Kamala Harris - A game changer for India!

 

Last week, Kamala Harris was Tuesday elected as Democratic candidate Joe Biden’s running mate for the upcoming US presidential polls, is the first person having Indian origin to enter the vice-presidential race. She had entered the campaign season as a presidential hopeful but dropped out in December 2019 on account of funding constraints.

 

 

 

Though her identity does not define anything in politics it is already shadowing the campaign. Born to an Indian mother Shyamala Gopalan and Jamaican father Donald Harris, she is already gaining attention all the way from India due to her Indian roots. It represents a coming-of-age of the Indian American community in the United States.

 

Harris worked in the office of the District Attorney of Alameda county in 1990 after choosing a career in law. Soon after, the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans was created in 1994 to work on India-US ties and the interests of Indian Americans. The Senate India Caucus was created in 2004, the same year when Harris became the DA of San Francisco. She went on to become the Attorney-General of the State of California in 2010, and was elected to the US Senate in 2016.

 

As a public figure, Harris has batted for strong ties between India and the US. Describing her 'Indianness', she has invoked her Indian mother on several occasions, especially in the last four years as a Senator. She has also spoken in favor of immigrant women seeking jobs as she has batted for the H-4 visas given to spouses of H-1B visa holders. Speaking out against China's human rights record, especially speaking of Uighurs, she has voted in the US Senate against China’s track record.

 

Her mother, Shyamala Gopalan hailing from Chennai, arrived in the US in 1960 to pursue cancer research and a Jamaican-origin father, Donald Harris, who retired as an economics professor from the premier Stanford University. However, her parents divorced when she was seven, and Harris and her sister Maya were raised by their mother, who brought them to India every other year to visit their grandparents.

 

Her selection as the VP nominee not only makes her the first woman of color to be on the top ticket at the US elections but also positions herself at the top of the Democratic party. But her relevance to India is not just because of her Indian roots, although she has been quite vocal of her Indian ancestry especially in the last 4 years in the US Senate.

 

Harris has always been "proud" of her roots and talking about her love for idli-sambhar as she has always remained close to the mother’s side of the family. "I am proud to be who I am, I am proud of the influences that my family has had on my life, that my community had on my life, and similarly the influence of my mentors and colleagues and friends," she had said in an interview to the US private media when asked about how other Indian-American politicians like Bobby Jindal and Nikki Haley appeared to be distancing themselves from their Indian lineage.

 

"When we think about it, India is the oldest democracy in the world — so that is part of my background, and without question has had a great deal of influence on what I do today and who I am," she added in the same interview. Harris’ maternal grandfather P.V. Gopalan was a freedom fighter who later became a high-ranking civil servant known to fight against corruption. In her memoir, The Truths We Hold: An American Journey, Harris said her grandparents had a profound impact on her. "As I reflect on those moments in my life that have had the most impact on who I am today — I wasn’t conscious of it at the time — but it was those walks on the beach with my grandfather in Besant Nagar that had a profound impact on who I am today."

 

Kamala Harris, the US vice-presidential candidate, on Saturday congratulated India on the progress "our people have made in the fight for justice" as she extended her wishes on the country’s 74th Independence Day. "Happy Indian Independence Day! Reflecting on the past 74 years, it’s remarkable how much progress our people have made in the fight for justice. I hope you’ll join me today in celebrating and then commit to building an even better future," Harris had tweeted.

 

It would bring a lot of pride and joy for India if she becomes the Vice President of the US, strengthening the US-Indian ties.