The Clintons’ Indian Connection

That Bill and Hillary Clinton have a soft spot for India is well known. During the Clintons’ state visit to India – and on subsequent trips – they have made themselves hugely popular to Indians; particularly those living in rural areas. Now, one of the Clintons’ Indian connections is threatening to rock Hillary’s presidential campaign boat.

Not many Americans would have heard of India-born Vin Gupta, who now lives in Nebraska. Gupta is the founder of the consumer listing firm, InfoUSA. He made his fortune turning information into content; long before the idea became popular. In 1971, Gupta was a 25 year old market research analyst with Commodore Corporation; when he commandeered some 4800 Yellow Pages into a goldmine of consumer information – and launched InfoUSA. The company now has annual revenues of $400 million.

In the 1980’s, Gupta became a contributor and, later, a fund raiser for the Democratic Party – which is what brought him to Clinton’s attention. Soon they were good buddies. The Clintons have been Gupta’s personal guests at his sprawling mansion in Nebraska; and Gupta was a frequent visitor in the White House – although it is not known if he rated a sleepover in the Lincoln bedroom. It is known that he was offered two nominal ambassadorships during the Clinton administration.

Gupta’s Clinton connection came into the spotlight last year, when angry shareholders of InfoUSA filed a lawsuit in a Delaware court; claiming that the CEO had wasted millions of dollars of the publicly-traded company to get into Clinton’s good books.

They seem to have good cause. The plaintiffs have alleged that Gupta misused the company jet to fly the Clintons to vacations. Gupta is believed to have paid Bill Clinton $2 million for vaguely-defined ‘consulting services’. In addition, he is alleged to have spent close to a million dollars to fly Bill Clinton around the world for his Presidential Foundation work; and to fly Hillary to campaign events. As an Indian, one thing I do know is that my fellow countrymen rarely display such generosity for purely altruistic reasons. I’m going to leave it at that.

Not surprisingly, the Clinton campaign has quickly distanced itself from the brewing scandal, claiming that the Senator complied with all relevant ethics rules on accepting private air travel. I don’t doubt that. Hillary is far too shrewd to leave a paper trail – or to be caught out in an obvious irregularity. Her public image is bound to take a beating, though.

The expose has come as a godsend for the Republicans; and media investigative teams are sniffing around for a whiff of scandal; at a time when the Senator’s campaign is staring to gather momentum. I shall watch future developments with considerable interest.