India’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday described remarks suggesting Indians are living in “hell” – posted on his Truth Social account – by US President Donald Trump as “clearly ill-considered, inappropriate and in poor taste”.
“It certainly does not reflect the reality of the India-US relationship, which has long been based on mutual respect and common interests,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said.
The insulting remarks were contained in the full transcript of the conservative political talk show Savage Nation, which Trump shared at his expense. The text was a broadside against birthright citizenship, the American legal principle that automatically grants citizenship to anyone born on American soil. “The child here becomes a citizen immediately, and then they bring the whole family from China, India or anywhere else on the planet,” the letter said.
Jaiswal’s sharper statement came after an initial response earlier in the day – “We have seen some reports. That’s where I leave it.” He said the department also reviewed the subsequent statement issued by the US Embassy in New Delhi, which, in response to queries, did not address the content of the post but referred to earlier statements by the President. A US embassy spokesman said: “The president said that India is a great country and there is a very dear friend of mine at the top.”
Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge criticized the post and what he described as the government’s silence. “Modi’s dear friend, ‘Namaste Trump’, has shared a memo that insults India and uses a very derogatory term. Modi ji remains completely silent on these ridiculous remarks,” he wrote on X, before the MEA’s stronger response.
Truth Social’s post comes as the Trump administration seeks to bring a legal challenge to birthright citizenship in the Supreme Court, seeking a narrower interpretation of a constitutional right it has long viewed as absolute.
The controversy also emerges at a time of increasing vulnerability for the Indian-American community, which has been concerned about rising instances of racist rhetoric on social media platforms like
“Racist content on social media elicits strong negative emotional reactions among Indian Americans,” the report noted. “Half of survey respondents reported feeling angry when faced with such posts, while a third reported feeling anxious (33%) or fearful (31%). One in five (26%) reported feeling hopeless.”
Separately, 40% of respondents said they had considered leaving the United States “occasionally” or “frequently.”
