‘Clog the toilet’: Racist online campaign targets Indians on H-1B visas
New York: Indian tech workers holding H-1B visas have become the target of a racist online campaign coordinated on far-right forums such as 4chan. The campaign, dubbed “Clog the Toilet”, reportedly seeks to disrupt flight bookings for Indians returning to the United States after vacationing in India.
The tactic involves reserving multiple seats on India–US flights and initiating the checkout process without completing payment. By repeatedly doing so, the campaigners temporarily block genuine passengers from purchasing tickets, leading to inflated fares.
The development follows former President Donald Trump’s September 21 announcement of a a$100,000 fee on H-1B visas, triggering panic among Indian professionals abroad. Many rushed to book tickets back to the US, fearing the new fee would apply to their re-entry.
One such passenger, Austin-based software engineer Amrutha Tamanam, said she struggled to secure a flight to Dallas on Qatar Airways and eventually paid nearly $2,000—more than double the original round-trip fare.
Posts on 4chan and Telegram contained racist slurs against South Asians, with users boasting about “wrecking Jeets” by blocking seats. Messages urged participants to “clog the flight reservation system” to keep Indians from returning.
Despite the online claims, an Air India spokesperson said the airline’s website had not experienced any disruption.
To ease concerns, the White House clarified that the $100,000 fee applies only to new H-1B petitions.
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed: “Those who already hold H-1B visas and are currently outside of the country right now will NOT be charged $100,000 to re-enter.”
The campaign has raised fresh concerns about the intersection of immigration policy, racism, and online extremism in the United States.
***OPERATION: CLOG THE TOILET - UPDATE***
— CEO of Based (@UncyClaudius) September 20, 2025
4chan autists have now created automated scripts to overbook Indian flights.
If you're technically inclined, you can follow along using Postman! #CLOGTHETOILET pic.twitter.com/nplpaNwhAZ
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SC to hear pleas for reviewing wages of priests, temple staff
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Monday a plea to constitute a judicial commission or an expert committee to review the wages and other benefits given to priests, 'sevadars' and temple staff in state-controlled temples.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta is likely to hear the PIL filed by advocate Ashwini Upadhyay.
The plea, filed through advocate Ashwani Dubey, seeks directions to the Centre and states to constitute a judicial commission or an expert committee to review the remuneration and other benefits given to the priests and temple staff in state-controlled temples.
"Petitioner also seeks a declaration that priests and temple staff are employee' under Section 2(k) of the Code on Wages, 2019. Petitioner submits that once the State assumes the administrative, economic and financial control over temples, an employer-employee relationship arises and denial of dignified wages to priests and temple staff violates the right to livelihood guaranteed under Article 21," it said.
Upadhyay said the cause of action accrued on April 4, when he went to Varanasi to attend a public programme and after performing 'Rudrabhishek' in the Kashi Vishwanath temple, which is controlled by the state, he came to know that even the minimum wages to live with dignity are not given to the priests and temple staff.
"Recently, in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, priests and temple staff organised a large-scale protest demanding the minimum wages. Priests and temple staff are not getting even the minimum wage prescribed by the State for unskilled and semi-skilled workers. This is a systemic exploitation. State is acting as a model employer through the endowments department, but violating the minimum wages Act and the directive principles of state policy (Article 43)," it said.
The plea further said the continued refusal to meet the minimum wages with the 2026 inflation-adjusted cost of living index has forced the petitioner to seek judicial intervention to prevent the further marginalisation of priests and temple staff.
Upadhyay further said the precarious nature of livelihood was starkly exposed on February 7, 2025, when a Tamil Nadu department issued a circular at the 'Dandayuthapani Swami Temple' in Madurai, strictly prohibiting priests from accepting 'dakshina' in 'aarti plates'.
"It is necessary to state that priests in such temples often receive no formal salary from the State and rely entirely on 'Dakshina'; the State's administrative order directly threatened them with starvation. Although withdrawn due to public outrage, the incident highlights the State's arbitrary power over the survival of the priests. This is also a bitter truth that States are controlling lakhs of temples but not a single mosque or church," the PIL claimed.
The petition, alternatively, sought direction to the Centre and states to take appropriate steps for the welfare of priests, sevadars and other temple staff in the spirit of the Allahabad High Court's earlier judgments.
