Kamala Harris, the primary Indian-American lady and the primary African-American lady to function vp of the USA, is a potential Democratic presidential nominee. File | Photograph credit score: AP
US President Joe Biden withdrew from the 2024 presidential race on July 21, clearing the way in which for his vp, Kamala Harris, to be the popular Democratic candidate. Whereas it was not instantly clear whether or not different senior Democrats would problem Harris for the social gathering’s nomination, Biden has endorsed her to be the social gathering’s presidential nominee.
Learn additionally: Joe Biden drops out of US presidential race – LIVE Updates
“My first determination as a celebration candidate in 2020 was to decide on Kamala Harris as my Vice President. And it has been the very best determination I’ve ever made. Right this moment I need to provide my full assist and endorsement for Kamala to be our social gathering’s nominee this yr. Democrats, it is time to unite and defeat Trump. Let’s do it,” he wrote in a publish on X.
The reference to India
In 2020, Harris grew to become the primary Indian-American lady and the primary African-American lady to be the US vp, and can search to repeat the feat as president as properly, if Democrats approve her as their social gathering’s candidate to run within the 2024 presidential election.
Ms. Harris is the daughter of Shyamala Gopalan Harris, who comes from a household of achievers from Tamil Nadu.
Ms. Gopalan Harris, a most cancers researcher and civil rights activist in California, raised Kamala and her sister Maya as a single mom.
Vice President Harris’ maternal uncle, Gopalan Balachandran, a former guide on the Institute for Defence Research and Analyses (IDSA), is a Delhi-based educational. Her grandfather, PV Gopalan, labored on the rehabilitation of East Pakistani refugees in India. Later in life, he grew to become an advisor to the president of Zambia and lived in Lusaka, whereas his spouse Rajam made a reputation for herself via her social work.
In response to Mr. Balachandran, Ms. Harris stays linked to her roots in India, each via her training and her visits to Chennai.
Ms Harris additionally visited Chennai alongside together with her sister Maya Harris after their mom died, to immerse her ashes within the sea as per Hindu traditions.
In 2020, Harris spoke about her mom’s love for good idli whereas talking at a digital marketing campaign occasion to mark India’s Independence Day. “As a result of she wished us to know the place she got here from and the place we had ancestry. And naturally, she all the time wished to instil in us the love for good idli,” Harris joked. She additionally walks round Chennai together with her grandfather, telling him how he would inform her concerning the “heroes” of India’s freedom battle and that “it was as much as us to choose up the story the place they left off.”
Within the run-up to the 2020 presidential election, Ms Harris additionally cooked masala dosas alongside Indian-origin actress Mindy Kaling.
Her victory alongside Biden within the 2020 US presidential election was celebrated in her ancestral village of Thulasendrapuram in Tamil Nadu’s Tiruvarur district, the place villagers set off firecrackers, distributed sweets and drew vibrant kolams in entrance of their homes.
Villagers carried out particular pujas on the Sri Dharma Sastha temple to have a good time Ms Harris’ victory, thanking the deity for answering their prayers.
