Zoho Founder Sridhar Vembu Urges Indians In America To Return: 'Bharat Mata Needs Your Talent'

A strongly worded message from Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu has sparked conversation online, as the tech entrepreneur urged Indians settled in the United States to rethink their future abroad and consider returning home. Shared on X, he wrote an open letter addressed to Indians in the United States, urging them to return to the country and contribute to India’s growth in all aspects.Drawing from his own experience of moving to the US decades ago, Vembu acknowledged the opportunities the country once offered, while suggesting that shifting political narratives around immigration and jobs are placing Indians in a difficult position. He argued that global respect for Indians is closely tied to India’s own growth, especially in technology, and called

on skilled professionals to contribute back home.He wrote, ''Open letter to Indians in America, Dear brothers and sisters from Bharat: Like I did 37 years ago, you arrived in America with no money but with a good education and cultural heritage from Bharat. You achieved outstanding success. America was good to us. For that we must remain grateful - gratitude is our Bharatiya way. Yet today, a significant number of Americans, may be not the majority but not too far from it either, believe that Indians "take away" American jobs and our success in America was unfairly earned.''Hr further wrote, ''You may think the next election will fix this, but your choice would be between people who hate our Bharatiya civilisation and people who hate civilisation itself. That is the "hard right" vs "woke left" battle. You are mere bystanders to that conflict. Meanwhile there is one thing that is true now and will be true in the future: the respect Indians command world-wide will substantially depend on the fortunes of India herself. If India remains poor, the woke left will give us moral lectures with pity and the hard right, different moral lectures with scorn ("hellhole") and we must not confuse either with respect.''

He concluded with, ''Respect in today's world, along with prosperity and security, comes from one source: a nation's technological prowess. India produces sufficient brain power to achieve that prowess but alas we exported so much of that talent, particularly to America. As we develop that prowess in India, our civilisational strength will assert itself. As difficult as it is for many of you to contemplate this, please come back home. Bharat Mata needs your talent. Our vast youthful population needs the technology leadership you gained over the years to guide them towards prosperity. Let's do it with a missionary zeal. Respectfully, Sridhar Vembu.''The post comes amid renewed political tensions in the America after the US President Donald Trump referred to India and China as “hell holes” and described immigrants from these countries as “gangsters with laptops,” drawing sharp criticism from Indian-origin lawmakers. Later, the Ministry of External Affairs also issued a stern response to the US President’s remarks. "We have seen the comments, as also the subsequent statement issued by the US Embassy in response. The remarks are obviously uninformed, inappropriate and in poor taste," said MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal.