Kamala’s India Connect
| Date :20-Aug-2020 |
By Kalyani Shankar ;
Kamala Harris’s story is the fascinating tale of a changing, inclusive American democracy. She was the child of two immigrants — an Indian scholar and a Jamaican academic. With Harris by his side, Biden had declared that if elected, his administration would stand with India in confronting the border threats. He also called for strengthening bond between two countries. He vowed to reform the H1B visa system and assured continued partnership between India and US.
The Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden tweeted on Tuesday: “I have the great honor to announce that I’ve picked @KamalaHarris — a fearless fighter for the little guy, and one of the country’s finest public servants — as my running mate.” It was indeed a historic moment for both Kamala Harris and the US. ‘The Los Angeles Times’ describes Harris’s milestone as: “Historic breakthroughs have been a constant in Harris’ 17 years in politics. She was the first Black woman to hold every office she has won — San Francisco district Attorney and State Attorney General.”
She was also the first black senator from California. If elected it will be another coup for her to become the first woman and first black Vice President. Two women Democrat Geraldine Ferraro (1984) and Republican Sarah Palin (2004) were nominated as running mates earlier but both lost. Interestingly Biden also has an Indian connection. He revealed it during his visit in 2013 to Mumbai. “It turns out,” Biden said, “my great, great, great, great, great grandfather,” by the name of George Biden was a Captain in East India Trading company. After retirement, George Biden decided to settle in India and married an Indian woman.” Five Bidens are now living in Mumbai.
Kamala Harris’s story is the fascinating tale of a changing, inclusive American democracy. She was the child of two immigrants — an Indian scholar and a Jamaican academic. Her mother, Shyamala, brought up her two daughters as a single parent living in a black neighborhood. Though the Indian Americans are thrilled with her nomination, speaking to ‘Washington Post’ last year Harris defined herself, as simply “American” and she generally did not struggle with issues surrounding her own identity. Interestingly, other famous Indian origin Americans like former Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal and Trump’s UN envoy Nicky Haley did not make much of their Indian origin. Kamala Harris too has highlighted more of her Black heritage.
“Harris grew up embracing her Indian culture, but living a proudly African American life,” ‘Washington Post’ described her last year. Though Kamala Harris talks of her mother Shyamala’s influence and claims, “My mother was very proud of her Indian heritage and taught us, me and my sister Maya, to share in the pride about our culture,” she rarely talks about her Jamaican father Donald Harris, a Professor Emeritus in Stanford University. It is understandable why she is focusing more on her African heritage as Asian Americans only account for 5 per cent of the electorate, compared to 13 per cent black voters.
In the US, the racial division is on black and white politics. Asian-Americans have only recently emerged in the past two decades and grown by 139 per cent, making it the fastest growing demographic of voters as compared to the white electorate which grew by 7 per cent in the same period. It would be foolish to expect that Kamala Harris will reciprocate India’s enthusiasm though she would like to woo the influential Indian-American voters. Her first preference would be to satisfy the domestic constituency and there it is white versus black. As a senator, she, like many other Democrats, was critical of the Kashmir issue. “We have to remind the Kashmiris that they are not alone in the world,” she said.
Kamala Harris ticked off Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, last December who had cancelled an interaction with the House Affairs Committee, after members refused to exclude Jayapal, a staunch critic of India’s policies on Kashmir, from the meeting. While the Indian Government may expect a Biden-Harris administration to be stricter on human rights issues, they are also likely to take a more liberal stance on immigration and China and border issues as declared by Biden last week. With the Indo-US ties reaching a level of bipartisan support in the Congress India is likely to get support on issues. With Kamala Harris by his side, Joe Biden had declared on Saturday that if elected, his administration would stand with India in confronting the border threats.
He also called for strengthening the bond between the two countries and that he would work on big global challenges like climate change and global health security. He vowed to reform the H1B visa system and assured continued partnership between India and US. He referred to his support to India after the Pokhran blast in 1998 and the Indo-US nuclear bill in 2008.
In her statement standing by the side of Biden, Kamala Harris talked of Mahatma Gandhi and pluralism and referred to her Chennai connection. All these give some hope to New Delhi. Prime Minister Modi has already shown his slant to Trump and Trump claims Modi as his ‘good friend”. New Delhi will have a supporter in the White House whoever occupies it. With Biden declaring that he will be one term President, the doors are open for Kamala to become Democratic nominee for the presidential polls in 2024. There may not be a day far off when Kamala Harris could occupy the White House.