Kamala Harris's political ascent is a sociological miracle

Way back in 1996, when I wrote in my book Why I am Not a Hindu, that India will change when a Brahmin Dalitises himself/herself, that idea was pooh-poohed by Indologist pundits who critiqued my book saying that such a thing is not expected to happen.

Their contention was that the process on course was Sanskritisation of Shudras/Dalits adopting the lifestyles of Brahmins.

I do not know what they will say about Marathas asking for Kunbi caste certificate to get OBC reservation and many Shudra/OBCs asking for the status of either Adivasi or Dalit to get into the reservation bracket.

What will they say about the North Indian Banias taking OBC certificates and claiming reservation? How can all this be called Sanskritisation? In my view, this is nothing but Dalitisation of caste society, not Sanskritization, as hardly any caste is asking for Brahmin certificate these days.

West-side story

While this is happening within India what is happening among the Indian diaspora in the West?

What happened in the US to Kamala Devi Harris, a Brahmin Indian-origin American woman, is a sociological miracle. She has claimed the status of an African- American, not just because of her black father.

Her mother, Shymala Gopalan Harris, a Tamil Brahmin migrant, looked like a black woman and lived most of her life in the black neighbourhood in the University of California Berkeley area even before her marriage. She actively participated in Martin Luther King Jr’s civil rights movement.

After her marriage to Donald Harris her two daughters, Kamala and Maya, were raised in black neighbourhoods and studied in black dominant schools. Her husband and Kamala's father Donald Harris, a Jamaican-American economist, who now lives in Jamaica after divorcing Shyamala, was also a changemaker.

Black heritage

Kamala had a choice to claim her mother’s ancestral Brahmin brown conservative heritage or go by her parents’ radical Christianisation process, along the Black Life Matters route. She chose her black heritage and fought against the white racist narrative in her youth and thereafter.

Kamala has already made history by becoming the US's first black woman Vice-President. That was an unthinkable sociological phenomenon just a few decades ago.

Now, the Africanised black-brown Brahmin woman, Kamala Harris, is poised to become the presidential nominee of the Democratic party.

Once nominated by the Democrats, she will fight against the purported white racist and anti-women Donald Trump. If she wins she will be the first woman as well as first black woman president of the US. That would be the biggest changemaker role in the world.

Radical change

The racial and patriarchal history of the US will undergo a radical change. In the 250 years history of its constitutional democracy, the US never allowed a woman, white or black, to occupy the White House. All women so far were First Ladies playing an assisting role to their president-husbands.

Kamala will be a man-like woman, making her husband a First Gentleman who will have to take care of his 'most powerful wife on Earth'.

When Barack Obama became the first black president of the US, except a few white supremacists, the majority celebrated his victory and he proved to be a successful president, governing the US for eight years. But that has not changed the fundamental patriarchal nature of the White House.

What is interesting is that many Indian-origin men and women are trying to capture power in the West. Rishi Sunak has already ruled Britain as Prime Minister for more than a year, declaring himself a Hindu repeatedly.

Hindus in the West

The Christian world saw Sunak worship idols at 10, Downing Street, which in the past was seen as blasphemy.

However, Kamala is a Christian by faith. If she were not so she would not have got the Vice-President's position in that country and would not have got a chance to be the presidential candidate. Of course, there are others who want to be Hindu and get into the White House.

Vivek Ramaswamy, a vegetarian Brahmin of Indian origin, tried his luck but failed. Now he hangs around Trump to get some plum post if the latter wins.

There is also Usha Chilukuri, a woman of Brahmin origin from Andhra Pradesh, as wife of JD Vance, the Vice-Presidential candidate, who calls ‘Kamala a childless cat’. Usha openly declared her Hindu vegetarian cultural values and yet an American in the conservative Republican Party. While her husband remains a conservative Christian she successfully converted him into vegetarianism.

American Christian evangelists think that some of these trends are dangerous. They think such trends threaten their Biblical evolution and anti-idol worship civilisation. Usha’s Hindu Brahminism, along with her husband’s conservative mentality, may cause Trump’s defeat and Kamala’s victory.

America's spiritual bill

Unlike Britain, which allowed a Hindu idol-worshipping Sunak to be the PM, the US may not allow a person of a non-Christian faith to be the president. However, Kamala suits their spiritual bill as well.

If Kamala becomes the president with her African-American image, the Indian diaspora, which hardly engages with black Americans, will have a conflicting situation.

The rich Indians, particularly right-wing Hindu Indians, are Trump donors and voters. Trump was a Modi endorsed candidate earlier in 2020. That is the line of the RSS/BJP, perhaps even now. They see Democratic Party and Kamala Harris as left-liberal. She has not visited India as American Vice-President. That is where the catch is.

Indian-Americans try to avoid black and brown gender relationships and try to move with white folks. Unlike Shymala Gopalan and Kamala Devi, they like to live around white neighbourhoods or their own Indian (not even South Asian) neighbourhoods, with 'pure vegetarian' parties among themselves.

Kamala's dress code

Of course, the men in the US wear suits at such parties and women in Indian sarees and half-body covering blouses like Hindu nari. Kamala Harris presents herself in a well-designed full suit like an American man.

Her dress code seems to have made even American women learn how to be man-like among American men and women, with blistering confidence. Her lifestyle is one of equality.

Whether she wins or loses, Kamala Harris has become one of the most followed changemakers in US history. I am a deep admirer of her Africanisation, change-making role as a woman of Indian origin.

She will be a role model for millions of women all over the world for centuries in future. I hope she wins and makes her husband the First Gentleman in the White House. 

(The Federal seeks to present views and opinions from all sides of the spectrum. The information, ideas or opinions in the article are of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Federal.)