"Colonial Legacy": India Responds to Vance's Description of Indian Workers as "Servants" - Sarmad

India condemned US Vice President JD Vance’s remarks about Indians in the United States, describing them as offensive and dismissive of their contributions to the US economy.

In a strongly worded statement, India’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs asserted that such characterizations ignore the fact that Indian professionals in the United States are highly educated, skilled contributors to the US economy and its innovation ecosystem. It reminded the Trump administration that the United States was built over generations of immigrants.

The ministry added that resorting to terms with painful colonial and historical connotations is highly offensive, referring to the use of indentured labor by American and European colonizers in the 19th century, including in the United States and neighboring islands, to work on their plantations.

It noted that the mobility of talent benefits both the United States and India, creating opportunities for Indians while providing US companies with advanced talent, innovation, research, productivity, competitiveness, job opportunities, and wealth for US shareholders.

Vance and US Labor Secretary Khaiti Sundling had announced the suspension of the permanent labor certification program for eight major IT outsourcing firms, including five US-based companies—Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, Cognizant, and HCL—as well as Capgemini, Microsoft, and Adobe.

The US administration accused these companies of visa fraud, alleging that the process exploited more than 230,000 H-1B visa approvals and 100,000 green cards since 2009. It claimed the eight firms brought hundreds of thousands of low-wage foreign workers through a corrupt system that defrauds American workers, noting that approximately 70 percent of all H-1B visa holders are Indians.

On this matter, Vance stated: “You are bringing in indentured servants from abroad and laying off American workers. If you are a company, you are making enormous profits by undermining American workers’ wages and replacing them with people who, frankly, should not be in the United States.”