Jairam Ramesh said the ad was not merely an insult to an individual or community but to ‘the dignity of all Indians’

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Friday attacked the government over a controversial US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) advertisement targeting “Mr Singh”. The opposition called it an insult to all Indians and questioned why New Delhi had not issued a strong public rebuttal. The opposition party accused the government of being “weak” and failing to firmly defend India’s interests and the dignity of Indians abroad.Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said the advertisement, which used AI-generated imagery of a brown-bearded, turbaned man with messages including “Get off our roads, you don’t know how to drive Mr Singh” and “Self-deport or find out”, was highly offensive.“Modi ji, who has been showcasing his international clout by calling Donald Trump his ‘friend’ and who even coined the slogan ‘Abki Baar Trump Sarkar’ among Indian-Americans, is now seeing continuous insults against Indians and people of Indian origin under his administration,” Ramesh said.“Yet, the Modi government is behaving as if it is a silent partner in this entire episode. An extremely offensive poster targeting ‘Mr Singh’ was issued from the official handle of the US Department of Homeland Security, in which a turbaned Indian was threatened with lines like ‘Get off our roads’ and ‘Self-deport or find out’,” he said in a post in Hindi on X.Ramesh said the episode was not merely an insult to an individual or community but to “the dignity of all Indians”. He said the government should have strongly rebutted what he described as racial stereotyping and “this level of governmental rudeness”.The DHS later removed the advertisement following protests in the US, Ramesh said. However, he alleged that the department continued to defend the campaign and its language through other official posts.“The question is: Why has there been no strong public rebuttal from the Modi government on this insult to Indians?” Ramesh said.The Congress leader also linked the controversy to earlier instances in which he accused the government of failing to defend Indian interests before the US administration. He recalled the deportation of Indians on US military aircraft in handcuffs and leg shackles and the imposition of additional US tariffs on India.“Why has our diplomatic strength become so feeble during the tenure of the Modi government, which boasts of being the ‘vishwaguru’, that India’s interests and sovereignty are facing one blow after another?” Ramesh said.“Why is the Modi government silent? Why does the Government of India keep proving itself weak time and again?” he said.Ramesh questioned whether the government’s relationship with US President Donald Trump meant that Washington could continue to target Indians while India remained silent.“Friendship is important in foreign policy, but national interest, the dignity of Indians, and India’s sovereignty are paramount, and there can be no compromise on them,” he said.The controversy erupted after DHS used AI-generated imagery as part of a campaign against unlicensed commercial drivers. The advertisement showed a brown-bearded man and referred specifically to “Mr Singh”.The reference drew criticism from advocacy groups, including the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) and Sikh Coalition, which accused the US agency of racial profiling.“Singhs are Hindu, they are Sikhs, they are American and they drive. Racist, un-American, anti-Indian profiling/trolling by @DHSgov should shock our nation’s collective conscience,” the HAF said on X.“This is a discriminatory post by a federal agency that is far beyond political messaging, and we welcome an investigation,” the organisation said, tagging Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K Dhillon and FBI Director Kash Patel.The Sikh Coalition said the incident showed that Sikhs continued to face profiling based on their appearance.“Twenty-five years after 9/11, Sikhs are still being targeted and profiled for how we look,” it said.“Millions of Sikhs in the United States have the last name Singh, which means lion. We remain fearless in identifying as Sikhs even when our government portrays us as enemies,” the Sikh Coalition said.Other DHS posts as part of the campaign featured characters from the Transformers franchise. One video showed Megatron negotiating the release of truck drivers Harjinder Singh, Rajinder Kumar, Bekzhan Beishekeev, Akhror Bozorov and Jasveer Singh, who the agency said were involved in road accidents and other crimes.“If you approach this nation with hostile intent, know this. We will defend ourselves. We will defend Americanism. We will defend our home,” the DHS said in a post on X.