Indians Celebrate Kamala Harris' Victory: What Did Vice President-Elect Say About Indian Heritage?

Kamala Harris made history when she was elected vice president on Saturday, becoming the first woman, first Black person and first person of Asian descent to hold the second-highest office in the U.S. Following her and Joe Biden's victory, Indians are celebrating and sending her messages of love and support.

On Sunday, people from Harris' grandfather’s hometown, Thulasendrapuram, a tiny village in southern India, celebrated her win with fireworks and prayers, the Associated Press reported.

“Congratulations Kamala Harris. Pride of our village. Vanakkam (Greetings) America,” one message outside a home in the Indian village read.

"Kamala has made this village very proud," said Renganathan, a farmer who rushed to the temple after hearing the news, The New York Times reported. "She’s a great lady and an inspiration. She belongs to this soil."

"Thinking about Shyamala and all the Indian moms out there feeling the emotions my mom is feeling right now; to vote for, and elect, someone who was raised around the same food, the same discipline, the same culture," one netizen tweeted.

Indian celebrities, including Priyanka Chopra and Anubhav Sinha, also celebrated Harris’ victory on social media.

"It was amazing to witness this election in the US. Congrats to the President Elect @joebiden and Vice President elect @kamalaharris, the first woman VP! Dream Big girls! Anything can happen!!" Chopra wrote on Instagram.

"Because I’m happy..." Sinha tweeted alongside a video of Harris dancing.

Harris' mom, Shyamala Gopalan, came to America from India alone at the age of 19 in the 1950s. She worked as a breast cancer researcher before she died due to complications from colon cancer in 2009. Her dad, Donald Harris, is an immigrant from Jamaica. He was a prominent former economics professor at Stanford University.

Her Indian grandfather, P.V. Gopalan, meanwhile, inspired her with stories about Indians fighting for independence. The vice president-elect spoke about her late mom and grandfather fondly in her previous speeches.

“When she came here from India at the age of 19, she maybe didn’t quite imagine this moment,” Harris said about her mom in her victory speech in Delaware on Saturday. “But she believed so deeply in an America where a moment like this is possible.”

Harris also credited her mother for teaching her and her sister Maya values that they continue to live by.

“My mother instilled in my sister, Maya, and me the values that would chart the course of our lives,” Harris said in her speech when she accepted her nomination for vice president in August. “She raised us to be proud, strong black women. And she raised us to know and be proud of our Indian heritage.”

She continued. “Even as she taught us to keep our family at the center of our world, she also pushed us to see a world beyond ourselves. She taught us to be conscious and compassionate about the struggles of all people. To believe public service is a noble cause and the fight for justice is a shared responsibility.”

Harris has been guided by the values of her Indian heritage when it comes to leadership. Her grandfather had served for decades in the Indian government and loved strolling along the beach in Besant Nagar with his retired buddies where they talked about the government. Harris joined him during one of her visits and the chat was very memorable for her.

"I remember the stories that they would tell and the passion with which they spoke about the importance of democracy," Harris said in her speech to an Indian-American group in 2018.

She continued, "As I reflect on those moments in my life that have had the most impact on who I am today — I wasn’t conscious of it at the time — but it was those walks on the beach with my grandfather in Besant Nagar that had a profound impact on who I am today."