#Editorial_The_Hindu 

Hate_bubbles_over ( नफरत बुलबुले के ऊपर )

The murder (हत्या) of an Indian in a hate crime poses uncomfortable questions to Team Trump

News of the killing of Indian national Srinivas Kuchibhotla in Kansas has shocked India, and raised fears about the safety of foreigners and immigrants (अप्रवासियों) in America. The term “hate crime” is writ large in the minds of the Indian_diaspora (भारतीय मूल) in the U.S. and their anxious (चिंतित) families back home, even as law enforcement (प्रवर्तन) officials piece together the #tragic (दुःखद) events at a bar in Kansas City. That prior to the attack the shooter, U.S. military veteran (दिग्गज) Adam Purinton, reportedly (कथित) asked Kuchibhotla and his co-worker and fellow Indian, Alok Madasani, whether they were residing in the U.S. illegally hints at the possible motivation for the violent encounter. Eyewitness reports confirming that the killer yelled (चिल्लाना) , “Get out of my country,” moments before unleashing a hail_of_bullets (गोलियों की बौछार) on the two Indians, also injuring a white man who sought to intervene (हस्तक्षऐप) on their behalf, suggests a xenophobic_racism (अज्ञातव्यक्तिभीत नस्लवाद) . While this may be an isolated (अलग)  instance_of_hate_crime (एक अलग क्राइम का उदाहरण) , given the political_climate (राजनीतिक माहौल) in the U.S., it cannot but shine a spotlight (लाइट फोकसिंग मशीन) on President Donald Trump’s anti-immigrans actions. Especially after Mr. Trump’s executive order banning entry into the U.S. of travellers from seven Muslim-majority countries and refugees (शरणार्थी) from Syria and indefinitely putting on hold the country’s refugee asylum (शरणार्थी अस्पताल) programme even if implementation (कार्यान्वयन) of the order has been limited, so far.

Fear-mongering about America’s weak borders allowing the unconstrained (स्वेच्छापुर्ण) entry of “illegal aliens” into the country has a much older provenance. Throughout the bruising (जोरदार) two-year election campaign that culminated (समापन हुवा ) in the November presidential election, Mr. Trump’s provocative (उत्तेजक) arguments (दलील) about building a wall along the Mexican border and banning Muslims from entering the U.S went largely unchallenged by the Republican Party. Last week, around the same time as the attack in Kansas City, Mr. Trump tweeted about seven people shot dead in Chicago, #pointing ( इशारा ) an unsubtle finger at violence ( हिंसा ) in inner cities associated with African-Americans in poverty. He did not tweet on the Kansas attack. The White House was quick to dismiss as absurd (बेतुका)” any link between the Kansas City shooting and the rhetoric (बयानबाजी) on undocumented immigrants. That may well be, but the selective social media outrage of Mr. Trump on violent acts across the U.S. is disturbing . Why, for instance (उदाहरण), did his administration not condemn (निंदा) that act of violence more explicitly (स्पष्ट रूप से )? Given Republican obstructionism on enacting common-sense gun control reforms to curb the #proliferation (प्रसार) of deadly_weapons (घातक हथियार) , this intensifying (तेज)  trend (प्रवृति) of racist_xenophobia ( विदेशी लोंगो को नापसंद करने की जातिवादी भावना) may make the U.S. a far more dangerous emigration (प्रवासी) destination (गंतव्य) than it has been so far. Srinivas Kuchibhotla’s career was the stuff of the American dream. Mr. Trump’s politics risks alienating (अलगाववाद की भावना) not just immigrants, but also native_born ( देसी अवतार) Americans from that dream.