Ahead of her debate with GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump, US Vice President Kamala Harris made a heart-warming post on National Grandparents Day, recalling the achievements of her maternal grandparents PV Gopalan and Rajam Gopalan.
In her post on X, Harris included an old family photo and claimed that her grandfather had participated in the fight for India’s independence.
“As a young girl visiting my grandparents in India, my grandfather took me on his morning walks, where he would discuss the importance of fighting for equality and fighting corruption. He was a retired civil servant who had been part of the movement to win India’s independence,” Harris wrote on X on Sunday.
Harris was referring to civil servant PV Gopalan, who worked for both the Indian government following the country’s independence and the British administration during its colonial period. According to reports, Gopalan assisted refugees from East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, in relocating to India. In addition, he served as an advisor to Kenneth Kaunda, the former president of Zambia. His wife Rajam Gopalan gained recognition for her social work in Zambia.
“My grandmother travelled across India—bullhorn in hand—to speak with women about accessing birth control. Their commitment to public service and fight for a better future live on in me today,” she added.
Social media users react to Harris post
Meanwhile, social media users disputed Harris‘ assertion about her grandfather, pointing out that he had been a member of the British Imperial Secretariat Service, which following India’s independence changed its name to the Central Secretariat Service. “How could a serving bureaucrat be part of the independence movement opposing the same government and violating service rules?” one user questioned. Another person remarked, “Everything you say is a lie.”
“You’re not even an American. Stop lying about your grandmother on a bullhorn in India calling out for abortions. You’re a pathological liar,” a third user wrote.
Harris has often called PV Gopalan one of the “original independence fighters in India”. However, Gopalan was a conscientious civil servant, according to the records. Gopalan’s son, Harris’ uncle G Balachandran, claimed that his father may have been dismissed if he had publicly supported the end of British rule.
In 1911, Gopalan was born in Painganadu, close to the presidency of Madras.
Harris is set to face Donald Trump in the most-awaited ABC debate on September 10.
