PM under GyaneshGate siege, will not retaliate to US visa crackdown: Congress
Mangalore Today News Network
New Delhi, Oct 9, 2026: The Congress on Friday criticised the government over the US administration’s actions targeting Indian IT professionals, saying India has several options to retaliate but Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whom it described as “thoroughly compromised” and under “siege” over “GyaneshGate”, would not act.
The Opposition party also said that appeasing bullies never pays.
In a post on X, Congress general secretary in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh said the US government’s latest actions directly targeting Indian IT professionals had once again proved that “appeasement of bullies never pays”.
Ramesh alleged that the move came shortly after the Modi government went out of its way to appease US President Donald Trump by imposing UPI merchant discount rate (MDR) charges, which he claimed would directly benefit American companies.
“India has a number of options to retaliate under laws already passed by Parliament, like the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, and its Rules. But a thoroughly compromised PM, now under siege on GyaneshGate, will not do so,” Ramesh said.
His remarks referred to the Opposition’s demand for Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
On Thursday, the US suspended eight IT companies, including Microsoft, Tata, Infosys and Wipro, from a programme that allows employers to seek permanent residency for foreign workers, alleging that the system had disadvantaged American workers in the job market.
The announcement was made by US Vice President J.D. Vance, Labour Secretary Keith Sonderling and Attorney General Todd Blanche as part of an initiative under the US Anti-Fraud Task Force.
Sonderling said the Department of Labour was suspending several major IT outsourcing companies, including Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL and Capgemini, from the Permanent Labour Certification Programme.
He added that Microsoft and Adobe were also being suspended from the programme amid multiple ongoing federal investigations.
“There has been no company in the United States, unfortunately, that has abused this system more than Microsoft,” Vance said.
The Vice President alleged that Microsoft had laid off 6,000 American workers in 2025 after certifying that it could not find qualified US employees. Despite this, the company was approved for more than 6,000 H-1B visas and filed 3,682 applications under the Permanent Labour Certification (PERM) process, including nearly 1,000 applications for positions similar to those held by workers who had been laid off, he said.
Indian professionals account for more than 70 per cent of approved H-1B visa petitions annually.
Vance described foreign workers employed through H-1B visas as “foreign indentured servants” and accused companies that rely heavily on the programme of operating as “visa mills”.
He also announced an investigation into the J-1 visa programme for research scholars, which is used by nine major universities, including Yale, Harvard, Stanford and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).
The J-1 programme allows foreign nationals to enter the US as exchange visitors for research, teaching, study and specialised professional activities.