INDIA: Outcry over "racist" attacks

The spate of attacks on Indian students in Australia has attracted unprecedented media and public attention in India. The issue has been discussed in parliament, on television and has hit the headlines of most English language newspapers since the first attack last month.

Speaking with journalists in Patiala, a district town in Punjab, which has a large number of students in Australia, Preneet Kaur, India's Minister of State for External Affairs, and an MP representing Patiala, said the government would frame a policy to end racial discrimination of Indians abroad. Kaur also expressed concern for the safety of 5,000 students from Patiala in Australia.

Prime Minster Manmohan Singh, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and Home Minister P Chidambaram have taken up the matter with their counterparts in Australia. Speaking in the parliament last week, Singh said he was "appalled by the senseless violence and crime, some of it racially motivated, against Indian students" but he cautioned against over-reaction.

The External Affairs Ministry called Australian High Commissioner in New Delhi John McCarthy and sought assurances about the safety of Indian students in Australia.

In an interview published on the front page of The Tribune, the largest circulated English newspaper in the north-western states that send most students to Australia, McCarthy acknowledged that his country's image had "taken a hit".

A Union Cabinet Minister from Haryana, Kumari Selja, visited the Jamunanagar home of Rajesh, a victim of the attacks. Selja met Rajesh's mother and sister, and said the central government would provide all possible help, including financial aid, to Rajesh who suffered serious burn injuries after a petrol bomb was hurled at him in his home in Sydney last month.

Rajesh's family has also received equivalent of US$450 from the local Red Cross and is being used by Rajesh's maternal uncle for travel to Sydney.

Nearly all headlines and editorial writers have called these attacks "racist" and have cautioned the Australian government to be sensitive, responsible and attentive if it did not want to lose its billions of dollars from foreign students, about 40% of whom are from India and China.

With 97,000 students from India, Australia has overtaken the US as the most preferred higher education destination for Indian students. America has 95,000 students from India.

Despite the comments of editorial writers, many letter-writers have argued that the attacks should be treated as criminal and opportunistic, not uncommon in any big city today. "In India, many foreign nationals are looted, raped, even murdered. Criminals and opportunists are parts of any society," said Kulbhushan Kanwar in a letter to The Hindu.

Celebrity reaction to the attacks has resulted in protests. Amitabh Bachchan, the most popular film actor in India "rejected" the offer of an honorary doctorate from the Queensland University of Technology. "I listened to my conscience," said Bachchan.

Aamir Khan, another Hindi film actor, only a rung below Bachchan in popularity, however, differed: "While we want action to be taken by authorities in Australia," says Khan, "we should remember all the various crimes against foreigners who visit India."