Gov. LePage recently commented about workers of Indian descent: “They’re all lovely people but you’ve got to have an interpreter.”

My first reaction was frustration toward the press as it seems to exaggerate innocent comments made by people of power. Alas, the comments were real.

My next reaction was to follow Gandhi and protest by civil disobedience in hopes of speaking to Gov. LePage. I quickly realized it will be of no avail as he won’t understand my accent.

I appreciate that he finds Indians “lovely.” But how does he know if Indians are not discussing the consequences to the state of him winning elections again, or how ill-informed he sounds when he stands by the podium, or how Maine still ranks amongst the most business unfriendly states in the country?

I wonder how he would react if he were to visit India. He might complain about Indians not speaking in English, which might help him realize that at least I tried to do so in Maine.

I have taught over 2,000 students, and I never spoke in English before arriving to Maine.

The state paid me all those years to speak a foreign language called statistics in a foreign accent. It might help to know that most people don’t want to or aren’t capable of doing that job, just like many other professions Indians are involved with.

The current issue of Time magazine highlights 10 Indians among the top 100 most influential people, the National Spelling Bee touts six out of the top ten kids of Indian origin every year, and the CEOs of Google and Microsoft are first-generation Indians.

Is Gov. LePage smarter than Google, Microsoft and many other international brands who have appointed as their leaders first-generation Indians, who, according to him, are also hard to understand? Maybe being hard to understand is the key to success.

Gov. LePage should be deeply ashamed of going after productive citizens of India who are trying to boost Maine’s economy. Indians learn English along with two other languages growing up in India. Some even speak C, Java and Python. Now that calls for an interpreter.

Prashant Mittal

Scarborough