US Second Lady Usha Chilukuri Vance’s Ties To The RSS?

Usha Chilukuri Vance, wife of Republican Vice Presidential Elect JD Vance, has garnered significant attention in India due to her Indian heritage. Media reports reveal that her family has a history of political activism, with a family member who was an RSS worker and was jailed during India’s Emergency period (1975–1977).

Usha’s rising popularity draws parallels to Kamala Harris, whose own Indian roots became a focal point during her bid for vice president alongside President Joe Biden in 2020.

Usha, 38, is a practicing Hindu and the daughter of Indian immigrants. With Trump winning the eection, she would assume the role ofsecond lady“, as the wife of Vice President Vance. 

She is a Yale and Cambridge graduate and left her law job when her husband joined the Republican ticket. Previously, she worked as a law clerk to U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts and later as an attorney at the American firm Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP. Recently, she made headlines with a speech introducing her husband at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

Interest in Usha’s background has surged internationally, with her ancestral story attracting considerable curiosity. Her great-aunt, 96-year-old Shanthamma Chilukuri, is one of India’s oldest active professors, commuting regularly to teach physics in Visakhapatnam.Our family has always prioritized education,Shanthamma shared with Reuters, adding that her husband and Usha’s grandfather both held university teaching positions.

In an interview with the Times of India, Shanthamma described Usha as the granddaughter of her husband’s eldest brother, noting, Usha has inherited our family’s intellectual legacy.”

Usha’s family background is rooted in academia, with both her father and grandfather affiliated with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), a prestigious engineering institution. Her sister is a mechanical engineer in San Diego, and her aunt works in healthcare in Chennai.

The family originally hails from Vadduru, a village in Andhra Pradesh, but relocated to Chennai when Usha’s grandfather, Ramasastry Chilukuri, began teaching physics at IIT in 1959. IIT now commemorates him through a student award in his honor.

(With inputs from Wion)

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