BENGALURU: “We knew she would win. She is a hard worker and is fighting for the welfare of people,” said Maya Jayapal, mother of Indian-American Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, who got re-elected to the US House of Representatives for the third consecutive time in the US elections.
Chennai-born Pramila from the Democratic Party defeated Republican Craig Keller by a massive margin in the seventh congressional district of Washington state.
Pramila’s parents, writer Maya Jayapal and retired marketing professional MP Jayapal, stay on Bride Street, Richmond Town. With both their daughters settled in the US, the couple moved to Bengaluru 10 years ago.
“I am extremely thrilled and proud of my daughters and they have always stood for the right things,” Maya told TOI. Pramila’s elder sister, Susheela Jayapal, is county commissioner of Multnomah County in Oregon.
“Politics was not really our thing. Neither my husband nor I have any inclination towards politics. We are not really sure how our daughters got into it,” adds the proud mother.
Maya says her girls were always interested in fighting for social justice. “Pramila went to Georgetown University to pursue her Bachelor of Arts, where she fell in love with English. My husband often joked that he wasn’t sending her there to just study English,” she adds.
“It was during her undergraduation that she learnt how to be a great orator,” says Maya. “She has had an abiding interest in underdogs, LGBT and feminism. She has worked relentlessly towards betterment of people,” she says.
Pramila had called her maternal uncle after the elections and told him she would win with a margin of 80%.