AR Rahman said, “As a fellow South Asian, Tamil person, I am deeply proud of his commitment to making the world a better place.” file | Photo courtesy: The Hindu
Composer and singer AR Rahman supports US Vice President and Democratic candidate kamala harris To the White House, because he led a concert for her. Ms. Harris’s mother, Shyamala Gopalan, a cancer researcher in California, was originally from Chennai (then Madras), where Mr. Rahman is from.
pre-recorded sunday Evening (October 13, 2024) concert The event was organized by the AAPI Victory Fund, a super PAC (political activity committee) that is supporting Ms. Harris and other Asian American candidates.
Mr Rahman sang many famous songs including Jai Ho [Be Victorious] From Slumdog Millionaire and ‘Singapenny’, which translates to ‘Lioness’ from the Tamil film BigilShe was accompanied by drummer Veeramani and sang duets with singer and voice actor Chinmayi Sripada.
“His [Ms. Harris] “The interest in focusing on what unites us rather than what divides us is a message that is very important not only for the United States but for the world,” Mr. Rahman said.
He said, “As a fellow South Asian, Tamil person, I am deeply proud of his commitment to making the world a better place.”
Ms. Harris’s mother, Shyamala Gopalan, was Indian and her father, black, was from Jamaica. In his book, The Truths We Hold: An American JourneyMs. Harris, who was raised mostly by her mother, says that Ms. Gopalan and her relatives “made us feel proud of our South Asian roots” and that Ms. Harris and her sister, Maya, were raised with “a strong awareness of Done with. And appreciation of Indian culture”. She also says that her mother knew that, in America, they would be seen as “black” and so she raised them to be “confident, proud black women”.
Speaking to the National Association of Black Journalists in July 2024, former US President Donald Trump, who is fighting Ms Harris for the presidency, questioned Ms Harris’s racial identity by suggesting that until recently she was of Indian origin. Were relatively more inclined towards identity. , Ms Harris called Mr Trump’s suggestion an example of “the same old show: division and disrespect”.
During Sunday’s (October 13, 2024) concert, AAPI founder, India-born Shekhar Narasimhan, urged participants to get out to the polls.
“You have to make a plan to vote. You have to volunteer in this campaign, and you have to donate,” Shekhar Narasimhan said. “It’s called ‘Tan Man Dhan’ [body, mind, wealth],
Mr Narasimhan said there are 400,000 Indian American voters in seven ‘battleground states’ [i.e., Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada, Arizona, Georgia and North Carolina] Given the margin of victory in these states in 2020, there could be a “margin of difference” between winning and losing the election.
US President Joe Biden won six of these states in 2020, while Mr Trump won one, North Carolina.
published – October 14, 2024 08:29 am IST