With the benefit of hindsight, it’s not surprising to see the recent spate of attacks on diaspora Indians, NRIs or people of Indian origin across the globe. That the more deranged versions of former colonisers would balk at the idea of the formerly colonised being equal citizens is hardly shocking. Consider how the so-called beacons of Western civilisation described Indians.Winston Churchill, the thought of whom makes every Conservative from Trump to Netanyahu go weak in the knees, called Indians “beastly people with a beastly religion.” Richard Nixon, another hero of the Western state, dismissed them as “unattractive,” “sexless,” and “repulsive” — because his fragile ego couldn’t process being outmanoeuvred by an Indian woman. In 2000, Jagdish Bhagwati, the Columbia economist, called Indians the “new Jews of America.” At the time, it sounded like both flattery and prophecy: recognition of the diaspora’s success and resilience. What he perhaps didn’t fully anticipate was the darker half of the comparison: like Jews in the last century, Indians too would eventually find themselves the targets of resentment, caricature, and persecution.
From Dublin to Cupertino: A Pattern Emerges
So when you read about assaults against Indians today — online, offline, in the workplace, on the streets of Dublin, Melbourne, or California — it feels less like an aberration and more like a revert to an old system where politesse had merely deemed that one not be openly racist. Bubbling under the surface, WENA (Western Europe and North America) folks never quite got over their inner Captain Russell maxim: “Tum ghulam log jooti ke neeche rahega. “Except now the “ghulam log” are running tech companies, topping global exams, dictating terms in boardrooms and even becoming prime ministers or vice presidents.In recent months, we have heard about attacks on Indians in various countries, too many of them to be simply chalked up as stray incidents. In Ireland, India Day celebrations were cancelled after a spate of attacks. In Australia, a 23-year-old Indian student was attacked with a sharp object leaving him with brain trauma and facial fractures, while a Swaminarayan temple was defaced with Hitler graffiti. In Canada, an assembly line of temple desecration and pro-Khalistan graffiti has accompanied the data showing that the highest number of Indians have been killed in hate attacks in recent years. Even in America, the land of the brave and free, Indians on the street are being attacked with chants of “go back to India” because apparently Indians are simultaneously stealing jobs, bringing caste oppression, scrounging welfare, and running convenience stores all at once.The pattern is clear. Like the Jewish diaspora before them, Indians have become both hyper-visible and hyper-vulnerable.
The Digital Street
And then there is the digital street — X, the hellhole known as Twitter, the world’s largest sewer system. Here, the word “pajeet” (a vile slur for Indians) trends with abandon. Extremist forums openly fantasise about “total pajeet death.” Even hard-blue liberals juxtapose a picture of JD Vance with his Indian family with the all-white Gavin Newsom and ask: Which way America? Tulsi Gabbard, who is not even of Indian origin but was born in Hawaii, is asked to “go back to India.” From Cork to Cupertino, the lesson is the same: being Indian — or even looking Indian — is now enough to invite suspicion, mockery, or violence.It doesn’t help that anti-India farms exist in this ecosystem. Because Indians are so numerous online, anti-India content automatically generates high engagement. What begins as trolling quickly snowballs into profitable hate, amplified by algorithms that thrive on outrage. Campaigns like Dismantling Global Hindutva are part of this machinery — using the digital sewer to legitimise old prejudices under the guise of academic critique.
Politics and the Caste Weapon
In the political space, New York mayor hopeful Zohran mamdani can get away with blithe lies like “Muslims don’t exist in Gujarat” or stand in rallies where people call Hindus “h******” without any political pushback. In California, an anti-caste bill that was ostensibly brought to fight the pandemic of casteism in America lost out after pressure from the White House, but the narrative stuck. Caste has become the new weapon — a way to recast Indians in the Western imagination not as victims of racism but as perpetrators of oppression.Reports and lawsuits equating “Brahmin privilege” with white supremacy have proliferated, while organisations like Equality Labs drive an aggressive DEI agenda that targets Hindus specifically. Hindu advocacy groups such as the Hindu American Foundation and others do exist and fight these battles, but they remain outnumbered and often outgunned in academia and media.
Why This Wave Now?
There are various reasons for this sudden wave:1. Political DisorganisationUnlike other immigrant groups, Indians have largely avoided political organisation. They might excel in coding, medicine, spelling bees and academia, but have kept their own counsel when it comes to political matters. While lobby organisations like AIPAC, CAIR, NAACP, ACL existed for others, Indians were happy to keep their head down, work hard, become CEOs or professors. The result? A diaspora too powerful in wealth and intellect to ignore, yet too politically unorganised to command respect.2. Liberal Movements Turning InwardFor decades, diaspora Indians happily aligned with liberal causes — civil rights, diversity, multiculturalism, BLM. But those very movements eventually recast Indians not as allies but as oppressors. Progressive academics imported caste into Western discourse, equating “upper-caste Hindus” with white supremacists. Suddenly, the brown man who once checked the “POC” box was accused of having Brahmin privilege.3. Easy StereotypesOn the right, they are accused of stealing jobs via H-1B visas, gaming welfare, or “invading” neighbourhoods with curry smells. On the left, they are accused of being casteist, patriarchal, and closet Hindu nationalists. Both caricatures thrive because Indians rarely challenge them.
The Prophecy Fulfilled
When Jagdish Bhagwati in 2000 called Indians the “new Jews of America,” it felt like hyperbole. Today, it feels eerily prophetic. Like Jews in the last century, Indians are successful yet resented, visible yet vulnerable, hardworking yet vilified. But unlike the Jews, Indians have so far failed to build the political, cultural, and media defences necessary to withstand hostility.They embraced hard work but ignored power. They chased Ivy Leagues but neglected lobbying. They spoke up for every cause but their own. And so today they are caught in a perfect pincer: the far-right sees them as brown job-stealers, the far-left sees them as casteist oppressors, and both agree on one thing — Indians make an easy punching bag.
A Future Impossible to Ignore
Yet the world is changing. India is no longer the impoverished colony that Churchill sneered at. It is a rising economic giant — soon to be the third-largest economy, with a diaspora that commands boardrooms and laboratories, city halls and Senate committees.An India of this scale, with an economy of this power, will be impossible to ignore. And as that power grows, the diaspora’s ability to remain silent will end. The choice will no longer be whether Indians want to play the game of power — but whether the world is ready to accept that they are already on the field.
