Bengaluru CEO rebuts American businessman’s claim that India has 'no major accomplishments'
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Bengaluru: A social media spat erupted after American businessman and influencer Charles Haywood dismissed India’s modern contributions, prompting a strong rebuttal from Bengaluru-based venture capitalist Dilip Kumar.
Haywood, in a post on X, questioned India’s global achievements. “Has a single (subcontinent) Indian ever accomplished anything of truly major note in the modern period, in any field? I can’t think of one. Nor can Grok. Seems odd, given there are 1.5 billion of them, and we’re told we need to accept endless waves of them for their ‘talent’,” he wrote.
Kumar responded by listing India’s recent milestones. “ISRO’s Chandrayaan 3 landed on the Moon’s south pole in 2023 and India is the first nation ever to do so. NASA hasn’t. UPI processes 10B+ transactions monthly in India. The US is still figuring out realtime payments,” he said.
Highlighting India’s Nobel Prize winners, Kumar added: “Btw, in the modern period you asked? 4 Indians got Nobel Prize. Amartya Sen (1998, Economics). Venkatraman Ramakrishnan (2009, Chemistry). Kailash Satyarthi (2014, Peace). Abhijit Banerjee (2019, Economics).”
He concluded his post with a sharp remark: “When you can’t see obvious contributions, it says less about Indians and more about your filters.”
Kumar’s response quickly went viral, with many users echoing his sentiments. One user wrote, “Little Charles with his little Grok. You are going too far Dilip. I have accomplished more in my life than 10 generations of Haywoods could ever dream of. No point amplifying little Charles and his little opinions. Let him play with his AI friend.”
Another commented, “Haywood should understand that most of the modern maths and science they are using was actually stolen from India. Think about not having zero.”
A third user suggested ignoring such posts, writing: “Dileep, don’t waste your time on these trolls. Since Elon Musk started paying for engagement, the garbage posting against India has amplified manifold. They are doing it just for engagement. Today India, tomorrow some other country.”
Haywood has not yet responded to the backlash.