“Deeply offensive” and colonial – India responds to J.D.’s comment Vance

The Indian government has appointed US Vice President J.D. Vance was criticized for "deeply offensive" comments in which he described foreign workers at US software companies - many of whom are Indian - as "servants" (in the sense of servants or serfs). Vance had used the word “servant.”

Vance and Labor Minister Keith Sonderling had already met some of India's largest IT service providers as well as Microsoft Corp. on Thursday. and Adobe Inc. barred from a longstanding immigration initiative; this was as part of a crackdown on alleged abuses of the H-1B worker visa system.

Vance called on U.S. companies to hire more American workers and "stop importing indentured servants to do a job that an American worker would be happy to do."

“Painful historical and colonial connotations”

In India, the term is linked to a colonial-era system in which workers were forced to work on plantations and farms overseas under exploitative conditions.

Without directly addressing Vance's comments, India's foreign ministry said Friday that the comments were "unwarranted and ignore the fact that Indian professionals in the United States are highly educated and skilled and make important contributions to the country's economy and innovation ecosystem."

“The resort to terminology that evokes painful historical and colonial connotations is deeply offensive,” the ministry statement said.

Relations between India and the US have come under strain over the past year due to trade disputes, immigration issues and President Donald Trump's rapprochement with Pakistan - India's nuclear-armed neighbor. Senior U.S. and Indian officials recently signaled that trade negotiations are deadlocked despite months of talks.

Vance followed up again

Vance repeated the controversial language Friday while answering questions from reporters about industrial policy.

“We're trying to make it harder for big corporations to undercut American workers' wages and bring in indentured servants to replace American jobs,” he said. "You see Democrats vehemently saying, 'No, no, no, no! We want to continue to allow corporations to bring in indentured servants from overseas to depress American wages.' That's absurd. We're fighting for American workers."

Recent measures restricting skilled immigration "do not promote the shared ambitions of both countries" as talent mobility is mutually beneficial, India's foreign ministry said. “The history of the United States itself has been shaped by generations of immigrants whose labor, entrepreneurial spirit and innovation have contributed to the country’s growth and prosperity.”

The measures announced by Vance and Sonderling target the Permanent Labor Certification Program (PERM); This allows companies to apply for permanent residency for foreign workers – such as H-1B or other visa holders – who are already working in the United States. This is the first step to U.S. citizenship.