Shoaib Daniyal - VK Singh’s casual dismissal of attacks on Africans shows how racist we really are
NB: The Modi government and its ministers are solely concerned about their 'image' (incidentally, image means 'front', 'facade', 'mask', 'representation', or 'guise', in brief, something other than reality). For the MoS External Affairs to dismiss the murder of a human being as 'a minor scuffle', and then to attack the media for reporting a tragedy and a crime, is shameful. He and his cabinet colleagues seem to be less bothered about racism in our country, and more about their government's 'image'. The incidents of racism are disgraceful and inhuman, and the statement of this minister are obnoxious and uncalled for. Not just African visitors to India, but all self-respecting citizens are owed an apology from the MEA. But I wont be surprised if the minister concerned will now damn us all for being anti-national. DS
Last Friday, Congolese
national Masunda Kitada Oliver was beaten to death by a group of Indian men
after an argument in Delhi. A week after Oliver’s death, seven African
nationals were attacked in three separate incidents in the city. So severe were
the attacks that they caused a diplomatic crisis: African envoys threatened to
boycott the Africa Day celebrations of the Indian government last week.
But
they eventually attended the function, after India assured them on the safety
of their citizens. Unfortunately, it
seems India’s assurances weren’t all that sincere. No less a person than the
Minister of State of External Affairs, VK Singh, has casually dismissed the
attacks on Africans as a “minor scuffle” and ironically blamed the media for
reporting on the issue. “Had detailed discussion with Delhi Police and found
that media blowing up minor scuffle as attack on African nationals in Rajpur
Khud,” said Singh. “Why is media doing this? As responsible citizens let us
question them and their motives."
So in a tragedy in
which a man has been beaten to death, a Union minister wants to question not the
killers but the media. In some ways, we must be thankful for Singh's frankness:
he has exposed the terrible bigotry towards race that is commonplace in India. Only in Friday,
Singh's colleague, the Union Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma on Friday said the killing
of the Congolese man was unfortunate, but "even Africa is not safe".
Maintaining the government's line that incidents like this are no
good for India's image, Sharma added, "India is a large country
and such incidents will give a bad name to India."
Days earlier, External
Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had expressed her regret for the incident, not
because murder is unacceptable but because it embarrassed India. In 2013, Nigerians
suffered racist attacks across Goa, even as state Minister Dayanand Mandrekar called residents of that country a cancer. So severe
was that episode that Nigerian diplomats warned of a backlash back in Nigeria
against Indians working in their country. In 2014, a mob assaulted two
Africans at a Metro station in Delhi. The incident, captured on camera,
depicted a frightening picture of racism, as the mob tried to get at the two
men cowering, ironically, inside a police booth. Earlier in Delhi, a state
minister himself led vigilante
justice against the city’s African residents.
People who have tried
to bring attention to India’s frightening culture of majoritarian intolerance
over the past two year have been shouted down, vilified and mocked. But pushing
problems under the carpet usually makes things worse. India has multiple
faultlines of bigotry already. To add race to that is an alarming prospect. The attacks on
Africans in India have exposed another ugly face of the caste system writes Ranjit
Hoskote. In fact, its so bad that Indians think Africans
are "frauds and prostitutes" ‒ so why do they still come to India to
study? And a photographer is training
his lens on the racism suffered by Africans in India.
