With the announcement of Kamala Harris being Democratic vice presidential nominee, her native village Painganadu located near Mannargudi in Tiruvarur district has been adorned with posters wishing her success in the upcoming US Presidential elections.
"Kamala Harris's grandfather PV Gopalan was born in this village. With her being nominated for Democratic vice presidentship, the villagers have put up banners wishing her well and success in the election," Ramanan, Darmadatha of Sri Sevaga Perumal Temple, told .
He further said that PV Gopalan left the village for further studies and later went to the US with his daughter Shyamala. Kamala's mother, Shyamala Gopalan, was born in Chennai before she moved to the US for further study. Shyamala became a leading cancer researcher and activist.
"I have come to know that Kamala is a very efficient lawyer representing California in the American Senate. The interesting fact here is that about 4-5 families from this village are residents of California," he said.
"Though there is no living relative of Kamala Harris in this village now, the family make their donations to the temple through Sarala Gopalan, who is their closest relative," he said while adding that it is this temple that is now a link between Kamala Harris's family and this village, he added.
Earlier, Meena Harris, the niece of Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris, on Sunday (local time) shared a photo of a poster that has come up in Tamil Nadu featuring the California senator calling her "victorious".
Taking to Twitter, Meena, a 35-year-old lawyer based in California, said that the photo of the poster was sent to her from Tamil Nadu. The poster has photos of Harris with a text in the Tamilian script--"PV Gopalan's granddaughter is victorious".
The poster cropped up days after Kamala was picked by Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, as his running mate in the US election. Born to a Jamaican father and an Indian mother, California Senator Harris, if elected, would be the first woman vice president ever for the country.
( With inputs from ANI )