Campus Reform Drops Indian-American Writer Amid Anti-India Row

A young journalist of Indian origin in Texas says his role with a conservative higher-education media outlet has ended after he publicly stated that he voted against his party's candidate. The episode has added fresh urgency to a national conversation about hostility toward Indian-Americans.

Vasant Bhatt, 21, a student at the University of Houston studying political science, says his decision to vote for a Democratic candidate was a direct response to rising hatred and discrimination against Indians. Soon after, Campus Reform, a conservative platform that focuses on campus issues, ended his position as a correspondent.

In a post on X on Friday, Bhatt described the decision as a consequence of refusing to toe the Republican line. He wrote that he had voted according to his conscience and had spoken out against hatred aimed at Indians.

Bhatt said losing a place in a program would not change his beliefs and that he would not abandon his community.

Campus Reform has yet to address his claims publicly. Its website, however, no longer displays his profile in the list of contributors, where he had been described as a senior correspondent.

Earlier this month, Bhatt said he had voted for Democrat James Talarico rather than Republican Ken Paxton in the Texas U.S. Senate race. He said he was alarmed by attacks on the identity of Indian-Americans and an increase in anti-foreigner sentiment.

His biography on Campus Reform states that he previously interned for the reelection campaign of Senator Ted Cruz and worked with the Texas Youth Summit, one of the state's largest conservative youth conferences.

Suhag Shukla, executive director of the Hindu American Foundation, criticized the attacks against Bhatt in a personal post on X. She tied the atmosphere to an alleged plot targeting a Hindu temple in Aurora, Illinois.

Campus Reform is a project of the Leadership Institute, a conservative nonprofit in Virginia that trains young activists and political campaigners.

The controversy comes at a time when rhetoric against Indians in American politics is under heavy scrutiny. Before the November 3 midterm elections, candidates of Indian origin have faced attacks, and social media posts targeting Indian H-1B visa holders and online abuse have fueled debate.

Several Indian-origin U.S. lawmakers say such rhetoric is spreading beyond online spaces and encouraging violence, citing the alleged plot against the Aurora temple.

Texas is home to one of the largest Indian-American populations in the United States, many of whom live in the Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth areas.