Modi's Hindutva: Has BJP's Politics Hurt India's International Image?

The Indian cricket team's crass behavior after defeating the Pakistani team at the Asia Cup 2025 group encounter has raised eyebrows among sports fans around the world. Not only did Suryakumar Yadav, the Indian team captain, refuse to do the customary handshake before and after the match in Dubai but he also made controversial statements linking the match with the recent India-Pakistan conflict. “A few things in life are above sportsman’s spirit ......We stand with all the victims of the Pahalgam terror attack and with their families, and dedicate this win to our brave armed forces who took part in Operation Sindoor”, he said. 

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi

This latest incident in the UAE illustrates one of the reasons why there is a growing backlash against the Indian diaspora in Australia, Canada, Europe, the United Kingdom and the United States. All of these countries and regions have seen very public expressions of disgust at the behavior of Indians in these countries. This is in part attributed to the politics of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has proclaimed his country as "Vishwaguru", meaning the world's guru. It is often seen as an expression of Hindu Supremacy and denigration of all others. 

The arrogance of the Indian diaspora was highlighted last year when Vivek Ramaswamy, then a candidate for the Republican Party's presidential nomination,  said Americans don't have a good enough work ethic as American culture "venerated mediocrity over excellence." He offered it as a key justification to bring in more Indians to work in the United States. The backlash in the United States was immediate and strong.  The essence of the response to the Hindu supremacist criticism of the US culture went like this: People from India, a "shit-hole" country, are jealous of  America.  Earlier, Professor Amy Wax of University of Pennsylvania, told Tucker Carlsen that “the role of envy and shame in the way the third world [sic] regards the first world […] creates ingratitude of the most monstrous kind.” She also said that ‘Brahmin women’ of India are taught that they are better than everybody. 

American social media, particularly Trump's MAGA base, have turned against India and Indians, making them the most hated diaspora in the United States.  They are getting a taste of the kind of hate that the BJP, India's ruling party, has been promoting against Muslims. Anti-Indian slurs like "pajeet", "dirty Indian" and "coolie" have become common. 

Ashley Tellis, a strongly pro-India analyst in the United States, recently published an essay for Foreign Affairs magazine titled "India's Great Power Delusions" in which he wrote that "the country (India) is shedding one of its main sources of strength—its liberal democracy—by embracing Hindu nationalism. This evolution could undermine India’s rise by intensifying communal tensions and exacerbating problems with its neighbors, forcing it to redirect security resources inward to the detriment of outward power projection. The country’s illiberal pivot further undermines the rules-based international order that has served it so well". 

The U.S. Embassy in New Delhi has warned Indians traveling to the United States they could have their American visas revoked if they commit serious crimes on American soil. The advisory was issued days after police bodycam footage of an Indian woman allegedly shoplifting goods worth around $1,300 from a Target store in Illinois was widely shared online, according to The Independent

In recent years, India has emerged as a major hub for global scams. The US government has alleged in court documents that a large enterprise originating from India was involved in stealing nearly $1.5 billion from elderly Americans. Recently, two Indian nationals, Pranay Mamindi and Kishan Patel, were found guilty of participating in a money laundering conspiracy, concealing the source of the money, and using the illegally gained money to further promote a criminal enterprise.  Six other defendants from India also pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing. 

These global scams appear to have started amid widespread unemployment in India. Many of the scammers previously worked in call centers where they learned to use computers and telecommunications networks to reach out and talk to Americans. In 2022, U.S. citizens fell victim to a massive loss of over $10 billion from phishing calls orchestrated by illegal Indian call centers, according to data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). 

Indian-Americans, too, have been found guilty in a number of high-profile scams. A federal jury convicted former Theranos executive Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani, an Indian-American entrepreneur, on all 12 counts of fraud in 2022. Balwani was born in 1965 in Pakistan to a Sindhi Hindu family. His one-time girlfriend and partner Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of Theranos, was convicted on similar charges earlier that year. Both face up to 20 years in prison. 

Last year, a federal judge sentenced former Outcome Health CEO Rishi Shah, an Indian-American, to 7½ years in prison for a massive fraud scheme that prosecutors say enabled a “jet-set lifestyle” featuring private aircraft, yachts and a tony Chicago home.

In 2020, Dr. John Nath Kapoor, Indian-American CEO of Insys Therapeutics, was found guilty of conspiring to recklessly and illegally boost profits from the opioid painkiller Subsys, a fentanyl spray designed to be absorbed under the tongue, according to multiple media reports.

Rajat Gupta, an Indian-American former global head of McKinsey & Company, was convicted of insider trading in 2012. He was charged with passing on confidential business information about Goldman Sachs to hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam. Gupta was found guilty on multiple counts of conspiracy and securities fraud and served a two-year prison sentence. 

India Ranks Number One For Misinformation and Disinformation

Beyond the hub of scams and frauds, it seems that India has earned a reputation as the epicenter of misinformation and disinformation. According to experts surveyed for the World Economic Forum’s 2024 Global Risk Report, India was ranked highest for the risk of misinformation and disinformation.  This was on full display during the recent conflict with Pakistan. 

After the recent Pahalgam militant attack in Kashmir, the Indian government immediately blamed it on Pakistan without any investigation or evidence. More than a month later, the perpetrators have neither been clearly identified nor apprehended. And yet, the government of Prime Minister Modi proceeded with air strikes inside Pakistan. Pakistan retaliated and shot down several Indian fighter jets, including its most advanced French Rafales. The conflict began to quickly escalate with strikes and counter-strikes, with the world fearing a nuclear exchange. This prompted the United States and several other countries to intervene and force a ceasefire in less than 4 days of armed conflict. 

During this short 4-day period, the Indian mainstream media was filled with lies. Here's how the Washington Post reported this: "Times Now Navbharat reported that Indian forces had entered Pakistan; TV9 Bharatvarsh told viewers that Pakistan’s prime minister had surrendered; Bharat Samachar said he was hiding in a bunker. All of them, along with some of the country’s largest channels — including Zee News, ABP News and NDTV — repeatedly proclaimed that major Pakistani cities had been destroyed". 

It is unfortunate but true: Fraud and falsehood have become endemic in the Indian society.  Part of the blame falls squarely on the ruling BJP party which promotes falsehoods. In 2018, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's right-hand man and home minister Amit Shah told his party's volunteers commonly known as Modi Bhakts: "We can keep making messages go viral, whether they are real or fake, sweet or sour". "Keep making messages go viral. We have already made a WhatsApp group with 32 lakh people in Uttar Pradesh; every morning they are sent a message at 8 am", Shah added, according to a report in Dainik Bhaskar, an Indian Hindi-language daily newspaper.

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Comment by Riaz Haq on December 26, 2025 at 9:52am

Nick Fuentes vows to oppose Vivek Ramaswamy's Ohio governor bid | Fox News

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/nick-fuentes-says-hell-campaign-ag...

"I think I’m going to go to Ohio and the word that we are looking for is denial. We have to deny Vivek Ramaswamy the governorship. This is the only race I care about in ‘26. It’s the only one I care about," Fuentes said during a Tuesday livestream. He also used a slur to describe Ramaswamy and said he does not care if a Democrat defeats him in the governor's race.

———

https://www.newindiaabroad.com/english/news/ro-khanna-fuentes-racis...

Khanna took exception to Fuentes's attacks on Ramaswamy, whom Fuentes described as an "anchor baby". The YouTuber has previously also used racist and anti-Indian slurs against Usha Vance, who was born in the United States to Indian immigrant parents. Additionally, he had called Vice President JD Vance a "race-traitor" for marrying a non-white individual.

Indian Culture Products
Coming to the defence of his ideological rivals, Khanna said, "Nick, your campaigning against @VivekGRamaswamy because he is Hindu & of Indian heritage to send a message to @JDVance in 28 is chilling."



Speaking on a recent podcast, Fuentes pointed out that Ramaswamy is not a Christian and defeating him is Fuentes' only concern in this election. He added, "Could you imagine? No nativity, no Christmas carol, no consecration at the altar of Christ, no reverence for the newborn king! What a world! He has to be denied next year.”

Khanna responded saying, "I reject your bigotry against Vivek & Usha Vance. Many Hindu Americans, including my family, love celebrating Christmas."

Vivek Ramaswamy was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1985 to immigrant parents from southern India. His mother was a geriatric psychiatrist, and his father worked as an engineer and patent attorney. Raised in a Hindu family, he graduated from Harvard University with a degree in biology and later earned his law degree from Yale Law School.

Comment by Riaz Haq on December 29, 2025 at 5:07pm

One of America’s Most Successful Experiments Is Coming to a Shuddering Halt

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By Lydia Polgreen

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/29/opinion/indian-americans-trump.html


A helicopter circled overhead, blanketing flower petals on the glittering likeness of the god, revered for his strength, selflessness and devotion to faith. Priests in white and saffron robes mounted a crane to anoint the 90-foot-tall statue and drape it with garlands of flowers. A crowd of hundreds gathered as both India’s national song, “Vande Mataram,” and “The Star-Spangled Banner” were played, a perfect encapsulation of Indian Americans’ easy blending into the mores of their adopted home even as many maintained their own traditions.

But just outside the temple walls, dozens of conservative Christian protesters gathered, castigating what they called “a demon god.” Local right-wing politicians seized on the topic. “Why are we allowing a false statue of a false Hindu God to be here in Texas? We are a CHRISTIAN nation,” a U.S. Senate candidate wrote on social media.

———-

Amid an astonishing wave of anti-Indian animus, it’s a question many Indian Americans are asking. In its crudest form, mostly expressed on social media, this antipathy shows up as gutter racism and religious bigotry — an endless stream of invective declaring that Indians have low I.Q.s, worship devils, cheat their way into the country and commit terrible crimes. But it is fostered, in barely cloaked forms, by top Republican officials who accuse Indians of stealing American jobs.

“They engage in a lot of cheating on immigration policies that is very harmful to American workers,” Stephen Miller, the architect of President Trump’s hard-line immigration crackdown, declared on Fox News. Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida referred to the H-1B visa program that allows highly skilled immigrants, many of them Indian tech workers, to come to the United States with their families as “chain migration run amok.” Many Indian Americans took umbrage when JD Vance, who is married to a Hindu daughter of Indian immigrants, expressed his hope that his wife would someday convert to Christianity.

It is a startling turn in one of the most successful migration experiments in modern history. Since 1965, when civil rights immigration law opened the United States to migrants from countries across the globe, hundreds of thousands of Indians have immigrated to the United States. No group has made a bigger success of its opportunity. Indian Americans’ median household income significantly outstrips that of white Americans overall; about three-quarters of Indian American adults have at least a college degree and many work in high-status, well-paying professions in places like Houston, New York and Silicon Valley.

—————-

Now, all of a sudden, six decades of mutually beneficial migration are coming to a shuddering halt. Most Americans have quite positive views of Indian Americans. But the combination of anti-Indian rhetoric and government visa policies — not least the chaos that has enveloped the H-1B visa — has already had a powerful chilling effect. Indians last year became the largest contingent of foreign students at American universities, but this year arrivals of Indian students fell by 44 percent.

—————

But Mehta also wondered whether Indian Americans had become a bit smug about their spectacular success in America over the past six decades, trusting that their wealth and status would shield them from the kind of bigotry that once barred them from entry and citizenship. Indian Americans, he said, tell themselves: “We are the richest, best educated people. We don’t commit crimes. We go to good schools. We came here legally. We’re not like the Mexicans.”

Comment by Riaz Haq on December 29, 2025 at 9:38pm

Talented Indians thought they could make Germany home, but many want to move on now
The country is attracting a much-needed skilled workforce. But racist attitudes and anti-migrant sentiment mean few will stay on.
Amrita Datta
Jun 02, 2025 · 10:00 am


https://scroll.in/article/1082763/talented-indians-thought-they-cou...


Germany is at the cross-roads of a “migration ambivalence”. To address its labour shortage and demographic deficits, Germany is increasingly positioning itself as a hub for global talent for highly skilled migrants. This puts Indians from STEM fields, research, academia and healthcare at the top of the chart.

However, growing anti-migrant sentiment fuelled by the rising popularity of the far right party, Alternative für Deutschland or AfD, does little to help Germany project a pro-migrant image for Germany.


While much of the focus of the country’s migrant policy has been on attracting talent and settling it in, more attention must be paid to retaining it.

Through my ethnographic research with Indian migrants that culminated in a monograph Stories of the Indian Immigrant Communities in Germany: Why Move?, I have focussed extensively on why Indian migrants are increasingly choosing Germany as an immigration destination.

Indians are currently the seventh-largest migrant group in Germany and the only immigrant community from outside Europe dominated by highly skilled, highly qualified migrants. Between 2010 and 2020, the total number of Indians in Germany (57.6% are white-collar immigrants) has increased from 42,000 to 1,59,000. In addition, the number of Indian students joining German universities has gone up approximately from 25,149 in 2022 to 33,753 in 2024.

Since then, I have followed the trajectories and movements of these migrants. I have found that many are uncertain about choosing Germany as a long-term home. Given the growing anti-migrant political situation in Germany, many Indian migrants who arrived with strong credentials, secure jobs and aspirations for a better life are now strongly considering onward migration.



“My husband and I are confused at the moment,” one woman said. “We both have good jobs, but our daughter already feels out of place. Her classmates tease her about her dark hair and skin. None of her classmates look like her, and it makes her feel ugly. Is this really the place where we want her to grow up?”

This is not an isolated experience. The rise of the growing popularity of the AfD has cast a shadow over a pro-migrant image that Germany has tried cultivating in the last few years, specifically anchored on the European Union’s Blue Card Scheme that offers work and residence permits, Skilled Migration Act 2020 to make immigration easier for highly trained workers and and MoU with India in 2022 to facilitate mobility for students and professionals.


Structural and everyday racism and a systematic denial of the existence of racism in mainstream German society impact how migrants perceive their long-term futures.

One of my key participants summarised this for me. “Despite my highly paid job, I face racism in the metro, on the streets,” this person said. “Germany is not the only Western country where racism exists, but here, if you speak about it, you’re told off and called over-sensitive. My white colleagues simply don’t believe me.”


The lack of occupational upward mobility is part of the spectrum of discrimination. As my book observed, Germany offers a strong entry-point for early career professionals. But Indian global talent as people of colour still find it hard to be hired to positions of authority, decision making and those that require access to and management of finances within organisations.

While the rise of the AfD has increased discrimination that Indian migrants experience, the arrival of the far-right in the mainstream political system in Germany has also opened a conversation on racism that otherwise remains shoved under the carpet.

Comment by Riaz Haq on December 29, 2025 at 9:42pm

Who is Matt Forney? US journalist has a bizarre solution to save Indians from racist attacks: 'Deport them'- The Week


https://www.theweek.in/news/world/2025/12/26/who-is-matt-forney-us-...

US far-right journalist Matt Forney suggested a bizarre solution to save Indians from racist attacks: "Deport Every Indian".

In an X post that was later deleted, Forney warned that hatred against Indians will reach a boiling point in 2026, with people from the community singled out for violence, their businesses vandalised, and their temples subjected to bombings and mass shootings.

He went on to claim that "the perpetrators will be black, Latino or Pakistani, not white, which will lead the media to cover up hate crimes they would otherwise eagerly blame on MAGA and Trump, like how the 'anti-Asian' hate crimes at the beginning of COVID were shushed up when it was discovered that blacks, not whites, were assaulting Asians."

Forney then maintained that he wants peace in America and deplore all violence. "And there is only one way to stop it. For their own safety, we must DEI: Deport Every Indian."

Who is Matt Forney?
Matt Forney, who is known for his racist remarks, is based in New York. He targeted Indian American communities through his blogs. One of them was titled, '5 Reasons Why You Should Not Date Indian Girls'. His works appeared in The Peach and Misery Tourism in the past. In 2018, he established the Terror House Press, an independent literary publisher, where he served as chief editor till 2024.

In November, was fired by The Blaze for making anti-Indian remarks on social media. He was covering Indian affairs and H-1B visas at The Blaze. "I have been let go from THE BLAZE. My Tweeting was cited as 'concern[ing]'. I was not given specific examples of Tweets that they were 'concerned' about, and THE BLAZE had reached out to me BECAUSE of my Tweeting in the first place," Forney wrote on X.

Forney on November 4 said Kruti Patel Goyal, the new CEO of Etsy, was "unqualified" and called for deportation of Indians. "Yet another unqualified Indian takes over an American company. And I guarantee her first action will be to fire every American and replace them with other Indians, either directly or via bodyshops. DEI: Deport Every Indian."

Comment by Riaz Haq on January 2, 2026 at 9:59am

Andrew Branca Show
@TheBrancaShow
If Indians are so capable of excellence, so smart, so able to live within and contribute to a first-world nation and culture--WHY DOES ALL THIS ONLY MANIFEST IN THE FIRST-WORLD? Why does INDIA, which is FULL OF INDIANS, remain a decrepit and disgusting THIRD-WORLD nation and culture?

Because the QUALITY is WITHIN the first-world nation, NOT within the INDIANS. They are merely EXPLOITING that first-world quality for their own advantage, and AT THE COST of quality of life in every dimension of the first-world peoples insanely hosting them.

FULL VIDEO HERE: https://x.com/TheBrancaShow/status/2006792943806627969

https://x.com/TheBrancaShow/status/2006793167539155218?s=20

-------------------


Andrew Branca Show
@TheBrancaShow
Indians express precisely the same primitive third-world sociopathic in-group behaviors as any other third-worlders from Haiti or Somalia--they have no sense of shame or moderation when it comes to seizing resources that benefit themselves and their in-group, even at the cost of others for whom the resources are intended.

Here's a video of a pair of Indians in a $75,000 car effectively LOOTING a FOOD BANK intended to help people too poor to serve themselves, who will now have to go hungry--and perhaps the food bank itself given up entirely as a wasted effort.

Indian third-worlders sociopathically have no sense of anyone outside their immediate clan--any persons outside that "in group" simply don't exist as human beings, and so are of no concern. This is particularly true if those outsiders are white people.

AND THEY LITERALLY CANNOT HELP THEMSELVES. THEY ARE GENETICALLY AND CULTURALLY CODED TO BE THIS WAY.

FULL VIDEO HERE: https://x.com/TheBrancaShow/status/2006792943806627969

https://x.com/TheBrancaShow/status/2006795589095436414?s=20

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