'Go back to India': Indian American doctor faces fire for wearing bindi, video viral
Reddy expressed sadness that people had grown increasingly comfortable posting hurtful remarks online, pointing out that kindness costs nothing.
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An Indian-American doctor has drawn widespread attention online after speaking out against racist backlash she faced for wearing a bindi. In a viral Instagram video, Dr Karishma Reddy shared that a lighthearted clip she'd posted about an interaction with a patient ended up triggering a torrent of hateful comments.
Reddy expressed sadness that people had grown increasingly comfortable posting hurtful remarks online, pointing out that kindness costs nothing. She closed her message by hoping the explanation had cleared up misconceptions about Hinduism and its relationship with cows, expressing bafflement at some of the stranger claims she'd encountered online, and ending with a simple appeal for people to "be kind."
Despite having been born and raised in the United States, Reddy said she was targeted by numerous users with xenophobic comments telling her to "go back to India." She noted that she had never encountered this level of anti-India sentiment before, especially given how welcoming she'd found the medical profession to be throughout her career.
"Earlier this week, I made a reel about a patient encounter regarding my bindi, and it was a light, fun memory that I have. But wow, the comment section went absolutely nuts. I have never seen so much anti-Indian rhetoric in my entire life," Reddy said, adding that she may have been sheltered from such attitudes given that most of her professional life has been spent in hospitals and clinics, where Indians aren't typically viewed as a minority group.
🇺🇸 'I Was Born And Raised Here': Doctor Responds To Racist Backlash Over Bindi
— RT_India (@RT_India_news) July 27, 2026
US-based plastic surgeon Dr. Karishma Reddy went viral after posting a lighthearted video about wearing a bindi.
Cue the racist trolls...
📹 kreddyplastics / IG pic.twitter.com/ECz55811qn
She explained that she had always been met with respect and warmth by her peers in healthcare, which made the intensity of the online hostility especially confusing.
Addressing one recurring theme in the comments, Reddy said many users had brought up cows, prompting her to clarify a common misconception: Hindus abstain from eating beef, she explained, not because of religious scripture, but rooted in historical gratitude, in earlier times, when many women did not survive childbirth, cow's milk often sustained newborns, and out of respect for that role, cows were not killed or slaughtered. She emphasized that the practice has no more complicated an origin than that.
Reddy expressed sadness that people had grown increasingly comfortable posting hurtful remarks online, pointing out that kindness costs nothing. She closed her message by hoping the explanation had cleared up misconceptions about Hinduism and its relationship with cows, expressing bafflement at some of the stranger claims she'd encountered online, and ending with a simple appeal for people to "be kind."