India on Thursday night said comments that the country was a “hellhole” were “uninformed” and in “poor taste”, hours after US President Donald Trump had amplified on social media such a description by a conservative radio host.
Soon, the US embassy got into firefighting mode by drawing attention to an earlier Trump comment hailing India as a “great country”.
“We have seen the comments, as also the subsequent statement issued by the US embassy in response. The remarks are obviously uninformed, inappropriate and in poor taste. They certainly do not reflect the reality of the India-US relationship, which has long been based on mutual respect and shared interests,” the ministry of external affairs said in a statement.
Asked at the weekly briefing earlier in the day for a response to the social media post by radio host Michael Savage, which, among other things, referred to Indians, external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal had merely said: “We have seen some reports; that is where I leave it.”
Trump on Thursday amplified Savage’s commentary on birthright citizenship in which the political commentator and author likened India to a “hellhole on the planet”. Savage targeted Indians and Chinese who arrive in the
US towards the end of their pregnancy so they can deliver in the country, which
gives citizenship to children born in America.
Savage said: “A baby here becomes an instant citizen and then they bring in their entire family from China or India or some other hellhole on the planet.” Trump later posted this on Truth Social.
Asked for a clarification on Trump’s post, a US embassy spokesperson told reporters: “The President has said ‘India is a great country with a very good friend of mine at the top’.” Trump had said this in Egypt during the Gaza peace summit in Sharm el-Sheikh on October 13, 2025.
The Opposition was quick to ask whether the government would protest Trump’s decision to repost the radio host’s rant against immigrants.
“Hello @narendramodiji your Phraand Trump just called India a ‘hellhole’ and all Indians ‘gangsters with laptops’. Are you going to protest?” asked Trinamool MP Mahua Moitra.
Prakash Ambedkar of Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi said in a post on X: “American President Donald Trump has once again insulted India…. Due to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s surrender-like stance, India is being ridiculed all over the world…. Donald Trump is continuously insulting India.”