Abdul El-Sayed Calls Wife “Desi,” Says Pakistan Has No Democracy
India-West News Desk
DETROIT, MI – Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed spoke about democracy in Pakistan at a Pakistani American Independence Day event in Michigan, where he also shared a personal connection to India through his wife, Dr. Sarah Jukaku.
Speaking August 29 at the Pakistan Association of America’s annual event in Southfield, Michigan, El-Sayed said his wife is “Desi” and has roots in southwestern Karnataka.
He recalled that he had initially assumed Jukaku spoke Urdu and tried to learn some of the language to impress her. El-Sayed told the audience that the only Urdu phrase he knows is, “Aap ki aankhen hain bahut khoobsurat,” meaning, “Your eyes are very beautiful.”
He said he later discovered that Jukaku speaks an “unwritten dialect” from southwestern Karnataka. “My wife is Desi. She’s from the other side of the partition,” he said.
Jukaku is a psychiatrist with roots in Bengaluru, where she owns an inherited rental property. In his book ‘Healing Politics: A Doctor’s Journey into the Heart of Our Political Epidemic’, El-Sayed wrote that her parents came to the United States from a village in India.
El-Sayed also spoke about democracy in Pakistan, saying people should be able to contest elections without being jailed or intimidated.
“On the 79th anniversary of Pakistan, we also have to be clear that right now, democracy is not being allowed to take its place,” he declared.
He also referred to the treatment of political opponents in Pakistan, saying people should have the freedom to seek public office and take part in public life. Referring to former Prime Minister Imran Khan, El-Sayed said his point applied regardless of how someone views the former Pakistani leader. “And whatever one feels about the former prime minister of Pakistan, I think all of us agree that democracy only works when we have the freedom of our speech and our own freedom to be able to articulate and run for public office,” he said.
He connected the issue to his own family history, noting that his parents immigrated to the United States from Egypt. El-Sayed described Egypt as a country without democracy and under military dictatorship.
“Democracy is a precious thing. It’s a beautiful thing, and it operates on a knife’s edge,” he said, adding that the United States itself was facing threats to democratic ideals.
