Joe Biden highlights Kamala Harris' Indian roots, praises her mother during PM Modi's meet

During his first in-person meeting with PM Narendra Modi on Friday, 24 September, US President Joe Biden talked about Vice President Kamala Harris’ Indian roots and called her mother Shyamala Gopalan a “remarkable woman”. Harris is the first woman and Indian-American to be elected as the US Vice President. She was born to a Jamaican father and an Indian mother, who was born in Tamil Nadu before she moved to the US for further studies. Harris’ mother was a leading cancer researcher and activist, and she was the daughter of PV Gopalan, who was a respected Indian government official who served in various positions.

On Friday, as Biden hosted PM Modi at the Oval Office in the White House for the bilateral meeting, he said, “When I showed the Prime Minister to his seat, I pointed out that that this seat is occupied almost every day by Vice President of US who is an Indian American. Vice President's mother was from India, a scientist and a remarkable woman.”

Meanwhile, on Thursday, PM Narendra Modi also praised the US VP as a “source of inspiration” while extending an invitation to her to visit India. PM Modi told Harris that her election as the Vice President of the USA has been an “important and historic event”. “You are a source of inspiration for many across the world. I am confident that under President Biden and your leadership our bilateral relations will touch new heights," PM Modi said. 

He added, “Continuing on this journey of victory, Indians would also want you to continue that in India and therefore they are waiting to welcome you. I extend you an invitation to visit India.”

PM Modi’s gift to US VP Harris

In a touching gesture, PM Modi also gifted US VP Kamala Harris an old notification related to her grandfather PV Gopalan. He gifted the notification to Harris in a wooden frame. Along with this, PM Modi gifted Kamala Harris a Gulabi Meenakari chess set, the craft of which is associated to Kashi -- one of the oldest cities in the world and PM Modi's constituency. Each piece on the chess set is closely handcrafted in vibrant colours of blue and green related to the city.

US VP Harris, meanwhile, lauded India for helping the world battle COVID via vaccine distribution and noted that America was proud to help India during the second wave of the pandemic. Further, the US Vice President hailed India's decision to resume the export of COVID vaccines under the Vaccine Maitri programme and noted that COVID, climate change and a free Indo-Pacific region were the areas of interest shared by the two countries. Harris noted that democracies in the world were under threat and called for the need to come together to protect democracy and strengthen it. 

(Image: Twitter/AP)
(With ANI inputs)