An Indian-born research fellow at the Harvard Business School’s Artificial Intelligence Institute couldn’t hold back his anger over the surging “anti-Indian hate” on social media platforms. Addressing the viciously derogatory rhetoric targeting immigrants working in the United States, Soumitra Shukla vented his frustration on the Elon Musk-led SNS website, X, this week.

His fiery confession grabbed the attention of Steven Neil Durlauf, an American economist and social scientist. Currently recognised as the Frank P. Hixon Distinguished Service Professor and the Director of the Stone Center for Research on Wealth Inequality and Mobility at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy, Durlauf immediately took a stand against what he described as “bigoted filth against Indians” consuming the US.

Their interaction grabbed the attention of thousands (and counting) on X the same day US Secretary of State Marco Rubio departed from Delhi after concluding his four-day maiden visit to India. During his official travels in the South Asian nation, Rubio was also openly confronted about the increasing anti-India hate in America, especially since some participants amplifying the problematic narrative include people from the far-right MAGA movement.

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Indian Harvard scholar speaks out against ‘anti-Indian hate on X’

Soumitra Shukla, who also works as a researcher at a non-profit organisation called The Burning Glass Institute, is originally from Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, according to his GitHub profile. While the Harvard scholar’s parents are still based in India, he currently lives in Brookline, a town in Massachusetts, with his wife, Eliza, who is a lawyer.

On Tuesday, he wrote on X, “The amount of anti-Indian hate on this platform is truly sickening. People need to stop worrying about jobs being ‘stolen’ and look deeper within as to why they have such rotten souls to wish the worst on others.”

Later that day, US economist Steven Durlauf directly name-dropped the Indian-born research fellow, praising him for being a “great scholar” and “one of the rising stars in inequality research.”

Admitting that Shukla “epitomises the overwhelming contemporary importance of immigrants to American science,” the economist branded the surge in anti-India hate in the country “reprehensible and profoundly un-American.”

He added, “I am ashamed that he has to suffer from the bigoted filth against Indians that has exploded in this country, ranging from anonymous cowards on X to public officials.”

Jharkhand research fellow thanks US economist

Soumitra eventually commented on Durlauf’s post, thanking him for his “very kind words” and support. Drawing parallels between today’s United States and the country’s iteration he first came to over a decade ago, he said, “I agree, it is indeed un-American and not the country I arrived at first in 2010.”

He also added, “I have found it very difficult to stay ‘out of it’ when there has been an open attack on Indians with blessings from the top.”

Despite the positive interaction between the Jharkhand-origin research fellow and the US economist, hate-filled responses continued to brim in the comments section.

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“Get the f**k out of my country,” read one such comment under Soumitra Shukla’s original X post.

On the other hand, a neutral comment read, “Hope Rafa is good! Amidst bad replies to your post, I am just trying to post positive things here,” referring to Shukla’s dog, who lives with him and his wife in the US.

The Indian scholar replied, “It’s all good. I think most of these people are bots, so I’m not that worried.”

Rise in anti-India hate on the internet

In a way, Shukla’s last reply echoed what Marco Rubio told reporters in India this week. Although shocked to hear about the rising “racist” comments about Indian-origin people in the US, the Donald Trump aide said, “I’ll take that very seriously about the comments. I’m sure that there are people who have made comments online and in other places because every country in the world has stupid people.”

When questioned over the issue once again elsewhere in Delhi, Rubio alluded to the possibility of bots spreading hate online. “I assumed he’s talking about people posting stuff online,” he told an American journalist, referring to the original question raised by an Indian media representative.

“The bottom line is that in the modern era, you go online, and there are people saying all kinds of crazy stuff online. I don’t even know if they’re real people or who they are, so…The President loves India,” he added. “The President is 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…I mean, people say stupid stuff all the time on social media and in every country in the world, unfortunately.”

According to the findings of a Carnegie survey of Indian Americans released in February, there are over 5.2 million people of Indian origin living in the US. It further stated, “Indian Americans report widespread perceptions of bias, frequent encounters with online racism, and marked levels of personal harassment or discrimination.”

Carnegie’s research particularly highlighted a “sharp uptick in anti-Indian and anti-Indian American racism on the Internet.” 48% or roughly half of the respondents reported encountering racist posts targeting Indians or Indian Americans very or somewhat often since the start of 2025. It also indicated that one in four respondents has been called a slur since the start of last year.

Similarly, the Center for the Study of Organized Hate published its “Anti-Indian Racism on X on the Rise” report in September 2025, revealing that anti-immigration-focused narratives largely attributed to H-1B visas and the portrayal of Indians as “job stealers” had taken over online discourse.

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Analysing 680 high-engagement anti-Indian racist posts amassing more than 281 million views, the report showed, “immigration- and expulsion-themed rhetoric accounted for nearly 70% of the dataset, with resentment about Indians holding H-1B visas and STEM jobs serving as key drivers.”

Consequently, the survey underscored certain terms emerging as “primary search anchors” in association with posts targeting Indians or Indian-origin people. These were: “pajeet,” “Indians smell,” “H1B scam,” “Indians stealing jobs,” “Deport Indians,” “Denaturalize Indians,” “Indian Americans,” and “Sikh.”

Key findings also revealed that around 65% of such posts were US-centred, confirming America as the “epicentre of anti-Indian digital racism during the study period.” This negative activity especially peaked in August 2025, as the US-India tariff dispute coincided with incident-based outrage.

Trump himself recently infamously made headlines for amplifying conservative commentator Michael Savage’s remarks from ‘The Savage Nation’ talk show, where the prominent radio voice said, “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.”

This past week, US Congress members of Indian and Chinese descent banded together to introduce a new House Resolution “Condemning racist rhetoric targeting Indian and Chinese Americans, reaffirming that immigrants from all backgrounds are vital to the United States, and calling on all elected officials to refrain from language that promotes racial or ethnic division.” Their bill, ‘H Res 1322,’ also took a swipe at the Republican president’s allusion to the derogatory “hellhole” remarks made in reference to Indian Americans and Chinese Americans.

Disclaimer: The content in this article is based on a viral social media discussion and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only.