NEW DELHI, March 15 (Xinhua) -- India Wednesday said that it was closely monitoring the incidents of racial attacks on its nationals living in the U.S. and took up the issues with the Donald Trump administration.
"I have talked to the families of Srinivas Kuchibhotla and Deep Rai (two Indian victims of hate crimes in the U.S.) I have also raised these issues with the highest authorities in the U.S.," Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said in the Parliament.
She added: "The U.S. government has assured us that the attacks do not reflect the mindset of the Americans and safety of Indians living there are their top priority. The U.S. authorities, including President Donald Trump, have strongly condemned these incidents."
The FBI is investigating the recent killings, the Minister asserted.
Swaraj's remarks came in the wake of the Indian Parliament voicing its concern over the killing of Indian engineer Srinivas Kuchibhotla in Kansas on Feb. 22 in an apparent hate crime, and of another Indian Harnish Patel a week later.
A Sikh man, Deep Rai, who was an American citizen, was fired at in a racial attack last week, and is out of danger.
Last week, India's main opposition Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge had said in the Parliament that the attacks on Indians started happening after Trump took over as the President of the U.S. and blamed the central government for being insensitive to such attacks.
"Indians in the U.S. are being killed, threatened, asked to leave the country while our government remains silent. This has started after (Donald) Trump became the President (of the US). The Indian government has failed to ensure the safety of its diaspora," he had said.
