US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday pushes back against claims that anti-India rhetoric in the United States is rising. Speaking during a visit to India, Rubio says President Donald Trump is a “big fan” of India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, arguing he would not be in India if the president did not want him there.
His comments come amid controversy following a viral video from Sunday in which Rubio appears to respond to a reporter’s question related to allegations of racism toward Indians in the US. The reporter did not clarify the question, but some observers interpreted it as referring to Trump’s past remarks describing India and China together as a “hellhole,” which critics said implied people from the two countries were abusing US birthright citizenship.
Rubio is on a four-day trip to India focused on recalibrating bilateral relations that have faced headwinds since mid-last year. In response to questions about the tenor of US public discourse, Rubio downplays claims of systemic hostility and characterizes online “crazy stuff” as unrepresentative of the broader relationship between the two countries.
