“Look at India, it’s filthy,” says Donald Trump in final debate

NEW YORK: United States President Donald Trump used the word “filthy” to describe pollution in India during an exchange on climate crisis with Democratic rival Joe Biden in their second and final debate in the race for the White House.

In sharp contrast to their disastrous first debate, they also launched vicious attacks on each other over corruption, character and integrity in the second showdown that focused on COVID-19, immigration, racism, healthcare and foreign policy.

Trump came into the debate trailing Biden by wide margins in national polls and in battleground states, desperately in need of changing the trajectory of the race with just twelve days left for polling to close. 

“Look at China, how filthy it is. Look at Russia, look at, India, it’s so filthy, the air is filthy,” the president said in a segment on climate crisis. “The Paris accord, I took us out because we were going to have to spend trillions of dollars, and we were treated very unfairly when they put us in there, they did us a greatest service. They were going to take away our businesses,” he said.

The president has used this argument before that India and China got a better deal under the Paris Accord prompting them to withdraw from the accord.

A fact check by a leading US daily labelled Trump’s assertion misleading: “Air pollution in China and India is indeed a serious issue — India is one of the most polluted countries in the world. But Mr Trump is essentially talking about the countries’ contributions to climate change, and on that score, his comments fail to capture the full picture,” it said.

South Asians for Biden, a group backing the Democrat, criticised the president’s remarks, tweeting, “Tonight, Trump called India ‘filthy’. His rhetoric has proven time and time again that he has disdain for India, as well as for people who draw their heritage from South Asia. He will never respect the vibrancy, beauty, and diversity of our South Asian community.”

Trump’s remarks come days before Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Mark Esper visit New Delhi for talks on building the growing US-India partnership. This is the second time that Trump has made a critical reference to India during a debate.

At the first presidential debate, Trump questioned India’s coronavirus data. “When you talk about numbers you don’t know how many people died in China, you don’t know how many people died in Russia, you don’t know how many people died in India. They don’t exactly give you a straight count,” he had said.

In the past, the US president had mockingly called India “tariff king” during trade talks, and underplayed its COVID-19 testing record to make his administration’s response look better in the face of mounting criticism of its handling of the public health crisis.