Casual Conversations: Talking with Chirinjeev Singh about Life, Liberty and his Bid for US Senate

Special to SikhNet
by Siri Amrit Singh Khalsa
September 12, 2003

Medical doctor and technology entrepreneur Chirinjeev Singh Kathuria tossed his proverbial turban into the US Senate race for Illinois this year. An articulate and humorous man, Chirinjeev Singh is basing his platform on the strength of the American Dream. He has been touring Illinois and has been interviewed by national and international media about his campaign – and about his Sikh identity. A strong believer in the Sikh faith, Chirinjeev Singh keeps his turban and beard and the look has won him instant recognition in Illinois and curiosity around the world. SikhNet’s News Director, Siri Amrit Singh Khalsa, had a chance to interview Chirinjeev Singh about his life, his hopes for office and his love of Sikhi.

SAS: Is there any one or two experiences in your childhood, before you got going in college, medical school, and business school that really solidified you? Any key moments that really set you on your path?

CSK: [laughs] You know, I think in high school, I was your classic nerd, never had a date, just worked really hard. But I think my defining moment was when I went to college and someone said, “I think you should run for student government.” Most people (who were running) were juniors or seniors, and when I looked at the student government everyone who voted were freshman, or at lest 80%, because by the time you get to junior or senior, you think student government is a joke. So I ran for one of the top three positions. Everyone thought I was crazy, but I just campaigned among the freshmen and the junior and senior split the vote. I was running for president. I ended up getting elected to the executive board of student government, and all of a sudden my life changed.

There were also moments growing up when I was little. I first got an interest in politics in the fourth or fifth grade. We were doing a play on George Washington, and I insisted that I wanted to be George Washington. The teacher said, “That’s crazy, you don't look like George Washington.” I said, “I'll memorize all the [lines]” and she let me do it. I sang this song, “Let George do it.” Those were defining moments, that if you believed in something you could do whatever you wanted. If you really work hard, there's a lot of things in America… it is a very tolerant and accepting country. It allowed me to get where I am today.

SAS: And you’ve done a lot so far. You graduated college and went on to medical school. Then you started some of your own businesses. Tell us a little bit about your business experiences.

CSK: Well, I helped co-found a Mobile carrier in India and what I tell my friends is when I was at Stanford there was this woman whose family owned Filipino Telephone and Telegraph. She was half Filipino and half Danish. I had a huge crush on her, but she didn't give me the time of day. And I was one of the few Indians in the business school class, me and another person.

She came up to me and said, “You know, I'd like to go to India, to build a mobile telephone company.” And this was in 1992-93 when India was on the verge of bankruptcy. I figured, well she never gives me the time of day in business school. If she goes to India, she might fall in love with me cause she won't know anyone else. So that's how it got started. I went to India in 93 and we got a mobile telephone license for a third of the Indian Subcontinent, and that's how I started my first company.

You know I didn't end up with the woman, but I did end up with the telephone company.

Later, I help build another company called Mir Corp, which you probably know of. . And that helped sent Dennis Tito, the first Citizen Explorer [into space].
The major shareholders were the Russian Energia, the Rocket & Science Corporation and Golden Appel, which is a venture capital group.

SAS: Wow, so when are you going up? Dennis got there first, you going to go next?

CSK: I was thinking of going up., but right now I 'm focusing on the Senate race. I'm still pretty young. Dennis Tito was 59 years old, so I've got plenty of time. I'll eventually go up. I was always fascinated with Space. I wanted to be an astronaut when I was 13, but I wore glasses. Most people went through the military flight program. You know, I was never able to go to NASA training program.So I am going to make that dream come true. Probably, hopefully if I win the senate race, after the term of the senate I'll do it.

SAS: So starting from fourth or fifth grade you were already interested in politics. What kept the fire burning, what pushed you towards really seriously going after politics?

CKS: I helped write a lot of Health Care proposals, but the people who got the legislation passed were Senators, Congressmen, or the President. And I always thought that would be a really good way of making a solid contribution. I was never involved in politics before on any national level. I was involved in going to party meetings, but had never run for an elected office. I started speaking to the National Republican Party, and they said it would be really great to have an [Asian] run as a Republican, because [conservative values] are a lot of what Asians and minorities really believe in. So when Senator Fitzgerald decided not to run, I met with Judy Baar Topinka, the chairman of the Illinois Republican Party, and she encouraged me to run. It just became a very winnable race, because the incumbent wasn't running, and the governor wasn't running, and the 4 or 5 other people who were running were not elected representatives or Congressmen. And I figured, well, America has been very kind, it's been accepting... and there's a lot I could offer. I helped create small businesses, and small businesses generate the majority of new jobs in this country. I have a lot of experience in health care policy and everyone believes in the American Dream. What better way to giveback to America then running for elected office? It's something that's important to me and I'm going to take the time now to make it happen.

SAS: You talk about how you really want to give back to the United States for being such a great place of opportunity, for building the lifestyle and the life you've been given. We were wondering what kind of contributions you are thinking of making, and what ways do you think you can really make a difference?

CKS: If you start, for example, with small businesses and you look at what is the biggest thing affecting our economy, it’s economic distress. Small businesses account for half of our GDP output, and create the majority of our new jobs. So I know how important it is to stimulate small businesses, how to make them grow, and understand the issues they have with high health insurance premiums and borrowing money. So I'm going to use my personal experience to help in stimulating those small businesses. For example, we are considering buying a distressed payphone company and reengineering it to make it a Wi--Fi wireless broadband carrierhopefully saving 100’s of jobs. So I bring that to the table, some real life experiences.

That would be the first major thing. The other thing would be in health care. I helped develop some health care initiatives. And if you want to fix Medicare, you elect a physician to the Senate.

The senate majority leader Dr. Frist is a physician, but he has a term limit, so he's not going to be in the Senate forever. If elected, I'll eventually be the only physician in the Senate dealing with the high cost of prescription drugs, reforming Medicare, having a combination of a Government run system with a private health care system. This is something that I feel that I can positively contribute to.

And the Farming Community… the first Sikhs came to the USA in the 1890's, and they came as migrant farm workers. In the south of Illinois there are a lot of farmers, so we understand the high price they pay for soybeans, and how to open up developing markets.

As for education. The reading scores were low for one of the first times in many years in Illinois. I would really stress the importance of education. Education really helped get me where I am [which is] really, basically a symbol of the American Dream, that still anything is possible. Also, I think providing technology and Internet access to public schools and libraries is going to be really important

And then being a doctor, I understand the threats of the War on Terror, biological and chemical war, and can really help prepare for it.

One other thing is that we're going to work on Social Security reform. Social Security is going to have a tough time surviving; you only get 1.3% return. We would help create voluntary personal accounts for Social Security, and that's going to be very important.

SAS: So you've just outlined your platform, correct?

CSK: We're developing our platform. As we listen to more and more people, we'll develop it [further]. I'm not a professional politician. I'm just going to take a Winnebago and two school buses and go around Illinois and listen to everybody.

SAS: If you win, how do you think that will affect Sikhs at large?

CSK: One of the key issues in this race is how to educate Americans about Sikhism. Sikhs have had problems from hate-crimes to people actually being killed. This race is going to be covered nationally. There's never been an Indian-American Senator. This will get national media. I think what's going to be the focus is the beard and turban.

Our ancestors came here in the 1890's, before some of the first Irish, Italian, Greek and Polish settlers ever came to the United States. We’ve been a part of America just as much as anybody. We helped build the railroads, we helped farm the land. Sikhs have been a part of America and contributed to America's success. I think my campaign will educate not just the American population, but the rest of the world on Sikhism. So it'll be very good for our community. People will come to appreciate and understand Sikhs, and learn about the Sikh religion. When anyone looks at me they're going to know what Sikhs are. So I think from an educational point of view, it'll be great. I think it'll be great for our culture because they'll understand the values of Sikhism and what we've contributed to America. It'll make it easier for every little child growing up.

For example, I got an email from a Mexican-American saying if you become Senator, it gives hope to my kids that anything is possible in America. He said he sent out over 70 emails to his Mexican-American friends to go and help me and vote for me in the election.

SAS: So you are running as a Sikh, you're hoping to educate much of the world, our nation, Illinois, everyone, about Sikhs. I'm curious, and I'm sure our readers are very curious, what’s it like being a Sikh? What does it mean to you to be a Sikh of the Guru? How do you feel about that?

CKS: You know, for me, it's a lot of pride. Sikhism is a very accepting religion. It says that every religion is correct; everyone has messengers of God. We believe in One God, like most faiths. Before the first debate, I was thinking I was going to come in last place and that would have been the end of this campaign. Then I said the Japji Sahib before that, and I honestly believe a miracle happened for me to do so well. So I believe in the teachings. And wearing a beard and turban - people say it might be a disadvantage. But now everyone is saying one of the main reasons you might win this race is because of the beard and turban. Everyone remembers you. For every one ad I run, the competitors need to run fifteen ads just to get the same name recognition. And this is going to be one of the most expensive races in US Senate history. Wearing a beard and turban, every time I go to a fair or a county or to another reception, people say, “We remember that guy.” If you go buy a suit, and you come back to the same store, they remember you. Can you imagine how effective that is? This is a huge advantage in the Senate campaign where name recognition is very important. So I think being Sikh might really help. And I think Sikhism and the teachings of our family values is very important and very in-line with traditional Republican values.

SAS: We've talked about what you want to accomplish in general just by running: for Sikhs everywhere, for diversity, for opening people's minds and educating them about Sikhism, to giving people belief in the American dream. If you get elected to office, what do you hope to do for your fellow citizens of Illinois, for the Sikhs, for all the other minorities, for everyone out there. What are your goals for the state of Illinois?

CKS: The US Senate is a federal position, so you work on national policies that we've discussed. But for Illinois… you know Illinois has a five billion dollar budget deficit. So I really think helping Illinois get more government projects, having the government pay for mandates, helping Illinois farmers, helping Illinois create small businesses, making incentives for more corporations to come to Illinois - I think those things are going to be very important. All the initiatives with health care, education, that you work on at a national level, are going to be very important because they are going to be blue prints for Illinois. Looking for ways for Illinois to generate revenue, helping bring more federal dollars to Illinois… is going to be really important.

SAS: Do you have any special messages or anything to really put out there for the general Sikh community, not only of the United States, but worldwide?

CKS: If you believe, you can do anything. I think we're very lucky. I think one of the reasons people respect Sikhs is because Sikhs [have] created a great impression around the world. In the 1890's our ancestors came and built the railroads. Today the Punjabi/Mexican groups own 20-25% of the California farmland. We have people like Dr. Kapany who helped lay the foundation for fiber-optics. We have some very successful Sikh entrepreneurs, Sikh doctors, Sikh scientists and they've really contributed. One thing is good - you never see a Sikh beggar. You always see Sikhs positively contributing to society. Sometimes our appearances get confused and [we] get labeled the wrong way, but I think Sikhs have always created a positive impression wherever they go. When someone thinks about voting for me, if they know a Sikh friend or neighbor, they're going to [think of them], and they'll have a lot of respect. That respect and what our ancestors have done will really help me get elected. I'm really proud to be a Sikh.

SAS: Do you have any message of leadership, of faith, of pride- anything to really say to the Sikh youth of today?

CKS: I think the key is “Believe in Anything.” Who could imagine my father who came here with a few dollars in his pocket could one day witness his son run for the US Senate? The first Indian American to run that might get elected, or even the first Asian, besides the Senator from Hawaii, and it happens to be Sikh. That says a lot!

Just believe. Anything is possible. You can accomplish anything. That's the key message.

SAS: Absolutely. So in conclusion anything important that you wish address?

CKS: You know, there's a list of things I think the Sikh community can do, and I think this [campaign] will be good for all of our Sikh Community. Now would be the time to really get involved and help. If every Sikh would tell five or ten of their friends, that would be great. This is not an easy thing to do. It’s very tough running for elected office, especially the US Senate; and as much support I can get from our community – it means a lot to me.

For more information about Dr. Kathuria’s campaign for US Senate, visit http://www.kathuriaforsenate.com.

To volunteer for Dr. Kathuria’s campaign, http://kathuria.cyzap.net/signup/volunteer/.