
“As a fellow South Asian and Tamil, I am deeply proud of his commitment to making the world a better place,” said AR Rahman. File | Photo credit: The Hindu
Composer and singer AR Rahman supports US vice president and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris for the White House, while conducting a concert for her. Ms. Harris’s mother, Shyamala Gopalan, a cancer researcher in California, was from Chennai (then Madras), where Mr. Rahman is from.
Sunday pre-recorded evening concert (October 13, 2024) was organized by the AAPI Victory Fund, a Super PAC (Political Activity Committee) that supports Ms. Harris and other Asian American candidates.

Mr. Rahman sang various well-known songs including Jai Ho (Be Victorious) from Slumdog Millionaire and “Singapenney”, which translates to “lioness” from the Tamil film titled Bigil. He was accompanied by drummer Veeramani and sang in duets, notably with singer and dubber Chinmayi Sripada.
“Her (Ms. Harris) focus on focusing on what unites us rather than what divides us is a very important message, not only for the United States but for the world,” Mr. Rahman said.

“As a fellow South Asian and Tamil, I am deeply proud of his commitment to making the world a better place,” he said.
Ms. Harris’s mother, Shyamala Gopalan, was Indian and her father is black, originally from Jamaica. In his book, The Truths We Hold: An American JourneyMs. Harris, who was raised primarily by her mother, says Ms. Gopalan and her relatives “instilled in us pride in our South Asian roots” and that Ms. Harris and her sister, Maya, were raised with “a strong awareness of and appreciation of Indian culture”. She also says that her mother knew that in the United States they would be considered “black” and therefore raised them to be “confident and proud black women.”

Speaking to the National Association of Black Journalists in July 2024, former US President Donald Trump, who is battling Ms Harris for the presidency, had questioned Ms Harris’ racial identity by suggesting she was relatively more based on its Indian identity, until recently. . Ms. Harris had called Mr. Trump’s suggestion an example of “the same old show: divisions and disrespect.”
During the concert on Sunday, October 13, 2024, AAPI founder Shekhar Narasimhan, of Indian descent, urged attendees to get involved in the elections.
“You have to make a plan to vote. You have to volunteer in this campaign and you have to donate,” said Shekhar Narasimhan, adding, “It is called ‘tan man dhan’ (body, mind, wealth).
Mr. Narasimhan said that 400,000 Indian American voters in seven “battleground states” (i.e. Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada, Arizona, Georgia and North Carolina) North) could become the “margin of difference” between winning and losing the election, given the margins of victory in these states in 2020.
US President Joe Biden won six of these states, while Mr Trump won one, North Carolina, in 2020.
Published – October 14, 2024 at 08:29 IST