The bitter fruits of President Donald Trump’s America for Americans are becoming manifest. Srinivas Kuchibhotia, 32 and Alok Reddy Madasani who is of the same age hit a bar in Kansas’s Olathe after work. 51-year-old Adam Purinton hurled racial abuses at them. Purinton then shot at both Indians. Srinivas died at hospital while Alok survived. That was the grim scenario in a country which has abandoned apartheid long years ago. The FBI is probing if it was a hate crime. Prima facie, it would see nothing but that. It was definitely prompted by racism which has received encouragement from Trump’s policy. Local reports said the engineers arrived in the US less than 3 years back. There are more than a million Indian professionals in the US. Purinton is a navy veteran IT specialist and air traffic controller. Srinivas Kuchibhotia was a ‘top of its class guy’, said his boss. The incident has naturally dismayed both Delhi and the Indian IT establishment. India only last week sent an industry delegation to the US to present India’s view on the issue of skilled guest worker visas. The victims of the outrage had graduated from US colleges.
The IT professionals are mostly from Andhra and Telangana. Americans and Indians across the US spoke with their hearts and wallets as the incident ignited passionate discussions on social media. US senator Jerry Moran of Kansas strongly condemned violence of any kind especially if it was motivated by prejudice and xenophobia. President Trump may not approve crime but his campaign rhetoric revealed a xenophobic attitude. Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj expressed shock at the shooting incident. Foreign Secretary Jai Shankar should think again.