MUMBAI, India – Hindus in India are covering the U.S. presidential elections with great interest, and the religion gains relevance in both major parties.
Republican Donald Trump nominated Ohio Senator J.D. Vance as his vice-presidential candidate, and his wife is Usha Chilukuri Vance, is the daughter of immigrants from India, and a Hindu.
Usha’s parents come from Andhra Pradesh, a southeastern state in India with a population that is 90 percent Hindu. The vice-presidential candidate’s wife was born in California.
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When President Joe Biden announced he was ending his candidacy on July 21, he pushed his vice president, Kamala Harris of California, as his replacement.
Harris, a Black Baptist, is the daughter of Shyamala Gopalan, who died in 2009, and was a Hindu.
Although most Indians are excited over the spotlight on their country the 2024 election is shining, Harris has come under scrutiny among some Indians because California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed the state’s proposed law a bill banning caste discrimination in 2023.
The caste system in India dates back over 3,000 years and divides Hindu society into rigid hierarchical groups based on ethnic background.
Harris’s mother was a Brahmin, the highest group in the caste system. Of course, at the time of the vote on the issue, she didn’t serve in the California government.
Dalits – members of the lowest caste formerly known as Untouchables – form a huge proportion of immigrants from India. Most Indian immigrants serve in high status positions in medicine and technology, and the clash between different castes is a frequent issue which is little understood by non-Indians in their places of work.
“The curse of caste discrimination is prevalent unfortunately among the Indians in the United States and the Dalits came together to fight this evil, resulting in the Anti Caste Discrimination bill in California,” said Jesuit Father AXJ Bosco, a Dalit rights activist in India.
He questioned the views of those who suspect Harris of using her influence to get Newsom to veto the law.
“California’s caste anti-discrimination bill was the culmination of a recent wave of bans across the country, mostly pushed by Democratic lawmakers and liberal activists,” the priest told Crux.
“Kamala Harris is of Indian and Jamaican origin. Her father was Black. Shyamala, her mother though from Brahmin origin from Tamil Nadu, is an enlightened woman who defied Caste and color; she stood with her husband in fighting for justice and equality. She, though a Hindu Brahmin, was broad minded enough to accept Christianity and take her daughter Kamala to the Church,” Bosco said.
“Given her upbringing, Kamala Harris would not be against the Anti Caste Discrimination law. We have hope that Kamala Harris, given a chance to be the President of the United States, will defend equality and justice, promoting anti-caste and anti- black discrimination,” he explained.
Bishop Joseph Raja Rao of Vijayawada said he wasn’t going to comment on United States politics.
However, he did say the people of his state were proud that Usha Chilukuri Vance has been featured in the press, given her family’s origins in his state of Andhra Pradesh, especially given the fact they are members of the Telugu ethnic group.
“It’s very exciting that someone from Andhra Pradesh is the wife of the vice president nominee… There are so many Andhra people in United States in prominent positions,” he told Crux.
“The Telugu people are very enterprising, very intelligent and very courageous … Of course, being from another country – India – we don’t take part in politics but, this is a big honor for Telugu people,” he said.
