Updated: November 8, 2020 7:57:19 am
Balachandran with Kamala, his daughter Sharada. (Quick)
“I am very proud of Kamala, I will call her and congratulate her soon … My phone has not stopped ringing since the news came out,” said Gopalan Balachandran, 80, the maternal uncle of Kamala Harris, who was announced as vice president-elect from the United States on Saturday.
Balachandran said he and the rest of Harris’ family in India would travel to the United States to attend the swearing-in ceremony in January next year.
“My daughter is already there, helping Kamala with her campaign. We will all fly … I wouldn’t miss it for nothing, ”he told The Indian Express.
Balachandran, who was previously at the Institute for Defense Studies and Analysis, is a resident of Malviya Nagar in Delhi and is the brother of Harris’s mother, Shyamala Gopalan. Around 10pm, Harris’s sister tweeted: “OMG it’s happening … our next vice president of the United States … our first vice president of MADAM … my sister @KamalaHarris!”
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For the past four days, Balachandran has been glued to his home television screen, doing his own calculations to determine who will win the US presidential election. On Friday, he said: “I prefer to do my own research on the projections of beliefs that are shown on television … not only do I hope they come to power, I have been studying the elections for some time and I know they will win.”
On Friday, while taking a break from television news, he ran into The Indian Express outside his home. “Kamala’s mother would have been very proud too if she were here today…” Gopalan, who moved to the United States for her education at the age of 19, died of cancer in 2009.
Recalling Kamala’s youth, Balachandran said: “She was very inspired by Shyamala, her mother, who was attending the civil rights protests at the time. She (Kamala) grew up a strong believer in equal rights for all, so in the long run I know she will take steps to guarantee these rights in her country. “
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Balachandran, who last met his niece in Washington in 2019, said his daughter Sharada and Kamala are very close and he continues to receive updates from her. He said, “Since I had studied politics, we had intermittent talks on the subject.”
Balachandran’s father, PV Gopalan, a civil servant, appears predominantly in his childhood memories of Kamala. He said: “Kamala used to be very curious and used to answer all her ‘how and why’. The two of them used to go out for long walks during their stay in India. ”Harris has often spoken of his grandfather, referring to him as an inspiration.
Recognizing that Kamala’s victory marks many firsts – first female vice president, first Indian-American vice president, and first African-American vice president in the United States – her uncle said: “She believes in equality for all. I know it will leave its mark. “
In an eight-second video she posted on Twitter, Kamala Harris, speaking on the phone with President-elect Joe Biden, tells him, “We did it. We did it, Joe. You’re going to be the next president of the United States. “
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