India's government on Thursday rejected as "uninformed" a transcript posted by U.S. President Donald Trump that quoted a conservative radio commentator describing some countries as a "hellhole." New Delhi said the language was inappropriate and did not reflect the reality of the long-standing India-U.S. relationship.
The comments were originally made by Michael Savage on an episode of The Savage Nation. Trump shared a transcript of that episode on his Truth Social account on Thursday and did not add any commentary to the post.
According to the transcript Trump posted, Savage said: "A baby here becomes an instant citizen, and then they bring the entire family in from China or India or some other hellhole on the planet." Savage went on, as quoted in the same transcript, to say: "That there's almost no loyalty to this country amongst the immigrant class coming in today, which was not always the case. No, they're not like the European Americans of today and their ancestors." Reuters could not immediately reach Savage for comment.
Trump has sought to limit birthright citizenship in the United States through a directive that is being challenged in the U.S. Supreme Court. Earlier this month, he attended a hearing on the issue in what was described as a historic visit to the court.
India's foreign ministry responded late on Thursday. In a statement, ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said: "The remarks are 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."
The U.S. embassy in New Delhi highlighted a separate comment by the president, saying: "The president has said 'India is a great country with a very good friend of mine at the top'." China’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Domestically in India, the main opposition Congress party criticized the phrase. Calling the "hellhole" remark "extremely insulting and anti-India" and saying "It hurts every Indian," the party urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to raise the matter directly with the U.S. President and to register a strong objection, posting its statement on X.
Indian government figures show that nearly 5.5 million people of Indian origin reside in the United States. Indian Americans and Chinese Americans are identified as the two largest Asian-origin groups in the U.S.
Relations between Trump and Modi were warm during Trump’s first term, the statement noted, but ties cooled after India faced some of the highest U.S. tariffs last year. Many of those tariffs were rolled back this year. New Delhi and Washington are currently negotiating a trade agreement intended to prevent tariffs from rising again and to increase bilateral sales.
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