India's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said Thursday that a comment shared by US President Donald Trump referring to India as a “hellhole” was “uninformed, inappropriate and in poor taste.”

Trump did not make the remark himself but reposted it without comment on his Truth Social account. The original statement came from conservative radio host Michael Savage, who criticized US birthright citizenship, saying: “A baby here becomes an instant citizen, and then they bring the entire family in from China or India or some other hellhole on the planet.”

Jaiswal added that the comments “certainly do not reflect the reality of the India-US relationship, which has long been based on mutual respect and shared interests.” The US Embassy in New Delhi responded by noting that Trump has called India “a great country with a very good friend of mine at the top.”

China's Foreign Ministry did not immediately comment. India's main opposition Congress party called the remark “extremely insulting and anti-India” and urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take up the matter with Trump.

Indian government data shows nearly 5.5 million people of Indian origin live in the US. Savage's post also claimed there is “almost no loyalty to this country amongst the immigrant class” and that they are “not like the European Americans of today and their ancestors.”

Trump and Modi enjoyed warm ties during Trump's first term, but relations cooled after India faced high US tariffs last year, many of which were rolled back this year. The two countries are now working on a trade deal to prevent renewed tariff hikes and boost mutual sales.

Source: www.aljazeera.com