Chennai: They had taken Kamala Harris’ victory for granted and planned grand celebrations in the native village of Kamala Harris’ mother in Tamil Nadu.
But as Donald Trump conquered the crucial swing states one after the other throughout Tuesday night (US time) and since morning (India time), the high levels of enthusiasm started evaporating in Thulasendrapuram village, located in Tiruvarur district.
“We were hoping for her victory and had planned celebrations bigger than Deepavali. We made arrangements to burst firecrackers, distribute sweets, offer pujas in the temple and host a community lunch,” J Sudhakar, DMK Tiruvarur district representative and Thulasendrapuram village leader, told PTI.
Heartbroken as they are right now, residents of Thulasendrapuram are also optimistic that Kamala will bounce back.
“It was a tough fight, and you must admire her fighting spirit. She is a fighter and will make a comeback,” Sudhakar added.
According to retired ONGC employee T S Anbasarasu, many people in the village just cannot digest Kamala’s defeat against Trump.
“We cannot digest the fact that she has lost, but the saving grace is that she is only 60 years old and we expect her to win the next election. But Trump is 78. We are confident she (Kamala) will not get bogged down by this loss and continue her work,” he said.
“We hope she will visit our village after getting elected in future… we expected her to visit our village a few years back and had sent messages to her relatives too… our village has become a tourist spot because of her,” he added.
