By Rita Joseph

New Delhi: As the United States’ Presidential poll heats up, many Indians are keenly watching the run-up to the battle of ballots.

The increased interest in the US elections is attributed to the fact that vice-presidential hopeful Kamala Harris is of Indian-American descent.

Indian hearts swelled up with pride and hope when Democratic pick Harris filed her nomination.

Though she has been shattering glass ceilings with impunity throughout her career – having held posts of District Attorney of San Francisco, Attorney General of California and being the first woman of South Asian heritage to be elected to the US Senate – till now she was a little known entity in India.

But Harris’ selection as presidential hopeful Joe Biden’s running mate has catapulted her to fame.

Building up on this new-found popularity in the land of her mother’s birth, Harris had many women in India and abroad in raptures uttering just a word in Tamil “chittis” or aunts during one of her poll address to the Americans.
Many registered their appreciation on micro-blogging site Twitter.

“Harris had no complex about using a Tamil word. She was specifically addressing her mother’s sisters. It’s good that she maintains her family bondings – an index of respecting human bondage that is borderless,” says Hema V Raghavan, former principal of Gargi College, Delhi University.

However, Harris’ maternal uncle Gopalan Balachandran confides his niece cannot speak Tamil.

He says Harris, the daughter of his eldest sister Shyamala, addresses his two younger sisters – Sarala and Mahalaxmi – as chittis.

Kamala was very fond of her grandfather and former diplomat P V Gopalan. She visited them in Chennai during holidays.

“Her primary interest was in staying with her grandparents and visiting the beach,” says Balachandran, a former consultant with the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, who resides in Delhi.

“My eldest sister Shyamala left India in 1960 but she and her daughters – Kamala and Maya- were always in touch with the family,” he said, adding Shyamala died of cancer in 2009.

Harris was born in California in 1964 to Shyamala, a breast cancer specialist, and Donald Harris, a Jamaican economics professor.

Hailing her nomination, former Pepsico chief Indira Nooyi, tweeted it was a “moment of pride” . “This is a great choice for our country.”

While many Indians are caught up on this euphoria and looking upto Harris as ultimate symbol of women’s empowerment, experts are divided over the significance of her possible election to India.

“When any woman in any country does well professionally, it is a great morale booster for all women,” feels veteran journalist Usha Rai.

Harris’ achievement is even more remarkable being of mixed race and holds hope for women’s empowerment across the world, she says.

But Virginia Saldhana, a social activist begs to differ.

“No! We need women models in the Indian setting. May be she will inspire them to go to America to succeed!”

Agrees Benson Rajan, Assistant Professor of Journalism at Jindal Global University. He says the practicality of her making a difference to women’s lives in India is almost “zilch to none”.

Saldhana feels “a woman’s success in the US could be attributed to the opportunities available to people in that country, where if a person works hard enough, they can make it to the top. In Indian politics women hardly make it to the top unless they have the right family connections.”

But Rai is optimistic Harris will inspire women in India too. “Currently we have just one woman Chief Minister in Mamata Bannerji but there have been several illustrious ones in the past. We have also had a woman Prime Minister as well as woman President.”

Former Indian diplomat K P Fabian also is of the opinion that Indian women will feel empowered. Younger women will be inspired to take more interest in public affairs and even join politics.

At this pivotal moment of deep national divide and economic and health crisis, would Harris (if elected) turn out to be a beacon of hope for the US as well as India?

Says Raghavan “Harris if elected along with Joe Biden as president can raise US and nurse it back to its past glory. The duo could strengthen the Indo-US bond that had been forged by earlier Presidents – Bill Clinton, Barrack Obama and George Bush. I have left out the bonhomie between (Donald) Trump and (Narinder) Modi as the earlier bonding was not one-to-one relationship but people-to-people. Kamala can set the link between the two countries on a much stronger and healthier platform. Hopefully Kamala can help the long waiting Indian Green Card holders in getting US citizenship.”

Obama Care for health benefits have to be restored with modification. The long association US had with Europe and UN agencies should be put back on healthier and stronger platform so that US takes the lead in forging strong ties with the rest of the world, she says.

“I would like Kamala to work towards re-establishing liberal values in US and in the rest of the world. I expect Biden-Harris duo to bring back co-existence from clash of civilizations and restore cultivating humanity from the current trend towards dividing humanity,” says Raghavan, who was also the former Dean of Students’ Welfare of Delhi University.

Saldhana says: “I am sure she will engage with India if she becomes the vice president. For economic reasons and because so many people of Indian origin have and continue to contribute to progress in the US.

“She will bring a fresh perspective to the US and world politics and definitely impact racial injustice because she is ‘black’. I am sure she will speak to the world and hope she will address against discrimination of subaltern groups especially the Dalits in India.”

Fabian, a former ambassador to Italy, feels Harris will raise questions on Human Rights, Kashmir, Minority Rights and the like.

For India, one hopes she would further education opportunities for its students. She could be a strong supporter of India internationally and help in improving our economy, says Rai.

She hoped Harris would fare better then the two women in the past U S polls – Democrat Geraldine Ferraro in 1984 and Republican Sarah Palin (2008) – who had to bite the dust.

With the amazing reach of television and the digital media, Kamla Harris will be the new super star in India too, concludes Rai.