Vice President Joe Biden, speaking today at the Bombay stock exchange, claimed Indian relatives.
“Thank you all for giving me this opportunity. It’s an honor to be back in India and to be here in Mumbai,” Biden said to kick off his speech. “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 audience can follow up for me, but I received a letter from a gentleman named Biden — Biden, my name — from Mumbai, asserting that we were related. (Laughter.) 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.
“And so I was thinking about it, if that’s true, I might run here in India for office. (Laughter.) I might be qualified. But I’ve never followed up on it. But now that I’m back for the multiple times, I’m going to follow up to find out whether there is a Biden and whether we’re related. I hope he’s in good standing if we are. (Laughter.)”
Biden also said that after this trip, he’d be able to return to Delaware and brag to the Indian-American community there.
And as an Irish American, it pleased my heart to see you beat Britain, England. (Laughter.) That’s a joke, by the way, for the press. (Laughter.) I don’t want to hear a headline: Biden at Odds with British Empire, you know? (Laughter.) But it does make me feel good. (Laughter.)
