Indian Americans are the most successful and hard-working communities in California. Although this is a matter of pride for every Indian living in California, this success also attracts some evil eyes who will stop at nothing short of maligning the ever hard working, law abiding, and educated Indian community

One such recent attempt to malign and divide Indians was a bill SB-403 introduced by some anti-Indian and anti-Hindu forces. With a fabricated data that has already been debunked by researchers, an attempt was made to divide Hindus based on their last names, dietary habits, and their religious customs and practices. Through manipulation and fake narratives some people did fall for the propaganda and voted yes for the bill. However, timely intervention by the Governor dismissed this malicious bill and saved thousands of Indians from selected targeting and prejudice. Many warriors fought this long and hard battle to expose the false agenda and prejudice this bill would have created for younger generations. One of the greatest warrior for this community Milind Makwana sadly lost his life while battling the evil bill in Cupertino town hall meeting. Nothing can match the supreme sacrifice that Milind ji made for the Indian community.

While protesting against this bill in Sacramento, few warriors drove from as far as San Diego (last county in California) for 16 hours to make communities’ voices heard. These warriors spent many days fighting the bill and voiced their strong objection to it during an assembly meeting. One such warrior who spoke for the Indian Hindu community was Vijay Chavan. He drove for hours, spent hundreds of dollars to give voice to Indian Hindu community. Sadly, while voicing his opinion in Sacramento, he was trapped in a frivolous charge when he went to pick up another warrior in a county building on the day of the protest. He declared the contents of his pocket before entering the building that included a plastic keychain. Not only was the keychain confiscated, 4 months later some absurd charges were filed against him. The charges of carrying a keychain were so frivolous that when a similar scenario was presented to some law enforcement officials, they told the keychain in the worst case would have been taken away. They too were shocked to find out that more serious charges were framed against him. Vijay at the last moment had to find a personal attorney who successfully defended his case. The charges needless to say, were dropped and the case was dismissed. Yes, all this stressful treatment for a Hindu warrior for carrying and declaring a keychain ahead of time. This was not without the stress he had to endure for months and thousands that were spent defending him. While it is not possible for the community to bring his peace and time lost during the case, we can certainly help him out for the legal fees that was incurred. This is the least we the community can do for a warrior who drove for hours, spent thousands of dollars to defend the Indian community. The amount mentioned in this fund raiser includes attorney fees, travel cost and consulting fees for the paralegal who flew to Sacramento to help him out. Vijay is more than happy to share receipts of his legal battle via his email [email redacted]