The 2.2 Million Indian Americans in the US constitute a model minority, highly educated and well paid. And now, following in the footsteps of earlier immigrant groups such as the Irish, the Jews and the Cubans, Indian Americans are emerging as an influential force in Washington.

And look what just whizzed through the Capitol: the Henry J. Hyde US-India Peaceful Atomic Energy Cooperation Act. The legislation, which allows US government and private firms to sell nuclear technology to India for peaceful, civilian purposes, was thought to be dead on arrival as recently as March. But it won surprising support, even from nonproliferation die-hard Democrats such as Nancy Pelosi.

At work behind the bill’s passage was the usual crew of lobbyists and US companies, including General Electric, Boeing and Lockheed, which will reap the bulk of the $100 billion the deal is expected to generate.

But the bill’s biggest backer was the Indian American community, which united as a political power for the first time since immigrating to the US in force 35 years ago. This group loves its adopted land; it also cares deeply about the country of its heritage. Led by businessman Swadesh Chatterjee of the US-India Friendship Council, Indian Americans lobbied individually and collectively. They were so effective on an issue as controversial as nuclear technology, that no less than Undersecretary of State R. Nicholas Burns called the law the Indian Americans’ “coming-out party in the US”.

The nuclear deal cements a strategic US shift toward India, said Chatterjee, and will “change old mind-sets both in India and the US”. It also confirms that the Indian diaspora is now an economic and political asset in both countries.

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