• Source:JND
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Congress leader and Lok Sabha LoP, Rahul Gandhi, on Saturday fired a fresh salvo at Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the Donald Trump administration imposed an annual fee of $100,000 on H1-B visas, a move that will mostly affect the Indian working professionals in the United States.

Rahul Gandhi revived his old jab at the prime minister, saying, "I repeat India has a weak PM," in an X post.

His latest attack came in an X post, where he reposted a 2017 post that read, "India has a weak PM". In the 2017 post, he had shared a news article on another US decision on H-1B visas.

Earlier in the dauy, PM Modi, without directly addressing the issue, emphasised the dependence of the country, saying that it is the biggest enemy. He said, "Duniya mein koi hamara bada dushman nahi hai. Agar hamara koi dushman hai toh woh hai dusre deshon par hamari nirbharta (We have no greater enemy in the world, we do have one, it is our dependence on other countries.)

ALSO READ: PM Modi Bats For Self-Reliance Amid US Tariffs, Visa Concerns, Says 'Dependence On Other Countries Biggest Enemy Of India'

The US administration has increased the fee for H1-B visas, making it mandatory for organisations to pay $100,000 per application for recruiting foreign professionals coming to the US under the visa scheme.

Indians, especially the IT professionals, are the biggest beneficiaries of the H1-B visas and hence will be significantly affected by the jaw-dropping fee hike.

According to the data from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, quoted by Kirti Vardhan Singh, the MoS in the Ministry of External Affairs, in the Rajya Sabha, Indians received 72.3 per cent of H1-B visas from October 2022 to September 2023.

ALSO READ: H-1B Visa Policy: Congress Slams Centre As US Imposes $100,000 Fee On Employers' Visa; ‘Strategic Silence....’

Speaking about the executive order, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said that companies would no longer use H-1B visas for trainees. "The whole idea is that no more will these big tech companies or other big companies train foreign workers. They have to pay the government USD 100,000, then they have to pay the employee. So it's just not economic. If you're going to train somebody, you're going to train one of the recent graduates from one of the great universities across our land, train Americans, stop bringing in people to take our jobs. That's the policy here. All of the big companies are on board." he said.