The Racial attacks on Nigerian exposes the hypocrisy and double standard of Indians.

For past few months the Indians living in United States of American have been crying foul left, right and center about influx of racial discrimination in they have to suffer in foreign soil. The attack on the Indians seem to have been on rise especially after Mr. Donald Trump became the US President.

The incident where Srinivas Kuchibhotla was shot on point blank on 22 Feruary, 2017, left many Indians shuddering with trepidation. The 32 year senior systems engineer was shot by a Navy veteran who had reportedly shouted “get out of my country,” as he pumped bullets. As the news of the incident and the impact of the killer’s words spread around like wild fire amongst the Indian community living in US, it was only the beginning of the nightmare for the Indians.

Close to the heels of Kuchibhotla’s murder, another Indian was killed as he was returning home after the day’s work. Like Srinivas Kuchibhotla, Harnish Patel, a 42 year old store owner too was shot dead by some unknown assailants in an act of hate crime. Apart from these, many others including 39 year old Sikh man Deep Rai, a young girl etc. have been racially abused and asked “go back” to their country in a racially spurred attack. These attacks were making the Indian community anxious and insecure. The demand for the Indian government’s intervention had been so strong that it had forced Trump to acknowledge the attacks, ordering FBI to investigate into the crimes.

Fast-forward to merely two weeks, India is witnessing racial attacks on the Nigerian nationals. Four Nigerian Students were brutally attacked in Noida, even as another couple was assaulted in the same city. In both the attacks, the assailants were the locals who believe that the Nigerian students are drug peddlers and responsible for the death of their youth.

Ironically, these racial attacks were merely scratch on the surface of what these Nigerian students go through every day. Their perturbing experience of India involves putting up racial slurs by locals, who call them kala bandar (black monkey), saand (bull), children throwing stones at them, locals accusing them as drug peddlers etc.  The police and legal system seem to have turned a blind eye on their plight, leaving them at the mercy of the locals. One of the students Amalcima’s “You think policemen will listen to me?” pretty much sums up their situation in the Indian legal scenery.

The appalling matter in the entire issue is that while our media and politicians created a hullabaloo when the Indian were attacked abroad, kept mum and stayed away from helping the Nigerian students. Their silence has been interpreted as consensus by the miscreants who blow the fire to the rumor the Nigerian community are engaged in drug peddling.

Moreover the legal system seem to have turned blind eye to their plight as the Noida police reportedly released the statement declaring that the “story of the attack on the Nigerian girl is full of loopholes”. Not even the terrifying resemblance regarding the assault of Nigerian girl to the racial attack on the Sikh girl on the subway train in New York is enough for the Indian legal systems to take action.

With these racial attacks, the impression of India across the international platform has consolidated as a racist country that cries foul when their kin is attacked but have no qualms in do the same to others. What we forget is that the Nigerians’ living situation in India is more or less similar to our brethren as both seem to have migrated to the better country to get better education and livelihood. By ignoring the plight of Nigerians and making them insecure in India, we are losing our right to protest against the racial discrimination and attacks doled out to Indians in foreign land.

-anila

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