The Asian American Republican Coalition held an “Appeal to Vote Rally” October 30, 2024, at Royal Albert’s Palace in Fords, NJ.

The Guest of Honor was Bill Spadea, a candidate for New Jersey Governor. Leaders of the AARC conducting the meeting included Chairman Hemant Bhatt, National President Sridhar Chillara, New Jersy Chapter President Dharmesh Patel, Youth Wing President Parth Patel, Women’s Wing President Tarang Soni, as well as founding members Sanjiv Pandya, Nimish Patel, Samir Raval, Ashish Raval, and Dilip Bhatt.

Donors included Chillara, Bhatt, Parth Patel, Nimish Patel, Dr. Avinash Gupta, Sandip Patel, among others.

Among several other distinguished guests was Padma Shri recipient Dr. Sudhir Parikh, chairman of Parikh Worldwide Media/ITV Gold.

Dharmesh Patel urged everyone to go and vote as early voting had already begun. Hel pointed to the numbers which favored Indian Americans and Asian Americans in New Jersey to make the case for going to the polls.

In his speech, Dr. Parikh said, “Everyone, this is real gathering to celebrate victory of next president candidate.” He highlighted his journey decades ago when a majority of the Indian and other ethnic communities were leaning Democratic. It was a time when “India was kind of at the bashing or wrong end of the US Congress.” But he, as founder of the Indo-American Political Forum, led the effort to strengthen US-India relations, and it was decided that Indian Americans, in order to claim a piece of the American Pie, should not support only one party, but both parties, “Depending upon what you’re thinking, what you’re believing and what you can think that who helps Indian Community as well as India.” That was when the National Republican Council was created and he was a founding member. “During the first George Bush Senior’s time, we raised throughout the nation almost $4 million that time, 30 years ago,” Dr. Parikh said.

Spadea, in his speech, thanked AARC for having him especially on such an auspicious occasion as Diwali, adding that this was “the biggest election in most of ours, if not all of our, lifetimes.” He went on to say, “You know we talk about Diwali the Triumph of light over darkness. And isn’t that exactly what we’re looking at with this election?” He called for “Common Sense” governance.

Councilman Rob Belgivenga noted how the Republican Party had been expanding its presence in New Jersey, especially in Middlesex and South Plainsfield.

Christine Serrano Glassner, Mayor of Mendham Borough, NJ, spoke about being present with Presidential hopeful Donald Trump in Allentown, and about the crowds that filled Madison Square Garden, and how she felt the love all around. “I ask you for those of you who have voted – I want you to leave here tonight and while you’re driving home, I want you to think about somebody you can email, somebody you can call, somebody you can text and reach out to those people, whether they are Democrats unaffiliated or Republican,” Mayor Serrano Glassner said.

Dr. Parikh gave several reasons for the Indian American community to vote for Trump. “Because if you want to improve the economy, if you want less taxes or if you want to be successful, particularly for the young generation in their businesses, or you want to make immigration more legal. I mean we (are) all for immigration because we ourselves are immigrants. But we like to have legal immigration and without legal immigration or without stopping the illegal immigration, the country cannot survive.” Also, he said, Trump was the President, “who is proven to be helping our Mother India.” He urged everyone to go out and vote and get out the vote, drawing attention to the Axis My American poll which has predicted a win for Trump.

Chillara pointed to the swing states and how just a few votes could make the difference between winning and losing. “So I was thinking in this country with a population of 20 million Asians ….We know this winning and losing is only a matter of 50 – 60,000 (votes).”

Bhatt said, “America is directionless at this time,” and asked the audience if they wanted to improve their lives and make America a leader in the world. He argued that President Trump was the one to achieve that. “President Trump can do it,” despite being impeached two times, his life threatened two times, the cases against him, etc., yet, “This guy is still standing among us. Is he standing or not?” Bhatt said rallying the crowd.