Kamala Harris is Joe Biden's US vice-president choice. But who's she?

New Delhi: The Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden picked Kamala Harris, California Senator of Asian-Jamaican origin, as his running mate on Tuesday.

Taking to Twitter, Biden announced, “I have the great honor to announce that I’ve picked @KamalaHarris — a fearless fighter for the little guy, and one of the country’s finest public servants — as my running mate.”

He added, “Back when Kamala was Attorney General, she worked closely with Beau. I watched as they took on the big banks, lifted up working people, and protected women and kids from abuse. I was proud then, and I’m proud now to have her as my partner in this campaign.”

To which, Harris replied, “@JoeBiden can unify the American people because he’s spent his life fighting for us. And as president, he’ll build an America that lives up to our ideals.

I’m honored to join him as our party’s nominee for Vice President, and do what it takes to make him our Commander-in-Chief.”

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Harris, who has an Indian mother (from Tamil Nadu) and Jamaican father, has several feathers in her cap. She is the first of many. She is an inter-racial woman who is the first black attorney general of California, first woman to hold her post, first woman of half-South Asian heritage to be elected to the US Senate, and most importantly, she is on the verge of making history, as she seeks to become the first female vice president of US. But the moment her candidature was announced, netizens jumped to conclusions about her origins over her achievements.

Many Indian people, including the deputy chief minister of Tamil Nadu, O Pennerselvam, began to highlight her “Indianness”. He tweeted, “It is a moment of pride for Indians and TamilNadu especially, as Kamala Harris, the first Indian senator, whose mother hails from TamilNadu has been nominated as the Vice Presidential candidate by the US Democratic party. My hearty wishes to her. “

Another netizen disregarded her India origins claiming that she “is known to hate her Indian side of the family.”

However, Anand Mahindra, chairperson of Mahindra Group wrote, “There will be an explosion of celebrations by Indian communities claiming her as ‘our own.’ But we should recognize that Kamala Harris isn’t just of Indian descent; she epitomises what the world should be—borderless & interracial..”

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