Bright Red Dot Inspires Racist Attacks Against GOP Appointee
By Romen Basu Borsellino | 06 Aug, 2025

Mathura Sridharan’s appointment as Ohio’s 12th Solicitor General focuses the GOP's racist wing on her bindi.

Ohio’s new Solicitor General is facing criticism. 

It’s not because Mathura Sridharan’s academic credentials are lacking.  She holds both a Bachelor’s Degree and a Master’s in hard sciences from MIT.  She has a JD from NYU, has argued before the US Supreme Court and Ohio Supreme Court, and has clerked for several well-respected Judges. 

And it’s certainly not about Sridharan's history with the Buckeye State.  She’s an Ohio native who graduated from Strongsville High.

The State’s 12th Solicitor General is under fire because she wears a bindi.

That’s the little dot that Indians sometimes place between their eyebrows.  It's become the subject of dozen's of tweets about Sridharan.

While bindis may sometimes be worn for religious reasons, particularly among Hindus, they may simply be worn for decoration. 

Bindis are not, however, worn as part of a nefarious plat to destroy the very fabric of this country. 

Unfortunately, some folks were a little confused about that last point.

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The Appointment 

The Solicitor General, appointed by the state’s Attorney General, is the top lawyer who goes to court on behalf of a state. 

Ohio was in need of a new one because President Trump appointed Sridharan’s predecessor, Elliot Gaiser, to a position in the federal government.

Ohio Attorney General David Yost announced his pick to replace Gaiser while delivering some standard praise: “Mathura is a relentless defender of Ohioans, a champion of federalism and legal force to be reckoned with in a courtroom. Her brilliant legal mind and masterful understanding of constitutional law make her the obvious choice to lead the team as Ohio’s solicitor general.”

Mathura Sridharan humbly accepted: 

“It is an honor and a privilege to stand up for the rights and freedoms of my fellow Ohioans. I  am profoundly grateful for the trust Attorney General Yost has placed in me to defend our constitutional ideals, advance the rule of law and fight for our federalist system of government.” 

Given that Ohio is a red state in which every statewide elected official is a Republican, an announcement like this should have been pretty non-controversial. 

After all, one could safely bet that the vast majority of Americans do not know who their state’s Solicitor General is, not to mention what a solicitor general even does. 

It’s also safe to assume that most appointments for the position are met with minimal pushback, especially when Yost, who appointed Sridharan, was elected by a 20-point margin. 

On top of that, Sridharan was already in line for the position.  Yost appointed her to the position of Deputy Solicitor General in 2021.

But Twitter users saw things differently.

The Pushback

Let’s be honest: In this day and age, seeing racist replies to a tweet has become more common than seeing sprinkles on ice cream.  We shouldn’t be surprised anymore. 

But even by those standards, the response to Sridharan has been extreme. 

While still jarring, these tweets may seem par for the course for many Indian Americans. 

I can personally testify to being asked “Dot or feather?” on multiple occasions. It's a joke meant to distinguish between South Asians and Indian Americans.

Worse, even, I’ve heard the bindi, often red, likened to the laser from a sniper rifle. 

The negative replies to the Attorney General’s announcement of Sridharan got so bad that he had to issue a statement: 

“A few commenters have asserted incorrectly that Mathura is not American. She is a United States citizen, married to a US citizen, and the child of naturalized US citizens. If her name or her complexion bother you, the problem is not with her or her appointment.”

The Cleveland (and Cincinnati and Strongsville ) Indians

There is zero doubt that racism is driving the grotesque response to Sridharan’s selection.  But maybe it’s about even more than just appearance. 

Let’s look at the fact that Vivek Ramaswamy, the conservative firebrand who established himself as a key player in Republican politics during his 2024 campaign for President, is currently running for Governor of Ohio. And winning. 

Every poll so far has shown Ramaswamy with a massive lead among Republicans.  That, along with his sizable number of endorsements, including one from President Trump, even led his main opponent Attorney General Yost to withdraw from the race. 

Ramaswamy is an Indian and a Hindu, born to Tamil parents. His wife Apoorva is Indian as well, as are their two young children. 

And then there’s JD Vance, the Vice president of the United States and former US Senator from Ohio. He too is married to an Indian woman, Usha, and the father of half-Indian children.

The state of Ohio — particularly the Republican Party — seems to have embraced both The Vance and Ramaswamy families with open arms.

So why isn’t Sridharan getting the same reception?

I’m not in a position to question Ramaswamy’s relationship with his identity or his Hindu faith. But I do know, from having heard him speak during the 2024 Republican primary, he proclaims there is only one God, which runs counter to what most expect from a Hindu.  He also believes that “Our country was founded on Judeo-Christian values, there’s no doubt about it.” 

And according to Bob Vander Plaats, a prominent evangelical leader in Iowa, Ramaswamy told him that "We do share the same Christian values that this nation was founded on.”

The state of Ohio is over 75% White.  There is no question that any sort of statewide popularity would require appealing to White people. 

Vance has himself drawn criticism for lobbying to reinstate a member of the Department of Government Efficiency who was let go for tweeting “Normalizing Indian hate. 

Whether intentionally or not, Ramaswamy and Vance have both arguably made statements to assuage potential – and unfounded — concerns that they might somehow put India’s well-being before that of the US. 

And as for Sridharam?

The Bindi and Beyond

We cannot choose our name or our skin color, but we can choose whether we embrace and take pride in our culture or whether we are ashamed of it. 

The acceptance of Sridharan by a faction of the Republican party may require the latter.

Her decision to wear a bindi, however, is a sign of the former.  It’s a sign that she’s proud of who she is. 

Ironically, a bindi is about as small of a symbol as one could possibly display. A teeny-tiny dot. 

But that’s clearly still too much for some. 

Online trolls have also responded with videos of Sridharan performing classical Indian music, as if it was a bad thing.

Her relationship with Indian music and dance was documented during her high school days when a local newspaper ran an article titled “Strongsville High School's Mathura Jaya Sridharan sees the beauty in both Indians arts, science.”

The piece describes “her quest to master the intricacies of the South Indian arts -- singing classical Carnatic music and learning the expressive Bharatanatyam dance” and explains that “Mathura has traveled to her parents' native India to study singing with renowned musicologists and performers.

Per 17 year-old Sridharan, "Tje Indian arts are an entire field of study about India, its background, its heritage… It has a lot to do with religion. It has a lot to do with culture, philosophy, who we are and why we do stuff."

It’s possible that the people who are getting on Sridharan’s case will never accept Ramaswamy or Vance and their families either.  But one can only hope that, perhaps unlike the others, Sridharan will not relinquish the pride she takes in her cultural identity.

Regardless, racist rabble-rousers have left an an unfortunate blemish on what should have been a joyous occasion for Sridharan. Even if it’s only the size of a dot.