Trump’s ‘hellholes’ post on India in ‘poor taste’ – New Delhi

New Delhi has hit back at US President Donald Trump’s controversial social media repost of a commentary that called India and China “hellholes.”

The US president on Thursday reposted a letter from American conservative political commentator and radio host Michael Savage describing immigrants from India as “gangsters with laptops.”

In a response posted on X, Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal termed the remarks as “obviously uninformed, inappropriate, and in poor taste.” 

“They certainly do not reflect the reality of the India-US relationship, which has long been based on mutual respect and shared interests,” Jaiswal posted.

The US Embassy in New Delhi reacted to Trump’s controversial post by praising US-India ties. “The President [Trump] has said India is a great country with a very good friend of mine [Prime Minister Narendra Modi] at the top,” an embassy spokesperson said.

Podcaster Savage’s message criticizing the US birthright citizenship laws also claimed that immigrants have done more damage to US than “all the mafia families put together.” It also alleged bias in internal hiring mechanisms, claiming they are “run by Indians and Chinese.”

READ MORE: Trump shares letter calling India and China ‘hellholes’

Trump signed an executive order in January last year seeking to limit birthright citizenship for certain children born in the US, prompting lawsuits.

US Congressman Ami Bera, a Democrat and son of Indian immigrants, called Trump’s post “offensive, ignorant, and beneath the dignity of the office he holds.” “They reflect a fundamental misunderstanding of who we are as a nation. America has always been strengthened by generations of immigrants who come here, work hard, and contribute to our country,” he wrote.

The fresh diplomatic row comes ahead of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s scheduled visit to New Delhi later this month, in what is seen by foreign policy commenters as an attempt to ease tensions amid ongoing turmoil in the Middle East as a result of the US-Israeli war on Iran.

Trump earlier courted controversy by claiming he was instrumental in preventing a nuclear war between India and Pakistan during a military standoff last year. New Delhi has denied that Washington brokered a ceasefire.