'Kabhi India aa ke dekho': Iran hits back at Trump over 'hellhole' remark

Iran's consulate in Mumbai on Friday clapped back at US President Donald Trump over his recent remarks describing India as a "hellhole". In a tongue-in-cheek post on X (formerly Twitter), the Iranian consulate said, "Maybe someone should book a one-way cultural detox for Mr Trump, it might just reduce the random bakwaas. Kabhi India aa ke dekho, phir bolna."

The consulate also shared a 17-second video showing the multiple facets of Maharashtra, right from the bustling city life in Mumbai to Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations to the quiet of the plateaus in Satara and the Tapi River valley in Khandesh. 

When Trump called India and China a hellhole

Watch the full video here

This, however, is not the only retort that Iran has given to Trump for his remark. The Iranian consulate in Hyderabad on Thursday called India and China as "the cradles of civilisation." 

The consulate said, "China and India are the cradles of civilisation. In fact, the hellhole is where its war-criminal president threatened to decimate the civilisation in Iran." In another post, the consulate wrote, "Every day, with a new post, Trump's inhumanity proves to be beyond infinity. This is the racism itself."

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What did Trump repost?

On Thursday, Trump shared a strongly worded letter on birthright citizenship, which targeted immigration and hiring in the American tech sector. The strongly worded letter reposted by Trump states that immigrants are not loyal to the US. 

The letter said, "A baby here becomes an instant citizen, and then they bring the entire family in from China or India or some other hellhole on the planet. You don't have to go too far to see that. English is not spoken here anymore. That there's almost no loyalty to this country amongst the immigrant class coming in today, which was not always the case." 

It further said that the Irish, Russians, Poles, Lithuanians, Romanians, and Italians all integrated and became Americans. It added, "The idea of the melting pot is long over. It is now just a cash in pot." 

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India's response to Trump's repost

Meanwhile, New Delhi responded to Trump's social media repost on Thursday evening. Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal did not mince words, saying Trump's repost was "uninformed, inappropriate and in poor taste". 

"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. They certainly do not reflect the reality of the India-US relationship, which has long been based on mutual respect and shared interests," he said.

The US Embassy, however, scrambled to limit the damage, emphasising India-US ties. "The President has said 'India is a great country with a very good friend of mine at the top'," an embassy spokesperson said.