‘Kamala
Aunty. One of us.’ This is how a newspaper in the United States referred to
Kamala Harris after she was made the Democrats’ Vice-Presidential candidate.
Her selection as the running mate of Presidential candidate Joe Biden is
nothing less than an acknowledgement that Kamala, with her Jamaican and Indian
origin, is no less an American than any White American. This robust message has
been sent out at a time when the American society is riddled with racial conflict
after the murder of George Floyd. It unambiguously tells that America is home
to the White, the Black, the Asian and everyone. It is equally a defining
moment for the Black Americans who have been pushed to the wall after incidents
of attack on their community members. As
the first woman of colour to be nominated by a major political party as a
candidate to enter White House, it is the beginning of a new chapter in
American history.
Harris’s
selection is a rebuff to Donald Trump’s aversion to immigrants and his strident
actions to create hurdles to immigrants to the country. Her somewhat unexpected
selection seems to be a jolt to the Trump camp which is at the receiving end
for failures on many counts. This fear and trepidation were evident in Trump
calling Harris ‘a nasty’, ‘phony’ and ‘mad’ women. But the American society
seems to have rejected such uncalled-for epithets coming from the head of the State.
Newspapers across the spectrum have run editorials and opinion pieces hailing
Harris, with a hyphenated identity, as a bold woman whose credentials will stand
her in good stead to win the election. People see her as a first-generation
daughter of immigrants who is following an American dream just like any other
American whose forefathers belong to the same land.
In
her selection as a candidate running to enter White House, there is a lesson
for Indians who clamour that only those who are born in India to Indian parents
alone can hold constitutional posts in the country. Proponents of Hindutva
ideology are at the forefront of this ‘unconstitutional’ argument targeting
mainly Congress leaders like Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. Though there is no
constitutional ban on Indians whose parent/s were of non-Indian origin to
contest for top Constitutional posts, the adherents to Manusmriti cannot digest
such a proposition. Trump too seems to have taken a leaf from the arguments of
Hindutva ideologists when he said that “he had heard rumours that Harris, the
black California-born daughter of immigrants, does not qualify to serve as
Vice-President of the United States.†It seems the US President, fearing
defeat, is making nonsensical claims and vicious insinuations.
In
this context, what Harris said in her acceptance speech at the Democratic
National Convention merits a close look: “We must elect a President who will
bring something different, something better, and do the important work. A
President who will bring all of us together – Black, White, Latino, Asian,
Indigenous – to achieve the future we collectively want.†Harris will hopefully
be a strong link in achieving this motto of unity in diversity in the oldest
democracy in the world.
