My feeling exactly. The idea that one man's decision to live and work in another country besmirches his originally country decades later when he finds great success is itself the real insult here.

That may be the headline but there's a lot more nuance. One of the stronger points made is that no Indian-born Nobel laureate is an Indian citizen.

I found the article to be pretty blind to its own classist problems. There is a lot of referring to groups of people, classifying people, without recognizing that the achievements are individual achievements. He is part of the problem that he is complaining about.

A slap in the face is an aggressive act from one to another, usually intended to inflict pain.

I think a better comparison for Indian's success abroad but not at home would be a bucket of cold water or a ringing alarm clock.