Prime Minister under siege ‘GyaneshGate’ will not retaliate for US visa crackdown: Congress

AICC General Secretary in charge of Communications, Publicity and Media, Jairam Ramesh. | Photo credit: ANI

The Congress on Friday (October 9, 2026) hit out at the government over the US government’s actions affecting Indian IT professionals, saying India has a number of options to retaliate, but a “thoroughly compromised” Prime Minister Narendra Modi, now under “siege” at “GyaneshGate”, will not do so.

The opposition party also said that it never pays to appease bullies.

In a post on X, Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh said, “That appeasing bullies never pays is proven once again by the US government’s actions yesterday, which were directly targeted against Indian IT professionals.”

This comes shortly after the Modi government sought to please US President Donald Trump by introducing UPI MDR charges that will clearly and directly benefit US companies, Mr. Ramesh said.

“India has a number of options to retaliate under laws already passed by Parliament, such as the Privacy Act, 2023 and its rules. But a thoroughly compromised prime minister now under siege over GyaneshGate will not do so,” the Congress chief said, referring to opposition pressure for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged SIR irregularities.

The US on Thursday (Oct 8, 2026) suspended eight IT firms, including Microsoft, Tata, Infosys and Wipro, from a green card application program for foreign workers, saying the practice shut Americans out of the job market.

The announcement was made by Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of Labor Keith Sonderling and Attorney General Todd Blanche at an event sponsored by the US Anti-Fraud Task Force.

“I hereby suspend participation in the permanent labor certification program of some of the largest IT outsourcing firms in the world, Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL and Capgemini,” Mr Sonderling said.

He said the Labor Department is also suspending Microsoft and Adobe from the program because of several active federal investigations.

“Unfortunately, there was no company in the United States that abused the system more than Microsoft,” Mr. Vance said.

“Microsoft laid off 6,000 US workers in 2025 after confirming it could not find qualified US workers, but the company was approved for more than 6,000 H-1Bs and filed 3,682 PERM applications, including nearly 1,000 applications for the same positions as the laid-off US workers,” the vice president said.

Indian professionals account for more than 70% of all approved H-1B petitions annually.

The vice president referred to foreign workers hired on H1-B visas as foreign servants and companies using the program as visa mills.

Mr. Vance also announced an investigation into the J-1 visa program for researchers, which is used by nine major universities, including Yale, Harvard, Stanford and Caltech.

The J-1 program allows foreign nationals to enter the U.S. as exchange visitors for activities including research, teaching, study, and specialized professional work.

Published – October 9, 2026 10:37 AM IST