Vice President Joseph R. Biden suggested Wednesday to a crowd gathered at the Bombay Stock Exchange that his ancestry may in fact include Indian blood.
“It’s an honor to be back in India and to be here in Mumbai,” he said, as the Weekly Standard reported. “Off script for a second here, I was reminded — I was elected to the United States Senate when I was a 29-year-old kid back in 1972, and one of the first letters I received and I regret I never followed up on it. Maybe some genealogist in the audience can follow up for me, but I receive a letter from a gentleman named Biden — Biden, my name — from Mumbai, asserting that we were related.”
Mr. Biden then waited for the laughter to die, The Weekly Standard reported.
“Seriously. Suggesting that our mutual, great, great, great, something or other worked for the East India Trading Company back in the 1700s and came to Mumbai,” he said. “I’m going to follow up to find out whether there is a Biden and whether we’re related.”
Mr. Biden furthered the perception by saying that he could now return to his home state of Delaware and brag to the “tight Indian-American community” and “my friends who belong to that club” that he visited India, “home to the best cricket team in the world,” The Weekly Standard reported.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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