Subject: RE: India Saga
From: Denis McDonough <[email-masked]>
To: John Podesta <[email-masked]>, Sonal Shah <[email-masked]>, Dan Pfeiffer <[email-masked]>, Chris Lu <[email-masked]>
Cc: Gayle Smith <[email-masked]>, Mona Sutphen <[email-masked]>, "[email-masked]" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 10 Nov 2008 17:46:19 -0500

can we have wendy or dan or stephanie send it out.  these guys need to be used to working with our press folks, no?

From: John Podesta
Sent: Monday, November 10, 2008 4:26 PM
To: Sonal Shah; Denis McDonough; Dan Pfeiffer; Chris Lu
Cc: Gayle Smith; Mona Sutphen; [email-masked]
Subject: RE: India Saga

I don't

From: Sonal Shah
Sent: Monday, November 10, 2008 5:23 PM
To: Denis McDonough; John Podesta; Dan Pfeiffer; Chris Lu
Cc: Gayle Smith; Mona Sutphen; [email-masked]
Subject: RE: India Saga

do you mind if I send this out to all of the Indian media outlets?

From: Denis McDonough
Sent: Monday, November 10, 2008 5:15 PM
To: John Podesta; Sonal Shah; Dan Pfeiffer; Chris Lu
Cc: Gayle Smith; Mona Sutphen; [email-masked]
Subject: RE: India Saga

I propose shortening the statement as follows.

"As an Indian-American who has lived in this country since the age of four, serving on the Obama-Biden transition team is a uniquely great privilege for me.  A presidential transition is always a time of excitement and, in some cases, of rumors and unfounded gossip.  I'd like to set to rest a few baseless reports that have been circulating on the Internet.  First, my personal politics have nothing in common with the views espoused by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), or any such organization.  I've never been involved in Indian politics, and never intend to do so.  Second, I've always condemned any politics of division, of ethnic or religious hatred, of violence and intimidation as a political tool.   Some Internet rumors have attempted to link me to Hindu Nationalist groups through a variety of tenuous connections:  Relief work I'm proud to have helped coordinate following the Gujarati earthquake of 2001, or cultural and religious affiliations of some of my family members, or apolitical humanitarian work I've been privileged to do as a founder of the NGO Indicorps and as the Director of Global Development for Google.org.  Finally, I do not subscribe to the views of such Hindu nationalist groups, and never have.  We saw too much guilt by association during the presidential campaign-- and we saw such tactics decisively repudiated by the American people.  I am delighted with what the victory on November 4 says about my country, and about our place in the world.  I look forward to serving our President-elect in this time of transition."

From: John Podesta
Sent: Monday, November 10, 2008 3:50 PM
To: Sonal Shah; Denis McDonough; Dan Pfeiffer; Chris Lu
Cc: Gayle Smith; Mona Sutphen; [email-masked]
Subject: RE: India Saga

Looks good to me

From: Sonal Shah
Sent: Monday, November 10, 2008 4:03 PM
To: Denis McDonough; Dan Pfeiffer; Chris Lu
Cc: John Podesta; Gayle Smith; Mona Sutphen; [email-masked]
Subject: RE: India Saga

My apologies, I sent the wrong one...

"As an Indian-American who has lived in this country since the age of four, serving in the Obama-Biden campaign (and now the Obama-Biden transition team) is a uniquely great honor for me.  I am proud of my service as an official of the United States government through two Administrations, working in Bosnia, Kosovo, Southeast Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe-- but I believe that the election of Barack Obama represents a sea-change in relations between America and the global community.  I'm proud of my involvement in the campaign and transition-- not just for myself, but also for what my selection says about the Indian-American community.  This campaign has truly sought out the voices and talents of South Asian Americans in a way never before seen-- and I have every expectation that this attitude will be carried over to the new Administration.

     "A presidential transition is always a time of wild rumors and unfounded gossip, so I'd like to set to rest a few baseless reports that have been circulating on the Internet:
          --First, I've never been affiliated-- in any way, shape or form-- with any Indian political party or similar group.  To clear up one false rumor: I've never been affiliated with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), or any such organization.  I've never been involved in Indian politics, and never intend to do so.
          --Second, my personal politics have nothing in common with the views espoused by such groups.  I've always condemned any politics of division, of ethnic or religious hatred, of violence and intimidation as a political tool.  That's why I've devoted so much of the past two years to the candidacy of a figure who truly does represent my personal political views: Barack Obama.
         --Third, some Internet rumors have attempted to link me to Hindu Nationalist groups through a variety of tenuous connections: Relief work I'm proud to have helped coordinate following the Gujarati earthquake of 2001, or cultural and religious affiliations of some of my family members, or apolitical humanitarian work I've been privileged to do as a founder of the NGO Indicorps and as the Director of Global Development for Google.org.  I have no ties to any such groups, and never have.  We saw too much guilt by association during the presidential campaign-- and we saw such tactics decisively repudiated by the American people.

    "I am delighted with what the victory on November 4 says about my country, and about our place in the world.  For too long, Americans of South Asian descent have been made to feel as if we can't be proudly desi yet fully American.  For too long, we've had to ask ourselves whether we can overcome this unfair and baseless exclusion.  Last Tuesday-- to my enormous pride and satisfaction-- America gave its reply: Yes, We Can!."

From: Denis McDonough
Sent: Monday, November 10, 2008 3:30 PM
To: Sonal Shah; Dan Pfeiffer; Chris Lu
Cc: John Podesta; Gayle Smith; Mona Sutphen; [email-masked]
Subject: RE: India Saga

Sonal -

Will you please out together such a draft statement for us to look at and work on?

THanks,
Denis.

From: Sonal Shah
Sent: Monday, November 10, 2008 2:20 PM
To: Denis McDonough; Dan Pfeiffer; Chris Lu
Cc: John Podesta; Gayle Smith; Mona Sutphen; [email-masked]
Subject: India Saga

Denis, Chris and Dan:   I am writing to get some guidance from you in managing the India press frenzy about my alleged right wing politics and terrorist tendencies.  Denis since we last talked the stories have multiplied and gotten nastier, feeding on each other.
Issue:

There stories are in the Indian press,  in general US and South Asia/US related blogs.  In sum, they are accusing me of being a right wing Hindu fundamentalist and supporting the communal violence in Gujarat.  See some of the articles below - the rest are more of the same.  I generally would not worry about this stuff (they tried this before) except due to my position, it has gotten more intense and frankly crazy.   There are hundered of blog posts and articles on this and without any responses, the rumors are feeding on each other.   More interestingly, they were planning a public campaign to embarras the President-elect and have me resign.   I had several calls from prominent folks in India saying the best way to counter the lies and rumors was to put something out there denying the allegations.   Others suggested doing a controlled interview.

Options:

There are several options of what I could do:
1) continue to ignore
2)  write a strongly worded statement clearly stating my position
3) do a controlled interview

 Next Steps:

I would like to get your guidance on how to proceed with this.  Personally think option 2 will put it to rest, but have less experience with this stuff.  I suggest to get this done today, so we can get into the India news cycles for tomorrow and the let the surrogates (who are fully prepared to do) take over from there.

Thanks!
Sonal

________________________________________________________________________________

http://www.panasianbiz.com/2008/11/07/indian-american-sonal-shah-appointed-obamas-advisor/#comment-5387
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Sonal-Shah-appointed-Obama-s-transition-team-adviser/382248/
http://3quarksdaily.blogs.com/3quarksdaily/2008/11/obamas-indian-t.html
http://wordpress.com/tag/sonal-shah/
http://bodyontheline.wordpress.com/2008/11/08/more-on-divided-loyalties-this-time-its-the-economy/
http://freethedalit.blogspot.com/2008/11/obama-advisor-sonal-shah-has-rss-vhp.html
http://letusbuildpakistan.blogspot.com/2008/11/yet-another-controversial-obama.html
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?sectionName=&id=c92bdef7-a366-47df-bf51-daae396caeec&MatchID1=4816&TeamID1=6&TeamID2=1&MatchType1=1&SeriesID1=1212&PrimaryID=4816&Headline=Obama+team+member%2c+Sonal%2c+has+VHP+links
http://www.persecution.in/node/3462
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/tag/VHP
http://lucius-caesar.livejournal.com/28668.html
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Will_Sonal_Shah_give_Modi_visa_power/articleshow/3690558.cms
http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/005506.html
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/saints/gGxZfm
http://www.dictatorshipwatch.com/2008/11/08/the-many-faces-of-sonal-shah-obamas-indian.html
http://www.sacw.net/article257.html