Sunayana Dumala, the wife of slain Indian techie Srinivas Kuchibhotla, has been invited to attend US President Donald Trump’s maiden State of the Union address, a media report has said.
Dumala’s husband, Kuchibhotla, was shot dead in a hate crime by an American navy veteran at a bar in Olathe city last year.
Dumala, 32, fell out of status because her permission to reside in the US was tied to Kuchibhotla through marriage but she managed to regain her residency status.
She has been invited by Congressman Kevin Yoder to attend Trump’s State of the Union address, an annual message presented by the US President to a joint session of the Congress.
The State of the Union address will be held on January 30.
“She is a very powerful symbol of who the system is failing,” Yoder was quoted as saying in the report.
“One of the reasons I have become so passionate about this immigration issue is that we need to send a message to the Indian community and other immigrant groups that we are a loving country that is welcome to all,” said Yoder who is a member of the Congressional caucus on India and Indian Americans.
Dumala said she now plans to travel to India to observe the first death anniversary of her husband.
She said she had been overwhelmed by the response from friends, families, neighbours and strangers.
“That answer was quick... it came like, ‘You do belong here’,” she said.
