NEW DELHI, May 25 (ANI) — 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.
Rubio’s remarks come amid controversy sparked by a viral video of his response to a journalist’s question regarding alleged incidents of racism targeting Indians in the United States.
The original question was widely interpreted as a reference to previous remarks by Trump, who had reportedly grouped India and China together while criticizing individuals from both countries for allegedly exploiting America’s birthright citizenship laws.
Rubio is currently on a four-day official visit to India aimed at strengthening bilateral ties, which have faced challenges since mid-last year.
Addressing the controversy during a media interaction Monday morning, Rubio dismissed suggestions of systemic hostility toward Indians and reaffirmed the US administration’s commitment to its relationship with 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 said he had specifically asked the journalist to identify who had made the alleged remarks but did not receive a clear answer.
“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 said, suggesting that the comments in question may have been random online posts.
During the original exchange, the reporter asked, “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 Rubio asked for specifics, the journalist responded, “We all have seen those comments. We’ve seen endorsement of those comments.”
Responding to the broad nature of the allegations, Rubio remarked that “every country has stupid people.”
In a notable development, the US State Department initially uploaded footage of Rubio’s response to the racism-related question on the social media platform X before removing the post several hours later. (ANI)
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