New Delhi: After the US imposed a USD 100,000 annual fee for H-1B visas for highly skilled workers, the Congress on Saturday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing him of being a "weak PM" whose preference for "strategic silence" and "loud optics" has become a liability for India.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge also said that foreign policy is about safeguarding India's national interests and keeping "India First" and not holding "events".
Highlighting reports that H-1B Visa hike would hit Indians hardest, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi said in a post on X, "I repeat, India has a weak PM."
Noting that Indian national interests are supreme, Congress chief Kharge took a swipe at the PM, saying, "Bear hugs, hollow slogans, concerts and getting people to chant 'Modi, Modi' is not foreign policy!".
"Foreign policy is about safeguarding our national interests; keeping India First, and steering friendships with wisdom and balance. It cannot be reduced to superficial bravado that risks undermining our long-term standing," Kharge said in a post on X.
The Congress chief said, "Narendra Modi ji, Indians are pained by the return gifts you have received after the birthday call.
"Birthday Return Gifts from your 'Abki Baar, Trump Sarkar' Government! -- USD 100,000 annual fee on H-1B visas hits Indian tech workers the hardest, 70 per cent of H-1B visa holders are Indians and 50 per cent tariff already imposed, a loss of Rs 2.17 Lakh crore to India is already estimated in 10 sectors alone," Kharge said.
He also cited the HIRE Act, which he claimed was targeting Indian outsourcing. He also called the lifting of exemption to the Chabahar port a "loss to our strategic interests".
"Even a call for the EU to impose a 100 per cent tariff on Indian goods!
"Mr. Trump again recently claims (for the umpteenth time!) that his intervention stopped the India-Pak war," Kharge said.
In a post on X, Congress deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi said, "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."
Gogoi alleged, "Now PM Modi's preference for strategic-silence and loud-optics has become a liability for the national interest of India and her citizens."
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.
US President 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 also said abuse of the H-1B programme is a national security threat as he signed the proclamation restricting entry of certain non-immigrant workers.
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.