Five Indian Americans, hailing from a minority ethnic community which is just one percent of the entire US population, have set a benchmark after swearing in as US Congress Members.
Kamala Harris sworn-in on January 3 as the Senator from California by the outgoing US vice President Joe Biden. The 52-year-old California Senator comes from a family where her mother is an Indian and her father is from Jamaica of African heritage.
Harris’s husband Doug Emhoff, sister Maya Harris, and other family members were also present in the ceremony. After taking
After taking the oath, she expressed how she felt being the senator. She said, “I sworn-in as the senator of California and I’m honoured to serve the people. Let’s work together.”
Harris had already cleared her agenda of fighting out the alleged divisive policies of the Republicans who are now in majority in both the houses i.e., House of Representative and the Senate.
Following Kamala, there were four other Indian Americans who sworn-in as the members of the House Chambers. They were Congressmen Ami Bera, Ro Khanna and Raja Krishnamoorthi.
Ami Bera has been re-elected for the third consecutive term. He has equaled the record of Dalip Singh Saundh who was the first Indian-American to be elected as the member of the US Congress 60 years ago.
Representing the Silicon valley, 40-years-old Ro Khanna sworn in on a bicentennial edition of the Constitution on loan from the rare books division of the Library of Congress.
Surprisingly, Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi took the oath on Gita. 42-years-old Krishnamoorthi, who contested elections from Illinois, is the second US lawmaker after Tulsi Gabbard from Hawaii to take oath on Gita. Tulsi Gabbard was the first Hindu to be elected as a member of the US Congress for three consecutive terms.
