‘I repeat, India has weak…’: Rahul Gandhi revisits 2017 tweet as Trump slaps steep hike on H-1B visa fee

Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has resurrected his eight-year-old tweet on H-1B visa just as United States President Donald Trump slapped a steep hike on visa fee, likely to impact the Indian workers more.

Reacting to the H-1B visa fee hike, Rahul Gandhi attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying, “I repeat, India has a weak PM.”

He also retweeted his 2017 post where he had questioned the prime minister for not taking up the H1B visa issue with Donald Trump who was then in his first term as President.

The outburst comes in response to Donald Trump's new presidential proclamation titled “Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers”, imposing a USD 100,000 annual fee on H-1B visa applications.

The measure, effective from September 21, aims to combat what the administration calls widespread abuse of the H-1B programme, particularly by IT outsourcing firms accused of displacing American workers and suppressing wages.

His sentiments were also repeated by senior Congress leader Pawan Khera who said this was alerted by Rahul Gandhi back in 2017. He also said that Donald Trump has been “insulting” India but the prime minister, he said, “remains silent”.

"This is not a new development. On 5th July 2017, Rahul Gandhi had tweeted and alerted PM Modi that this was going to happen and do something. But he was a weak PM back then and even today. You have the result today...Crores of youth of this country are going to face a loss...Trump is insulting us every day. But the PM is silent. Rahul Gandhi gave him an opportunity to say on the Floor of the House that Trump is a liar. Had he said that, the country would have stood with him. Today, the entire country is questioning the PM," he said.

MP Manish Tewari who alleged that the US was being deliberately aggressive with India.

“The US is systematically turning on the screws on India. What happened with regard to the H-1B visa is no coincidence at all. If you look at it in context, the premature ceasefire announcement by the US at the instigation of Pakistan, subsequently, the felicitation and the feting of the Pakistani Army chief in the White House, followed by the 50% tariffs which have been imposed by the US and even the Saud-Pakistani defence partnership won't have happened without the tacit support and blessing of the US.”

He continued, “So, in a very systematic manner, for reasons which are inexplicable and understandable, the US is deliberately being belligerent towards India and it does not augur well for India-US relations.”

Just a month ago, Donald Trump imposed 50% tariffs on Indian imports to curb India’s trade with Russia, which is waging war in Ukraine.