The US on Tuesday sought to control the damage done by President Donald Trump’s social media post of comments by radio show host Michael Savage that referred to India as a "hellhole" country.
Trump had said, the spokesperson of the US embassy said in a statement, that "India is a great country with a very good friend of mine at the top."
The statement came in response to queries from Indian media about the controversy created by Trump reposting a purported four-page transcript of the podcaster in which he said, "A baby comes here becomes an instant citizen, and then they bring the entire family in from China or India or some other hellhole on the planet.."
The Congress questioned the silence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"Modi ji's dear friend, 'Namaste Trump' has shared a note abusing India and using an extremely disparaging term. Modi ji remains absolutely mum on these ridiculous utterances. MEA Spokesperson said 'That is where I leave it'," Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge wrote in a post on X.
"Narendra Modi ji, what are you scared of? Indians have played a vital role in America's success. What is stopping us from raising this at the highest levels of the American government," he asked.
“From the skewed Indo-US Trade deal framework to Mr. Trump's earlier claims on mediating to stop the war during Operation Sindoor, from grinning in front of Mr. Trump when he said 'BRICS is dead' to US levying 50 percent tariffs on India - at every step Modi ji has mortgaged India's interests," Kharge alleged.
"Amidst the high-voltage election campaign of the Prime Minister, I sincerely hope that he gets sometime to react to this intimidation and indignation of 140 crore Indians.”
Asked about reports of Trump sharing the derogatory post, external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said: "We have seen some reports, and that is where I leave it."