India's foreign ministry has condemned US President Donald Trump's comments referring to Indians as living in a 'hellhole' as 'obviously uninformed, inappropriate and in poor taste.'
The remarks were made in a post shared by Trump on his Truth Social account, which contained a transcript of the conservative political talk show Savage Nation.
The transcript was a broadside against birthright citizenship, and Trump referred to India as a 'hellhole' along with other countries.
India's foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the comments do not reflect the reality of the India-US relationship, which is based on mutual respect and shared interests.
The controversy comes as the Trump administration pursues a legal challenge to birthright citizenship in the Supreme Court.
It also surfaces at a moment of increasing vulnerability for the Indian-American community, which has been concerned at rising instances of racial rhetoric on social media platforms.
A 2026 Carnegie Endowment report found that roughly half of Indian-Americans surveyed said they had encountered racist posts targeting Indians or Indian-Americans 'very or somewhat often since the start of 2025.'
