The elections are happening in the US, but in faraway India, people are praying for two of the top contenders — President Donald Trump and Democratic vice-presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
While Harris has her roots in India, a fringe Hindu right-wing group, Hindu Sena, has long been showing their support for Trump.
Posters of Harris have been put up in the village of Thulasenthirapuram in Tamil Nadu where her maternal grandfather, PV Gopalan, was born. The locals in the village of Tamil Nadu’s Thiruvarur district held special prayers for Harris on Tuesday.
Harris’s connections to India don’t end here. When Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden announced in August that Harris would be his running mate, people from Chennai’s Besant Nagar — where Harris’s mother grew up — were ecstatic, eliciting several jokes on Twitter.
The locals of Thulasenthirapuram want Harris to win. One of them, who participated in the prayers, told PTI, “She has to win and that is all we want. Her win will be a proud moment for India, Tamil Nadu and more importantly our village.”
RR Kalidas Vandayar, a businessman and the head of a cricket association in the nearest town, plans to offer food to more than 150 people to seek their blessings for Harris, reported Reuters.
“She is from here and we are proud of her,” said Vandayar’s brother RR Jayakumar Vandayar told the news agency.
But the prayers from India are not just for her, but also for US President Trump.
The right-wing Hindu Sena are long-time supporters of Trump, even celebrating his birthday every year.
Hindu Sena founder Vishnu Gupta told Reuters, “India can fight terrorism only if Trump is around, and both China and Pakistan will stay restrained as long as he is the president.”
“We wish Harris well because of her Indian ancestry, but vice presidents are not as powerful,” Gupta said.
(With inputs from PTI and Reuters)