Officials in India knocked a recent post shared by President Trump online that referred to the country as a “hellhole,” dismissing the characterization as “obviously uninformed, inappropriate and in poor taste.”
Trump shared a multipage transcript from an episode of conservative commentator Michael Savage’s talk radio show, in which Savage was railing against the constitutional right to birthright citizenship.
“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,” the podcaster said, according to the transcript.
“You don’t have to go too far to see that,” he added, falsely claiming that speaking English was vanishing in America. “That there’s almost no loyalty to this country amongst the immigrant class coming in today, which was not always the case.”
The president shared the claims to his Truth Social account Wednesday without any additional commentary.
Trump signed an executive order at the start of his second term to limit the scope of the 14th Amendment — which grants citizenship to any person born or naturalized on U.S. soil — arguing that the constitutional provision has been misinterpreted and should not extend to U.S.-born children of immigrants in the country illegally.
The issue is now before the Supreme Court, which heard oral arguments in the case earlier this month as the president watched inside the courtroom.
Shri Randhir Jaiswal, a spokesperson for India’s Ministry of Government Affairs, pushed back against Savage’s comments in a statement Thursday.
“The remarks are obviously uninformed, inappropriate and in poor taste,” Jaiswal said. “They certainly do not reflect the reality of the India-US relationship, which has long been based on mutual respect and shared interests.”
The main opposition party in India also denounced the remark as “extremely insulting and anti-India” and called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to “register a strong objection” directly to Trump.
“Trump has repeatedly made insulting remarks about India, and Modi has remained SILENT,” the Congress Party wrote on social platform X. “Narendra Modi is a WEAK PM, and the entire country is bearing the brunt of it.”
Trump and Modi maintained positive ties during the president’s first term, but their relationship has been rockier in his second term amid trade disputes and geopolitical tensions over India’s importing of Russian oil.
An Indian delegation traveled to Washington this week for trade negotiations with U.S. officials, a meeting Ambassador Sergio Gor said was aimed at finalizing a bilateral deal reached by the two nations in February.
India’s trade ministry said Friday that the meetings were held in a “constructive and positive manner,” with market access, nontariff measures and technical barriers to trade among the discussions, according to Reuters.
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