Lest the Bangaluru incident casts its shadow on the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ambitious outreach to African continent, both home and external affairs ministries has come into action, seeking reports on the mob attack on a Tanzanian woman student, as well as mollifying African missions and assuring safety to the students from the continent.
External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj chaired a high level meeting, including top officials of her ministry, following a strong reaction by the Tanzania's ambassador to India John WH Kijazi, calling it a 'racist' attack.
The Tanzanian woman doing MBA, was allegedly beaten up and stripped by a mob in a case of 'mistaken identity' after a woman was mowed down by a car in Bengaluru. She was reportedly dragged out of the car in which she was seated along with her three friends when she reached the accident spot. Miscreants mistook them to have caused the fatal accident though a Sudanese was involved in it, the police report said.
Tanzania, the largest country in East Africa has a substantial population of the Indian diaspora, about 60 to 70 thousand. Also, with trade around USD 4 billion, it is an important country, as the volume is at par or even greater than that of trade with Canada.
The MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup said a team including the Tanzanian High Commissioner, who is also the Dean of the African Diplomatic Corps, will be rushing to Bengaluru on Friday. The team also includes Joint Secretary (States), Director Eastern and Southern Africa in MEA and the Regional Director of ICCR, he said, adding the Central and state governments will extend full cooperation to investigation of this case. He said all steps will be taken to ensure the safety and security of African students in the country. He said there are around 5,000 African students studying in India. The team will assure them safety and address their complaints.
While reacting to the incident, Tanzania's ambassador dismissed Karnataka government's statement that it was not a racist attack. "Everybody is entitled to their own assessment, but there is an element of mob justice and racism. That's my assessment. She was attacked because she was black like the guy who caused the accident." He said he had sent a complaint to the government and sought prompt action against those behind the "unfortunate" incident. The Union home ministry also asked the state government to give a detailed report about the circumstances leading to the assault. The central government is also peeved at the delay in lodging the complaint.
As the incident is taking a serious diplomatic turn, Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah told Sushma Swaraj that case has been registered, five of them (accused) have been arrested. He, however, refuted reports that the Tanzanian woman was paraded naked.
Meanwhile the political parties slug fest on the issue, with the BJP accusing the Congress government in the Karnataka government of failing in law and order. The party also questioned Rahul Gandhi's "silence" over the incident that happened right under the nose of his party-run government. The BJP spokesperson Srikant Sharma also questioned why such incidents in the non-BJP states doesn't evoke similar outrage.
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