Posters wishing Democratic VP pick good luck put up in Tamil Nadu village.
As America went to the polls Tuesday, special prayers were organized at a temple in the ancestral village of Democratic vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris’ maternal grandfather in India’s Tamil Nadu state for her victory.
Free idli and sambhar were also distributed to all devotees who came to attend the prayers at the Sri Dharmasastha Temple in Thulasendrapuram village, for the daughter of an Indian mother and Jamaican father, the Hindustan Times reported.
Harris often fondly recalls the contribution of an unsung woman on “whose shoulders I stand on. And that’s my mother—Shyamala Gopalan who came here from India at age 19 to pursue her dream of curing cancer.”
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Shyamala’s father, PV Gopalan, a high-ranking civil servant, was born in Thulasenthirapuram, 200 miles south of Chennai. The village was bedecked with posters wishing Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden’s running mate success.
“From Thulasenthirapuram to America. US vice president candidate contestant from the native origin of Thulasenthirapuram Kamala Harris, we wish her great success,” read the posters in Tamil.
“We want her to win the polls, we are praying for her,” a local was quoted as saying.
Earlier when the Indian American Senator was chosen by Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden as his running mate in August, the village celebrated the news by distributing sweets.
Meanwhile, both Joe Biden and Harris took to Twitter to urge Americans to cast their votes.
“It’s Election Day. Go vote, America!” wrote Biden.
“Election Day is here, and polling places across the country are starting to open. Mask up and find your polling place at I Will Vote,” tweeted Harris.
More than 100 million Americans in 50 states have already voted either by postal ballot or early voting in person amid a raging coronavirus pandemic.