Pawan Khera wrote, “8 years later, Rahul Gandhi is vindicated yet again,” referencing Rahul’s 2017 post with media reports showing the H-1B visa issue was absent from Trump-Modi talks.
NEW DELHI — After the US imposed USD 100,000 annual fee for H-1B visas for highly skilled workers, the Congress on Saturday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, terming him a weak PM whose preference for “strategic silence” and “loud optics” has become a liability.
In a post on X, Congress deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi said that with the recent decision on H1-B visas the American government has hit at the future of the best and brightest minds from India.
“I still remember the boldness of former PM Manmohan Singh when one IFS lady diplomat was insulted in the US… Now PM Modi’s preference for strategic-silence and loud-optics has become a liability for the national interest of India and her citizens,” Gogoi alleged.
Congress leader Pawan Khera posted on X, “8 years later, Rahul Gandhi is vindicated yet again.” He also tagged a post of Gandhi in 2017 with media reports that the H-1B visa issue did not figure in the talks between US President Donald Trump and PM Modi.
“He called it out back in 2017 and nothing has changed. India is still stuck with a weak Prime Minister,” Khera said while attacking the prime minister.
President Donald Trump on Friday signed a proclamation that will raise the fee for H1-B visas to a staggering USD 100,000 annually, the latest in the administration’s efforts to crack down on immigration.
Trump has said abuse of the H-1B programme is a national security threat as he signed a proclamation restricting entry of certain non-immigrant workers and imposing a staggering annual USD 100,000 fee on the visas used by companies to hire workers, including from India, to live and work in the US.
The H-1B non-immigrant visa programme was created to bring temporary workers into the US to perform additive, high-skilled functions, but it has been deliberately exploited to replace, rather than supplement, American workers with lower-paid, lower-skilled labour, Trump said in the proclamation.
US turning Screws on India
Senior Congress leaders on Saturday came down heavily on the Centre over what they termed a failure of foreign policy after the United States announced a steep hike in H-1B visa fees to $100,000 per year, a move seen as a major setback for Indian tech professionals working in America. Congress MP Manish Tewari urged the government to take “appropriate action” and said that the “US seems to be turning the screws on India.”
The development followed US President Donald Trump’s proclamation, significantly curtailing the H-1B visa programme in a bid to prevent its overuse and to promote the hiring of domestic workers.
Signing the order at the White House on Friday, President Trump said the “incentive is to hire American workers… We need workers. We need great workers, and this pretty much ensures that.”
Reacting strongly, Congress accused the government of mishandling the matter.
Senior Congress leader Pawan Khera, speaking to IANS, said, “$100,000 will have to be given by our children or the companies that they are working for. This is just another big example of how we have failed.”
“In July 2017, during Trump’s first term, Rahul Gandhi had first warned the Prime Minister that he should look into this matter. Today, after 8 years, the same thing has been proved. PM Modi has emerged as a very weak Prime Minister,” Khera said.
Congress MP Manish Tewari also urged the government to take “appropriate action” in response to what he described as a series of steps taken by the US against India in recent months.
Tewari said, “The US seems to be turning the screws on India. What is happening since May 2025 — premature announcement of the ceasefire post India’s kinetic action in response to the terror outrage perpetrated by Pakistan in Pahalgam on April 22; then Asim Munir’s dinner at the White House; the Saudi Arabia-Pakistan Defence pact, which obviously would not have happened without US approval, and now, the H-1B visa.”
“This will definitely put a strain on the Indo-US relationship and on the larger security architecture of the Asian continent. The Indian government should take this very seriously and should accordingly act on it,” he added.
Chhattisgarh Congress chief Deepak Baij also slammed the Centre and questioned the Prime Minister’s much-talked-about ties with the US President.
Baij said, “What is this friendship between PM Modi and Trump that just two days ago, the US President wished the Prime Minister on his birthday and now, increases the H-1B visa fee. Earlier, Trump had also increased the tariffs. Because of all this, the common people have to face the consequences. What kind of friendship is this? PM Modi should make it clear.” — Agencies
