US secretary of state Marco Rubio on Monday doubled down on President Donald Trump’s comments lauding India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi against the backdrop of a controversy over anti-India rhetoric and racist comments emanating from the US.
When Rubio was asked about racist remarks coming from the US against Indians and Indian-Americans at a joint news conference with external affairs minister S Jaishankar on Sunday, he dismissed them as “dumb comments” made by “stupid people”.
The US state department posted a video of the question and Rubio’s response on social media on Sunday afternoon, but it was subsequently removed.
The question about racist comments was an apparent reference to Trump’s amplification of a right-wing podcast, whose host referred to India and China as “hellhole” places, on social media in April.
Trump posted the transcript of the podcast “The Savage Nation” on his Truth Social account. The external affairs ministry responded to the post at the time by describing the remarks as “inappropriate and in poor taste”.
When Rubio was asked about the matter again on Monday by a journalist accompanying him on his visit to India, he initially said he did not know what the Indian reporter was talking about at Sunday’s news conference and assumed the issue was about content posted online by “random voices”.
“I don’t even know – some of those could be a troll, could be a bot, I don’t know. So that’s why I asked [the reporter] specifically – can you tell me what you’re talking about and who you’re talking about,” Rubio said.
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When the journalist suggested that the Indian reporter was referring to the content that referred to India as a “hellhole”, Rubio replied: “I gave him a chance to tell me that, that’s not what he said. The President loves India. He said it last night…when he called in for the event…”
Rubio was referring to Trump’s phone conversation with US ambassador Sergio Gor at an event on Sunday night to mark the 250th anniversary of American independence, during which the President described Modi as a “friend” and said he was a “big fan” of the Indian leader.
“The President’s a big fan of India, a big fan of Prime Minister Modi. I wouldn’t be here if the President didn’t want me to be here. He wouldn’t have sent someone like Sergio to be our ambassador, someone who’s very close to the President,” Rubio added.
Rubio responded to another question on whether the Indian side raised its concerns about Pakistan during his official meetings by saying: “No, I mean, look, they’re concerned about things they’re always concerned about obviously. India is always pointing to the fact that there are armed terrorist groups operating from Pakistani territory that target India – they’re always concerned about.”
“But as far as the role they’ve [Pakistan] played as a mediator and a facilitator in the Iran situation – that never came up. I don’t think they would complain about that, I mean their issues with Pakistan are different,” he said.
The Indian side watched warily as Trump developed a personal relationship with Pakistan Army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir in the aftermath of a brief but intense conflict between India and Pakistan in May 2025. Trump hosted Munir at the White House and described the Pakistani military leader as his “favourite field marshal”.
Rubio ducked a question from HT at Sunday’s news conference on India’s concerns about the US’s renewed engagement with Pakistan’s military leadership by saying that the US has relations and works at the tactical level with countries across the world. “But I don’t view our relation with any country in the world as coming at the expense of our strategic alliance with India,” he said.
