The Indian government’s overseas assassination attempt on New York-based Sikh activist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun sent shockwaves through the Indian American community. Suddenly, it felt less safe to criticize India’s policies from the United States. But it was just the tip of the iceberg in the Indian government’s much broader campaign of transnational repression.

The Modi-led Indian government and its supporters have unleashed a slew of threats to Indians residing abroad: allegedly killing Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada; conducting an Indian intelligence-associated smear campaign against U.S. human rights groups; revoking the overseas citizenship status of Indian American dissidents; and detaining the relatives of Indian Americans in retaliation for remarks they made abroad.

One anonymous U.S.-based scholar summarized the feelings of many in our community: “Everyone is terrified.”

As the leader of an organization openly critical of the Modi regime and a target of a pro-Modi smear campaign, I feel real apprehension about ever returning to my home country. The increasingly extreme actions of the Indian state make me concerned for my safety in the United States as well.

The U.S. Congress can and must take a stand against the Indian government’s aggressive transnational repression. To protect the freedom, well-being, and security of the United States’ diaspora communities, U.S. legislators should support the bipartisan Transnational Repression Reporting Act of 2024, introduced in Congress last week by California Representative Adam Schiff and co-sponsored by Representatives Daniel S. Goldman, David Valadao, Ilhan Omar, Barbara Lee, James McGovern, Eleanor Holmes Norton, and Eric Swalwell.