Right Wing Provocateur Laura Loomer Faces Firestorm During India Visit Over Anti-Indian Social Media Posts
- She was publicly challenged by journalist Rajdeep Sardesai over her anti-India posts and remarks, but India Today that invited her to the annual conclave was also criticized for providing her the platform.
Far-right American activist Laura Loomer, a close ally of President Donald Trump, found herself at the center of intense controversy during her visit to India this week, as her past racist remarks about Indians resurfaced and led to a dramatic confrontation at one of India’s premier media events.
India Today faced online backlash for inviting Laura Loomer to 2026 Conclave as the controversy deepened after Loomer appeared to delete several past posts on X that targeted India and the Indian community in the United States.
India Today Conclave 2026, held from March 13 to 14, 2026, is the annual flagship event organized to host discussions on major issues facing the world.
Past Anti-Indian Remarks Resurface
Upon her arrival on Friday, March 13, Indian social media users and political commentators began circulating screenshots of Loomer’s past comments. These included posts from 2024 and 2025 in which she described Indian immigrants as “third-world invaders” and mocked Vice President Kamala Harris with “curry” jokes.
Loomer has previously drawn widespread backlash for making racist attacks against Indians and attacking Indian-American technologist Sriram Krishnan after he was appointed Senior Policy Advisor for Artificial Intelligence at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
The Trump loyalist took a jibe at former Vice President of the United States Kamala Harris during the U.S. presidential campaign. In one post, Loomer wrote that if Harris won, “the White House will smell like curry.”
In one of the widely shared posts, she questioned why people in India “still [defecate] in the water they bathe and drink from,” while another post mocked Indian immigrants as so-called “high-skilled” workers who supposedly come from a country without basic facilities.
During a panel discussion, the moderator told Loomer that her offensive tweets actually managed to unite the country’s left and right-leaning politicos against her.
Some observers have accused the activist of attempting to “clean up” her social media history ahead of her trip to New Delhi. The allegations began circulating after users noticed that a number of earlier posts containing harsh remarks about India were no longer visible on her account.
Journalist Mehdi Hasan, a former host at MSNBC, also weighed in on the controversy. Reacting to the invitation extended to Laura Loomer, Hasan wrote on X, “How are Indians ok with this?”
The Confrontation at the Conclave
Newsweek reported that Laura Loomer, who says she speaks frequently with President Donald Trump, was publicly challenged by Indian journalist Rajdeep Sardesai over her past anti-India posts and remarks.
During a panel discussion, the moderator told Loomer that her offensive tweets actually managed to unite the country’s left and right-leaning politicos against her. “They’ve come together in the criticism, Laura, of some of your tweets earlier — you’ve deleted most of them. What do you perceive of your view of India and Indians? Do you regret it, because you deleted them, so that’s why I asked you,” the moderator said.
Loomer’s Apology and Defense
According to Newsweek, Loomer said some posts were deleted after her account was locked and added, “I shouldn’t have said some of the things that I said […] and I apologize if my remarks offended people,” while maintaining her criticisms of the H-1B visa program.
According to Newsweek, Loomer said: “My job is to speak for Americans and to stand up for American interests and our immigration laws have been exploited and abused and our labor laws have also been exploited and abused.”
Yahoo News reported that Loomer added, “and I apologize if my remarks offended people.” She continued: “I will say I don’t have hatred in my heart for India or Hindu people.”
Loomer also claimed that it was Twitter that deleted some of her tweets on Indians, and she had no choice but to accept it.
Loomer’s Anti-Pakistan and Anti-Islam Rhetoric
Speaking at the conclave in New Delhi, Loomer warned the U.S. against strengthening ties with Pakistan, alleging that the country was linked to global terrorism. “Pakistan’s biggest export to the world is Islamic terrorism, and I don’t believe the U.S. should be cozying up to the Pakistani government at all,” she said.
“I believe Islamophobia is a hoax,” Loomer said, calling Islam an ideology that “explicitly calls for the killing of non‑Muslims.”
Newsweek reported that Loomer “told the audience she had come to India to speak about what she portrayed as a global threat, saying that ‘everybody who is not a Muslim should really honestly be fearful of this ideology.'”
Critics of India Today questioned whether the confrontation was genuine, stating that the Laura Loomer controversy increasingly looks less like spontaneous journalism and more like a carefully staged spectacle that conveniently shifted attention away from the original question: why she was invited in the first place.
Loomer has been linked to several high-profile firings and policy decisions in the Trump administration, including: on March 7, 2026, the FDA’s vaccine chief, Vinay Prasad, departed his position following a relentless campaign by Loomer targeting his past praise for progressive politicians. Reports indicate that Loomer’s “loyalty lists” presented to the President have resulted in the dismissal of at least six National Security Council aides since January.
This story was aggregated by AI from several news reports and edited by American Kahani’s News Desk.