Sealing a historic breakthrough for Indian-Americans, five were sworn-in on Tuesday as members of the US Congress -- one of them, Kamala Harris, becoming the first to become a Senator.
Ami Bera, who was the only Indian-American in the 435-member House of Representatives and re-elected in the November elections, was joined by the four others, increasing the Indian-American contingent to five members in the Congress.
All five are Democrats and three of them -- Harris, Bera and Representative Ro Khanna -- are from California. The other two Representatives are Raja Krishnamoorthi from Illinois and Pramila Jayapal from Washington state.
Harris, whose mother was from Chennai and father from Jamaica, has a dual identity as both an Indian-American and an African-American. Vice President Joseph Biden administered her the oath of office which she swore on a Bible copy held by her husband Doug Emhoff.
Afterwards her family and friends gathered around the couple in celebration. Two of them were dressed in saris, although Harris wore a two-piece western outfit in blue.
In 1956, Democrat Dalip Singh Saund became the first Indian-American elected to Congress. Forty-eight years later, Republican Piyush Bobby Jindal was elected to the House in 2004 and re-elected in 2006. But in 2007 he was elected governor of Louisiana and left Congress. After a five-year gap for Indian-Americans, Bera was elected to Congress in 2012.
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--IANS
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