Narasimhan acknowledged the complexities of American foreign policy and the need for it to prioritize American interests
A prominent Indian-American fundraiser has encouraged US Vice President Kamala Harris to visit her mother’s hometown, Chennai, if she is elected as president in the upcoming November general elections. Harris, 59, has declared her candidacy for the Democratic Party after current President Joe Biden withdrew from seeking a second term on July 20. Her official nomination is expected from the Democratic Party next month.
Shekar Narasimhan, Chairman and founder of the Asian American Pacific Islanders (AAPI) Victory Fund, emphasized the importance of this visit in an interview with PTI. “If she’s elected, I will be pushing and saying, let’s go to India. But you got to go to Chennai. You got to go to Chennai. You can go to Delhi. Delhi’s fine with me. You got to do all that, but Chennai we gotta go,” Narasimhan said.
Narasimhan suggested that Harris’s emotional connection to India could be leveraged to strengthen bilateral ties, fostering a partnership based on trust and mutual understanding
Chennai holds significant personal importance for Harris, as it was the hometown of her mother, Shyamala Gopalan, who moved to the US at 16 for higher studies. Harris has often reminisced about her childhood visits to Chennai and even scattered her mother’s ashes in the Indian Ocean in 2009.
Narasimhan envisions a warm welcome for Harris in Chennai, akin to the reception former President Bill Clinton received. “If Bill Clinton could get it, why would you not welcome back the daughter of the mother of your soil? So yes, there should be excitement among Indians,” he remarked.
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