July 24, 2024, 8:17 AM
July 24, 2024, 8:17 AM
Every day, in a simple temple in a village in India, Hindu priest Subhramanya Sharma prays to his god to JD Vance become vice president of the United States, and his wife Usha, of Indian origin, becomes second lady.
In front of a silver idol of Sai Baba, a 19th century guru revered by his followers as a deity, the priest asks for blessings for the Republican senator and his wife, Usha.
Vadluru, a quiet canal-side village in rural Andhra Pradesh, is the ancestral home of Vance’s wife, who would become second lady if Donald Trump is re-elected president.
“We blessed her,” said the priest, whose temple is housed in a building that once belonged to Usha’s family, the Chilukuris.
“She could achieve higher positions in her life. We priests offer special prayers for Usha and her husband.”
Usha’s great-grandfather came from Vadluru but her ancestors are respected in the village as distinguished scholars and experts in Hindu scriptures.
His father Chilukuri Radhakrishnan, a PhD holder, grew up in Chennai and later studied in the United States.
She returned to India for a while, but later moved with her family to the United States. Usha was raised in San Diego, California, met Vance at Yale Law School, and they married in 2014. They have three children.
– “Hillbilly” –
Usha Vance has never visited the village, But the priest says that his father was there three years ago and was informed about the situation of the temple.
Little is known about Radhakrishnan’s early years in the United States, but the film based on Vance’s memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” says he arrived in the country “with nothing.”
Usha’s character, played by Indian actress Freida Pinto, says in the 2020 Netflix film that her father had to “make his own way.”
Usha is a devout Hindu and recently told Fox News that faith made his parents “good parents (…) really good people.”
Villagers are now following the couple’s campaign on YouTube and Facebook, said resident Venkaa Ramanayya, 70.
“We feel very happy and proud,” he said.
– Emigration –
Millions of Indians have made the same journey as the Chilukuris, and according to the latest US census, Indians are the second largest Asian ethnic group in the United States, reaching 4.8 million in 2020.
PV Gopalan, Harris’s maternal grandfather, left the village decades ago but locals say the family still has ties to the site and often donate money to the temple’s upkeep.
Some 600 kilometres from Vadluru, Usha’s great-grandaunt Chilukuri Santhamma urges others not to follow in her family’s footsteps.
Local media describe her as the oldest active teacher in the country.
Santhamma’s husband is also an academic and has been associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh movement, a far-right Hindu nationalist group.
According to Santhama, Usha should use her position and knowledge to stop Indian emigration To united states.
“They can go to get an education, they can go to get training, but there is a limit. They have to stay there for a certain amount of time and then come back,” he said.
She believes that Usha has had a difficult life despite being married to a “great person.
“Being the wife of a great person is a blessing,” but she “adopted politics as her subject,” he said. “And that’s a tough thing.”
