India has reminded the world, yet again, of the Roman fabulist Phaedrus’s famous line numquam est fidelis cum potente societas (an alliance with the powerful is never to be trusted) with its strong response to the US freezing green card filings by Indian IT firms such as TCS, Wipro and Infosys (and also IT companies with most of their workforce and operations in India, such as Cognizant and Cap Gemini). New Delhi has rightly stated that such moves have the
India has reminded the world, yet again, of the Roman fabulist Phaedrus’s famous line numquam est fidelis cum potente societas (an alliance with the powerful is never to be trusted) with its strong response to the US freezing green card filings by Indian IT firms such as TCS, Wipro and Infosys (and also IT companies with most of their workforce and operations in India, such as Cognizant and Cap Gemini). New Delhi has rightly stated that such moves have the ability to jeopardise any attempts to build meaningful bilateral ties. The ministry of external affairs has justifiably held the language used by US vice president JD Vance, at the event where the action was announced (he used the phrase “foreign indentured servants”), as offensive. When two countries work towards building greater cooperation through trade and defence ties, using colonially coloured phrases to refer to talent mobility is not acceptable.
It is important to note that green card filings by Indian companies have seen a decline in the past few years, according to data from the US Department of Labour, and today account for barely 2% of the total requests filed. In fact, Infosys, one of the Indian companies named by US secretary of labour Keith Sonderling during the announcement, has not had any Program Electronic Review Management (PERM) cases since 2022. In effect, therefore, this is more sound and fury than real action geared towards protecting American workers’ interests. During the second Donald Trump presidency, the anti-immigrant fervour has turned into an unprecedented frenzy. Indian IT firms have long been accused of depriving the Americans of their due in terms of employment and remuneration. Yet, this issue has also cleft Trump supporters down the middle: Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy strongly favour issuing H1B visas to foreign workers to support the American industry, while US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick and Florida governor Ron de Santis call for stringent curbs. Trump has used the issue of immigrant labour to underscore his inward-looking nationalism with the tagline Make America Great Again.
As the mid-term fever grips the US, more such announcements can be expected in a bid to help Trump’s plummeting approval ratings. According to the latest poll results, announced on Thursday by Pew Research Centre, only 30% of Americans approve of the current presidency. This is not surprising in light of the ongoing crisis in West Asia — kicked off by the US military action in Iran to eliminate its leadership in February — disrupting supply chains and pushing the cost of living steadily upward. The pinch is being felt by the ordinary American every day at gas stations and grocery stores. Thursday’s approval ratings are only marginally better than Trump’s worst-ever ratings: 29% on January 12, 2021, the end of his first presidency. In a fractured American society, where ethnic tensions are rising to reflect global developments, an anti-immigrant policy move, however ineffectual, is geared primarily towards a consolidation of the electorate.
India must stay the course and continue to challenge any arbitrary moves by the US. No road to partnership can be paved with racially-charged language, dripping with contempt for workers who make the US their home and contribute to its economy. Domestically, too, such statements and policy moves are damaging. Washington will do well to heed Nobel Peace laureate Woodrow Wilson’s words. “Just because you brought dreams with you, America is more likely to realize dreams such as you brought.”
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