In his seventies, running on issues, not as a Gandhi scion.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: What’s in a name, anyway?
Shanti Gandhi, the great-grandson of legendary Indian revolutionary leader Mahatma Gandhi, is planning to run yet again for the Kansas House of Representatives.
And, like last time, Gandhi will not use his family’s famous name as a crutch with which to campaign.
When Gandhi first ran for Kansas State’s Congress in 2012, he told the media not to play up the fact that he has a famous last name, requesting that they –and, consequently, the constituents of Kansas’ 52nd District – focus on the issues and not on other outside elements.
Gandhi ran as a Republican in a crowded three-man primary, with fellow Conservatives William Scott Hesse and Dick Jones vying for a tightly fought seat. As an Indian American over 70 years old, Gandhi was seen as an oddball, outside choice against his opponents, especially in a heartland state like Kansas, but Gandhi pulled off the upset on August 7, 2012.
He then advanced to the general election, going up against Democratic candidate Theodore “Ted” Ensley on November 6. Gandhi won that election, too, by a margin of nearly 1,000 votes – 6,472 for Gandhi, to 5,425 for Ensley.
Now, as an incumbent, Gandhi wants to keep the playing field level, saying that he wants to win on his own terms, and avoid influencing voters by making a big deal about his last name. The Gandhi name is arguably the most famous to have come out of India, with Americans like the late Dr. Martin Luther King and US President Barack Obama routinely citing the peaceful independence leader as a critical inspiration to them.
Shanti Gandhi is the grandson of Harilal Gandhi, who had a famously troubled relationship with his father. Harilal’s son, Kanti Lal Gandhi, is Shanti’s father. Both father and son turned out to be doctors, with the latter emigrating from India to the US in 1975 after earning his M.B.B.S. degree from the University of Bombay.
Gandhi came to Topeka Kansas, where he thrived as a cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon for 35 years, eventually retiring from the Stormon-Vail Hospital in 2010.
Although he’s always voted Republican, Gandhi never contemplated a run for political office, something he says was due more to his busy workload than any actual desire not to run. In 2012, with Gandhi now retired and the local Republican field looking relatively weak, Gandhi was encouraged to step into the ring and see what he could do.
Two years later, he’s running for re-election, and making the same incredulous choice to not use his famous last name. It’s as if a nephew of the Kennedys decided to run with a different name, or George W. Bush running as George W. Brown. But, for Gandhi, the issues matter more than his heritage, and it remains to be seen if 2012 was a fluke, or if the citizens of Kansas’ 52nd District really don’t care who Gandhi’s great-grandfather was.