(Image source from: Detroit Free Press)
An Indian-American businessperson Suneel Gupta is seeking to enter the United States Congress to combat against the special interests of the corporate sector, which he believes have peaked under the Donald Trump Administration.
"Our family has always been very principled in the ideals that if you don't like what you see, you have to do what (Mahatma) Gandhi said, be the change, you cannot sit on the sidelines," said 38-year-old Gupta, as he explained the reasons for jumping into electoral politics, which is new to his illustrious family from Michigan.
His elder brother Sanjay Gupta is a popular CNN health reporter and his mother Damayanti Gupta was the first woman engineer with a degree at Ford Motor Company.
Gupta, who holds an MBA (Master of Business Administration) from the Kellogg School of Management and a law degree from the Northwestern University, is running for the U.S. House of Representatives from the 11th Congressional District of Michigan. Given the current political climate, pundits have described this as a "toss-up" seat.
Currently, it is currently being held by Republican David Trott, who is not seeking his re-election.
The August 7 primaries will see Gupta contesting against four other Democrats for the party's candidacy. As per recent figure from the Federal Election Commission (FEC), he has raised over $1.3 million, which is more than any of his competitors.
The ardor to fight for the common people against the special interests, he says, comes from his mother. "She was on the other side of the border when Partition happened. They fled, and she ended up in a refugee camp as a little girl. My grandparents - her parents - spent every penny they possibly could to get her an education… in 1967, she became Ford Motor Company's first female engineer," he said.
Indian-American community members in the district are not only rendering him with a financial assistance, but as well with their time and sweat.
By Sowmya Sangam
