CHICAGO: The saga of Indian Americans’ ascendency to prominence has never spiked up as much as it is playing out in Illinois primary election scheduled for March 15.
Raja Krishnamoorthi and Moon Khan are vying for two major elective positions of Illinois where Swami Vivekananda and Rabindranath Tagore left their giant prints scores of decades ago.Raja is vying for a spot in the US Congress from the 8th District and Moon is trying to clinch a high ranking position of Recorder at DuPage County.
Many Indian community activists have a long pedigree of advocating for the Indian Americans in public services. Raja, who has been endorsed by all major newspapers including Chicago Tribune, Daily Herald, and Sun-Times, is smoothly sailing toward victory as various polls are showing him ahead in the surveys.
“I am cautiously optimistic,” said Raja, who is a second generation Indian American and who has held several high ranking governmental positions that include Deputy Attorney General and Deputy Treasurer.
Raja Krishnamoorthi, 42, grew up in Illinois and has dedicated his life to serving our community and fighting for our most vulnerable citizens. The son of Indian immigrants to the U.S., he is running for Congress on a progressive platform that includes protecting Social Security and Medicare, passing common-sense gun laws and addressing the threat of climate change.
Raja believes that growing economic inequality among Americans is shrinking the middle-class on which our democracy depends, and he is advocating policies to help working families, including equal pay for equal work, paid sick and maternity leave, and raising the federal minimum wage. Raja is also a staunch defender of women’s reproductive freedom.
Moon khan is a first generation Indian American. Before migrating to the United States, he was selected for a Deputy Collector position in India. He has volunteered for more than two dozen service organizations. From 2005 2012, he served as an elected Trustee of York Township.
These two campaigns have turned into a movement to unite and motivate the South Asian community to jump on the policy making tables.Winning may not be everything but the fact is that the united community always wins and it is up to the members of Indian community to prove their mettle in the coming elections, said Sohan Joshi, President of National Federation of Indian Associations.
A large swath of sleeping voting block exists in Illinois that consists of people of Indian origin, who share very rich cultural legacy, ethnic inheritance, linguistic lineage, faith traditions, and culinary palates. By working together, they can ask for their own slices of the pies.
History has proved that sitting on the bus, Rosa Parks paved the way so Martin Luther King could march. Organizing civil rights movement over the years an African American in Barack Obama finally won the US presidency. Similarly, this election of Raja Krishnamoorthi will prove to be a catalyst for other Indians and South Asians to imagine for advanced political positions, many believe.
Jitendra Digvenkar
