Congress calls Modi government 'weak' over DHS 'Mr Singh' deportation ad

The Congress on Friday attacked the Union government over a controversial advertisement issued by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), describing it as an affront to the dignity of Indians and questioning the absence of a firm public response from New Delhi.

The post, published on X as part of a DHS campaign against unlicensed commercial drivers, used AI-generated imagery of a brown-bearded man and carried the line "Get off our roads, you don't know how to drive Mr. Singh." Advocacy groups, including the Hindu American Foundation and the Sikh Coalition, condemned it as racist and anti-American.

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said the advertisement was not merely an insult to one person or community but to the dignity of all Indians. In a post in Hindi on X, he asked why the Modi government had not issued a strong public rebuttal to what he called racial stereotyping and governmental rudeness.

Mr. Ramesh pointed out that the DHS had removed the post after widespread protests in the United States, but said the department continued to defend the campaign and its language through its official posts. He termed the Modi government "weak" and said it would have to answer the country on why it was unable to advocate India's interests forcefully.

He also cited earlier episodes, recalling that Indians had been sent back on a U.S. military aircraft in handcuffs and leg shackles, and that Washington had imposed unilateral additional tariffs on India. He asked why India's diplomatic strength had become feeble, and whether friendship in foreign policy should come at the cost of national interest, the dignity of Indians and sovereignty.

The row comes amid a DHS campaign promoting its CBP Home programme, which allows eligible undocumented migrants to register their intention to leave the United States voluntarily. Those who register for self-deportation can receive travel assistance and an exit bonus of USD 2,600.

Related posts by the department on X featured Transformers characters, with Megatron shown negotiating the release of truck drivers named Harjinder Singh, Rajinder Kumar, Bekzhan Beishekeev, Akhror Bozorov and Jasveer Singh, and Optimus Prime confronting the brown-bearded man with the message "Self-deport or find out."

The Hindu American Foundation said the profiling should shock the nation's collective conscience and welcomed an investigation, while the Sikh Coalition said that 25 years after 9/11, Sikhs were still being targeted for how they look. The Coalition noted that millions of Sikhs in the United States share the surname Singh, which means lion, and said they remain fearless in identifying as Sikhs even when the government portrays them as enemies.