Sushma Swaraj, along with her junior minister V.K. Singh, Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar and other senior officials, met a group of African envoys and students to discuss the issues faced by African nationals in India. Credit: Reuters/Anindito Mukherjee/Files
New Delhi: Ratcheting up efforts to contain the damage over attacks on African nationals in the country, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj announced a slew of steps, including a country-wide sensitisation campaign, even as she asserted that the killing of a Congolese youth was not a “racial crime”.
Swaraj, who along with her junior minister V.K. Singh, Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar and other senior officials met a group of African envoys and students, also asserted that India, the land of Gandhi and Buddha, and which has fought consistently against racial discrimination, can never have a racist mindset.
The African delegation, comprising the Eritrean ambassador, who is also the dean of the African Diplomatic Corps, the acting high commissioner of Nigeria, who is the chair of the African Union’s student committee, and the head of the Association of African Students in India raised concerns over the safety and security of the African community.
On her part, Swaraj assured the team that the government was working on a “major strategy” under which an institutional mechanism will be put in place to address their concerns, and that Singh and other foreign ministry officials will hold meetings with the African community in all major metros where they reside.
Terming the killing of Masonda Ketada Oliver as “barbaric,” Swaraj, however, said, “it is not a case of racial crime”.
The government was committed to a fast-track trial in the killing of Oliver and “harshest possible punishment” for the culprits, she assured the African delegation.
“All criminal acts should not be construed as racial attacks. As the CCTV footage of the incident in question showed, this was an act committed by goons who also thrashed the Indian bystanders who had attempted to intervene to save Oliver. The Delhi police immediately swung into action after the unfortunate incident,” she said.
She further emphasised that the attacks were not “premeditated acts against a particular community” and rather were spontaneous attacks perpetrated by anti-social and criminal elements.
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