‘US can’t do without talent from India’ – The Times of India

HYDERABAD: Though every country has the right to decide who it wants to shut its doors to and who to let in, US President Donald Trump’s move to clamp down on immigration, and curb the flow of talent from India in particular, was nothing but “foolish”, The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) co-founder Kanwal Rekhi told TOI. “The feeling in America right now is that we need to reserve jobs and spots at universities. Nobody has the birth right to go to America, and if America wants to shut down immigration, it is their right. What they are doing is foolish, but everybody has the right to be foolish,” said the outspoken Indian-American entrepreneur. However, the octogenarian Indian-American philanthropist feels this phase is only temporary, as in a democracy it is the voters who have the final word. “In a democracy, the only retribution is the retribution of voters. The Americans are a free people, and they will decide when we have the mid-term elections in 10 months. And that’s the beauty of democracy, which is self-correcting,” he said. Rekhi, who was in India for the opening of the Kanwal Rekhi Rural Entrepreneurship and Startup Centre (KREST) in Nizamabad, said that all the hate coming the way of Indians from MAGA supporters notwithstanding, the US cannot do without Indian talent. “They (US) will discover very quickly, and they are already discovering, that in this cold war they are having with China, they need Indians on their side. But they have to decide that for themselves. We cannot be telling them how to run their country, just like India will not allow anybody to tell us how to run our country,” said Rekhi, who immigrated to US in the 1960’s.