Hotmail founder flags surge in racism, anti-Muslim violence in India
NEW DELHI: Sabeer Bhatia, the Indian-origin co-founder of global email service Hotmail, has written an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, expressing grave concern over growing racism and identity-based violence in India, particularly targeting Muslims, Dalits, Christians and people from the North-East.
The Hotmail founder highlighted the killing of 24-year-old Anjel Chakma, an MBA student from Tripura, who was reportedly murdered in Dehradun following a racially motivated altercation. Describing the incident as “a tragedy for India’s soul,” Bhatia said Chakma lost his life “solely because he looked different.”
In the letter, Bhatia, who founded Hotmail and represented India globally for over three decades in the technology sector, said people from the North-East have long faced stereotyping and racism despite being “100 per cent Indian in identity, history and sentiment.”
He stressed that Chakma’s killing was not an isolated incident but a reflection of a deeper and dangerous social malaise. The Hotmail co-founder warned that recent months have seen a sharp rise in violence against minorities, including Muslims, Dalits and Christians, saying hate-driven attacks on any community amount to an assault on the very idea of India.
“Whether the victim is from the North-East, a Dalit, a Muslim, a Christian or any other community, the message must be loud and clear: communal hatred is wrong, racism is wrong, and targeting people because of their identity must stop,” Bhatia wrote.
Emphasising India’s diversity as its greatest strength, the Hotmail founder said the country’s 1.4 billion people, with different languages, cultures and faiths, share a single national identity. He cautioned that if diversity becomes a trigger for violence, India risks losing its foundational values.
Bhatia urged Prime Minister Modi to take concrete steps, including issuing a clear national statement condemning racism and communal violence, ensuring a transparent and time-bound investigation into Anjel Chakma’s death, launching nationwide sensitisation programmes to counter inter-community hatred, and strengthening legal safeguards against hate crimes.
“No parent in India—whether in Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala or Nagaland—should fear for their child’s life because of their identity,” he said, adding that such fears have no place in a country aspiring to global leadership.
Concluding his letter, the Hotmail co-founder said he could not remain silent as an Indian and a technologist who spent his life building tools to connect people, while society drifts away from compassion and unity.
He expressed hope that under Modi’s leadership, India would confront the crisis with “honesty and courage,” so that Anjel Chakma’s death becomes a turning point for justice and social reform. Monitoring Desk
