(ZENIT News – Asia News / Chicago, 08.21.2024).- Joe Biden’s decision to pull out of the race for the White House has turned the world’s attention to Kamala Harris, the current US vice president, and her chances of becoming Donald Trump’s Democratic challenger in the November presidential election.
In Asia, the Indian roots of the 59-year-old former attorney general of California who now aspires to become the first woman president of the United States are frontpage news.
Harris is the daughter of Shyamala Gopalan, a scientist originally from Tamil Nadu who, like generations of young Indians who built successful careers in the United States, came to the land of Uncle Sam in 1958 at the age of 19 to study nutrition and endocrinology at the University of Berkeley.
According to the latest US Census, the United States is home to about 4.4 million people of solely Indian origin, a group that grew by 50 per cent between 2010 and 2020. Among Asian-Americans, Indians are second only to Chinese-Americans who number 5.2 million.
And it is very relevant that Usha Chilukuri Vance, the wife of the Republican vice-presidential candidate chosen a few days ago by Donald Trump for the November elections, is also of Indian origin, from the state of Andhra Pradesh.
A scientist with a brilliant career, Shyamala Gopalan died in 2009 after dedicating herself to breast cancer research. In raising Kamala, her eldest daughter born in 1964 from the marriage to Jamaican-American economist Donald Harris, she instilled in her daughter a deep pride in her Tamil roots.
“Our classical Indian names harked back to our heritage, and we were raised with a strong awareness of and appreciation for Indian culture,” the current vice president wrote in her autobiography, referring to her name and that of her sister Maya.
While letting them attend a black Baptist church, Shyamala made sure that they also knew about her Hindu faith.
Meeting Indian Prime Minister Modi on a visit to the White House last year, Ms Harris said that after her parents divorced when she was five, she spent every year in Chennai (then called Madras) with her maternal grandparents.
On that occasion she also spoke of the very strong bond with her grandfather, P.V. Gopalan, an Indian career civil servant who became involved in the rehabilitation of refugees who arrived in India from East Pakistan (today’s Bangladesh) after the traumatic experience of break-up after independence.
In front of Modi she said how her mother’s father, in retirement, took her on his morning walks, during which he and his friends recalled “stories about the freedom fighters and the nation’s founding heroes and about the independence of India. I remember them talking about the importance of fighting corruption and fighting for equality, regardless of one’s belief or caste.”
“I recall my grandfather teaching me lessons about not just what it means to have a democracy but to keep a democracy,” she added. “And I do believe it is these lessons that I learned at a very young age that first inspired my interest in public service.”
Also at that official reception with Narendra Modi, Harris, remembering her mother’s story, claimed that it is through forms of scientific and technological cooperation that “India’s global engagement has not only been to the benefit of the people of India but also to the benefit of the people of the United States and people around the world.”
In today’s edition, The Hindu newspaper also remembered how her victory in 2020 as Joe Biden’s running mate in the presidential election was also celebrated in Thulasendrapuramin, her mother’s home village, in Tiruvarur district, Tamil Nadu.
The villagers set off firecrackers, handed out sweets and drew colourful kolams in front of their homes. They also held a special thanksgiving puja in a Hindu temple, for the woman they called the “daughter of the village”.
From Chennai, Jesuit Dalit rights activist Fr A.J. Bosco points out to AsiaNews the commitment of Khamala Harris’ family against caste discrimination. ‘Shyamala, her mother, though from a Brahmin family, was an enlightened woman who defied caste and colour prejudices. Despite being a Hindu Brahmin, she was open-minded enough to accept Christianity and take her daughter Kamala to church.
But it must be remembered that the curse of caste discrimination often lingers even in migrant communities in the US. Dalits have also united there to fight this evil and this led to the passing of the law against caste discrimination in California. We hope that if she has the chance to become President of the United States, Kamala Harris will stand up for equality and justice’.
On Usha Chilukuri Vance, the wife of the Republican vice-presidential candidate, Msgr. Joseph Raja Rao, bishop of Vijayawada, the diocese within whose boundaries lies the district of Khrisna where she is originally from, speaks instead: ‘It is a great honour to know that a person from Andhra Pradesh is the wife of the candidate for the vice-presidency of the United States – he comments to AsiaNews -. In the country there are many people originally from our land who occupy important positions, there is a Telugu Sangam, the association of Telugu-speaking people who are very enterprising and courageous. Of course, living in India we do not participate in American politics, but Usha’s presence alongside Vance is nevertheless a great honour for the Telugu people’.
(Nirmala Carvalho cooperated)
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