Zoho co-founder Sridhar Vembu dropped a bombshell on X Monday, urging high-flying Indian professionals in the US to pack up and head back to India. ‘India needs your skills to boost its tech might and secure its future,’ he declared in an open letter to the diaspora.
Recalling his broke-but-bold arrival in America decades ago, Vembu credited Indian roots for his success. Gratitude to the US is non-negotiable, he said, but reality has shifted. Anti-Indian sentiment simmers, with accusations of job theft rampant. Though not dominant, it’s loud enough to matter.
US politics offers Indians no real seat at the table, Vembu contended—just a binary choice between civilization-hating extremes: the ‘hard right’ despising Indian heritage and the ‘woke left’ rejecting all civilized norms. Elections won’t resolve this tribal clash.
Timing couldn’t be worse, as H-1B visas face a Republican push for a three-year freeze, claiming abuse by cheap foreign labor displacing Americans. Vembu framed return as empowerment: fortify India’s tech base, and global respect follows organically.
He lambasted dependency on foreign goodwill: a weak India gets pity sermons from the left and contempt from the right. ‘Don’t accept either,’ he advised.
The core plea? ‘Come home, no matter how tough. India’s youth crave your leadership to unlock prosperity. Let’s make this a shared mission with fervor.’ Vembu’s words cut through amid visa wars, challenging NRIs to prioritize Bharat over green cards.
