Why Indians in Australia becoming victims of racist violence?
by Guneet S - January 13, 2010
Australia, January 13: The recent attacks on Indians in Australia have sent a wave of caution among Indians. But the question is why this violence is being meted out Indians?
That is the question on everyone’s lips and mind, these days. The Indians are being burnt, stabbed and murdered and this racism is taking a really violent turn in Australia’s Melbourne, which is known for being a multi-racial and multicultural city. This is due to the fact that a large part of Melbourne’s population comprises of immigrants from nearly 140 countries.
It has been almost a year since these racial motivated attacks surfaced against the Indians. And these attacks have even continued in the year 2010 when one student of Indian origin was murdered brutally and the other was alighted in the wee hours in Melbourne.
No wonder, such incidents have resulted in a big decline in the number of Australian student visa seekers from India. The number of visa seekers reduced by almost half and the relationship between the two countries, namely Australia and India, has soured in the recent times due to such hate crimes against Indians.
Such attacks have raised many questions including the reason why only Indians are being made subject of racial attacks, is there any particular area where such attacks have been taking place and what is the ratio of racial attacks in such attacks?
Nonetheless, the Australian police officials have been reiterating that all these attacks do not have any proof of being racially motivated. However, the fact is that these attacks need serious probe to arrive at the truth behind the motives of such attacks.
India is showing its deep concern over the attacks on Indian students and it has every reason to do so. For, there are currently 70,000 Indians in Australia and the number of victims of racial attacks is much more than reported by the media.
Not just India, this matter ought to be a cause of grave concern for the Australian government too because the economy of Australia earns a big revenue from the education sector which amounts to nearly $13bn annually.
And if strong measures are not introduced by the Australian government to stop all such crimes on Indians, it could be on the brink of losing $70 m in the bargain.
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