Kamala Harris gets muted response in India as few see change in US ties

Four years ago, when Mr Joe Biden picked Ms Kamala Harris as his running mate, much of India was abuzz over how the first Indian-American in the White House might affect the future of US-India relations.

Now, Ms Harris is a step closer to capturing the Democratic nomination for president – but few are expecting any change in ties should she win.

Despite Ms Harris’ well-documented Indian heritage and family links to the country, there is little indication that her presidency would meaningfully tip the direction of the US-India relationship, which has strengthened in recent decades under both Republican and Democratic administrations. 

The US has sought to cultivate a deeper partnership with India as a bulwark against a more assertive China, while India has sought greater US investment and deeper cooperation in technology sharing and defence.

The economic and strategic logic that underpins US-India ties would likely remain intact were Ms Harris to win the White House, said analysts and Indian officials. 

“There would be a degree of continuity if she’s elected to the White House,” said Professor Harsh Pant from the Observer Research Foundation, a New Delhi think-tank. “India has had a productive relationship with Mr Biden. And Ms Kamala Harris was part of the administration.” 

In 2020, Mr Biden’s choice of Ms Harris as his running mate sparked a wave of excitement in India, with social media users poring over her family connections to Chennai, the southern Indian city where her mother was born. Undated photos surfaced of a younger Ms Harris and her sister Maya in saris, posing with grandparents during a visit. 

Ms Harris at the time was the first black woman and the first woman of Indian descent on a major ticket in a US presidential election. Her joining the ticket sparked reports in Indian media over how a Biden-Harris win might further bolster ties between the two countries. 

Ties have indeed continued to improve, but India has not been a personal priority for Ms Harris, who has instead been occupied with domestic issues, such as reproductive rights and securing the US-Mexico border.

Ms Harris hosted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House in 2023, where she talked about her Indian heritage and praised Mr Modi’s leadership. But she has not visited India during her time as vice-president. 

While on the campaign trail in 2019, she criticised Mr Modi’s policies on Kashmir, a region contested by both India and Pakistan and was the site of a lengthy crackdown after Mr Modi scrapped the Muslim-majority state’s autonomy.

“We have to remind Kashmiris that they are not alone in the world,” she said in September that year. 

One reason Ms Harris’ Indian ties may not be much of a political factor is that they are not a prominent part in her public persona, said Professor Sreeram Sundar Chaulia, dean of the Jindal School of International Affairs.

“Unlike, say, Mr Rishi Sunak in the UK, for example, who has been very open about showing his Indian and Hindu roots,” he said. Mr Sunak was Britain’s prime minister until earlier in July. 

Instead, Ms Harris’ African and Caribbean heritage – her father is from Jamaica – is the more visible part of her public identity, Prof Chaulia said. 

Mr Modi, meanwhile, is widely believed to enjoy warmer and more personal ties with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Both leaders have hosted each other at political rallies in their respective countries, with Trump holding a “Howdy Modi” event in Houston before a huge crowd of Indian Americans in September 2019 – just days after Mr Modi’s new policy in Kashmir. 

That event was followed up in 2020 with a visit by Trump to Mr Modi’s home state of Gujarat for an event billed “Namaste Trump”. There, the then US President addressed a rally of nearly 100,000 people at a stadium in the city of Ahmedabad.  

Irrespective of who wins November’s election, US-India ties should maintain their upward trajectory – despite having been tested in 2023.

Allegations of India’s involvement in a murder-for-hire plot against a Sikh activist on US soil, as well as Mr Modi’s embrace of Russian President Vladimir Putin, have both been an irritant for the US. 

Mr Sushant Singh, a lecturer at Yale University, said: “The relationship between the United States and India goes beyond individuals, and even beyond parties.

“All administrations, starting from President Bill Clinton, have advocated closer ties with India and that is not going to change, especially when the China factor looms large in both national capitals.”  

Still, in Tamil Nadu – the home state of Ms Harris’ Indian family – pride in the prospect of an Indian American in the White House runs high.

Mr B Krishna Moorthy, who runs the Commissionerate of Rehabilitation and Welfare of Non Resident Tamils, said the group was “deeply moved and filled with pride” at the prospect of a Harris presidency.

“We look forward to seeing how her experiences and perspectives will contribute positively to global discourse, inspire future generations and foster the Indo-US relationship.” BLOOMBERG