Kamala Harris' ancestral TN village gears up to celebrate as Joe Biden endorses her

Thulasendrapuram, a village in Tamil Nadu, 320km away from Chennai, which is an eight-hour drive, is the place where US vice-president Kamala Harris’ maternal grandfather was born more than a century ago. In 2020, when Harris was contesting for the vice-president’s post in the US elections, the inhabitants of this village had held pujas at a temple and had prayed for her victory. They had ostensibly inscribed her name inside the temple.

Needless to say, they had celebrated when she became vice-president of the United States of America bursting firecrackers, distributing free chocolates, and pasted large-size posters of her all around the village.

For the villagers, Harris is the "daughter" of the village’s soil and her rise in the world of politics in far-off USA seems unbelievable to them. Harris herself has often reminisced fondly of her Indian grandfather, PV Gopalan, who had inspired her as a child. 

According to international news reports, Gopalan was a supportive father, allowing his daughter Harris’ mother, Shyamala Gopalan, to go to America in the late 1950s, to make a career as a breast cancer researcher. (Shyamala, who married a Jamaican and later divorced him, died of cancer in 2009).

Today, the wind is strongly blowing in favour of Harris becoming the Democratic nominee and possibly becoming the President of the United States of America. In a post on X, US President Joe Biden declared that he had dropped out of the presidential race, and endorsed Harris as the Democratic nominee. As support is mounting for Harris, the residents of the leafy village of Thulasendrapuram cannot contain their excitement.

Daughter of Thulasendrapuram

Harris may not have visited the village for a long time but for the villagers she is still their “daughter”.

The villagers are now once again gearing up to celebrate as Harris moves closer to becoming the President of the United States. According to a report in Reuters, K Kaliyaperumal, a village committee member said that if she becomes President the celebrations will be big in the village, comparing it to India's recent win at the cricket World Cup.

Further, he shared that people used to hang calendars with her picture outside their homes when she became vice-president. And, now these calendars may surface again.

Though, the villagers may be a trifle disappointed that Harris has never mentioned the village in any of her speeches, reports said that this is possible because her family had left the village Thulasendrapuram in the 1930s. As an American, Harris may be clueless about how the hearts of the villagers in Thulasendrapuram beats for her, but that will not stop them from betting on her and cheering her on.

First Indian-origin woman

Kamala Harris, who was born in California to Shyama Gopalan, a Tamil biologist and Jamaican-American father, Donald J Harris, who was a professor, said she was “honored to have the President’s endorsement and my intention is to earn and win this nomination.”

If Harris wins the nomination, she would be the first Indian-origin woman standing for elections in the United States, and if she assumes the top political chair, she will become the first woman President of the country.

Her identity as an Indian is set to play a large role in the upcoming US elections, with the Republican vice-president nominee JD Vance's wife being Indian. Vance's wife Usha too would appeal to the immigrant voter base.