Ashok Kumar Bhatt

Ashok Kumar Bhatt, 46, once an assistant to Indian parliamentarians, wants to become a legislator himself. He is running for the California State Assembly from the 20th District and says it is because he cannot get politics out of his system. Born in the village of Jasela, Rajasthan, when there was no running water or electricity, Bhatt says neither his Indian accent nor his upbringing have come in the way of his doing good works in California.

“Accent is the last issue in America and only our own people worry about it. And because of that concern, I myself pay attention more to issues and solutions. I am running because I would like to pay back to this country where my dreams came true,” Bhatt told News India-Times in an interview. He has detailed answers to the ills of the State and has laid them out in his responses to various organizations wanting to know his platform.

Born in “a very poor” family, Bhatt says, he was adopted by the former Maharaja of Dungarpur, Maharawal Laxman Singh, who raised and educated him. The Maharaja’s younger brother Nagendra Singh, then president of the International Court of Justice at The Hague, had planned to take Bhatt there as his assistant, but instead, the adopted son ended up in the Indian Parliament. Bhatt became the assistant to Rajya Sabha (Upper House) deputy chair Ram Niwas Mirdha and lived at 6, Akbar Road, New Delhi, when former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was in the opposition in 1977-78.

“I was not a politician at that time and I was looking for my dream job. But I was always dreaming of going to the United Nations and was hoping to go with Dr. Nagendra Singh. But in place of that I ended up in the U.S.,” Bhatt says. A little after he married Hemlata Vyas, Bhatt went with Mirdha to the U.S. on some mission in 1982. “Once I came here, I saw the honesty and prosperity and decided to stay and ended up in San Francisco.”

Luckily for him, Bhatt’s father, Gowri Shankar Bhatt, something of a spiritual leader, had a following in San Francisco. “I visited one of father’s followers Ramubhai Patel and he gave me a job in his hotel while I studied MBA.”

Currently, Bhatt says, he manages a real-estate trust and is looking forward to the primaries to be held March 2. “We are five candidates and it’s a colorful diversity ---- Hispanic, Alberto Turico; Philipino, Henry Manian, former Mayor of Milpitas; Caucasian, Tom Pico; Dennis Hayashi, and me,” he notes. Three of those running for the Democratic primaries are attorneys and hope they can win theseat when incumbent John Dutra’s term runs out.

Bhatt says he plans to spend $350,000-$400,000 on this race and has raised about $100,000 so far.

A Masters in Commerce from Rajasthan, Bhatt has an MBA from Lincoln University, San Francisco. He was formerly Commissioner in the California Water Commission but resigned to run this race, though his term would have ended only in 2007.