Amid the major social media debate on NRIs in Dubai and whether the Indian government should spend money to evacuate those NRIs who are bashing India, founder Amrit Shenava faced major controversy as he sided with NRIs and Dubai and said there was no point in mocking NRIs in Dubai as many of them are second or third generation NRIs – they were born in Dubai and leaving India was not their decision. Explosions were reported in Dubai, Doha and Manama as Iran targeted U.S. assets in the Gulf. Many social media users cheered the plight of NRIs in Dubai and mocked them for leaving India.Shenava posted: “My heart goes out to everyone in the UAE. Dubai is my home as it is the city where I was born and where I spent my entire childhood and teenage years. It is sad to see people making fun of Dubai. It is time we think about how we can help our fellow Indians in the UAE.” Shenava was attacked and called a fake “Emirati”. “Stick with coconut oil because it’s very Hoosier and smooth,” one person wrote. Shenava said he was born in the UAE and he never claimed to be Emirati. He moved to the United States to pursue his bachelor’s degree and moved to India in 2023 to launch a startup. “I did not move to Dubai. I was literally born in Dubai, that is, I was born there. I lived a very comfortable life with access to the best healthcare system, best education system, best infrastructure and the list is endless. Thanks to government initiatives to promote entrepreneurship and coding, I was able to build a bunch of apps and even try out entrepreneurial ideas as a teenager,” he wrote in reply to those who called him a slave, a toilet cleaner.
