Indian-origin...
In her first public response to the announcement, Harris wrote on Twitter: “@Joebiden can unify the American people because he’s spent his life fighting for us. And as president, he’ll build an America that lives up to our ideals. I’m honored to join him as our party’s nominee for Vice President, and do what it takes to make him our Commander-in-chief.”
A win in November will make Harris the first female vice president of the United States and set her up for the presidency in 2024, at the end of Biden’s first term, or 2028. Most vice presidents have gone on to run for the top job themselves and win, with some exceptions such as Al Gore.
President Donald Trump, who had earlier called Harris a “fine choice” if picked by Biden, felt differently and accorded the announcement the full Trump treatment. He slammed her as “nasty” and “the meanest, the most horrible, most disrespectful” for her grilling of Brett Kavanaugh at his senate confirmation hearing for the Supreme Court. His campaign called her “phony”.
Harris was not a surprise pick as she had been on everyone’s shortlist of Biden’s choices, which at some stage had 11 names. In recent days, the former vice president had been focussed on three — Harris, former national security adviser Susan Rice and Congresswoman Karen Baas. Some days ago, Biden may have tipped his hand inadvertently when notes he held during a press interaction showed several check-marks against her name.
The 55-year-old first-time senator from California is now the first American of Indian and Asian descent to run for vice president. She is also the first Africanamerican of a major party and only the third woman yet to run for that office, after Democrat Geraldine Ferraro and Republican Sarah Palin. The US hasn’t had a female vice-president, or president, yet.
Harris’s mother Shyamala Gopalan (Harris by marriage) came to the US from Chennai. She was a cancer researcher, who raised Harris and the younger daughter Maya Harris, as a single mother mostly after early separation from Donald Harris, who had come to the US from Jamaica. Gopalan passed away in 2009. Indian-americans were ecstatic. Ramesh Kapur, a veteran Democrat who hosted a fundraiser for Harris at his home in Boston in 2016 during her Senate run, said he believed the Tuesday announcement was the start of a journey. “It’s the beginning of her becoming the first Indian-american president — this is a journey.”
“Moment of great pride for the Indian-american community,” said Shekar Narasimhan, a top Democratic strategist and fundraiser. “It’s a first in so many ways and will help Joe Biden win the presidency which is the first priority. A seismic shift occurred today and its ramifications will be felt for many decades”.
Harris was friends with Biden’s elder son Beau Biden, who died of brain cancer. But her links to the family were said to have suffered a major blow after she attacked the former vicepresident’s record on racism at one of the Democratic primaries. Biden is reported to have been hurt by Harris’s attacks. But Biden made clear in recent days that he does not hold grudges as he considered Harris along with a long list of 10 other women for his vice-president pick.
The Trump re-election campaign picked on that debate exchange to attack Harris. “Not long ago, Kamala Harris called Joe Biden a racist and asked for an apology she never received,” Katrina Pierson, a Trump 2020 senior adviser, said in a statement, adding, “Clearly, Phony Kamala will abandon her own morals, as well as try to bury her record as a prosecutor, in order to appease the anti-police extremists controlling the Democrat Party.”
Harris became the first Indianamerican woman to run for US president ever — from either party in 2019. The first from the tiny minority community of 4 million was Bobby Jindal, the Republican governor of Louisiana,
who didn’t last in the primaries that were eventually won by President Trump in 2016. Harris is also the first Indian-american Democrat — male or female — to try for the job; she failed, too.
Harris was only the second African-american woman of a major political party to run for the presidency. Shirley Chisholm, also a Democrat, was the first, making an unsuccessful bid in 1972. The list thus far, however, has been dominated by men, which includes, most famously, Barack Obama, who went on to win two terms. Also, Jesse Jackson, who ran twice, unsuccessfully.
Harris addressed her mixed heritage in her autobiography released 2010, “The Truth We hold: An American Journey”. Growing up, her mother and her relatives “instilled pride in our South Asian roots. Our classical Indian names harked back to our Indian heritage and we were raised with a strong awareness of and appreciation for Indian culture. All my mother’s words of affection or frustration came out in her mother tongue — which seems fitting to me, since the purity of those emotions is what I associated with my mother most of all.”
Harris was sworn in as a United States senator from California in 2016, only the second African-american woman and first South Asian-american senator in history. She served on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, the Select Committee on Intelligence, the Committee on the Judiciary, and the Committee on the Budget. And quickly earned a reputation for her hard-nosed prosecutorial manner of questioning of witnesses at hearings.
Harris grew up in Oakland. After earning an undergraduate degree from Howard University in Washington DC, and a law degree from the University of California, Hastings, she began a career in law in the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office. She became the district attorney of San Francisco in 2003. And after two terms as district attorney, she was elected California’s attorney general. (that’s how she met Beau Biden, who was attorney general of Delaware). also attacked the nearby Devera Jeevanhalli (DJ Halli) and Kadugondana Halli (KG Halli) police stations.
Bangalore police commissioner Kamal Pant had to rush to the scene of riots to restore law and order. Prohibitory orders banning the assembly of four or more people were clamped in the riot-affected areas.
MLA Murthy said he did not have any ties with his nephew for the past 10 years. He requested the government and Congress leaders to ensure his family’s safety.
“I appeal to my Muslim brethren that we should not resort to violence for the fault committed by some miscreants. There is no need to fight. We all are brothers,” he said in a video message on Tuesday night.
His nephew Naveen, who is in his 20s and also a resident of Pulakeshi Nagar, said his account that was used to make the controversial post was hacked into.
The post was made on August 10 and it went viral a day later, police officials said on condition of anonymity. There was no official word.
Hours before the violence flared up, the mob had started gathering near DJ Halli police station, calling for action against Naveen, who goes by one name. His father came to the police station around 9:15pm, pleading that Naveen was innocent. But the situation went out of control around 10:30pm on Tuesday night and the violence continued till 3:30am.
Police officials, requesting anonymity, said two of the three people killed in the riots were identified. Wajid Khan, 20, was an AC repair technician while 21-year-old Yaseen Pasha was a butcher. Those wounded in the violence were being treated across different hospitals in the city.
Khan, whose body was taken to Bowring Hospital, tested positive for Covid-19, according to hospital officials.
Muzammil Pasha, one of the prime suspects of the violence who contested a corporation election on an SDPI ticket last year, was among the 165 people arrested, according to the police officials cited above.
In Mysuru, Abdul Majeed, Karnataka vice-president of the SDPI — the political arm of Popular Front — said it was “police inaction” that led to the incident. “It is wrong to blame the SDPI for everything, as we are a responsible party,” Majeed said, defending Pasha. “We want an impartial inquiry,” he added.
A group of Muslim community leaders met with the police commissioner later in the day. “Unfortunately, those who have been killed in police action are innocent bystanders who had no role in the violence. If the police had acted quickly in taking action against the culprit who posted [the controversial message], things would not have come to such a pass,” said Maulana Masood Imran, who was part of the delegation.
Opposition Congress and the
Janata Dal (Secular) condemned the rioting.
“I humbly request both Hindus & Muslims of the area to stay calm, maintain peace & live in harmony,” Congress leader and former chief minister Siddaramaiah tweeted.
JD(S) leader and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda requested the government to take “merciless” action against those involved. Gowda’s son and former chief minister, HD Kumaraswamy, too demanded action against those taking law into their hands in the name of religion.
BJP general secretary P Muralidhar Rao took a dig at the Congress. “Dead silence by @Incindia @Inckarnataka even after their Dalit MLA Sri Akhanda Srinivasa Murthy was attacked , house ransacked yesterday in Bengaluru. Total support for RIGHT TO RIOT ...? For them appeasement is the only official party policy,” he tweeted.