Talent flows from India, US cannot afford to shut doors

US President Donald Trump's attempts to tighten immigration and restrict the flow of talent from India are “foolish,” according to Kanwal Rekhi, co-founder of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) and a prominent Indian-American entrepreneur.

“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,” Rekhi told TOI.

Rekhi, who was in India to inaugurate the Kanwal Rekhi Rural Entrepreneurship and Startup Centre (KREST) in Nizamabad, said he believes the current anti-immigration phase is temporary. “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.


Despite the hostility from certain quarters, particularly MAGA supporters, Rekhi stressed that 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 the octogenarian philanthropist, who immigrated to the US in the 1960s.

With inputs from TOI