Last month, FBI Director Kash Patel wished his followers on X a happy Diwali. It did not go over well.
Far-right Christian nationalist and white nationalist accounts flooded his post with bigoted memes and rhetoric. “Go back home and worship your sand demons,” a far-right pastor wrote. “Get the f**k out of my country,” read another reply. Said another, “This is America. We don’t do this.” These responses, some of which were seen millions of times, were on the tamer end of the spectrum.
Similar hostility followed Diwali greetings on X from former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon, as well as posts about the holiday from the White House, the State Department, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
Some Indian American conservatives seem shocked that segments of the political right are now taking aim at them.
The article skirts the H1-B issue, overseas call centers and scam calls. Large sections of the US have been through layoffs and then have a vendor like HCL come in to do the same work. We went through a 20 year period before automation where the person on the other line was clearly not named Frank. Cell phones are inundated by spam calls and the person on the other line is pretty assuredly not going to have a familiar inflection. This sentiment is not “new” or out of no where. Unjustified but its not all just blind rage for people with different culture.