US Vice President-elect Kamala Harris with her aunt (in white) (file)
Chennai:
Happy and delighted – this is how the jubilant aunt of Kamala Harris, who lives in Chennai, felt moments after her niece’s first speech as Vice President-elect of the United States; a speech in which Ms Harris paid tribute to “generations of women who fought and sacrificed themselves for justice for all”.
“We always knew Kamala was going to win (but) I haven’t spoken to him yet,” Dr Sarala Gopalan told GalacticGaming on Sunday, after four days of twists and turns in the vote count confirming that Joe Biden and Ms Harris had been elected. as President and Vice President of the United States.
Dr Gopalan, whom Mrs Harris affectionately called in Tamil “chithi (aunt) “, while accepting the Democratic vice presidential nomination in August, had a simple message for her niece:” You have always been a hard worker. Continue “.
When asked what his sister and Mrs Harris’ mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, might have said on this proud day, Dr Gopala replied: ‘My sister made Kamala what she is today’. hui. She would have collapsed (with joy). I miss her . “
“My father and mother too would have been proud of their granddaughter,” she added.
Ms Harris’s extended family, including Uncle Balachandran, plan to attend the swearing-in ceremony in January. “Even when she became a senator (in January 2017), our family visited her,” said Dr Gopalan.
US Vice President-elect Kamala Harris with grandfather PV Gopalan (file)
Dr Gopalan, who donated 100 coconuts to a Besant Nagar temple in Chennai a few years ago (to honor her vows after Ms Harris won a Senate seat), also said she planned to stand return to the ancestral village of the family – Thulasenthirapuram – to offer thanks to the divinity of the family.
Earlier this week, amid the drama that accompanied the US election, villagers held special prayers. The village is home to the ancestral residence of Ms. Harris’ maternal grandfather, diplomat PV Gopalan – to whom she attributed great influence.
Today, the villagers have created a Rangoli to celebrate Mrs. Harris’ victory.
Ms Harris is on track to become the first woman, the first black woman and the first woman of Indian descent to become Vice President of the United States.
In her acceptance speech, delivered in the wee hours of Sunday morning in India, she recalled her mother – an immigrant who came to California as a teenager – and acknowledged the contribution of women “who fought and sacrificed themselves for the sake of life. ‘equality and justice for all’.
More poignantly, she said: “Although I am the first woman to occupy this office, I will not be the last”.
But that, believes Dr Gopalan, will not be the end. She believes Kamala Harris will break more barriers and one day become the first woman elected President of the United States.
