Indians in America! They have been driving the billion dollar dream of the United States since decades. They form the pillars and keystone of the American lucrative sectors such as technology, medicine, academia, finance etc. Indians who migrated to the United States decades ago, built bulwark American empires in the domain of semiconductors, softwares and other emerging technologies. The resounding fact is that Indians form 33 per cent of the Silicon Valley and sophisticated US tech industry.
Thus, the American economy is indeed dependent on the Indian workers to realise their billion dollar dream. In other words, Indians are imperative to fuel and turbo charge the American economy. Most importantly, Indian Americans comprise 1.5 per cent of the population, yet contribute 5-6 per cent to the taxation system. Thus Indians are accelerating America’s growth story with manpower, skill power and with their economic credentials.
Despite such a humungous contribution, what are Indian Americans gaining in return. It is an increasing scale of racist attacks, targeted violence, hate comments etc. that is rapidly evolving as a vicious nexus leading to murder of the Indians who contribute to the growth of the United States. The murder of Indian man Anshul Kuncha, a 28 year old IT employee from Telangana is the latest testament to this escalating brutal anti-India hate campaign across the United States.
Anshul Kuncha shot down at Philadelphia
Anshul Kuncha was employed in a multi-national company and was also working as a pizza delivery boy on weekends for additional income. On June 5, Friday, Anshul Kuncha received a pizza order from Edgley Street in North Philadelphia. However, this was not a normal pizza order, but a well choreographed trap and the dark face of racism against Indians. Anshul Kuncha was tricked to enter a vacant apartment under the guise of pizza delivery at Raymond Rosen Homes.
Once he entered the house around 12:30AM, he was shot in the back of the head. Police officers found him bleeding heavily and was unresponsive. He was immediately rushed to the hospital, however, he was declared as dead around 12:43AM. During the investigation, the Police recovered three spent shell casings in the vicinity of the victim. These shell casings indicated that Anshul Kuncha was shot down from a very close distance.
The food order was lying as it is in that vacant apartment. Analysing the surveillance video shows that two people dressed in dark clothing entered the vacant apartment just minutes before the shooting. This tragic incident unmasks the dark face of racism in the United States, where Indians are repeatedly targeted for no reason, but with illicit motives. Meanwhile, Anshul Kuncha’s sister Tanvi aggrieved that it was clearly a trap to kill her brother. “He was told to deliver a pizza in an abandoned area, but we later learned it was a decoy”, Anshil Kuncha’s sister said.
“There was no one there. We do not know what they gained or what their intentions were. They took my brother and killed him. My brother had been in the US for nearly four years. We came to know that he was trapped through a fake pizza delivery request and was shot dead”, Anshul Kuncha’s sister further added. This racist attack and anti-India hate, is not an isolated incident. In recent days, the hate crimes against Indians is spiking at a frightening scale in the United States.
Series of anti-India hate comments and attacks in the US
Here is a list of spiralling vicious nexus of anti-India hate and racist attacks across the United States.
Racist comments flooded Deepawali wishes posts on social media
During the Deepawali festival FBI Director Kash Patel wished happy deepawali on his X social media platform. However, his X account was flooded with derogatory comments and racist remarks. “Go back home and worship your sand demons”, said one of the cryptic comments to the post targeting Indians and their rituals. Another reply read “Get the f**k out of my country”. “This is America. We don’t do this”, another comment said, reflecting the intensity of the anti-India animosity in the United States.
Similarly hate and hostile comments flooded on the Deepawali wish posts of Nikki Haley, former UN Ambassador, Vivek Ramaswamy, Former US Presidential candidate and others. Hate comments bombarded even on a Deepawali post by the White House, Texas State Department which read holiday on account of the festival. One of the users on the X platform also said that the existence of Indians disgusted them.
Hatred surrounding H-1B visas
The racist rhetoric in the United States against Indians and Black Americans is not a new phenomenon. The toxic racist racket has existed in the United States for decades and centuries. However, it is escalating at a dangerous scale and is gaining momentum in recent days. As per a research, in October 2025 alone, there were more than 2,700 posts on social media platforms evoking racism against Indians and Indian Americans. Indians are routinely labelled as “scammers” and invaders”. Indian culture and practices are mocked in public places.
In 2025, a city council member in Palm Bay, Florida made derogatory remarks on Indians. On social media, he called for the mass deportation of Indians. In Texas, which is a hub for thousands of Indian tech professionals, three masked men staged a roadside protest shouting, “Don’t India my Texas. Reject H-1B scammers. Reject Foreign Demons”.
Harassment at workplace, temples and public spaces
An Indian woman from Georgia shared that a fellow customer at a fast food restaurant threatened to call the police and the immigration officers to deport her back to India immediately. Another woman from Texas reported that a man who came into her workplace yelled at her saying, “I am glad Trump is deporting you b*tches. I hope you have a green card”. Another Indian American living in Virginia said that while he was dining at a restaurant with a friend, a man rushed to him and threatened violently by saying “go home and do Bharatanatyam”.
“They are stealing jobs. Rajesh the cheaper employee with the fake degree and resume is going to take your job”, said another social media post. Recently, an American man also confronted the Indian couple in the streets and yelled, “India is so incredible, why don’t you just stay in India? Why do you have to come to America? No, we don’t want you here. You got to go home. Okay? Get out of my country”.
The atrocities on Hindu temples is yet another dark facet of racism. In December 2024, 8 Hindu mandirs across the United States were vandalised, with the majority of them in California. For example, in March BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir was attacked in California. In September 2024, BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir was attacked in New York.
Racist motives leading to murder of Indians
The animosity against Indians is not just confined to racist comments and targeting on social media. It escalates to the extent of murder.
- In 2017, Srinivas Kuchibhotla, a 32 year old Indian aviation engineer was shot dead in Kansas.
- In 2017, Harnish Patel a 43 year old Indian businessman was shot dead in South Carolina.
- In 2016, Davinder Singh, a 47 year old gas station worker was shot dead in New Jersey.
- In 2024, Vivek Saini, a graduate student from India was brutally beaten to death in Georgia.
- Indian students were beaten to death on the campuses of Purdue University. Racist attacks also occurred on the Texas University campus. Ohio University, infact, raised concerns about the safety of students.
America acknowledged Indians, and their vast skillpower to build world-class empires and gain the titles such as tech hub, economic superpower etc. However, the same Indian workforce who nourished the billion-dollar engines of the United States are now irrationally labelled as “invaders” and “scammers”. In the 1990s, America opened the gates and encouraged talent immigration to heal its labour crisis and to accelerate technological revolution.
However, the same Indian community which were once the channels for the big American dream are now ill-treated and scapegoated for no reason. It’s high-time this racist nexus of the United States dismantles, which is irrationally targeted against the legal migrants who form the highly educated, highly professional community and brains behind making the American dream possible!
