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 and the US.
Los Angeles Times describes Kamala 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 ‘s story is the fascinating story of a changing, inclusive American democracy. She was thechild 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 Kamala 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 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 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% of the electorate, compared to 13% 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 percent, making it the fastest growing demographic of voters as compared to the white electorate which grew by 7 percent in the same period.
It would be foolish to expect that Kamala 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 were critical of the Kashmir issue. “We have to remind the Kashmiris that they are not alone in the world,” she said. Kamala 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 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 bi partisan support in the Congress India is likely to get support on issues.
With Kamala by his side 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 Delhi. 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 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 could occupy the White House.