Pushed, Bains admits that he employs about 1,000 people. He cultivates grapes, peaches, blueberries and walnuts for sale in the US, and almonds and cranberries for export. He once said he knows nothing about politics but can grow the biggest, juiciest peach in the world!
Although he donates to both Republicans and Democrats, lawmakers from his part of California are traditionally conservative Republicans, including Wally Herger, often allied with Khalistan leader Gurmit Singh Aulakh. Bains says tersely that he has no time for Aulakh's brand of separatist politics.
Bains last visited India in January, when he donated funds to the gurudwara in Anandpur Sahib. A resident of Yuba City in southern California, he has two sons and a daughter. "I hope the Sikh community in the...
