On November 3, as the incumbent US President Donald Trump grappled to come to terms with a historic loss in the US Presidential Elections 2020, “You’re fired” trended on social media across the globe. Democrat Joe Biden and Vice-President elect Kamala Harris achieved a stupendous victory.
Biden was put over the edge by more than 147,000 votes in the state of Michigan and, after a days-long count, 34,000 votes in Pennsylvania. Speaking about her mother in her first address to the nation, Harris said, “And to the woman most responsible for my presence here today — my mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, who is always in our hearts. When she came here from India at the age of 19, maybe she didn’t quite imagine this moment.”
Little do people know that it is not just Kamala Harris who has roots in India. Joe Biden too has his own Indian connection. Biden made claims of having an Indian connection for the first time in 2013. A few years later he explained that he descended from George Biden, his “great, great, great, great, great, grandfather” who was apparently a Captain in the East India Company. A website claims that it wasn’t George, but his brother Christopher Biden who is most likely to be Joe’s ancestor (if at all it’s true) in India.
A total of 35 Indians contested the US Elections 2020. Out of them, 10 won, 15 lost, 9 are awaiting or trailing and only one is leading. Hiral Tipirneni, a Democrat from Arizona topped this list.
‘Joe is a healer’: Joe Biden, the family man
Biden has been trying to become the president for three decades. According to Joe Biden’s biography, just as all of his wildest dreams seemed to be coming true, he was struck by devastating tragedy. A week before Christmas in 1972, Biden's wife and three children were involved in a terrible car accident while out shopping for a Christmas tree. The accident killed his wife and daughter and severely injured both of his sons, Beau and Hunter. Biden was inconsolable and even considered suicide. He recalls, "I began to understand how despair led people to just cash in; how suicide wasn't just an option but a rational option ... I felt God had played a horrible trick on me, and I was angry." Biden has been married to his second wife, Jill Biden, since 1977. The couple's daughter, Ashley, was born in 1981. On May 30, 2015, Biden suffered another personal loss when his son Beau died at the age of 46, after battling brain cancer. "Beau Biden was, quite simply, the finest man any of us have ever known," Biden wrote in a statement about his son.
Speaking fondly about Biden, Kamala Harris quite rightly said in her winning speech that, “Joe is a healer. A uniter. A tested and steady hand. A person whose own experience of loss gives him a sense of purpose that will help us, as a nation, reclaim our own sense of purpose. And a man with a big heart who loves with abandon.”
In his first address to the nation after winning the presidential elections, Biden said, “I’m Jill’s husband. I would not be here without the love and tireless support of Jill, Hunter, Ashley, all of our grandchildren and their spouses and all our family. They are my heart.” In an interview with Elle, his grand daughters said that their grandfather talks to them every day, and if he doesn't hear from his grandchildren, he'll call them to ask what's wrong. "He always calls with the same energy even after he's just done 15 interviews in a row," Maisy Biden said.
Biden and India
India is now hoping that Biden will bring the dream of “two closest nations in the world'' come true for India-US. Even before the elections, Biden had hinted during his address to Indian American on India’s independence day that Indo-US relations are on “high priority” on his list. Michael Kugelman, deputy director and senior associate for South Asia at The Wilson Center in Washington, said India is getting a “long-time friend” in Biden. Coming to cross-border tensions, India can expect to have a strong ally in the US to put further pressure on China in terms of technology and global political affairs. Right before the elections, during a two plus two Ministerial Dialogue, India and America signed a key defence pact, sending a strong message to China and Pakistan. Defence trade is likely to exceed $20bn between India and the US, which will in turn reduce India’s dependence on Moscow for purchase of armaments. Arun Singh, former Indian ambassador to the US, said: “There’s a general sense in the US that China has emerged as a rival in military as well as in the technological field. “The policies towards China are unlikely to go back to what it used to be in 2014-15. Towards the end of the Obama administration, there was talk of an Asia rebalance or pivot, so the focus will remain.” However, free trade agreement between the two countries will take some time.
Biden and the UK
Former US President Barack Obama had appealed to the UK to stay in the EU. Biden resonated the same sentiment and tweeted last month: “"We can’t allow the Good Friday Agreement that brought peace to Northern Ireland to become a casualty of Brexit." The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: "MPs backed the UK Internal Market Bill by 340 votes to 263 in September and our position remains that the clauses are a vital safety net.” According to Biden, Nato is critical. He also indicated that if Iran returns to “strict compliance” then the US will rejoin the UK and others in the nuclear deal. The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) is due in Glasgow next year. Biden is said to be sure to rejoin the Paris Climate Change agreement to lower global average temperatures. UK PM Boris Johnson cited climate change as one of the “shared priorities” between the US and the UK. In an interview with the Associated Press, Boris Johnson said: "There is far more that unites the government of this country and government in Washington any time, any stage, than divides us."
What’s next for Biden?
Biden’s tragic family history and his own brush with death are reasons enough for him to put greater emphasis on health when his term begins as the President.
“China has grown in power and tensions have increased between the two superpowers. Europe is not the same since Brexit and the rise of populist parties.
Vladimir Putin has become increasingly meddlesome not least with regards to American democracy,” The Sky reported, underlining the challenges for Biden in the near future.
What happens if Trump doesn’t accept defeat?
Ex-Republican congressman Mr Coleman told the Telegraph that for over 200 years, no one has been forcibly removed from office, but if Trump doesn’t concede defeat, the country needs to prepare for the unthinkable. He said, “But we do not live in normal times, and Trump if certainly not a normal president.”
Meanwhile, incumbent President Trump is yet to accept defeat and vacate White House for bidden. "From this House to the White House with the Grace of God," Biden wrote in black pen on a wall of the living room behind a picture, signing his name and adding the date, "11-3-2020". The time has come.
