Waking up to the news that Kamala Harris had won the race to be the next vice president of the United States, joyous people in her Indian grandfather’s hometown lit firecrackers, offered prayers and carried posters.
Groups gathered on the corners of the small village of Thulasendrapuram, with 350 inhabitants, reading newspapers and chatting about the victory of the Democrats in the US presidential elections before moving to the Hindu temple.
One woman wrote in colored powder outside her home: “Congratulations Kamala Harris. Pride of our people. Vanakkam (Greetings) America “.
Most of them had gone to sleep when Biden surpassed the 270 Electoral College votes required to win the presidency, making Harris the first woman and the first person of South Asian descent to be elected vice president.
“For two or three days we kept our fingers crossed while the result was delayed,” said resident Kalidas Vamdayar.
“Now is a time of joy for us. We are enjoying it. We will celebrate with firecrackers, distributing Indian sweets to the people and praying in the temple. We will ask you to come here. He would have heard our voice and could come. “
Aulmozhi Sudhakar, a village councilor, said: “Kamala Harris is the daughter of our village. From children to seniors, each of us is looking forward to the day when we will be sworn in as Vice President of the United States. “
Women in the village, located 350 kilometers (215 miles) from the southern coastal city of Chennai, used bright colors to write “We wish Kamala Harris to win” on the ground, alongside a thumbs-up sign.
The lush green town is the hometown of Harris’s maternal grandfather, who moved to Chennai, the capital of the state of Tamil Nadu, decades ago.
Inside the temple where people have been celebrating special prayers, Harris’s name is carved into a stone that lists the public donations made to the temple in 2014, along with that of his grandfather, who gave money decades ago.
Harris’s late mother was also born in India, before moving to the United States at the age of 19 to study at the University of California. She married a Jamaican and they named their daughter Kamala, which in Sanskrit means “lotus flower.”
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted Harris’s success as groundbreaking and a source of immense pride, not only for his family members, but also for all Indian-Americans. “I am confident that the vibrant ties between India and the United States will be further strengthened with your support and leadership.”
There has been both enthusiasm, and some concern, for Harris’ choice of Biden as his running mate.
Modi had invested in President Donald Trump, who visited India in February. Modi’s many Hindu nationalist supporters were also upset with Harris when he expressed concern about the divided Himalayan region of Kashmir, whose statehood the Indian government revoked in August last year.
Harris supported Pramila Jayapal, another Indian-American congresswoman when Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar declined to attend a meeting in the United States for her participation last year. Jayapal had previously tabled a resolution on the Kashmir issue criticizing India in the House of Representatives.
Human rights groups accuse India of human rights violations in Indian-administered Kashmir. India has stationed more than half a million soldiers in Indian-administered Kashmir to quell an armed rebellion that broke out in 1989. Most Kashmiris want either Indian independence or a merger with neighboring Pakistan, whose claims on the picturesque region of the Himalayas date back to 1947.
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