Why a tiny village in India is cheering for Kamala Harris’ victory

The world is waiting with bated breath for the United States presidential election on Tuesday (November 5) which has pitted Democrat nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris against Republican Donald Trump. The two rivals are engaged in a close fight to become the next US president.

It is not just in the US that Harris’ supporters are hoping for her victory. Thousands of kilometres away, a tiny village in Tamil Nadu is praying for the Democratic presidential nominee to defeat Trump.

Let’s take a closer look.

Kamala Harris’ India connection

Kamala Harris’ mother, Shyamala Gopalan, hailed from Chennai, Tamil Nadu. She went to university in Delhi before emigrating to the US in 1958 at the age of 19.

Gopalan earned her master’s degree at the University of California, Berkeley and went on to become a noted breast cancer research scientist.

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The Democrat often remembers her mother as her inspiration. In 1963, Gopalan married Donald Harris, a fellow graduate student who had come from Jamaica.

Harris and her younger sister Maya were born and raised in the US.

Gopalan lived in the US until she died in 2009 from cancer. Harris had visited Chennai at the time to immerse her mother’s ashes.

In her memoir The Truths We Hold, Harris recalls, “we were raised with a strong awareness of and appreciation for Indian culture. All of my mother’s words of affection or frustration came out in her mother tongue.”

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I grew up as a child of the Civil Rights Movement. My parents would take me to marches when I was a toddler, where crowds of people of all races, faiths, and walks of life came together… pic.twitter.com/oEfh7cFBys

— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) November 1, 2024

The US VP has talked about the South Indian food she ate at home while growing up and revealed her fondness for idli and dosa, as per The Guardian. She confessed to Indian American actor Mindy Kaling in 2019 that she had never made dosas before.

Recalling her childhood visits to India, Harris has said, “I would hold my grandfather’s hand on long walks on the beach with his retired buddies and [they] would debate the issues of the day.

“Throughout these walks, I recall my grandfather teaching me lessons about not just what it means to have a democracy, but to keep a democracy. And I do believe, it is these lessons that I learned at a very young age that first inspired my interest in public service.”

Harris’ maternal grandparents belonged to Thulasendrapuram, a sleepy village roughly 300 km from Chennai. It is the residents of this village who are conducting prayers for her victory in the upcoming US presidential election.

Kamala Harris’ ancestral village prays for her win

Thulasendrapuram is around 14,000 km from Washington DC but that does not stop the villagers from claiming Harris as their own. It is here that her maternal grandfather PV Gopalan lived some 100 years back.

While some reports claim Harris visited Thulasendrapuram as a young child, its residents cannot confirm the same, according to an NPR report.

Even though the village has not found mention in Harris’ speeches, its residents are holding daily prayers for her victory. A larger banner displaying the US VP has come up at the centre of the village.

Several banners and billboards with Harris’ face, wishing her good luck in Tamil have been erected across the village, reported The Guardian.

Arulmozhi Sudhakar, a local body representative in the village, told NPR in August, that Harris is the “daughter of the land”. “I can relate to [Harris’] struggles as a woman politician,” she said adding that she admires the Democratic nominee’s ability “to smile while facing all the political challenges.”

Nerves are running high in the small village in the Tiruvarur district as the US edges closer to the election outcome. The challenges posed by Harris’ rival Trump and the trends from key swing states have become a part of the daily conversations.

“Whether she wins or not is irrelevant to us. The fact that she is contesting is historic and makes us proud,” M Murukanandan, a local politician, told The Guardian.

To mark Harris’ historical candidature, a unique environmental memorial – a water tank for collecting and harvesting rainwater – is being renovated, symbolising the village’s pride in her, reported Down To Earth (DTE). It will have a plaque with Harris’ name.

The tank is near Dharmasastha Kovil, a Hindu temple to which Harris’ aunt Sarala donated Rs 5000 for its renovation a decade ago in her niece’s honour. The wall of the temple bears Harris’ name.

A new village bus stop, named after Harris, is also under construction.

The media attention on the village has worked in its favour. According to the NPR report, residents say that after the village appeared on TV in 2020, a local bank adopted Thulasendrapuram for welfare works.

Speaking to Sky News, N Krishnamurthy, an 80-year-old retired bank manager, said, “She has brought such glory to this village. No one has ever done so much for us - even if they tried for decades and centuries.

“It’s unimaginable! Our village is world famous because of her, and we repeatedly thank her, wish her all the best and our blessings are always there.”

Residents, especially women, have a sense of pride. For some, she is an inspiration. Balaambika, a villager, told Sky News that Harris “brought fame to womanhood - all the women here are so proud of her achievements”.

The excitement in the village is a reminder of how villagers took to the streets when Harris became the vice president four years ago, celebrating with music and firecrackers. Children were seen carrying placards with Harris’ face and a communal feast was organised.

No relatives of Harris currently live in Thulasendrapuram. However, villagers say that her family’s ancestral ties to the village continue to exist.

Murukanandan told The Guardian that he and others from the village recently contacted Harris’ aunt to convey good luck and express their hope that the Democrat will finally visit Thulasendrapuram.

“She agreed to pass on our wishes,” he said. “We also asked her to encourage Harris to visit our village after winning the election. We hope everything will be possible.”

With inputs from agencies

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