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Racism fires singe
Gurdwara in Melbourne
WSN Network
 New
Delhi: Notwithstanding Australian government's grandstanding that it
was doing all it could to stem the rising tide of racist attacks
against Indian students, the fires of racism seem spreading. So much
so that even a Sikh place of worship, a gurdwara in Melbourne, came
under attack when unidentified people set fire to the shrine's
under-construction building.
Nanaksar Taath
Gurdwara building was damaged in the fire that broke out on January
12, and police now believes that the fire was a “deliberate” act and
arsonists possibly used Molotov cocktails.
While no one was
injured and no structural damage was caused to the building, the
incident has led to anger among the Sikhs and a deep concern about
the race relations.
Detective Senior
Constable Paul Stow, in charge of the probe, said police believed
the arson to be a “deliberately lit fire”. Police initially
suspected that some teenagers had lit “a couple of small fires” in
piles of rubbish in the shrine which got out of control.
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The situation seemed worsening as India's External Affairs
Minister S M Krishna on Tuesday night spoke of the possibility
of New Delhi advising Indian students not to go to Australia
while many community members in Australia termed Indian media's
response to attacks as rabid. |
An outraged Sikh
community called the incident “race-related”. Satnam Singh of
Nanaksar Taath Gurdwara said wilful destruction of “God house” was
an attack on religion.
The Australian
newspaper quoted him as saying, “This is a God house, everybody who
comes here prays to God.” he, too, believed the fire was set on with
the use of Molotov cocktails.
The worst fears
were confirmed when the police found three Molotov cocktails and a
jerry can containing petrol inside.
 Even
as
India's External Affair Ministry took up the incident with
Australia
and the Consulate in Melbourne got into the process of ascertaining
details from the gurdwara management committee, members of the Sikh
community surveyed the damage and called the incident shocking and
upsetting. The Sikhs however were determined to not lose patience.
"What happened
is not right but we are not going to jump to a conclusion. We will
wait till all the facts are revealed," a community represenattive
said.
Sikh community
here is being very patient, said Jag Shergill, another prominent
Sikh who also has been appointed as Victorian multicultural
commissioner. "We will wait for all facts to come out."
Meanwhile, the
situation seemed worsening as
India's External
Affairs Minister S M Krishna on Tuesday night spoke of the
possibility of New Delhi advising Indian students not to go to
Australia
if the attacks on them which have claimed one life so far continued.
The Minister
said it was unfortunate that though there were students from several
countries studying in
Australia it is
only a section of foreign students, mainly from India, that are
being attacked.
 However,
many community members in
Australia have
expressed unhappiness and frustration with the Indian media's rather
rabid response to attacks. They said they now feel threatened to
move around freely because of the "hype" over the issue and fear a
backlash.
"It's not going
the right way at all. We feel scared to move around alone now --
which was not the case earlier -- ever since the Indian media
started giving blanket coverage to such attacks," said Yogita
Garyali, who has been living here for the past six years.
Some feel that
the race angle has been "forcefully fed" in the minds of locals as
well as Indians here.
One Indian
student said every time an incident here is reported in the Indian
media, his parents have to be convinced that he is fine and that
Australia
is a safe place.
But meanwhile,
it is also true that many Indian parents are calling their children
back after the stabbing death of 21-year old Nitin Garg made
headlines in
India.
Two of Garg's friends have already decided to go back after he was
killed here a week ago.
Seven years
back,
Melbourne was rated as the world's most liveable city by the
Economist Intelligence Unit. However, this year it has been ranked
number three.
In other surveys
also,
Melbourne is no longer in the top 10, and a rise in assaults is
partly to blame for it, according to a media reports.
20
January 2010
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