Sunayana, the widow of Srinivas Kuchibhotla killed in the US in a hate crime, has expressed her desire to go back to the US to fulfil her husband's dream.
"It is the least I could do for my Srinivas — fulfil his dreams through my eyes — and it is for this I have to come back to the USA," she said in a Facebook post on Wednesday.
Sunayana, who works for Intouch Solutions in Kansas, also said that a question which was on every immigrant's mind was whether they belong in the country anymore and if it was safe for them to raise families there.
She also urged the leaders of the global tech industry to keep defending human rights as they employ a large number of immigrants.
"Thanks to people like Satya Nadella (CEO-Microsoft) and Kamala Harris for supporting through your tweets. It means a lot to us. My sincere request to Mark Zuckerberg (Founder- Facebook), Sundar Pichai (CEO-Google), Satya Nadella, and many others to keep advocating your support for human rights," she said in a Facebook post.
"We need to spread love and stop this hatred. Today, it's an employee of Garmin, tomorrow, it could be one of your employees, and I don't want anyone to go through what my family and household went through," she added.
She thanked the Telangana government for extending support to bring the body of Srinivas back home from the US.
"I will now ask the same question — on what basis we decide a person is good or bad, and of course, it's not based on the colour of your skin. So what decides that? Many times, these issues are talked about for a few weeks and people tend to forget about them afterwards, but the fight must go on towards eradicating hatred from the minds of people. So what is the government going to do to stop hate crime? Lastly, to answer the question that is in every immigrant's mind, Do we belong here. Is this the same country we dreamed of and is it still secure to raise our families and children here?" she wondered.
Srinivas Kuchibhotla (32), working at the Garmin headquarters in Olathe, was killed in the shooting at a restaurant in Kansas on Wednesday night. Another Indian and his colleague Alok Madasani was injured in the incident.
Sunayana Dumala, left, talks about her late husband, Srinivas Kuchibhotla, during a news conference at Garmin Headquarters in Olathe, Kansas