Mumbai-born author Salman Rushdie has endorsed Kamala Harris's candidacy for the US presidency and said he believes she is the person who can prevent former president Donald Trump from dragging the country towards authoritarianism.
Rushdie on Sunday extended his support and endorsement of US Vice President Harris during a virtual South Asian Men for Harris' event attended by scores of leading names from the Indian-American community, including prominent lawmakers, authors, policy experts, entrepreneurs and diaspora organisations.
"It's a critical moment. I'm a boy from Bombay and it's great to see an Indian woman running for the White House. And my wife is African-American, so we like the fact that a Black and Indian woman is running for the White House," Rushdie said.
Harris, 59, is the presumptive presidential nominee of the Democratic Party. She officially declared her candidacy after incumbent President Joe Biden withdrew from the race for a second term on July 20.
She is expected to be officially declared as the presidential candidate by the Democrats next month.
The 77-year-old British-American novelist also noted that ethnicity itself is not enough. "We would not be gathering in this way let's say for Usha Vance or Nikki Haley," he said, referring to the Indian-American wife of Republican Vice Presidential nominee J D Vance and the Indian-American former South Carolina governor.
Rushdie emphasised that the momentum is because something very extraordinary, transformative has happened in American politics in just under one week. "The conversation has entirely changed with the arrival of Kamala Harris's candidacy and it's changed most joyfully, a way of optimism and positive, forward-thinking," he said.
Rushdie underscored that the community has to make that work because we can't allow the alternative to happen".
"This hollow man without a single noble quality, trying to drag this country towards authoritarianism. That cannot happen," he said, referring to 78-year-old Trump, a Republican. Rushdie voiced his confidence that Harris is the person who can prevent it. "And so I'm right in 1,000 per cent in for her."
He added that star power matters in America and one could argue that Trump's celebrity status from being on TV for many years helped him get elected to the White House in 2016. "Well, right now, he doesn't look like the star. He looks like the old, fat guy. Kamala looks like the superstar. And I think the charisma she brings to the campaign could be critical in the weeks ahead," he said.