Why Are Some Indian Students in U.S. Supporting Hamas?

In the latest deportations and attempted deportations of students and scholars from the United States, it is a bit surprising to see the names popping up of Hamas-supporting Indian students, who are in that country legally.

- JOYEETA BASU

Indian students abroad were always thought to be sensible, hardworking, concentrating in their studies, keeping their opinions and ideologies—if they had any—to themselves. It is well known that several radical-left student activists of Bengal's Naxal movement, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, left the Indian shores for the US when the heat from the police became unbearable. They turned full capitalist during their stay in the US and flourished in their respective fields, never to return to their homeland. That is the kind of effect the United States has always had even on "ideologically" motivated students and scholars who have gone to study there. As for the rest, they have always stayed away from ideological battles and extreme ideas and have reached the top of American society through sheer hard work. Radicalisation is a word that cannot be associated with them. This is the reason why Indian-Americans have the highest median household income in the US. So it comes as a surprise to hear that some Indian students have been supporting Hamas' terrorist activities in the name of supporting the Palestinian cause—that they have been participating in campus protests in favour of the Hamas' 7 October 2023 barbarity. This problem has become sufficiently mainstream for even a Microsoft employee of Indian origin to get sacked for disrupting an official program in support of the Palestinians.