Google's Chief Executive Officer, Indian-born Sundar Pichai, has written an open letter against controversial remarks made by Republican leader Donald Trump, who asked for a ban on Muslims entering the United States. Though Pichai did not directly make a reference to Trump, he said it was saddening to see “the intolerant discourse playing out in the news” recently. Pichai added that the open-mindedness of America is one of its strongest traits and reminded people that America “was and is a country of immigrants”. The Google chief is also an immigrant, having been born in Chennai and moved to the US over two decades ago. He is due to visit India later in the week.

Before Pichai, Facebook head Mark Zuckerberg had also supported Muslims, and said they should not fear being “persecuted for the actions of others”, The Times of India reported.