NEW DELHI: US secretary of state
Marco Rubio on Monday strongly pushed back against allegations of rising anti-India rhetoric in the United States, saying President
Donald Trump remains a "big fan"of both India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Addressing the controversy during a media interaction in Delhi, Rubio dismissed suggestions of systemic hostility towards Indians in the US and reaffirmed Washington’s commitment to strengthening ties with New Delhi.
"The President is a big fan of India, a big fan of Prime Minister Modi. I wouldn't be here if the President didn't want me to be here," Rubio said.
"He wouldn't have sent someone like Sergio Gor to be our ambassador, someone who's very close to the President," he added.
The question to Rubio was widely seen as a reference to past remarks attributed to Trump, in which he reportedly described India and China as "hellholes" while criticising the misuse of America’s birthright citizenship laws.
His remarks came amid a controversy over a viral clip from an earlier interaction in which he responded to a question on alleged racist comments targeting Indians and Indian-Americans in the US.
Clarifying his earlier response, Rubio also said that he had asked the journalist to specify who had made the alleged remarks but did not receive a clear answer.
"The bottom line is that in the modern era, you go online, and there are people saying all kinds of crazy stuff. I don't even know if they're real people or who they are," Rubio noted.
The original question referred to "racist comments" allegedly made against Indians in the US, which many interpreted as an indirect reference to previous remarks attributed to Trump regarding immigration and birthright citizenship.
Earlier, during the exchange, the journalist had asked, "There have been a lot of racist comments coming from the United States against Indians, Indian-Americans. You know this goes against the basic premise of the India-US relationship. What's your take on that?"
When Rubio sought clarification on who exactly had made such remarks, the journalist responded, "We all have seen those comments. We've seen the endorsement of those comments."
Responding to the broad allegations, Rubio said such comments should not be treated as representative of an entire country. "I don't know how to address that, but I'll take that very seriously,"Rubio said.
"I'm sure that there are people who have made comments online and other places, because every country in the world has stupid people. I'm sure [there are] stupid people here; there are stupid people in the United States, who make dumb comments all the time," he added.
Rubio, who is on a four-day visit to India, also addressed questions related to Pakistan’s reported role in facilitating communication during the ongoing US-Iran conflict.
Asked whether India had raised concerns over Pakistan acting as a mediator, Rubio said New Delhi’s concerns regarding Pakistan remain focused on terrorism.
"They're always concerned about, obviously. India is always pointing to the fact that there are armed terrorist groups operating from Pakistani territory that target India. They're always concerned about that," Rubio said.
"But as far as the role they played as a mediator and a facilitator in the Iran situation, it never came up. I don't think that they would complain about that. I mean, their issue with Pakistan is different," he added.
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