I was going through the main headlines and came across the news about Indian students being attacked in Australia and that these attacks are appalling and that this has been going on for the last month or so. As a result Indian students and Indian groups are causing reprisal attacks and so-called vigilante action. Many have called these attacks as racists. One can understand that if these attacks are targeted on Indian students and the number of occurrences is more, they would be classified as racism. I think years back, we had these dot busters in New Jersey and that was marked as attacks being made on Indians and hence racists.
Australian Police is trying to make the situation better by dispersing the groups formed for protests or vigilante actions, also trying to track and capture the culprits but overseas Indian affairs minister Vayalar Ravi has blamed the Australian police's inefficiency pointing out that the administration should have dealt with the matter more seriously. I can understand the point from both the groups. Police are doing their jobs to maintain peace while there is mayhem everywhere in Sydney and Melbourne but even if they catch a few suspects, they have to have enough proof to prosecute anyone who allegedly would have committed the crime. In the same token, the Indian group is threatened by the fact that they are being targeted and they have no culprits to tie this action to.
These kinds of attacks happen everywhere in the world. They happen even in India where there are attacks between Hindus and Muslims. To take a stand is nothing wrong. If the attacked group is saying that the police are incapable of doing their jobs or that they are racists attacks targeted on Indians, it is because of the helpless situation that they are in. It does not mean that India is better than Australia or Indians in general feel that Indian environment is better than Australian. But a blanket statement saying that Australia is a racist country is not correct. When you come and stay anywhere other than your homeland, you have accepted their laws and work culture. That does not mean that they are slaves or won’t raise their voices to get what they deserve.
I have read some comments from Indians (oops, they are not Indians, they should be Americans or Aussie’s right?) who are born and brought up in Australia or the US, that ‘if they are that much concerned than these Indians should not have left India to go to the US or Australia; why should they leave India to go work elsewhere and steal their jobs; these Indians have a general idea that India is better in many ways’. They work elsewhere for the money, for the convenience that they get, to support their families back home but that still does not mean that cannot voice their concerns. What about these non-Indian generation men who grow up here but look for girls from India to get married traditionally? What happens when they BBQ on the fourth of July or have a Thanks Giving meal and yet celebrate Ganpathy or Diwali as a traditional Indian? Do they then become Indian all of a sudden? Does India and Indian culture become important then?
Where ever we live, we try to make the best out of it. We are human and we tend to group based on the common denominator – may it be culture, religion, practice or region. We try to mark our boundaries and if things are not right then there is no harm in voicing their concerns. But the Indian group trying to do vigilante actions or disturbing the peace or throwing a blanket statement that Australia is a racists country is not correct in the same token as the police’s incapability to take action to prevent from these attacks being targeted on the Indians.
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