United States Vice President JD Vance will travel to India later this month alongside Second Lady Usha Vance, who is of Indian origin, Politico reported citing three sources familiar with the plans. 

Advertisment

This will be Vance's second foreign trip as vice president after making his world stage debut in France and Germany last month, where he faced criticism.  

Attending the Munich Security Conference, Vance slammed European policies on immigration, populist parties and free speech, echoing President Donald Trump, whom he called Washington's "new sheriff in town". 

Also read: ‘Until Americans show us respect’: Canada PM-elect Carney vows ‘maximum impact’ response to US tariffs

Advertisment

He stressed that Europe must "step up" in managing its own security, which is a key bone of contention. But he mostly lambasted the EU's members on culture war issues. 

"There is a new sheriff in town under Donald Trump's leadership," said Vance in a speech that stunned the room, and was later condemned as "unacceptable" by German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius. 

Also read: Russia launches air attack on Kyiv hours after Ukraine backs 30-day ceasefire 

Advertisment

Usha Vance family

Usha Vance has Indian roots as her parents emigrated from India to the US. This will be her first time visiting her ancestral country as second lady. 

Usha's parents, Lakshmi and Radhakrishna "Krish" Chilukuri, are Telugu Indian immigrants who relocated to the US in the late 1970s. 

Her father is a mechanical engineer and lecturer, while her mother is a molecular biologist and provost at the University of California, San Diego. 

Also read: US probe reports high risk of plane-chopper crashes in Washington

The family is originally from a village called Vadduru in Andhra Pradesh state but moved to Chennai when Usha Vance's paternal grandfather, Ramasastry Chilukuri, went to teach at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) there around the time it was set up in 1959, news agency Reuters reported citing members of the family. 

While Usha Vance studied at Yale and Cambridge, her father and grandfather both taught or studied at the IIT. 

Also read: Pakistan train hijack: Baloch group kills 20 military personnel, gives 48-hour deadline as it holds 182 hostages

Her younger sister is a mechanical engineer with a semiconductor company in San Diego and her aunt is a medical professional in the southern Indian city of Chennai.

Usha married JD Vance in 2014 and they have three adorable kids together: Ewan (7 years old), Vivek (4 years old), and Mirabel (3 years old). 

(With inputs from agencies)