Rep Shri Thanedar was viciously trolled and made responsible for his first wife’s suicide after he expressed his interest in the Supreme Court hearing on birthright citizenship. Thanedar said the hearing was deeply personal to him as he came to the US as an immigrant. But he was attacked based on unfounded claims and one social media user held him responsible for his first wife’s suicide. “As an immigrant myself, today’s arguments on birthright citizenship are deeply personal to me. The 14th Amendment is clear: the children of immigrants are guaranteed US citizenship. Despite President Trump’s wishes, he cannot rewrite the Constitution,” Thanedar wrote.
Birthright citizenship says people born in the US are Americans — notwithstanding the legal status of their parents. President Donald Trump wants to end it and the Supreme Court has been hearing the arguments about it. Shri Thanedar did not get birthright citizenship as he was not born in the US. He immigrated to the US on a student visa but as he expressed his interest in the Supreme Court arguments, he was intensely trolled. “You married a naturalized citizen to obtain your green card and then drove that woman to take her life by downing an entire bottle of anti-depressants. You then used your legal status to open a biolab in New Jersey where you tortured and killed innocent animals while defrauding investors,” one wrote. “You should be denaturalized, deported and your entire lineage banned from ever setting foot in America,” the troll wrote.
Who was Shri Thanedar’s first wife?
Shri Thanedar’s first wife was Shamal Thanedar, a neurologist and a mon of two who took her life in 1996 at the age of 37 by overdosing on antidepressant pills. At that time, they were living in St Louis. Their sons were aged 4 and eight at that time. Shri Thanedar said his wife hid her struggles with depression from him and he was traumatized by her death. In 2024, Thanedar produced and acted in a short film ‘Dear Pra’ which is about the suicide of Shamal. Shamal was also an immigrant from India and there is no evidence that she was a naturalized citizen when she and Thanedar got married. Thanedar married Shamal in 1984 and became a naturalized US citizen in 1988. After Shamal’s death, Thanedar married his present wife Shashi in 1999.
