Indian American Shiva Ayyadurai and his U.S. Senate campaign Shiva 4 Senate are suing the city of Cambridge, Mass., for violating his First Amendment rights regarding a slogan painted on his campaign bus. (shiva4senate.com photo)
Shiva Ayyadurai, the self-proclaimed creator of the email and candidate for U.S. Senate in Massachusetts, and his campaign Shiva 4 Senate has filed a lawsuit against the city of Cambridge.
The lawsuit claims the city has violated the Indian American candidate’s First Amendment rights to use the slogan "Only a Real Indian Can Defeat the Fake India," according to a news release.
The slogan appears on his campaign bus parked at his office building in the city.
The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Boston, claims that the city was motivated by political bias when it alleged the slogan on the vehicle constituted a building code violation, and demanded that the slogan be taken down from the campaign bus or face a $300-per-day fine, the news release said.
The slogan, however, is painted on the bus, which is parked in the parking lot when it is not on the road, and is not part of the building, which is free of any signs commercial, political or otherwise, it added.
The complaint pointed out that previous signage on the bus did not invite such a letter from the city of Cambridge, even though such signage was on the bus for nearly a year, the campaign said.
But in a warning letter sent on April 5, the city only objected to the latest banner, which highlights Elizabeth Warren’s claiming Native American ancestry. The complaint seeks a temporary and permanent injunction against the city imposing any fine, according to the news release.
“This is a political vendetta by city officials who are supporters of Elizabeth Warren,” Ayyadurai said in a statement. “We will not remove the slogan from our bus. We will not give one penny to the city. We will defend the First Amendment, and we will fight this egregious attack on the First Amendment, at any cost.”
Ayyadurai previously told India-West that the country needs a 21st Century senator (see India-Westarticle here).
“I think it is absolutely ridiculous that people who get a law degree who then are academics think that they should even have this much say in running the affairs of state,” Ayyadurai stressed at the time. “I believe we need a 21st century senator — people who understand engineering, science, know how to bill things [create bills] — particularly Massachusetts.”
Ayyadurai, running as an Independent after having initially declared his candidacy as a Republican, is looking to unseat longtime Democratic incumbent Warren this November at the general election.
