TIWN
New York, Nov 7 (TIWN) "Someone on my street is singing through a bullhorn, 'the witch is dead', I'm going to go out and yell too!'," reads a text from a Manhattan voter, running down her stairs to join the jubilation outside.
The Biden-Harris ticket has defeated incumbent President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence in a bitterly-fought election that attracted a record number of Americans to cast their votes.
"This is a big day (for Indian-Americans)," Silicon Valley-based Indian-American and Indiaspora founder M Rangaswami told PTI soon after major media US outlets declared Biden, 77, as the next president and Harris, 56, as the next vice president of the country.
"Joe Biden has a long record of supporting closer ties with India. As a senator, he led the effort to approve the US-India civil nuclear deal. As vice president, he not only visited India but was also instrumental in India being designated a ''Major Defense Partner'' of America. He supports a permanent seat for India on the UN Security Council," Rangaswami said.
"Who would''ve thought that Indian Americans, a very young immigrant community in the world''s oldest democracy, would have a vice president in such short order. It''s beyond our wildest imaginations, but this is the American Dream! It''s why immigrants come to America," Rangaswami said in response to a question.
The community will have direct representation in the executive branch with Vice President-Elect Harris, who will be the first Black woman to hold the office, said Neha Dewan, national director of South Asians for Biden.
"South Asians for Biden is elated to celebrate the hard-fought victory earned by President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris in this election," she said.
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