Baby abandoned by mom at Udupi hospital in 1970 is now Swiss Parliamentarian!

Udupi: Around 47 years ago, a newborn baby was abandoned by his mother at Basel Mission Hospital in South Indian temple town of Udupi. Today, he is the first Indian born parliamentarian in Switzerland!

Unfortunately, neither Nik Gugger nor his foster parents know who is his biological mother and why did she abandon.

As the Basel Mission Hospital could not trace the mother who left the hospital after giving birth to the male child, the newborn was sent to what is now the Nettur Technical Training Foundation (NTTF) campus at Illikkunnu in Kerala’s Thalassery.

Nik was sworn in as member of Nationalrat (Swiss Parliament) in Bern in November this year. He has been elected to Swiss Parliament as a candidate of the Evangelical Party. He is one of the youngest members in Swiss Parliament.

The father of three children still cherishes his association with people and institutions at Thalassery where had grown up as an orphan till a Swiss couple – Fritz Gugger and Elizabeth Gugger – formally adopted him and took him to Europe.

However, he is hesitant to find out his biological mother. “No mother will abandon her child without a strong reason. If I meet my mother now it will be shock to her,” says Nik, who believes in destiny.

“I am proud to be in between the two cultures, the Swiss and Indian culture,” says Nik, who is likely to visit India next year when the 70th anniversary of Indo-Swiss friendship would be celebrated.

Nik started his political career as a councillor in the town parliament of Winterthur, the sixth biggest town in Switzerland, and as a member in the Cantonal Council.

He recalls that his foster father was an experienced social worker who had played an important role in shaping him as a social worker. His social work had given him an opportunity to work in Colombia as a youth worker. He studied at the Center for Agogics in Basel, the University of Amsterdam and also at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences.