Why this Andhra Village is celebrating Donald Trump’s election victory

Villagers had offered prayers for Donald Trump’s victory (File)

Vadluru:

Far from Republican celebrations as Donald Trump claimed US election victory, residents of a sleepy Indian village celebrated that their descendant would become the next “Second Lady”, hoping to capitalize on her success.

Academic highflyer and successful lawyer Usha Vance, child of Indian immigrants, is the wife of Trump’s running mate JD Vance.

While 38-year-old Usha Vance was born and raised in suburban San Diego, those in her paternal ancestral village in India’s southern Andhra Pradesh state prayed that historical ties would bring betterment to their country.

“We feel happy,” said Srinivasa Raju, 53, a resident of Vadluru, a village of whitewashed homes scattered among palm trees, more than 13,450 (8,360 miles) from the White House in Washington. “We support Trump.”

Villagers had been praying for a Trump victory, and Hindu priest Appaji said he hoped Usha Vance would do something in return.

“We expect her to help our village,” said the 43-year-old priest, dressed in flowing saffron robes, after lighting a candle at the idol of the Hindu elephant-headed deity Ganesh for Trump.

“If she can recognize her roots and do something good for this village, then that would be great.”

‘Very nice’

Usha Vance’s great grandfather moved out of Vadluru and her father Chilukuri Radhakrishnan – a PhD holder – was brought up in the Indian city of Chennai before she went on to study in the US.

“Every Indian – not just myself, every Indian – we feel proud of Usha because she is of Indian origin,” said 70-year-old Venkata Ramanayy. “We hope she will develop our village.”

She has never visited the village, but the priest said her father came around three years ago and checked the condition of the temple.

“We’ve already seen Trump’s governance — very good,” Ramanayy said. “Indian-American relations were very good during Trump’s presidency.”

Little is known about Radhakrishnan’s early years in the United States, but the film of JD Vance’s memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, refers to him arriving in the country with “nothing”.

Millions of Indians have made similar journeys to the Chilukuris, and according to the latest US census, Indians have become the country’s second-largest Asian ethnicity, growing 50 percent to 4.8 million in the decade to 2020.

Usha, a practicing Hindu who studied at Yale and Cambridge Universities, married JD Vance in Kentucky in 2014. They have three children.

‘Inspiring’

But the story was different about 730 kilometers (454 miles) to the southwest, in Thulasendrapuram, once the home of Kamala Harris’s grandfather.

TS Anbarasu, 63, said the Democrat’s “fight” had encouraged girls to stay in school.

“She inspires this village,” he said. “Every school in the surrounding area knows the students about Kamala Harris.”

Harris, 60, was born in California but was often taken to India by her mother.

“If she comes here, we will treat her like the president of the United States,” Anbarasu said.

“We’re still proud of her. She’s like family to us. If our family members fail, we don’t discriminate against them or treat them like a loser, right?”

(With the exception of the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)