BOSTON—When California legislature overwhelmingly passed an anti-caste bill and Governor Gavin Newsom was almost ready to sign the bill into a law this year, two Indian-Americans— Ajay Bhutoria and Ramesh Kapur—intervened. They persuaded Gov. Newsom to veto the bill.
The anti-caste would have banned discrimination on grounds of caste—the Indian system of caste.
In an exclusive video interview with INDIA New England News, Mr. Kapur, a long-time Democratic Party activist and Vice Chair of the National Finance Committee of Joe Biden for President and Kamala Devi Harris for Vice President, talks about the politics of caste in the United States and its impact on the Democratic Party.
He is also doing a fund-raising for a couple of Indian-American congressmen this Sunday in Lexington, MA, and talks about why supporting Indian-American congressmen and candidates for the US Congress is important.
To watch the full interview, please click here, or on the image below.
Mr. Kapur has played an important role in several national and state campaigns, including President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. He has been active in politics from behind the scenes since 1980 in Massachusetts and nationally since 1986.
Mr. Kapur is very passionate about Indian American candidates. Last year, he is hosted a fundraising for Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthy.
Mr. Kapur is the president of US Indian Security Council Inc., a bipartisan organization that encourage closer ties between and U.S. and India, and president of Medford, MA-based Medical-Technical Gases, Inc., a processor, and manufacturer of industrial, medical and specialty gases and gas mixtures.
Mr. Kapur was on the National Democratic Committee (DNC) site selection committee in 1992 when New York was chosen as the Democratic convention site that year. He has been active in Massachusetts Democratic politics since 1978. He was Finance Co-Chairman for Michael Dukakis for President (1986-88), DNC Trustee (1988-90), Managing Trustee for DNC/Clinton/Gore (1992-94), DNC Board Vice Chair (1995-96), board member DNC Leadership 2000, Gore/Lieberman (1999-2000).
Mr. Kapur was in the leadership committee for Vote Now in 1992 and 1996, and has been a consistent top fundraiser since 1986. He was vice-chair for John Kerry for President (2004), trustee DNC/Kerry/Edwards Victory 2004.
