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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday sought to downplay allegations of rising anti-India rhetoric in the United States, asserting that President Donald Trump is a strong admirer of India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The top diplomat's remarks come amid a swirling controversy triggered by a viral video of his response to a journalist's query regarding alleged instances of racism targeting Indians in the US. The initial question was widely interpreted as an allusion to previous remarks by Trump, who had reportedly grouped India and China as a "hellhole" while accusing individuals from both nations of exploiting America's birthright citizenship laws. Rubio is presently on a four-day official visit to India. The high-profile trip is aimed at recalibrating bilateral ties, which have faced certain headwinds since mid-last year. Addressing the controversy during a media interaction this morning, Rubio dismissed the notion of systemic animosity and reinforced the American administration's commitment to New Delhi. "The President is a big fan of India, a big fan of Prime Minister Modi. I wouldn't be here if the President didn't want me to be here. He wouldn't have sent someone like Sergio Gor to be our ambassador, someone who's very close to the President," Rubio said. The Secretary of State explained that he had explicitly asked the journalist to clarify who exactly was behind the alleged remarks but did not receive a specific name. "The bottom line is that in the modern era, you go online, and there are people saying all kinds of crazy stuff. I don't even know if they're real people or who they are," Rubio noted, indicating his belief that the query pertained to random online commentary. During the original exchange, the reporter enquired, "There have been a lot of racist comments coming from the United States against Indians, Indian-Americans. You know this goes against the basic premise of the India-US relationship. What's your take on that?" When the top US diplomat pressed for specifics, the journalist replied, "We all have seen those comments. We've seen endorsement of those comments." Responding to the vague nature of the allegations, Rubio remarked that "every country has stupid people." In a notable development, the US State Department initially uploaded video footage of Rubio's response to the racism query on the social media platform X but subsequently removed the post a few hours later. (ANI)
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