Indians retreat from racism claim – but the damage has already been done.

The Autralian newspaper reports that Indian government and student groups have now backed away from claims that the murder of Nitin Garg was racially motivated.

India’s deputy high commissioner in Canberra, V.K. Sharma, said India had asked Australia to do all it could to prevent assaults on Indians and bring the culprits of Saturday’s attack to justice. But he said “nobody knows” if attacks on Indians were racially motivated.

When asked whether the Indian government believed Garg’s murder could have been race-related, Mr Sharma replied: “That, we can’t say anything until the police come out with the facts.”

Gautam Gupta, secretary of the Federation of Indian Students of Australia, agreed it would be “premature and inappropriate to draw conclusions about the tragedy”.  The remark was in stark contrast to his earlier claim that Garg’s wallet and phone being left untouched by his assailant was evidence of a hate crime.

Police have not ruled out racism as a motive but say there is no evidence to support this.

Source:  The Australian 

Comment:

Firstly, I would like to express my respect and honour for the late Mr Nitin Garg.  His untimely death was not only the result of a disgraceful crime, it was a dreadful tragedy; a terrible thing;  and I feel for all his loved ones.

Having said that,  until they are proven, claims that Mr Garg’s death was the result of racial discrimination are disgraceful – and the fact that they emanated from the Indian Government does it no honour.

In addition, the rather pathetic attempt of Gautam Gupta, secretary of the Federation of Indian Students of Australia to stir up a conflict based on unproven claims of a racially motivated attack is little more than evidence of a transparent attempt of a union to justify its existence.

Is there not enough conflict in the world, without the Indian Government and Mr Gupta using their public profiles to add to it – in an as yet totally unfounded manner?

The damage the Indian Government and Mr Gupta’s comments have done to Indian people’s perception of Australia  is considerable and I respectfully suggest that both the Government spokesperson and Mr Gupta stop and think before making future claims of racially motivated violence – making an already terrible situation worse than it need be.

I find their ill-considered and unsubstantiated comments both racist and offensive.  The time to make claims of racism is when it has been proven – and not a second sooner.

And if it is proven, the Australian Government must act speedily and seriously to ensure a strong message is given that racially motivated attacks are a reprehensible crime that will not be tolerated in Australia.  A slap on the wrist for the perpetrator/s, a suspended sentence, or a reduced sentence should not even be considered by those with the power to make such decisions.

Tags: assaults on Indians, Federation of Indian Students of Australia, Gautam Gupta, Nitin Garg

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 6th, 2010 at 9:35 pm and is filed under News and Current Affairs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.