'Thanks VP': Joe Biden recalls picking Kamala Harris as his running mate last year

United States President Joe Biden, on August 11, recalled how picking Kamala Harris as his running mate on the same day in 2020 was “one of the most important decisions” he made. Sharing an image with US Vice President Harris, Biden said that he couldn’t have asked for a better partner and friend on the journey. In a historical move, Biden, a Democrat had named Harris as his vice-presidential running mate on August 11, 2020. Harris was not only the first Black woman to compete on a prominent party’s presidential ticket but she became the country’s first female Vice President.

At the time of Harris’ nomination, the California senator was only the third woman to be selected as the vice president in a major US party. The other two included then Alaska Governor Sarah Palin in 2008 and New York Rep. Geraldine Ferraro in 1984 but Harris was the only candidate to win the election. She is the first woman, the first Black American, and the first South Asian American, to be elected as the Vice President of the United States.

Kamala Harris' connection with India

Then-Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris recalled her memories with India and its culture on August 15 last year. From her mother trying to “instil a love of good idli” in her to “long walks” with her grandfather in Chennai, the US Vice President had elaborated her experiences while speaking at an event by ‘South Asians of Biden’ during their election campaign. Harris noted the shared history of India and America. According to her, the communities in India and the USA are bound together by ties stronger than just their history and culture. 

“When my mother Shyamala [Gopalan] stepped off a plane in California as a 19-year-old, she didn’t have much in way of belongings but she carried with her lessons from home, including ones she’d learned from her parents,” Harris had said.

Harris also spoke about how her mother, a Tamil Indian-American, who later became a cancer researcher and an activist, used to take both her daughters to India to make them understand where she had come from. 

“Growing up, my mother would take my sister Maya and me back to what was then called Madras because she wanted us to understand where she had come from and where we had ancestry. And, of course, she always wanted to instil in us, a love of good Idli,” she had said at the time. 

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