Indian-American businessman and community leader Puneet Ahluwalia, who is running for the powerful office of the Virginia Lieutenant Governor, is seeking to bring diversity in the country's political landscape at a time when there is a sudden national surge in violence against the Asian-American community. The Republican Party is slated to pick its nominee for the Lieutenant Governor at a hybrid convention on May 8. Over the past several months, he and his team of volunteers have been crisscrossing the entire state of Virginia campaigning on his platform to create jobs and economic book of Virginia. "Now, I'm running for Lieutenant Governor. One reason is because I want to help every American share in the opportunity and blessing of America - no matter the colour of their skin, the language they speak, or the country where they were born," he said. A successful businessman, Ahluwalia has been with the Republican Party for 20 years. "I'm convinced our economic wellbeing and the future of our families depends on upholding the fairness and freedom that America stands for when it stands at its best. We are a country of law and order," he said. In this episode we discuss Puneet's drive and determination to work on behalf of all Virginians to gain the opportunity, prosperity and success which he and his family have enjoyed as citizens of the United States of America.
https://www.puneetforlg.com/
https://www.ndtv.com/indians-abroad/indian-american-puneet-ahluwalia-on-running-for-virginia-lt-governor-2402887
https://www.ndtv.com/indians-abroad/cricketer-kapil-dev-supports-indian-american-puneet-ahluwalia-running-for-virginia-lieutenant-governor-2407261
Soniya Gokhale (00:05):
Welcome back to another episode of A Desi Woman Podcast. I am your host, Soniya Gokhale. And the voices I am seeking may have never been heard before, but their stories deserve to be told. What is A Desi Woman? She is a dynamic, fearless and strong woman. She is your mother, your grandmother, your daughter, your sister. She is every one of us with on an endless pursuit of self-empowerment and fulfillment. I am Soniya Gokhale, and I am A Desi woman.
Soniya Gokhale (00:41):
Hello, and welcome to another edition of A Desi Woman Podcast. I am your host, Soniya Gokhale. And today we are so excited to welcome Republican candidate for the Lieutenant Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, Puneet Ahluwalia. Puneet is a businessman and community leader and is seeking to bring diversity to the country's political landscape at a time when there is a sudden national surge in violence against the Asian-American community in the United States. Puneet is a Delhi public school alumnus who immigrated to the U.S. From India in 1990. And he now serves as a consultant to international businesses on client acquisition, marketing and strategic affairs with the Livingston Group.
Soniya Gokhale (01:32):
The Republican Party is slated to pick its nominee for the Lieutenant Governor at a hybrid convention on May 8th. Puneet, welcome to the show.
Puneet Ahluwalia (01:43):
Well, thank you Soniya. Thank you for having me.
Soniya Gokhale (01:46):
Well, we are so excited to have you. And as I contemplate interviewing political candidates from our diaspora for this podcast series, it is incredibly important for me to continue to bring forth special guest cohost to a representative of newly eligible voters in this country. Therefore, for this episode I am so excited to be joined once again, by a very special guest cohost, Jay Gokhale is a recent graduate of the Columbus Academy in Columbus Ohio, and currently completing his freshman year in the honors program at the Fisher College of Business at the Ohio State University. Jay is impassioned about a variety of political issues, both domestically and globally.
Soniya Gokhale (02:31):
And most importantly he brings a fresh perspective to A Desi Woman Podcast. So Puneet, I want to start out with a quote directly from your campaign website, which I think encapsulates quite nicely what differentiates you from other candidates vying for this critical role in Virginia? You stated quote "As immigrants ourselves, my wife and I weren't born as Americans. We chose to become Americans and for good reason. This is the greatest country in the history of the world, but we can't take our prosperity or our freedom for granted. We must work every day to protect and preserve the unity and the values so many of our fellow Americans have sacrificed and bled to preserve." So if you could tell me more about the sentiment and what prompted you to make the bold decision to put your hat in the ring for the Lieutenant Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Puneet Ahluwalia (03:33):
Thank you Soniya much for a great question. Thank you, Jay. I think we are fighting for your future. All young future of America is at stake. So hence the reason I joined it, but let me go back a little bit to explain. I've been a loyal soldier of the Republican Party for the last 20 years, and I've hosted various events, done more on the grassroot. And I believe this is time, especially in Virginia for the large growing successful Asian American community to play an active role. And I say Asia because I'm Asian, but what I represent the sentiment of every first generation immigrant who has come to this country, worked hard and achieved the American dream. So hence the reason I felt after the pandemic, after the looting and writing of last summer and the various crushing a business killing attitude of the democratic control in Richmond. I felt it was important to tie the large diaspora on not only in Northern Virginia, but in Richmond area and Virginia Beach to actively participate and have a voice.
Puneet Ahluwalia (04:41):
So I'm becoming the voice of the large first-generation and the Americans who feel that the leadership is not listening and want to have impactful legislation, which the Lieutenant Governor does. And most importantly, use this platform to call out on the wrong act being done like I've done on critical race theory, $15 minimum wage, more taxes of different kinds, which is killing the small businesses, mom-and-pop shops, and also turning away businesses from Virginia. So that's the sentiment I'm trying to capture, and I'm trying to usher that. And most importantly, my job is, and my goal is just like any immigrant is to achieve the American dream, but that American dream now has to expand for all Virginians. So that's the focus and the goal to run for office Soniya.
Soniya Gokhale (05:34):
Well, no, that makes a lot of sense. And one of the reasons I really, really enjoy interviewing those that are running for a variety, whether at the state local or federal level, various offices across our country is because you immigrated to this country in 1990 from India. And the quintessential immigrant story, I presume you had little to no money that you came over here with. My parents came here in 1962 and yes, yes, they've been here for some time, but I think this is really important because you're a successful businessman. But as you point out on your website, which I will have in the podcast notes, and I encourage everyone to please access it, you've had wins and losses. I mean your wife and you indicate that it has not been an easy road, but you never gave up.
Soniya Gokhale (06:28):
And it's really your goal and aspiration that everybody, regardless of skin color or class can enjoy this proverbial American dream. And especially as a businessman, who's weathered the ups and downs would love to hear more about how you think this can be applied in the government and how it's perhaps not being applied currently
Puneet Ahluwalia (06:51):
Well, accountability and transparency. If the people working at the government or let's say feature unions or people in the veteran's affairs department, I cover different facets of it and I'll share why. If people know that their performance is being watched by the people of Virginia and America, then there's a certain level of accountability. They will perform. If you don't perform you're fired, but in the government, there's no such requisite for people who will be let go, hence the reason for as long as it takes, it takes almost ... I'll give you a prime example for veterans. It takes such a long time for them to get a service or be seen by a doctor and hence the reason we see almost 21 suicides by veterans.
Puneet Ahluwalia (07:35):
And the reason why I say that I'm choosing the inefficiency of the government. And that's the difference between the Republican Party and the Democratic Party. The Republicans believe less and small government and Democrat believe that answer to all their citizens issue is the big government. And that's unfair. I think free enterprise system, personal individual liberty and freedom is more important. And I think our rights come from God, not from the government.
Soniya Gokhale (07:59):
Puneet, one of the campaign issues which you are quite impassioned about pertain to the topic of critical race theory. We do have many global listeners. So I want to define in loose terms what we are talking about. Race has been historically and continues to be a very hotly debated topic in all aspects of American society. But especially as it relates to education, proponents of critical race theory assert that it is a framework that offers researchers, practitioners and policy makers, a race-conscious approach to understand them educational inequality, and structural racism to find solutions that lead to greater justice. Placing race at the center of analysis, critical race theory scholars, interrogate policies and practices that were purportedly taken for granted to uncover the overt and covert ways, that racist ideologies structures and institutions create and maintain racial inequality. And notably in the United States, many Asian-American groups are strongly opposed to this approach and concept. So can you tell me more about your perspective on this topic and especially now in your role as a political candidate?
Puneet Ahluwalia (09:30):
Soniya this is a very sensitive topic and the reason why I pick it up is because we all left this race identity politics back in India as you mentioned earlier. When you played this divisive goal, it's a very slippery slope and mind you we've already had a civil war in this great nation over race. And we need to move forward, learn from the mistakes and move forward as a strong nation, as one nation. And this hyphenation of black America, Asian-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, and African-Americans has to become that we are all Americans because you have to realize our kids are now growing up in a melting pot. And it's far more important than you start dividing over color. Look, I'll give you a prime example. Look at in Rwanda, the killing that happened between the Hutu and Tutsi were also, how did you define people or identify people was on the color of the skin and the nose and the structure.
Puneet Ahluwalia (10:28):
Do we want to have another similar kind of catastrophe in our nation? This is where the democratic party and leadership is leading us into. And I believe this is all part of moving us toward socialism. And that's what I'm speaking of. And when you do this in schools, people grow up learning to identify and put people in boxes. We need to get past that. We need to respect people for who they are, how they are and respect each other, love each other if they can, if they can't, but at least respect each other. Calling you wrong doesn't make me right. What's important is that compassion, that empathy, that agree to disagree mindset is important, and that's wrong. And that's the reason why I've raised my voice. A lot of people will not speak about it, but I've chosen to speak about it. I've asked for Secretary Qarni, who's the Secretary of Education of Virginia to resign because that's unfair.
Puneet Ahluwalia (11:22):
We believe in merit based education. And I believe in merit based success, merit based opportunities. This is the land of opportunities, but hard work guarantees that, but still if it's not opportunity achieve, you shouldn't penalize the system because it's still a fair play. And one more thing, Soniya, look at when we ... I'll take the example of us Indians. And I think all people have succeeded who have immigrated here. When we Indian came, now from the time we have come and the time we are now, look at the amount of success we have achieved from owning gas stations or supplying gases to gas stations, to leading multinationals, having small mid-size businesses. It's huge success. And did anybody say, "Well, let's start give it to the Indians. Let's give it to some person of different ethnicity or different race or different minority group?" No, it's a level playing field. And that's what I'm speaking about.
Soniya Gokhale (12:20):
Along those lines, you indicate that progressive Democrats who run most of our larger cities and counties have kind of trapped many poor communities that discourage job growth, deter small business startups and restrict children to schools that seem to what they're selling. They've created a dependency in some respects on government handouts, and instead of a hand up and a system that is really based upon economic mobility. And in your opinion, Democrats continue policies that ensnare generation after generation of minorities, that believe there was no hope. And it sort of the exact opposite of what you come from in India. And so I wanted to share more about this from you and your message of hope, growth and opportunity to every person, every family, and every community in Virginia.
Puneet Ahluwalia (13:18):
Soniya and Jay, I have to say this again, I reiterate. It's very unfortunate that the black American community who I call them, my brother and sister have really been a heavy price. And I'll give you an example on TJ. Most of the kids in TJ have to be at 3.8 GPA score. And we have historically seen in Fairfax, their numbers between 3.3 to 3.2, between Hispanic-Americans and Black-Americans. Now, even if you inflate their GPS goes to 3.5 these kids are still being set up for a failure because the baseline is 3.8. Now when these, you may pass them, give them the graduation or give them the certificate but when they go into the real world for those jobs and those jobs eludes them, what it does is sets up a motion of frustration, disappointment, and saying, "Well, look we failed." It's important to mentor these kids from the second grade, third grade, fourth grade. Some kids are late bloomers, so be it.
Puneet Ahluwalia (14:25):
But it's important for us to use resources with the parents, not with the school unions or teachers unions. More important with the parents to make sure that we can help to guide that kid, be it of any race, to help to succeed. And all the more reason if we really want to help the Black-American community or the Hispanic-American community, mentorship program or guidance. And there are people who are in the private field who want to partner up. And I have spoken to a person who's from a Black-American descent. He says "Puneet, these teacher unions and these educational institutions have never partnered with us to really help to mentor these kids." So it's basically a race beating. It's a way the council cult is now, is to anything you say, "Oh, you're racist. Oh, you're divisive." Well, I believe it's quite the opposite. It's them who are divisive. They are the ones who are basically playing the identity politics. They are basically setting our country up for a disaster and that's a direction toward socialism.
Soniya Gokhale (15:24):
Absolutely. And thank you so much for that response. And I would now like to turn it over to Jay to pose a question to you.
Jay Gokhale (15:34):
I guess the first question that I had is how did you come to form your Republican beliefs? What experiences impacted or informed your perspectives? And why do you believe that the Lieutenant Governor position of Virginia will be the best way to accomplish your policy objectives?
Puneet Ahluwalia (15:52):
Very good question. And I'll tell you, I have now realized how important it is to explain the difference with being the Democrats. I think most people kind of mistake between Democrats with democracy and the Republican Party as the Republic. I think most folks do not understand. I think it's the ideological difference which most people ... It's on the part of the Republicans I say that people don't know it's our fault. It's hence the reason I've taken it upon myself to share what conservative values are, what Republican values and why I'm a Republican. I strongly believe that our rights come from God, not from the government, which the Democratic Party believes in. I also believe that each person has the individual freedom which means that they can pursue any area of opportunity they feel they want to pursue. And if they don't want to do it, that's entirely up to them.
Puneet Ahluwalia (16:49):
And I also believe that even if you don't believe in God, that's still fine. That's freedom and liberty is your right. The government cannot dictate it or impose it or mandate it. That's the difference. And these mandates and these impositions come from the government, not in the conservative party or the Republican Party. The second thing is that I am a firm believer of the free market enterprise system, which means that the government has no role in controlling the market, let the free market expand and prosper. It is so important that which company is set to be a winner, which one is set to be a loser. It's not picked up by the government because then it leads to autocracy that leads to certain companies will prosper, the other ones will not feel very well. And we are only starting to see especially in a small business where the government and the corporate houses are already controlling the pricing of cigarettes, of Coca-Cola or chips.
Puneet Ahluwalia (17:46):
You know, when I was sitting down with association of 1400 members of South Asian, say that "Puneet, our profits are going down, our rents are going up. Our cost of business is going up." And when you start taxing them, and when you start putting the minimum wage up, it becomes very hard to make the profits. When the government and the corporations will mandate that you will buy the cigarette at this price and sell it at that price, let's say you make only a buck of a profit, and then you go to buy the Coke, the bottle or the can at this price and only sell it at this price, that's control. That's not fair. And hence the reason the free market enterprise is so important and family values, traditional values. And now they have started to impose their values that there's male, female, transgender. You know, I believe it's your choice, whatever you choose to be. But you don't have to emboss that will on me.
Puneet Ahluwalia (18:36):
And especially the last one is the racial balancing, the identity politics, which is we are all Americans. It doesn't matter you're a Black-American, Hispanic-American, and whatever you choose to do. That's your choice, individual freedom. That's the reason why I aspire the conservative notion. I'm a firm believer of that and that's that easily. I'm a proud Republican. I have been there for 20 years because I look at us, most of the immigrants who have come here, it's the American success story. It is not the government that made you successful. Now, what has happening is quite the opposite. The government is telling you to collect the check and stay at home, do not work. And that's hurting the hotel, motels, the gas station and all across the board because people have no incentive to work because the government is going to take care of them.
Puneet Ahluwalia (19:23):
Then who is going to pay the price Soniya and Jay? It's people like us who work hard and who pay taxes. Our taxes are going to go up and we have started to see the taxes on gasoline tax, on property tax, on utility tax, and then you are paying tax on your gross revenue instead of net revenue. It's clearly of you have a 1,000 cuts. And I believe that less taxes are better for businesses because I should use that money to spend that money wherever I want it to spend. Or if I want to give it to an NGO or a faith based organization, that should be my choice. I should not be mandated by the government.
Soniya Gokhale (20:02):
Yeah. And I think what makes your campaign unique and especially as a candidate unique is again, you have that baseline business experience. So you're speaking from experience as a small business owner and now working for a larger firm. And I think often we do not see that background in Canada too, are running for office. And one of the interesting campaign items that you hold quite dearly and close to pertains to broadband, and broadband internet infrastructure. And interestingly, it's a subject that you actually have alignment on as it pertains to democratic candidates in the field.
Soniya Gokhale (20:42):
The pandemic has demonstrated that the socioeconomic and racial disparities in terms of access to the internet is very across the board. And it's so incredibly critical with school being offered online, people working remotely more than 697,000 Virginians don't have broadband internet in their home due to lack of infrastructure or its lack of affordability. And workers without a reliable internet connection in their home, don't have opportunities to work from home. Many kids are falling behind their classmates in school, who do have broadband at home. Virginia residents from old to young rely on affordable internet as a way to connect with family and friends, get checkups from their doctors, access medicine, and even sustain their businesses. And so it's very interesting I wanted to share your thoughts on resolving this issue.
Puneet Ahluwalia (21:37):
One more thing I wanted to add, when you said my business experience, you see I know what it takes to create jobs, build businesses. And other words, I know what it takes to sign at the bottom of the check every 15 days, not just at the back of the check. This is how most of the Democrats are. The money is printed it's full. It comes from the sky someplace and we can keep printing it. And it's easy to give people free stuff because when it is not your money, it's easy to give away other people's money.
Puneet Ahluwalia (22:05):
Now, coming back to the broadband issue, it is so important for our kids, our generation, to be able to compete globally. As you said, the pandemic has showed that there's no reason for us to be now sitting in offices. And I also firmly believe that one of I travel on the rural part of Virginia, a lot of people, young people move to the cities for jobs. But if now you have expanded the WiFi and the broadband, there is no reason for these kids to go off, go to cities and leave their homes and leave their payments all alone, they can come back into those cities, have the best technology available to them, upload their resumes, talk to the world. Either you do business within Virginia or outside Virginia, and at the same time, keep doing their education, which is if they choose to do that.
Puneet Ahluwalia (22:58):
But the other thing which I'm also standing for, for you to know is that if you have God given talent to be a welder, to be an AC person, you can do these vocational training programs and then open your business. Because I still believe that running your own business is the best way to succeed and giving the best tax advantages you should get. So I'm a firm believer of making sure that people can have strong communities and the communities come when we bring the success of Northern Virginia, Virginia Beach and the Richmond area with the rest of Virginia. This way, it helps with local economies, local school system and local and help to build the family units.
Puneet Ahluwalia (23:42):
That's how you create a strong communities. And that's a cycle that takes a certain amount of time. So I want to use my position and my platform to have conservative and job creative pro school pro education legislations. Which got to make sure that we as Virginians are the top place for us to raise a family, have businesses, have education, have work and a nice great place for us to stay. That's my goal. So I'm going to use my platform to attract those businesses. And if we have a conservative governor, I'll be the best COO of the governor to make sure that we are able to implement those successes envisioned by the governor and myself.
Jay Gokhale (24:27):
I guess the second question I had, and this kind of ties into critical race theory and some subjects relating to that. I guess I have a little bit of a personal statement, but then I'll get to my question if you all bear with me with this. But I said, I believe wholeheartedly that our country was founded on patriotic beliefs, including freedom of expression, individual rights, and ultimately a shared belief of the expulsion of tyrannical ideals. However, in unfortunate characteristic of our nation's past was the establishment of inherently racist systems and institutions, most notably slavery and segregation/discriminatory policies against people of color.
Jay Gokhale (25:07):
I think it's important to teach both these parts of our history in order to inform people accurately about the United States of America. And there has to be the acknowledgement that while past actions were undeniably apportioned in today's society, we're working to bring to fruition our founding fathers ideals and approaching situations with optimism rather than pessimism is most beneficial. So ultimately my question is, would you agree with my sentiments and then why or why not? And ultimately, what do you believe is the most important thing to teach others about our history, especially through the lens of ethnicity and race?
Puneet Ahluwalia (25:49):
I think the founding fathers were very unique and that's the reason I feel when the founding fathers found that they had to fight for individual liberty, they all were business people. You have to go through their background, they all were business people and they stopped what they were doing, and they became citizen soldier. That's exactly what I have become, is a citizen soldier fighting for liberty and individual freedom. I will also share an important thing. This country is based on Judeo-Christian values, but this country still the constitution protects everybody with their first amendment right, freedom of speech, freedom of religion. And you have to see that beside this nation having mainly founded on Judeo-Christian values, they accept people from all backgrounds. In fact, I was on a call today and I found out that Virginia has the largest number of temples.
Puneet Ahluwalia (26:38):
This would not be possible in a different part of the world. So they allowed not only temples, mosques, gurdwaras, various ethnic backgrounds, belief in God system. So this experiment as seen by the forefathers has worked very well. We're the only country which is a Republic and a democracy. Is so unique and other kinds of democracies usually become sham democracies, and we have seen that. And we're also seeing that. So it's important for us to see that we are a unique experiment and we have to make sure we have to preserve that not only for ourselves, but our future generation. So I'm very confident that as the nation we are, we need to fight it. And I am also kind of disappointed with the media because they have played a very large role in playing identity politics, dividing us, asking us to rewrite our history because I look at this way yes, there were wrongs done, but we have come far.
Puneet Ahluwalia (27:35):
We've had a black president. We have a black vice president now. And let's learn from that and build the future. And most importantly, the slavery did not start in the United States. Slavery has been there for the longest time. The pyramids were built by the slaves. The Taj Mahal was built by I would say, a semi slave or indentured servants. So what are we going to do tomorrow? Are we going to take down the pyramids? Are we going to take down the Taj Mahal? Where does this stop?
Puneet Ahluwalia (28:04):
So it's important for us to learn from our mistakes and start to learn to live together. That's the most important thing. And make sure this experiment called the greatest nation on the earth, the United States of America, one nation under God is indivisible. And that's what we all have to strive for. When you swear allegiance to the flag and to this country, it's very important that you hear those words and really hold them close to your heart. If you cannot, then there's something wrong that you have not really understood and become part of this experiment and we'll help you get there
Soniya Gokhale (28:39):
That's a really, really interesting perspective. And I do want to ask you about China. I had had a contingency of women who identify as Hindus, proud Hindus and proud Republicans. And they indicated that their perspective and viewpoint of China is very different perhaps than the average, perhaps U.S. born American. And part of that pertains to the geopolitics and the role that China has played as a neighbor to India. Many people may not be aware that the Dalai Lama is no longer in Tibet. He's actually been given immunity and a place to land in India.
Puneet Ahluwalia (29:24):
For the longest time.
Soniya Gokhale (29:26):
Yes, exactly. And so I want to understand your perspective on China, not just as obviously now a very proud American and somebody that's running for political office, but just your history growing up in India and seeing their continued aggression. And from the geopolitical lens, which is not often your perspective and that of other South Asians or Indians as not often hurt. So I'd love to hear more about that topic from you.
Puneet Ahluwalia (29:54):
Sure. You know, China it's the middle kingdom theory, it's them against everybody else. So once people understand that, then they realize that we are everybody else. That includes India, the rest of the world, including United States. But I have to point out it's the CCP, which is the Chinese Communist Party. And I have in one of my statements said very categorically if when I'm Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, I'll make sure that none of the Chinese companies with ties to CCP will ever have an office on any business in Virginia, period. At the same time, I also want to tell the Chinese-Americans that I will also be their elected leader so that I can always hear their concerns on any racism issue. Because when you see Chinese or a lot of Chinese who have left China because of the atrocities being done, look at Taiwan, look at Hong Kong and they're paying a serious price for that.
Puneet Ahluwalia (30:48):
And we need to give support to Taiwan and to Hong Kong. I'm a firm believer that because they want the democracy in their country, and we are the only hope for them. At the same time what China has been doing in South China is unacceptable. And they've also been stealing our intellectual property and also looking to find a way to engage with us in covertly and openly. They have tried to push us on many occasions, especially even though the United Nations can call us on the Black Lives Matter issue, which is complete farce. But they have serious issues of human rights abuse, religious abuse against the Uyghurs. So the whole world has to see what China is and has to unite together to make sure that CCP and the leaders are undermined everywhere and anywhere else. So it is a huge threat for all free societies, but it's important that the CCP has also infiltrated the Democratic Party and basically found a way to fund them and change the narrative in the United States.
Puneet Ahluwalia (31:49):
And that's a very big problem. So we need to make sure that we know who are our allies, who are our friends and who are our enemies. At this point, the CCP has not seen is not our friend. In fact, if you've see the virus, I think they lied to us and Americans have died. Not only American people all across the world have died and our economy has suffered greatly. And I would also say that I believe all the money that we owe to China we should simply say, "Thank you. We're not going to pay for it because you lied to us and you did not play by the international rules of telling us that this virus was coming to our country." You should have stopped it. So we have to have accountability Soniya, and that's what is important. And we have to hold China accountable, but unfortunately the Democratic Party doesn't know how to hold them.
Soniya Gokhale (32:39):
I would agree with you and look, one of the issues I've done repeated podcasts and I intend to do so is the genocide that is currently happening on planet earth right now in China. And it's uncomfortable. And I recognized that people maybe want to pretend it's not happening, but it's a modern day Holocaust happening right now. And even Pompeo has gone on record and our state department corroborating this. And so I am very interested to see what Biden and the United States do as it pertains to the Olympics, because there's really no gray area here.
Puneet Ahluwalia (33:18):
We shouldn't be going to Olympics. We should boycott. And we have nothing in common with the Chinese Communist Party and what they're doing to the Uyghurs is unacceptable. And the entire community should stand against this atrocity and what they're doing to the people of their own people. If they can do it to own people, guess who we are, who we are going to be far treated worse.
Soniya Gokhale (33:39):
Well, we can not thank you enough for joining us today Puneet Ahluwalia candidate for Lieutenant Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia. And his website is puneetforlg.com, which I will have in the podcast notes. Thank you so much for joining us today.
Puneet Ahluwalia (34:02):
Thank you Soniya. I really appreciate for hosting me and I look forward to being a guest on your show again.