita Gupta is all set to appear for her confirmation hearing for Associate Attorney General Department of Justice.

Biden sought to speak with Swati Mohan, Guidance and Controls Operations Lead, Mars 2020. She is not a political appointee though.

Indian-American women appointed by Biden include Uzra Zeya, Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights, State Department; Mala Adiga: Policy Director to Dr Jill Biden; Aisha Shah: Partnership Manager, White House Office of Digital Strategy; Sameera Fazili, Deputy Director, US National Economic Council (NEC); Sumona Guha: Senior Director for South Asia at the National Security Council, White House; and Sabrina Singh: Deputy Press Secretary, Vice President White House.

Shanthi Kalathil has been appointed as Coordinator for Democracy and Human Rights, National Security Council, White House; Garima Verma has been named as Digital Director of the Office of the First Lady; Sonia Aggarwal as Senior Advisor for Climate Policy and Innovation; Office of Domestic Climate Policy, White House; Neha Gupta: Associate Counsel, Office of White House Counsel; and Reema Shah as Deputy Associate Counsel, Office of White House Counsel.

Tanya Das has been appointed as Chief of Staff, Office of Science, Department of Energy; Shuchi Talati: Chief of Staff, Office of Fossil Energy, Department of Energy; Mini Timmaraju: Senior adviser to the director, Office of Personnel Management ; Sohini Chatterjee: Senior Policy Advisor US Mission to the United Nations, Aditi Gorur: Policy Advisor, US Mission to the United Nations; and Bhavya Lal is the Acting Chief of Staff, NASA.

Dimple Chaudhary has been appointed as Deputy General Counsel for Nationwide Resource Protection Programs, Environmental Protection Agency; Sharmistha Das is the Deputy General Counsel, Department of Homeland Security; Ruchi Jain is the Deputy Solicitor for General Law, Department of Interior; Meera Joshi is the Acting Administrator, Federal Motor Carrier Administration, Department of Transportation; Aruna Kalyanam is the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Tax and Budget, Department of the Treasury.

Gautam Raghavan, Deputy Director in Office of Presidential Personnel; Bharat Ramamurti, Deputy Director of National Economic Council; Tarun Chhabra, Senior Director for Technology and National Security at National Security Council White House; Vedant Patel, Assistant Press Secretary President at the White House are among several other Indian-Americans who got key posts in the Biden administration.