Rajnath Singh Promises Response After Congress Attacks PM On US Hate Crimes

New Delhi: The government will do everything it can to ensure Indians in the US "are safe and secure", Home Minister Rajnath Singh assured parliament today, promising a detailed statement next week on recent attacks. He was responding to the opposition, which has questioned what it calls Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "silence" on Indians being targeted in US in hate attacks since, the Congress' Mallikarjun Kharge said, President Donald Trump took over.

Mr Singh said the government's statement would be made once Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj, who has been unwell, is back in parliament.

This morning, as parliament reconvened for the Budget session after a recess, Mr Kharge demanded that PM Modi speak on the issue. "PM Modi tweets on everything. Why is he silent on this," asked the leader of the main Opposition party in the Lok Sabha or Lower House of Parliament, adding, "Around 1.7 lakh Indian students are there for studies. Lakhs of Indians are there for work. They are being targeted. Their parents in India are worried."
 Mr Kharge alleged that there was a rise in attacks on Indians since "Trump has come to power".

Other opposition leaders like Sougata Roy of the Trinamool Congress joined him to demand a statement from PM Modi on the attacks. "The Prime Minister should speak. I hope the government shows gumption," said Mr Roy.

Rajnath Singh said the government had taken a very serious view of the killing in Kansas of Srinivas Kuchibhotla, an Indian engineer shot dead at a bar by a man who yelled, "Get out of my country".

Days after Mr Kuchibotla's death, another Indian Harnish Patel was killed outside his home in South Carolina and a Sikh man, Deep Rai, was shot at in Kent, Washington. Investigators have not ruled out that these were racially motivated crimes.

The attacks have triggered fear in the Indian community in the US, with many alleging that President Trump's executive orders against immigrants encourage such violence.

President Trump has condemned the murder of Mr Kuchibhotla.