Mobilising Hindu-Americans is crucial for president Joe Biden's potential re-election next year, suggests prominent Indian-American fundraiser for the Democratic Party.
This emphasis comes in light of the administration facing discontent from Muslim-Americans amid the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Ramesh Kapur, a Massachusetts-based political fundraiser who was in Washington to attend the winter retreat of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), said Hindu-Americans and Indian-Americans have traditionally been overwhelming Democratic supporters, but in the last few election cycles, the Republican share in their vote banks has seen an upward trajectory.
Kapur, who was also invited to the Holiday Party by president Biden at the White House, said that he has submitted a detailed report to the DNC and party leaders as to why Hindu votes have become "very critical" for Biden's re-election campaign ahead of the 2024 general elections.
Kapur, who claims that he helped convince California governor Gavin Newsom to veto a bill outlawing caste discrimination in October, said he has submitted a fact-based report and made a set of recommendations to the top leadership of the party and the campaign.
"I've been trying to get the Hindus to support the Biden administration. Of course, 72 per cent of the Indian-Americans voted last time for Biden. We want to make sure that the Hindu-Americans are going to be mobilised," Kapur said.
"We have a little uphill battle because the perception out there is that the Democratic party is anti-Hindus. I've talked to the White House. I've talked to the campaign to change that perception that is out there. That's what I'm trying to do. I'm working with our campaign to make sure that we change that perception that's out there,” Kapur said in an interview.
Kapur also said he did a survey from the census and got State by State, Muslim, and Hindu votes. "Compared them next to each other to make it easy for the campaign to understand. In the battleground States, we (Hindus) are not as less than the Muslim votes," he said.
Axios in a recent report identified four battleground states - Wisconsin, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Arizona.
A battleground state is one in which the Democratic and Republican candidates both have a good chance of winning and that is considered key to the outcome of a presidential election.
Many consider Virginia, Michigan and Florida also playing in deciding the fate of the 2024 elections. In his report, Kapur says that in Georgia there are 172,000 Hindus as compared to 123,000 Muslims.
Similarly, in Pennsylvania, there are about 130,000 Hindus compared to 150,000 Muslims. In Arizona, there are about 74,000 Hindus and about 110,000 Muslims. In Wisconsin, there are 38,400 Hindus and 68,000 Muslims. In Virginia, there are about 200,000 Hindus and about 170,000 Muslims.
In Massachusetts, there are 75,000 Hindus as against 131,000 Muslims, while in Florida, there are 202,000 Hindus and 127,172 Muslims.
In its eight years, Kapur says, the Obama administration, "catered" to the Muslims "at the expense of" the Hindus. "Now that the Muslims are upset because of what is happening in the Middle East and they feel that the Jewish community... and Israel is given more, they (Biden administration) are taking more of their side than Palestine and the Arabs in that area," he said.
The anger of the Muslim Americans was evident during the DNC's winter retreat held in Washington DC last week, where only one of the major fundraisers from their community showed up.
"Instead of understanding the reality of what politics is, they're getting carried away. They're upset more because they think they have more clout by the numbers that they have reflected. That's sitting it down, sitting in the campaign,” he said.
Kapur said he has recommended multiple things to the campaign including visits to the Hindu temples in key battleground states like Georgia and Virginia to change the perceived anti-Hindu image of the party.
The party, he said, has agreed to invite a Hindu priest to the Democratic Party Convention in Chicago next year, which would nominate its candidate for the November 2024 presidential elections.
"I'm going to recommend to the president that he's got to first of all meet some of the Hindu leaders in the White House. He has met the Jewish leadership, and he met the Muslim leaders. He should also meet the Hindu leadership," Kapur said.
He said he would also ask vice president Kamala Harris, whose mother (Shyamala Gopalan) was a Hindu, to go to the battleground states and visit some temples there.
"The Republican Party (leadership) is doing that. (Donald) Trump's daughter-in-law went to the Rajdhani Temple (in Virginia). Governor Glenn Youngkin went to the Rajdhani Temple. That helped him get elected as the governor,” he said.
(PTI)
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Anurag Bajpayee's Gradiant: The water company tackling a global crisis
In a world increasingly defined by scarcity, one resource is emerging as the most quietly decisive factor in the future of industry, sustainability, and even geopolitics: water. Yet, while the headlines are dominated by energy transition and climate pledges, few companies working behind the scenes on water issues have attracted much public attention. One of them is Gradiant, a Boston-based firm that has, over the past decade, grown into a key player in the underappreciated but critical sector of industrial water treatment.
A Company Born from MIT, and from Urgency
Founded in 2013 by Anurag Bajpayee and Prakash Govindan, two researchers with strong ties to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Gradiant began as a scrappy start-up with a deceptively simple premise: make water work harder. At a time when discussions about climate change were centred almost exclusively on carbon emissions and renewable energy, the trio saw water scarcity looming in the background.
Their insight was that some of the world’s largest industries—semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, food and beverage—were facing acute water-related challenges long before the general public grasped the issue. “Without water, these industries don’t just slow down; they stop,” Bajpayee has often remarked. What Gradiant offered was not just a way to save water, but a way to rethink how it is used, recycled, and valued.
The Engineers Behind the Mission
Anurag Bajpayee, the company’s CEO, whose academic path took him to MIT, where he completed a PhD in Mechanical Engineering focused on water treatment technologies. It was there that he met Govindan, a fellow engineer and now Gradiant's co-founder and COO, whose expertise complemented his in fluid mechanics and process engineering.
Unlike many founders who drift towards the language of venture capital and corporate strategy, Anurag Bajpayee and his team remained grounded in the technical problem: how to make industrial water treatment more efficient, more affordable, and more sustainable. The company still bears the imprint of its founders’ engineering roots. Gradiant is less Silicon Valley startup and more MIT lab, albeit one that has quietly expanded across Asia, the Middle East, Europe and North America.
What Gradiant Actually Does
The company specializes in designing and building bespoke water treatment and reuse systems for industrial clients. Its technologies are aimed at enabling factories and plants to reclaim water that would otherwise be discarded as waste, reducing both the amount of water withdrawn from natural sources and the volume of contaminated water discharged.
At the heart of Gradiant’s portfolio are proprietary technologies such as Counter Flow Reverse Osmosis (CFRO), Carrier Gas Extraction (CGE) and Selective Ion Recovery (SIR), developed from the Gradiant founders’ early research at MIT. Unlike traditional methods like reverse osmosis, these systems are designed to handle highly contaminated or complex wastewater streams, enabling clients to extract clean water even from previously unusable sources.
But Gradiant does not sell “one-size-fits-all” machines. Each project is tailored to the customer’s unique needs. For a semiconductor plant in Singapore, this might mean achieving ultrapure water reuse levels of 98%; for a food and beverage factory in Texas, it might be about safely treating wastewater for discharge while minimising energy consumption. The company's approach—sometimes called "solutioneering" internally—is both its competitive advantage and its raison d'être.
Expansion Without the Usual Hype
Gradiant’s growth has been quietly impressive. From its first commercial project in the oil and gas sector, it has gone on to complete over 500 installations worldwide. The company has raised more than $400 million in funding from a mix of institutional investors and private equity firms, achieving so-called “unicorn” status, with a valuation reportedly over $1 billion.
Unlike many green tech firms, Gradiant’s expansion has not been accompanied by flashy marketing campaigns or grandiose statements. Instead, the company has preferred to build credibility client by client, particularly in Asia, where water-intensive industries and growing environmental pressures make its services indispensable. Anurag Bajpayee, never one to speak in superlatives, frames the company’s expansion as a “response to urgent need” rather than a triumph of business.
Inside Gradiant’s Operations
At its core, Gradiant is still an engineering-first company. Anurag Bajpayee and Govindan, both technically trained and heavily involved in the company’s operations, have instilled a culture where R&D is not just a department but the lifeblood of the business. The firm currently holds more than 250 patents globally, a testament to its ongoing commitment to innovation.
But Gradiant’s success is not just about technology. The company has differentiated itself by offering not just equipment but full-service solutions, including project design, construction, operations, and maintenance. This full-stack approach has been particularly attractive to clients in highly regulated industries, who need water management solutions that work seamlessly and reliably without requiring deep in-house expertise.
Gradiant’s clients include some of the world’s largest manufacturers, including Fortune 500 companies in sectors like microelectronics, pharmaceuticals, and energy. Some, like semiconductor producers, rely on Gradiant to help them meet stringent water reuse targets while maintaining ultra-clean production environments.
Navigating a Changing World
Gradiant operates at the intersection of several converging trends: climate change, regulatory pressure, and industrial decarbonisation. In many regions, water scarcity has become the limiting factor for industrial growth, sometimes more than energy availability or supply chain constraints.
While public attention often focuses on domestic water use, it is industries that consume the lion’s share of freshwater. Gradiant's pitch is straightforward: industries will have to do more with less, and Gradiant offers the tools to make that possible.
Anurag Bajpayee is keenly aware of the paradox that water, despite being vital, is often underpriced and undervalued, especially when compared to energy. “We don’t pay what it’s worth, only what it costs,” he told an audience at a recent conference. Yet, the landscape is shifting. Regulators, investors, and companies themselves are increasingly acknowledging water as both a business risk and a social responsibility.
What's Next for Gradiant?
Looking ahead, Gradiant appears poised to play a central role as industries adapt to water scarcity. Yet, Anurag Bajpayee remains cautious about the hype cycle. "The problem we’re working on isn’t going anywhere," he says. "It’s not a question of innovation alone, but of execution—of making sure these solutions actually reach the places that need them most."
In an era where water risk is increasingly material to business, Gradiant’s quiet, technically grounded approach may prove to be exactly what is needed.
(The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Eastern Eye. The publication does not endorse or take responsibility for the accuracy of any statements made by the author.)