US Vice President Kamala Harris’s ethnic identity has become a central issue in the US presidential campaign. Republican candidate Donald Trump has made racial remarks, and entrepreneur-politician Vivek Ramaswamy has criticized Harris for allegedly using her Indian roots selectively.
“Many Indian-Americans in the US are indeed somewhat offended by the way Kamala has suddenly cast aside the Indian-American side of her identity,” Ramaswamy said in an interview with Fox News.
🚨🇺🇸 VIVEK: WE NEED A RESET TO FOCUS ON OUR OWN VISION
“I believe we need a reset in this campaign.
Kamala’s new de facto nomination after the Republican convention was a shock that caught many Republicans off guard.
We must take a step back and offer our own vision of what we… pic.twitter.com/umhuFqIcop
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) August 1, 2024
Harris, a Democrat, launched her presidential campaign last month after US President Joe Biden decided not to run. She identifies as both Black and Asian and is the first Black and Asian-American Vice President.
Harris’s mother is Indian, and her father is Jamaican. A small village in Thulasenthirapuram, Tamil Nadu, is known as the ancestral home of her maternal grandparents.
Ramaswamy, whose parents also immigrated from southern India, said in an interview with Fox News, “My parents were immigrants to this country, legal immigrants from southern India, the very same part of India that her mother also immigrated from.”
He recalled that Harris emphasized her Indian-American heritage when she first ran for office in California as a Senator but now seems to “wear a different identity” on the national stage for political convenience.
“I don’t think we should be relying on these ethnic identities at all. We’re American. And the problem is when you’re Kamala Harris and you actually do lean into your identity politics, then you open the door to that type of criticism,” he said.
Ramaswamy also added that Harris’s candidacy lacks a clear vision for the US. “But if you ask me, that shouldn’t be how this election is decided one way or another. It should be decided on our own identity as Americans and what our vision is for the future of the country. And the number one thing missing in Kamala Harris’s candidacy is that she lacks that vision for the country. That’s what we’ve got to focus on,” he said.
The debate intensified after former President Donald Trump accused Harris of shifting her racial identity for political gain, claiming she “turned black” a few years ago despite her long-standing Indian heritage.
If Harris wins the upcoming presidential election on November 5, she would make history as the first woman President of the United States.
