“Indian Hate” in America — When Did it Begin & Why?
I was struck by an excellent think piece titled “Why the U.S. Anger Against Indian Immigrants” by high school classmate Shyam Venkatesan in the January 15, 2026 Hindu Business Line (see weblink and PDF attached below).
In my opinion — and before the situation deteriorates further — the U.S. based “desi” community needs to take a long hard look at itself and ask why so much hate, why now, and what steps must be taken to protect itself while also building bridges with mainstream America.
Hanuman Statue
This new animus becomes a potent mix when viewed in the context of online antipathy towards the achievements and prosperity of Indian Americans. It has been gathering steam for some time while a recent controversy added fuel to the fire: the erection of a 90-foot tall Hanuman statue (part of the Sri Ashtalakshmi Temple) in Sugarland, Texas (see pic below). The statue caused anger among far-right Christian nationalists who called it a “demon,” a “false god” and raised doubts about how the project overcame zoning regulations.
Texas Republican Alexander Duncan who opposed the statue used “outrage against idolatry” as a jumping off point and justification for a Senate campaign that failed to advance. Although Duncan’s strategy was a bust, the rising anti-Indian/anti-Hindu backlash was felt nationwide and echoed simultaneously by the fraught H-1B visa debate for highly skilled immigrant workers that sparked even more anti-Indian rhetoric.
Even though freedom of religion is embedded in the U.S. Constitution and guaranteed by the First Amendment, one might argue about the rationale for erecting an eyebrow raising mega statue when the hate quotient against Indians is alarmingly high. Now guarded round-the-clock, what’s being called “a foreign deity in the heart of White Christian Texas” is expected to remain a flashpoint and target for vandals for some time!
Convenient Bogey!
The success and prominence of the Indian diaspora in high-income white-collar jobs — over the past three decades and more — has fueled an astonishing degree of resentment and envy. Indians are suddenly everywhere: not only at 711 convenience stores, gas stations, and taxi driving jobs of the 1980s-1990s, but also in the highest levels of government, academia, finance and banking, engineering and research, medicine, media, entertainment, heading up Fortune 500 companies, and high-tech! The fact that they achieved this through hard work (not cheating or diversity quotas) is something few believe possible.
Indian Americans have gone from being recognized, praised, and valued for their contributions and skills by colleagues, managers, and political leadership to suddenly being vilified. When did their presence and impact on mainstream America go from positive to negative? That transition did not happen overnight. Their visibility now infuriates some elements of the larger population who need a convenient bogey to blame for their own misfortunes and lack of economic advancement.
During the 2024-2025 election cycle, Indians were accused of being “third world invaders,” “job stealers,” and “visa scammers” by Republican leaders in the MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement. And because they hold 71 percent of H-1B visas, Indian professionals in the tech industry were falsely seen as taking jobs from mainstream Americans.
The Trump Administration has been directly and indirectly to blame. White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller has unjustifiably accused India of “a lot of cheating on immigration policies.” Far right fringe figures are now suggesting that only White Christians belong in America and that the doors should be shut to idol worshipers!
The “Model Minority” Myth!
The higher profile of Indian Americans at a time of economic anxiety and polarizing immigration debates has resulted in racial slurs, dehumanizing stereotypes, and calls for violence against professionals, students, and businesses. Although the hostility is nationwide, it is more prevalent in areas with large Indian populations, such as New Jersey and California, where anti-Hindu bias has also been reported.
Large U.S. companies Verizon, Walmart, and FedEx have faced online abuse for employing Indian Americans while a fatal car crash in Florida involving a Sikh truck driver with FedEx was used by extremists to fuel anti-Indian sentiment, particularly when it was discovered that the truck driver was an illegal immigrant!
Research from the Center for the Study of Organized Hate found that online racism has increased with threats of violence rising 88 percent after the 2024 election. Indian Americans have been harassed in public spaces, had ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) called on them, and told to “go back to your country.”
Once called a “model minority” for being the best educated and wealthiest ethnic group, that myth seems outdated and laughable in the current context where online rhetoric grows harsher and community leaders call for protection from hate groups.
Dot-busters!
Hatred of Indians (and Hindus) is not new. More than 30 years ago, between 1975 and 1993, two cities in New Jersey, Jersey City and Hoboken, witnessed multiple assaults and killings of Indians by local gangs of White youths who called themselves “dot-busters” and published what amounted to a manifesto against Patels and other Hindus. The name dot-buster came from the forehead dot or “bindi” worn by Indian women who were seen as easy targets.
The campaign of vandalism, violence, and murder by dot-busters was designed to terrorize the Indian community and drive them out. In one incident, a Parsi man was beaten to death while walking home from Hoboken; his White friend was unharmed. A medical resident was beaten into a coma with baseball bats as he left his office in Jersey City Heights. Another man was beaten with a metal pipe in his apartment, and a New York cab driver was killed on a Jersey City street. In the wake of police apathy, the Indian community in Jersey City and Hoboken rallied to protect itself.
Bigotry and Violence
Federal prosecutors took three men, all White, to trial on hate crime charges for attacking the medical resident. One of the defendants was a county police officer and another was the son of a police official in line to become the city’s police chief. Despite eyewitness testimony and a confession, an all-White jury acquitted the men. The case nonetheless made history as the first federal civil rights suit brought on behalf of a South Asian person in the U.S.
That outcome served to galvanize members of the community to educate themselves on civil rights, raise civic awareness, encourage voting and advocacy, reach out to other ethnic groups, and run for public office. Steps were taken to strengthen New Jersey’s hate crime statute.
Bigotry and violence are not new. What is new and cause for alarm is the deployment of tropes over social media in what amounts to a new playbook to rekindle old hatred. But social media only reflects what society puts into it. The far right is punching above its weight in impacting public discourse. Responsibility lies with the political establishment and sections of the media for creating the hostile atmosphere in which racists feel empowered to attack with impunity.
Anti-Chinese Hate Crimes
Other ethnic groups have also been victims of hate crimes. During Covid-19, there were numerous unprovoked and often deadly attacks against Chinese men and women (or anyone that looked Asian) who were unjustly blamed for being the source of the pandemic! The hate was rooted in stereotypes that cast Asians as scapegoats. The use of terms like "Chinese virus" and "Wuhan virus" by GOP politicians in public debates led to an increase in anti-Asian sentiment.
Verbal harassment and intimidation transitioned to violence. Women workers were shot and killed at spas in the Atlanta suburbs and, in New York subways, a young woman’s face was slashed; another was pushed into the path of an oncoming train (see NPR story).
In response to the hate crime surge, organizations like STOP AAPI Hate were formed to collect data by tracking incidents of hate. This resulted in national legislative action, including the Biden Administration’s signing of the Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act into law in 2021 (see link below), to expedite the review of hate crimes and improve data collection.
A Once Powerful Political Subgroup Flounders!
The Indian community emerged as a powerful political subgroup over two decades ago. In 2021, then California Senator Kamala Harris became the first person of Indian origin (as well as the first woman and African American) to be the country’s vice president. The 2024 presidential cycle featured two Indian American candidates, Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy. The U.S. House of Representatives currently has six Indian American members while there are 50 in state legislatures (the highest number of any Asian origin group) and 350 elected officials nationwide (source: Indian-American Impact).
Ramaswamy, who is now the Republican candidate for governor in Ohio, recently called out bigoted comments online against Indians like himself as did former Carolina governor Nikki Haley and others on the right. They were met with even more online vitriol! Indian American conservative writer Dinesh D’Souza (who has built his career on racism towards African Americans) seemed surprised to be on the receiving end of xenophobic comments!
White Replacement
The core of Trump’s followers — white, non-college educated men — who stew in imagined grievance related to race, gender, and immigration — believe that their place in society is rapidly slipping and that they’re being replaced by other groups. This is where the “white replacement” theory comes from — the far right’s 2017 chant in Charlottesville, Virginia “Jews will not replace us” — during the first Trump Administration — has now morphed into opposition to other ethnic groups, including Indian Americans, with new battle lines drawn and fueled by the president’s mass deportation efforts (see attached article on Great Replacement Conspiracy Theory).
Anti-immigrant rhetoric is not new. The Trump Administration often denigrates entire countries which has opened the door to a high level of xenophobia from his supporters. In 2024, during the presidential election cycle, Vice President J.D. Vance’s wife, Usha, an Indian American and practicing Hindu, became a target as has the newly elected mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani, who faced significant online outrage targeting his identity as an Indian origin Muslim born in Uganda.
During a speech at conservative thinktank, Claremont Institute, Vance — who never fails to pander to the ultra right despite his wife being a frequent target — said that “people whose ancestors fought in the Civil War have a hell of a lot more claim over America…” than others. This comment was met by derision from most.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) has seen anti-immigrant sentiment dramatically rise during her nine years in office. She has said that, as legal immigrants and naturalized citizens, Microsoft employees in her state have expressed fears to her of becoming more vulnerable to attacks whereas, in the past, their status and position kept them safe from online hate.
Lending a Helping Hand
When surrounded by unemployed or under-employed Americans drowning in credit card debt and in danger of becoming homeless, it behooves Indian Americans to show more empathy, donate to charities, volunteer at food banks and hospitals, and participate in neighborhood events (cleanups, gardens, local initiatives). At the very least, be less loud and ostentatious!
The Sikh community provided a wonderful example during the Covid-19 pandemic which gained appreciation and goodwill from mainstream Americans.They distributed free cooked food for many months up and down the East Coast as well as in other parts of the country. According to news articles from the period, people would drive for 20 miles and more to pick up boxed food.
Lack of Taste
When traveling in Kenya and Tanzania on work in the early 2000s, I recall being offended at the sight of Gujarati women seated in five star hotel lounges laden with excessive amounts of gold jewelry! The sight of them — so flamboyantly and expensively bejeweled — a few hundred yards away from armed guards, slums, and dire poverty (not that different from Mumbai) was an obvious red flag!
It was also tasteless and questionable behavior when viewed against the background of the 1972 expulsion of the Asian (mainly Indian) community from Uganda by former dictator Idi Amin.
Wake-up Call!
The days of being cocky and overconfident are over. The wealth and status of Indian Americans will not protect them if elements in the MAGA crowd continue to fan anti-India hate! Best to take sensible precautions: organize neighborhood watches, take self defense classes, contribute to police associations, make common cause with other ethnic groups and minorities who have suffered hate crimes, and so on.
Blending in rather than standing out can sometimes be the only way to remain safe and not become a victim — a sad reality of the world we live in! Wear your sari or ghagra-choli or kurta-pajama to the temple or mosque or wedding reception — but perhaps not wear them to the park or to walk down the street or when using the subway or bus!
The dot-buster kind of crimes might be unthinkable in the present day when there are several ethnic Indians in public office, particularly in New Jersey, and police bias is less of an issue — but that theory does not need testing! In the past, Indian Americans were often exempt from the petty racism directed at other people of color because their privilege and connections made them immune.That is no longer the case. Wake up!
The latest issue of New India Abroad.com celebrates newly elected Mamta Singh taking her oath of office on the Bhagavad Gita at a public inauguration on January 15 as Jersey City’s first Indian American Councilwoman-at-Large with the comment, “the story unfolding within the Indian-American diaspora is not one of sudden arrival, but of steady ascent — from representation to responsibility, and from participation to leadership.” Also attending were New Jersey State Senator Raj Mukherji and Assemblyman Ravi Bhalla. Three decades after the dot-busters, it was a significant step forward for Indian American representation in Jersey City’s civic leadership. But the newspaper’s commentary sounds absurdly rosy at this point in Indian American history. Let’s hope that current desi misfortunes are only a blip in the larger tapestry that is still to be written.
Ludi Joseph
Washington, D.C.
January 16, 2026
https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/why-the-us-anger-against-indian-immigrants/article70510516.ece
https://aapidata.com/featured/indian-americans-by-the-numbers/
S.937 - COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/937
https://www.npr.org/2022/03/16/1087028236/1-year-after-the-atlanta-spa-shootings-a-look-at-the-movement-to-stop-asian-hate
https://indiacurrents.com/enough-is-enough-ajay-bhutoria-slams-go-back-to-india-abuse/
https://www.ajc.org/translatehate/great-replacement
