Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren is facing a challenge from conservative Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai in the 2018 election — and Ayyadurai just filed a federal lawsuit over what he called Warren’s “extortion” to silence his “fake Indian” claims.
Ayyadurai, who was born in Bombay, India, has sued the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts after he was forced to remove two political signs showing the Democrat in an American Indian headdress with the slogan, “Only a real Indian can defeat a fake Indian.”
The signs were posted on either side of a bus at an office building owned by Ayyadurai, which is located just one mile away from one of Warren’s homes.
He says Cambridge was extorted by Warren when they went after his bus signs — a clear violation of the First Amendment, Ayyadurai claims.
“This is a political vendetta by City officials who are supporters of Elizabeth Warren,” Ayyadurai said, according to The Washington Times. The city of Cambridge refused to comment on the story, saying that it “is not the City’s practice to comment on ongoing litigation.” Cambridge inspectors claim the signs were posted “without approvals and permits.”
“These signs must be removed immediately. Failure to do so, may result in fines up to $300.00 dollars per day and legal action,” the City demanded in a letter sent to the Ayyadurai campaign.
Ayyadurai fired back, saying: “We will not remove the slogan from our bus. We will defend the First Amendment, and we will fight this egregious attack on the First Amendment at any cost.”
Warren has come under frequent criticism from American Indian groups over her past claims to Cherokee heritage. Critics say she used this false claim to advance her career as a “minority” despite being a blonde-haired, blue-eyed Caucasian.
A Cherokee geneticist has called Warren’s claim “impossible” and insulting.
“As a mixed Native woman, I get to relive the stereotypes that Warren perpetuates every day,” Geneticsit Rebecca Nagle told Fox News recently. “I’m not ‘part-Cherokee’, I am Cherokee. We are not bit fractions of imagined Indians that used to exist. [Warren must] take responsibility for her false claim.”
The Massachusetts senator has refused to take genetic tests to back her story, adding that, “It’s a part of who I am, and no one’s ever going to take that away.”
You can see Ayyadurai’s video here —