Kamla Devi Harris, the Democratic vice presidential candidate, has been in the news for the past few months and more so now that Joe Biden is getting closer and closer to becoming the next president of the United States of America.
With Harris looking to take over as America’s first woman, African-American and Indian-American vice president, here’s a look at her political journey and what her vice presidency could mean for India-US ties.
THE FIRST POLITICAL JOURNEY OF KAMALA HARRIS
Harris, 56, has served as a junior United States senator from California since 2017. Harris had also served as California Attorney General from 2011 to 2017 and as a San Francisco District Attorney from 2004 to 2011.
In 2004, Harris ran for San Francisco district attorney and won with 56 percent of the vote, becoming the first person of color elected as San Francisco district attorney.
He is credited with improving the conviction rate for felony crimes and drug trafficking during his tenure as district attorney. Just before Harris took office, the felony conviction rate was 50 percent. By 2009, it was 76 percent. Convictions of drug traffickers increased from 56 percent in 2003 to 74 percent in 2006.
On November 12, 2008, Harris announced his candidacy for state attorney general. She was sworn in on January 3, 2011, becoming the first woman, the first African American, and the first South American to hold the position in state history. On November 4, 2014, Harris was re-elected against Republican Ronald Gold, winning 57.5 percent of the vote.
In 2016, she participated in the United States Senate elections and, by winning, emerged as the second African-American woman and the first South Asian American to serve in the United States Senate.
As a senator, she has advocated for health sector reforms, the federal disqualification of cannabis, a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, a ban on assault weapons, and progressive tax reform.
She rose to fame during Senate hearings of Trump administration officials, including the second nominee for the Supreme Court of the President of the United States, Donald Trump, Brett Kavanaugh, who was accused of sexual assault.
INDIA CONNECT OF KAMALAIIN
Born to a Jamaican father and a Tamil mother from Chennai, Kamala has had no qualms about embracing her connection to her roots. In fact, he has managed to use his ethnic origin to appease the minority and gain more followers for his party in the presidential elections.
When Kamala was announced as Biden’s vice presidential candidate, in her acceptance speech she gave a salute to her “Chithis” (Tamil for aunts), spoke about her mother, who came to the United States from Chennai as a breast cancer researcher . , and he also mentioned his father Jamican. In doing so, Harris connected with multiple constituencies at the same time, including 4.5 million American Indians, 1.9 million of whom are eligible to vote.
At home, Indians are delighted with the prospect of a woman of Indian origin occupying the second highest political office in America. This was evident when Harris banners and posters appeared in the southern city of Chennai, the hometown of Harris’s mother, days after she was elected as the vice president of the Democratic Party of the United States.
WHAT THE KAMALA NOMINATION MEANS FOR INDIA AND INDO-UNITED STATES RELATIONS
The American Indian community was enthusiastic about their selection. “Harris’s candidacy for vice president has prompted a large portion of the American Indian community to vote. Overall, although Harris’s election may not change a large number of votes (given the community’s historic Democratic lean), his candidacy it is linked to increased enthusiasm for the Democratic nomination, “reads a Carnegie poll report.
“For India, whoever wins might not make any material difference in the long term, but in the short term, a Trump victory is likely to benefit IT along with chemicals and tiles, while a Biden presidency would be better for the pharmaceutical industry. . We would keep our portfolio bias: global reflation, IT and pharmaceutical, ”he quoted analysts at Edelweiss Securities. Economic times like saying.
Harris’s rise to the second most powerful position in the US has sparked speculation in the Indian media and business sector about what it could mean for US relations with India.
Navtej Sarna, who served as Indian ambassador to the US, while speaking to the German broadcaster DW, He argued that a Harris victory would not really mean concessions to the India-US relationship. Sarna also said DW that the strategic logic of the India-US relationship is very strong, regardless of who wins the election.
TRUMP V / S OFFERS ON INDIAN AFFAIRS
Trump has often neglected questions on various issues related to India. As the US president attended gala events during his visit to India in February, riots broke out in Delhi, killing more than 50 people.
While Trump has rubbed shoulders with authoritarian leaders such as Kim Jong Un, Biden expressed his disappointment with the Indian government over his new citizenship law and called for the restoration of the rights of Kashmiris after the repeal of section 370 and article 35A in August 2019.
Although Harris did not adopt a definitive position on any of these issues during the election campaign. However, during the course of her campaign, she has established herself as a defender of human rights.
G Balachandran, Kamala Harris’s uncle and a New Delhi scholar, has said in the past that Harris’s commitment to human rights and his sense of justice stems from the influence of his mother and maternal grandfather.
He had also expressed confidence that Harris would not allow his Indian ancestry to influence his stance on human rights violations in the country.
“He likes India, obviously his family is Indian, but that doesn’t mean he gives him a free pass to everything that India does. She won’t accept someone telling her, ‘It’s made in India so why are you stopping it?’ She will say, ‘Look, it may be India, but it shouldn’t be done, which goes against my feelings,’ ”she said. Hindustan Times.
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