'November 3 US poll election of a lifetime'

The November 3 presidential poll is an "election of a lifetime" for it being held amid a pandemic and seeing the "highest participation" of India-Americans, according to eminent community leader Swadesh Chatterjee.

A strong Democrat whose relationship with the party's presidential candidate Joe Biden goes back to the past several decades, Chatterjee, 72, said even as the US has all the ingredients required to handle the pandemic of this magnitude, it could not be managed properly because of the "misinformation and wrong decision" made by leadership of the country.

"You know, to me this campaign is one of a lifetime. This election is an election of my lifetime. I totally agree with the people that this (election) you will keep in the history book one of the campaigns, which people have not seen before," North Carolina-based Chatterjee said.

"I hope this election will determine the future of not only this country, but the future of the world as well," said Chatterjee, whose first recollection of being involved in a presidential campaign goes back to the Regan era.

There after he has been involved in several presidential campaigns, in particular that of Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and now Joe Biden.

Chatterjee said Senator Kamal Harris being the vice-presidential candidate for the Democratic party is a dream come true for the Indian-American community.

"Indian-American participation is the highest this time... Quite a number of Indian-Americans already involved in the campaign, on both sides, though Biden-Harris team has got more Indian-Americans on its staff than anybody else," said Chatterjee, who for more than three decades has been an eyewitness to US political system.

He expressed the hope that a large number of Indian-Americans would go out and vote this time to "make a change not for just for us, but for the world as a whole". There will be more participation of Indian-Americans this election, he added.

Chatterjee, who played a key role in India-US relationship right from the Atal Bihari Vajpayee era, said the bilateral relationship between the two largest democracies is at a point that there will be some
challenges in future, but it is not going to go down no matter who comes in the White House after November 3.

"Because the relationship is much, much more deeper. Secondly, the relationship between the US and India does not depend on individual relationship like (Donald) Trump versus (Narendra) Modi, because that is not the essence of the relationship," he said.

Trade and taxation, he noted, is one of the few issues that pose challenges to the bilateral relationship. Chatterjee exuded confidence that his friend Biden would be the "best President for India, and the US under his administration will have a deeper relationship with the country".