New Delhi: External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj said that the statement of the African mission, describing the recent attacks on African students in greater Noida as “xenophobic and racial” was “unfortunate, painful and surprising.”
According to her, the Indian response in the matter wasn’t inadequate by any means.
She told the Lok Sabha that racial crimes were “pre-planned”, which was not the case with the recent attack on the African students by a mob in Greater Noida, asserting that the government was committed to their safety. She added that it was not proper to call the crime racially motivated before the probe is completed. Six people have been arrested by the UP police in the case so far.
Ms Swaraj also said that when an Indian was killed recently in the African nation of Mozambique, India never claimed it was motivated by racial hatred. She said Gen. V.K. Singh (Retd.) had spoken to the Dean of African Heads of Missions about the prompt response taken by her as well as the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and told him that the Dean could have sought a meeting with the External Affairs Minister if they were still not satisfied with the steps taken. “The Dean’s statement that our political leadership is silent is completely contrary to facts... his statement was surprising and painful. We have said that it was unfortunate. The Indian government’s response cannot be called inadequate by any means,” she said.
Ms Swaraj also objected to the African missions’ demand for an investigation by the Human Rights Council. She said that India had robust human rights bodies and NGOs, besides an independent media and judiciary.
Her statement came after MP K.C. Venugopal (Congress) attacked the government over the development and accused it of “diplomatic failure”.
Swaraj said another purported incident of attack on an African student has turned to be untrue as the Kenyan woman, who had made the allegation, has admitted she had lied. She had withdrawn the complaint and our inquiry has found that her visa had expired long back, the minister said.
