Surge in anti-Indian hate should come as no surprise – it has deep, racist roots

Most Indians may not know this, but Indians have, for decades, been special targets of racist movements which are now resurgent across much of the Western world. In light of this, it is necessary to understand the most significant and unifying framework animating white nationalist movements: the Great Replacement Theory.

It claims that white populations are being deliberately “replaced” by nonwhite people through immigration and differential birth rates. Which country currently has the most emigrants abroad (18 million as of 2020; the next highest is Mexico at 11 million) and which produces the most children every year (22 million-23 million)? India. This fact is not lost on white nationalists.

One influential text for white nationalists – a 1973 novel called Camp of the Saints by Jean Raspail – explicitly portrays Indians as invading hordes coming to take over Europe. This novel has been praised by far-right figures such as Steve Bannon in the US, Marine Le Pen in France and Viktor Orbán in Hungary.

The novel describes Indians as misshapen, filthy creatures who are “shit-skinned” and “turd eaters,” who commit rampant incest. The book also targets Indians from the oppressed castes, showing the enduring fascination of racists worldwide with the caste system.

Those themes are now being repeated online to explicitly make the argument that Indians should be deported or stripped of citizenship in the countries they now call home.

A September study by the Center for the Study of Organized Hate on anti-Indian racism on X found that over just two months from July, high-engagement posts garnered more than 281 million views. The US was the epicentre of this hate, with 65% of the posts originating there.

One incident alone drew 97 million views: a truck accident involving a Sikh driver in Florida on August 12. Posts proliferated targeting Indians – and Sikhs in particular – as being careless drivers who endanger Americans.

As seen in disinformation campaigns around the world, including in India, individual real-world incidents are often used to spin entire narratives that misrepresent the bigger picture.

These narratives have real-world consequences: new emergency policies have been announced on September 26 denying Commercial Driving Licenses to large sections of US immigrants. Given that one out of every five Sikh Americans is employed in the industry and Sikhs make up 20% of truck drivers in the US, these new attacks have sparked widespread fear within the Sikh-American community.

There are also broader consequences. Among those attacking legal immigration from India was MAGA media figure Charlie Kirk, who wrote against it 10 days before he was assassinated on September 10. The popularity of these arguments created an enabling environment for US President Trump’s announcement on new restrictions and the steep $100,000 fee on new H-1B visas, up from $2,000 and $5,000. The H-1B is a temporary visa for workers with specialised skills. For now, 73% of H-1B visas are granted to Indians.

After the announcement, the more racist sections of the MAGA movement went much farther. The policy change prompted many Indians on H-1B visas to scramble back to the US before the new policy took effect on September 21. Exploiting this desperation, one social media user launched a campaign titled “Operation Clog the Toilet” – playing on racist tropes associating Indians with excreta – which involved deliberately jamming airline reservation systems to prevent Indians from booking tickets to the US.

The proposal spread among Telegram channels, including one tied to members of the neo-fascist militant organisation, Proud Boys, infamous for their leading role in the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. They also spread to streaming platforms Rumble and Bitchute. Social media users put up “pro tips” to help the campaign succeed.

Such racist campaigns are unfolding in other countries as well. Indians were explicitly targeted in the August 31 “March for Australia” rally. In the weeks before that, Indians were targeted in Ireland in a series of attacks.

Understanding these longer histories of anti-Indian racism is especially vital for those who recently worshipped Donald Trump, especially Sangh-affiliated Indian American organisations who celebrated Trump’s victory, including Krishna Gudipati of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America, and the founder and board member of the Hindu American Foundation, Rajiv Pandit.

Trump once declared himself a friend to Hindus. Many have yet to learn from his volte face and continue to harbour illusions that anti-immigrant leaders like the UK’s Tommy Robinson will somehow defend “Hindus”, as reflected in the Indian media’s attempts to portray the Unite the Kingdom march in London on September 13 as somehow protective of Hindu migrants.

Whatever Robinson’s immediate political calculations, Camp of the Saints is making a comeback in the UK, as are violent racist attacks against Indians. And racism, in its poisoned heart, makes no distinctions between “good” and “bad” immigrants.

Partha P Chakrabartty writes and researches at the crossroads of technology, culture, and social change.