Slain Indian Engineer’s Wife Invited for President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address

Sunayana Dumala, the wife of India techie Srinivas Kuchibhotla, who was part of an alleged hate crime shoot out at Austins Bar and Grill in Kansas City in February 2017, has been invited to attend US President Donald Trump’s first State of the Union address to held on Jan.30.

“Sunayana is a very powerful symbol of who our system is failing. One of the reasons I’ve become so passionate about this issue is that we need to send a message to the Indian community and other immigrant groups that we are a loving country, welcome to all,” said Congressman Kevin Yoder who is a member of the Congressional caucus on India and Indian Americans. Yoder had backed Dumala’s presence at the State of Union address and also helped her get a temporary visa, when her previous one had ended after her husband’s death.

He took to the social media to talk about Dumala.

Sunayana is a very powerful symbol of who our system is failing. One of the reasons I’ve become so passionate about this issue is that we need to send a message to the Indian community & other immigrant groups that we are a loving country, welcome to all.https://t.co/AbYmw91Qxh

— Rep. Kevin Yoder (@RepKevinYoder) January 10, 2018

To honor the slain Indian engineer Kuchibhotla, the US state of Kansas in March 2017, had declared March 16 as “Indian-American Appreciation Day”.
Almost a year since her husband’s death Dumala is on a mission to make Kuchibhotla’s name live on in the hearts of people. “I can’t let people forget him. That is what is making me spread his legacy, and I hope I’m getting there. I hope I succeed and the name Srinivas Kuchibhotla stays there forever,” she said, reported The Kansas City Star.
Dumala is a database developer for Intouch Solutions in Overland Park pharmaceutical marketing agency in Kansas and says that she does not know where life will take her in a few years, reported The Kansas City Star. “I don’t think it’s fair to me,” she said.
The State of the Union address is an annual message presented by the President of the United States to a joint session of the United States Congress. “It is my honor to invite you to deliver your State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, January 30, 2018 in the House Chamber,” the House Speaker Paul Ryan said in a letter to US President Donald Trump on Nov.30 2017. He formally invited him to deliver his State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress on January 30.