 "Why an Andhra Pradesh village is celebrating Donald Trump's victory")
Former US President Donald Trump is making a historic comeback. With a win in Wisconsin, the 78-year-old cleared the 270 electoral votes needed to clinch the presidency.
While Trump spent his first day as president-elect receiving congratulatory phone calls and staying out of the public eye after a victory speech in Florida, residents of a village in Andhra Pradesh rejoiced that their descendant would be the next “Second Lady” of the US.
Usha Vance , the wife of Vice President-elect JD Vance, is a successful lawyer who traces her roots to India.
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The Indian celebration
Usha Vance, 38, was born and brought up in suburban San Diego.
Those in the village of her paternal ancestors in India’s southern Andhra Pradesh state prayed that ancestral ties would bring improvements to their land.
“We feel happy,” AFP quoted Srinivasu Raju, 53, a resident of Vadluru, a village located more than 13,450 kilometres (8,360 miles) from the White House in Washington. “We support Trump.”
Before the election, the villagers offered prayers for Trump’s victory, and Hindu priest Appaji hoped Usha Vance would do something in return.
“We expect her to help our village,” the 43-year-old priest said, dressing in flowing saffron robes, after lighting a candle at the idol of Hindu elephant-headed deity Ganesh for Trump.
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More Shorts“If she can recognise her roots and do something good for this village, then that would be great.”
“Every Indian — not just myself, every Indian — we feel proud of Usha because she is of Indian origin,” said 70-year-old Venkata Ramanayy. “We hope she will develop our village.”
Notably, Usha has never visited the village, but the priest said her father came around three years ago and checked on the temple’s condition.
“We have already seen the governance of Trump — very good,” Ramanayy said. “Indian and American relations were very fine during the presidency of Trump.”
Also read: Donald Trump is back as president: What happens to the criminal, civil cases against him?
About Usha Vance
Usha, a practising Hindu who studied at Yale and Cambridge Universities, married JD Vance in Kentucky in 2014. They have three children.
Her great-grandfather moved out of Vadluru and her father, Chilukuri Radhakrishnan, a PhD holder, was brought up in the Indian city of Chennai before going on to study in the US.
Little is known about Radhakrishnan’s initial years in the US, but the film of JD Vance’s best-selling memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, refers to him coming to the country with “nothing.”
Millions of Indians have made journeys similar to those of the Chilukuris.
According to the most recent US census, Indians have become the country’s second-largest Asian ethnicity, growing 50 per cent to 4.8 million in the decade to 2020.
Her role in JD’s success
Usha Vance has contributed significantly to her husband’s achievements.
She assisted Vance in organising his thoughts on the social decline in rural white America, which inspired Hillbilly Elegy, as per ANI.
In the memoir, JD described her as his “Yale spirit guide,” helping him navigate life at the elite university where they met. “She instinctively understood the questions I didn’t even know to ask, and she always encouraged me to seek opportunities that I didn’t know existed,” he wrote, as per CNN.
In the past, she has made some rare appearances with Vance as he sought the Ohio Senate seat.
Also read: The 5 reasons why Donald Trump made history with the US presidential win
The ‘inspiring’ struggle
However, in Thulasendrapuram, which was formerly the home of Kamala Harris’s grandfather, some 730 kilometres (454 miles) to the southwest, the story was different.
The 63-year-old TS Anbarasu claimed that the Democrat’s “struggle” had inspired girls to continue their education.
“She is inspiring this village,” he said. “Any school in the surrounding area, students know about Kamala Harris.”
Harris, 60, was born in California but was often taken to India by her mother.
“If she comes here, we’ll treat her like the president of the United States,” Anbarasu said.
“We are still proud of her. She is like family to us. If our family members fail, we don’t discriminate against them, or treat them as a loser, right?”
Trump returns
Donald Trump defeated Kamala Harris , reclaiming the White House after an election loss in 2020. He gave a victory speech early Wednesday to a roaring crowd of supporters gathered at the Palm Beach County Convention Centre and heaped praise on JD Vance and his wife, Usha.
The 78-year-old’s victory was felt down the ballot, with the GOP reclaiming control of the Senate by flipping seats in Montana, West Virginia and Ohio. In the House, Republicans and Democrats are still battling for the majority, with both party leaders exuding confidence.
Harris called Trump to concede the race and to congratulate him, while Biden invited the man he ousted from the White House four years ago to an Oval Office meeting to prepare to return the keys.
With inputs from agencies
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