India calls Trump-shared ‘hellhole’ comments uninformed and inappropriate

India has criticised comments shared by U.S. President Donald Trump that described the country as a “hellhole”, calling the remarks “uninformed”, inappropriate and inconsistent with the relationship between India and the United States.

The remarks were made by conservative commentator Michael Savage during an episode of The Savage Nation talk radio show. Trump later shared a transcript of the programme on his Truth Social account on Thursday without adding any comment.

“A baby here becomes an instant citizen, and then they bring the entire family in from China or India or some other hellhole on the planet,” Savage said, according to the transcript.

“That there’s almost no loyalty to this country amongst the immigrant class coming in today, which was not always the case. No, they’re not like the European Americans of today and their ancestors.”

The comments come as Trump pushes for restrictions on birthright citizenship in the United States. The directive has been challenged in the U.S. Supreme Court, and Trump earlier this month attended a hearing on the issue in a rare visit to the court.

India’s foreign ministry reacted strongly to the remarks late on Thursday.

“The remarks are obviously uninformed, inappropriate and in poor taste,” Indian foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a statement.

“They certainly do not reflect the reality of the India-US relationship, which has long been based on mutual respect and shared interests.”

The U.S. embassy in New Delhi responded by saying: “The president has said ‘India is a great country with a very good friend of mine at the top’.”

China’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

India’s main opposition party, Indian National Congress, described the “hellhole” remark as “extremely insulting and anti-India”.

“It hurts every Indian,” the party said on X.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi should take up this matter with the U.S. President and register a strong objection.”

Government data from India shows that nearly 5.5 million people of Indian origin live in the United States. Indian Americans and Chinese Americans are the two largest Asian-origin groups in the country.

Trump and Narendra Modi maintained close ties during Trump’s first term in office, although relations later cooled after India was hit with some of the highest U.S. tariffs last year. Many of those tariffs were rolled back this year.

India and the United States are currently working on a trade deal aimed at avoiding further tariff increases and expanding trade between the two countries.

(With inputs from agencies)