New York State Legislator Jenifer Rajkumar Is A Mahatma Gandhi Disciple
Jenifer Rajkumar. Photo: (C) Mary Leer.
May 19, 2023
“I am an admirer of (Mahatma) Gandhi,” Jenifer Rajkumar said this week at an event at the Asia Society in New York City. Rajkumar, 40-years-old, a Democratic legislator in New York State, added that she is motivated by a desire to serve the community in the spirit of Gandhi’s work.
The defining moment in modern Indian history was the country’s independence from British rule on August 15, 1947, following a largely peaceful, nation-wide struggle led by Mahatma Gandhi. There is an ongoing campaign by some organizations in India to reduce, or even erase, Gandhi’s role in India’s independence.
A “day will come when the Father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi, Bapu, will also be cast aside... see what they are doing for the killer of Bapu," Nitesh Kumar, the Chief Minister of Bihar said in 2022, according to NDTV. Bihar, India’s second most populous state and a key state to winning parliamentary elections, is run by Kumar as leader of a coalition of parties opposed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Nathuram Godse, Mahatma Gandhi's killer, “has been hailed by Hindu nationalists,” including some members of the BJP, “as a martyr and a patriot,” The Atlantic reported. Godse was a member of the RSS, “a Hindu-nationalist paramilitary organization” that seeks the creation of a Hindu rashtra (nation.) “This idea of India posed a direct challenge to the secular and inclusive vision of the country championed by Gandhi and India’s other founding fathers.”
Several temples, statues and memorials honoring Godse have been set up across India. The Hindu Mahasabha, “the rightwing outfit” which set up one such temple, honors Godse by observing November 15 as Balidan Diwas (sacrifice day), India Today reported.
Jenifer Rajkumar, center, with her parents and brother. Courtesy Jeniferforny.com
Rajkumar was first elected to the New York legislature in 2020 and was re-elected last year. She represents the southern part of the Queens borough of New York City, which has a sizeable population of South Asian origin, including Indians especially Sikhs, Bangladeshis, Pakistanis and Caribbeans.
In October 2022, New York’s Mayor Eric Adams announced that Diwali - the Hindu festival of lights -will be a holiday at schools run by the city. Rajkumar had lobbied Adams for the holiday, she said. She supported his Mayoral election in 2021, including joining him on campaign visits to Hindu and Buddhist temples in the city.
Earlier Rajkumar served as the Director of Immigration Affairs & Special Counsel for New York State. She led the Liberty Defense Project, a $31 million public-private project to assist immigrants in obtaining legal services. She was also a fellow at the National Women's Law Center, Washington DC.
Rajkumar started her law career as part of a team that won a class action lawsuit, on gender pay and pregnancy discrimination claims against big pharmaceutical firms, on behalf of 5,600 women.
In 2015, she began teaching Political Science at the City University of New York’s Lehman College in the Bronx. She graduated from Stanford Law School and is a graduated from the University of Pennsylvania.
Rajkumar, who was born in Washington DC, grew up in a Hindu family in Queens. As a child, she heard and read stories from India, including the Mahabharata. She said that her parents encouraged their children to debate issues when they disagreed and got into a fight. They also instilled that “good education is the key to success.”
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