'Immense Anti-Indian Hate, Visa Concerns in US': Sree Sreenivasan on VIGILANT

"There's a great sense of unease in America. Whenever there's unease, they target the immigrants," says Sreenivasan.

"There's immense anti-Indian hate going on right now in the U.S., and I've never seen anything like it," says Sree Sreenivasan, former Chief Digital Officer of New York City and a prominent member of the Indian diaspora in the United States.

(Photo: Aroop Mishra/The Quint)

"There's immense anti-Indian hate going on right now in the U.S., and I've never seen anything like it," says Sree Sreenivasan, former Chief Digital Officer of New York City and a prominent member of the Indian diaspora in the United States.

Sreenivasan joins us for the first episode of VIGILANT, a new podcast hosted by Raghav Bahl, editor-in-chief of The Quint, and discusses the looming concerns over H1B work visas, F1 student visas, and the OPT program that allows foreign students to work after graduation in the US.

The two discuss the rapidly changing conditions for Indians in the United States, as well as the political attitudes of Indian Americans amid growing polarisation in the country.

"There's a great sense of unease in America, and whenever there's unease, they target the immigrants," says Sreenivasan.

"The worries over the H1B, the F1 visa, the OPT, which is the Optional Practical Training — which led to almost every one of those leaders, CEOs, we know they all came in that trajectory — all of that's under question and could all disappear," he adds. "So Indians are on a shaky ground at the moment."

The podcast, hosted by Raghav Bahl, is a part of VIGIL, a new offering on The Quint that discusses and champions themes of pluralism and inclusivity in the Indian diaspora. VIGIL stands for Voice of India: Global, Inclusive, Liberal.

Speaking about young conservatives in the Indian diaspora, Sreenivasan says, "There are certainly some Indian Americans who are conservative, young people born here, including Vivek Ramaswamy."

Sreenivasan continues, "If you haven't heard about this, Nalin Haley, who is Nikki Haley's son, he will out-MAGA anybody. He's probably in his early 20s, and he's on social media slamming India, slamming Indians."

Nikki Haley, born Nimrata Nikki Randhawa, was born to Ajit Singh and Raj Kaur Randhawa, Indian immigrants to the United States.

"There's another girl named Priya Patel who's half-Indian, father is a Patel," says Sreenivasan. "[She's] right-wing as anything, attacking India, attacking Indian Americans, saying we don't want any immigration."

"So there are these cohorts of super conservatives, but there are also, I think, much more liberal, progressive second generation, third generation, we're also hitting now the fourth generation of Indian Americans," he says.

Watch the full conversation between Sreenivasan and Bahl, and follow VIGIL by The Quint on social media for the latest articles, interviews and podcasts from VIGIL.

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