“As a fellow South Asian, Tamil, particular person, I’m deeply happy with her dedication to creating the world a greater place,” A.R. Rahman mentioned. File
| Photograph Credit score: The Hindu
Music composer and singer A.R. Rahman endorsed U.S. Vice President and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris for the White Home, as he led a live performance for her. Ms. Harris’s mom, Shyamala Gopalan, a most cancers researcher in California, was initially from Chennai (then Madras), from the place Mr. Rahman hails.
The pre-recorded Sunday night (October 13, 2024) live performance was organized by the AAPI Victory Fund, a Tremendous PAC (Political Exercise Committee) that’s backing Ms. Harris and different Asian American candidates.
Mr. Rahman sang numerous well-known songs, together with Jai Ho [Be Victorious] from Slumdog Millionaire and ‘Singapenney’, which interprets to ‘lioness’ from the Tamil film referred to as Bigil. He was accompanied by drummer Veeramani and sang duets, together with with singer and voice actor Chinmayi Sripada.
“Her [Ms. Harris] curiosity in specializing in what unites us as an alternative of what divides us is a message that is essential, not only for the US however for the world,” Mr. Rahman mentioned.
“As a fellow South Asian, Tamil, particular person, I’m deeply happy with her dedication to creating the world a greater place,” he mentioned.
Ms. Harris’s mom, Shyamala Gopalan, was Indian and her father is Black, from Jamaica. In her ebook, The Truths We Maintain: An American Journey, Ms. Harris, who was principally raised by her mom, says Ms. Gopalan and her family members “instilled us with pleasure in our South Asian roots” and that Ms. Harris and her sister, Maya, had been raised with “a robust consciousness of and appreciation for Indian tradition”. She additionally says her mom knew that, within the U.S., they might be seen as “black” and due to this fact raised them to be “assured, proud black ladies”.
Talking to the Nationwide Affiliation of Black Journalists in July 2024, former U.S. President Donald Trump, who’s combating Ms. Harris for the Presidency, had questioned Ms. Harris’s racial identification by suggesting that she had leaned into her Indian identification comparatively extra, till just lately. Ms. Harris had characterised Mr. Trump’s suggestion for example of “the identical previous present: the divisiveness and the disrespect”.
Throughout Sunday’s (October 13, 2024) live performance, the founding father of AAPI, India-born Shekhar Narasimhan, urged members to get entangled within the elections.
“It’s a must to make a plan to vote. It’s a must to volunteer on this marketing campaign, and it’s important to donate,” mentioned Shekhar Narasimhan, including, “It’s referred to as ‘tan man dhan’ [body, mind, wealth].”
Mr. Narasimhan mentioned that 400,000 Indian America voters in seven ‘battleground states’ [i.e., Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada, Arizona, Georgia and North Carolina] might develop into the “margin of distinction” between successful and shedding the election, given the victory margins in these states in 2020.
U.S. President Joe Biden gained six of those states, whereas Mr. Trump gained one, North Carolina, in 2020.
Printed – October 14, 2024 08:29 am IST
