Look, I agree, the title of this write-up is dramatic and provocative but this is the question which lots of people are asking. A segment of Indian media is calling every crime involving Indians in Australia as racist crime. They don’t even wait for full facts. It is grossly unfair, inappropriate, immature and ,I argue, racist. Everything in Australia is racist and the very same crimes in India are not. Indian media is doing it intentionally with one agenda only. This agenda is to harm Australia’s reputation. They are selectively blind to some crimes but hysterical about certain crimes.
Let me put some examples to illustrate my point of view.
1. Late Nitin Garg’s fatal stabbing: This was the most shocking loss of life in Melbourne. A 21 years old Indian permanent resident was fatally stabbed at 10 PM when he was walking through a park for his work. This was in the Western Suburb of Melbourne which is known for increased crime against people of all types. There was no witness and the park was dimly lit. Full facts have not come out yet. Vic police is investigating. One Indian minister demanded faster speed in the investigation just 2 days after the crime, while ignoring the fact that it took 19 years for the Indian system to deal with SPS Rathore, Ex DGP of Haryana, who had molested a young lady [Ruchika] and had also harassed her family which led to the suicide of Ruchika. It is a bit rich to hear that statement from this minister. Indian media of course took up the job of branding Australia a racist country. Do they have any evidence to claim that Nitin was murdered due to his race? Do they have any evidence to say who killed Nitin? This is ridiculous and an indicator of the lack of fairness, accountability and responsibility to their profession. Make no mistake, we are all very sad and angry with what has happened. A young man has lost his life in this manner. Our hearts go out to his mother, brother and other family members. We owe it to Nitin that we put sufficient pressure on Vic Police to catch the criminal and prosecute him vigorously.
2. Ku Klux Klan cartoon: This cartoon by a newspaper in India was an outrageous sensationalisation by the Indian media. What evidence they have to claim what they claimed? It is not fair to brand the whole Vic police to be Ku Klux Klan! We are not surprised that Acting PM, Julia Gillard, Acting Premier of Vic, Mr Hull and Vic police reacted angrily and called this cartoon to be offensive. Rather than going on Ku Klux Klan direction, they could have highlighted the failure of Vic police in controlling the crime situation there.
3. Murder of an Indian lady in Westmead, NSW by her husband: It is alleged that Chaman Jot Singh had killed his wife and then ran away to Melbourne from where he was arrested. He is in prison now and awaiting his trial. We did not see much coverage of this murder! Indian media is treating one murder differently from the another. Is this an example of journalism?
4. Murder/burning of Ranjodh Singh in Griffiths: This murder was shocking too. Newspaper reports are claiming that he was a contractor who was employing other Indians. It is alleged that a dispute involving the payment of wages was responsible for the fight and murder/burning. Killers are alleged to be Indians. We did not see much coverage of this in the Indian media. Why?
5. Alleged burning of an Indian in Melbourne: This story is quite unusual and the newspapers are raising doubts on some aspects of this crime. Full facts are yet to be disclosed but police are saying that aspects of the story don’t stack up.
6. IndianTaxi driver molesting a young lady in Brisbane: A taxi driver was sentenced to 15 months prison term in Brisbane but not much has been reporeted in Indian media. Why?
7. Puneet, an Indian student, drove drunk and killed an 19 years old Gold Coast man last year. He was tried and was convicted. While waiting for the sentencing, he jumped bail and ran away from Australia, using a false passport. He lives in India now. Should he not be arrested there and sent back to an Australian jail? Where is Indian police and Indian media? Why did Indian media not cover this topic? Is it OK for an Indian to kill someone else?
http://www.theage.com.au/world/india-urges-restraint-in-reporting-of-attacks-20100110-m0iz.html
http://www.theage.com.au/national/fire-attack-on-indian-deepens-race-tensions-20100109-m00j.html
http://www.theage.com.au/national/the-mean-streets-where-the-locals-fear-to-tread-20100109-m00l.html
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/indian-tvs-unsound-fury-20100106-lu8y.html
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/01/10/2789026.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/01/09/2788802.htm
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/indians-in-oz-fear-backlash-over-ku-klux-klan-cartoon/565039/
http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/latest/6660657/indian-govt-angry-after-attack-on-man/4/$
http://www.theage.com.au/national/southbank-crash-driver-drunk-and-speeding-20081001-4rcz.html
It does not matter to them that most Indian Australians do not believe Australia to be a racist country. Australia’s rules/regulations and laws are not racist. They are not discriminatory to any one on the basis of colour, race, gender or religion. It is a known fact that every country has some racists. Australia and India are no exceptions. Ask North Indians what they feel in Mumbai. Ask North Eastern Indians what they get called in New Delhi. Ask any one what Indians call Africans. Why is Indian media not taking this up? It is a known fact that every country has a crime problem. Australia also has it and India also has it. India in fact may have worse crime problem. No country is totally crime free. What has Indian media done against crime/criminals in India? Some politicians there have extensive criminal background? Any thing being done by Indian media about that?
By the way, my comments here should not mean that I am happy with the policing by Vic Police. They are definitely not able to have an effective control on the crime situation in Vic. They need to do a review about the ways they do crime control. They should do random and unannounced searches for knives etc without giving the notice of 7 days before such searches. You read it right. They actually do give a 7 days notice about their searches in any particular suburb.Things seems to be better in NSW in this regards. May be, they should talk with their NSW counterparts.
Some “leaders” in Melbourne don’t waste any time to claim every crime being a racist crime. There is one whose comments are outrageous. He does not wait for any evidence. His understanding of the situation is very deficient. I believe he is harming Indian Australian community due to his stupid statements. His statements are irrational. He seems to have some sorts of connection with some in Indian media. His hypocrisy is objectionable as he has taken Australian citizenship and is bringing his parents to live in Australia. Why is this the case if Australia is nothing but a racist country? He is not even a student. As far as I know, he is not even working in the field of his training these days. He claims to speak for all of us. I want to tell him that we do not agree with his irrational views. We also know that he has hardly any support in Melbourne and Indian Australians in Melbourne dislike him intensely & with passion.
I ask Indian media to become rational and objective in its coverage of the problems in Australia. They should wait for the full facts to come out before jumping to any conclusion. They need to cover all crimes even when Indians are involved in committing those crime. They must stop hysterical and selective reporting. Some students also commit crime and the behaviour of some of them is below standard. They don’t know how to conduct themselves. Indian Gov’s advisory is a right thing but did we really need it? Should it not be a component of common sense and should we not know what to do and what not to do? These students are not children, after all.
The irrational reporting by Indian media is making them a laughing stalk and this is making the situation more difficult for Indian Australians. There is a risk that a backlash may happen against Indian Australians if Indian media continues its hysterical and unfair reporting.
The behaviour of a segment of Indian media begs the question. Is indian media racist towards Australia?
I know where I stand on this matter. I am going to let you make up your own mind. Do let me know what you think!
Yadu Singh/Sydney/10th Jan, 2010
Yadu Singh's Blog 
Australia is a multicultural country.
I think that to a certain extent Indians are targeted for violent crimes. The problem is that Indian students live in ‘multicultural’ or ‘diverse’ areas that white people had previously fled from because of high crime rates and racially motivated crimes.
In a place like Harris Park where Indian students held a protest there are hardly any white Australians at all. They were already driven out long ago by Lebanese and other middle eastern residents/criminals.
It was against the Lebanese criminals that the Indians students were protesting in Harris Park. The Indian media didn’t report on exactly who the Indian students were protesting again, but neither did the Australian media. In fact the Australian media covered this aspect of the protest up, with cameras panning away from signs being held by Indian students denouncing Lebanese crime. In newspapers pictures were cropped to leave out those signs too.
The level of policing is very light in these areas because the police and politicians are basically afraid of these criminals.
Here is an article from 2004 about this matter. In 2015 the situation is much worse.
http://australian-news.net/articles/view.php?id=110
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The situation is well described. I wish I came upon this article two years age, when I was preparing to do my higher studies in Melbourne. I faintly remember that even then Indian government (or could be the media again) was saying students not to go to Oz for higher studies! This screwed up everything. Though I knew all this ‘racism’ is unwanted hype by the lame Indian media people (once again the credit of screwing up my dreams of higher education goes to them), though I was not able to convince my parents on the issue. Now after two years the Indian media has slowed the unwanted hype (yeah i said slow not stop per se) I convinced my parents that Australia is a great place to live and Australians are far more friendlier than Indians. So I will finally continue my higher studies in Melbourne from February of next year. Cant wait to finally see what real education in a Beautiful country gonna be.
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Excellent. I did a blog some time ago where I listed that more than 80% of attacks on Indians reported in the press were by migrants and not by white-aussies. And of the migrants there were several high profile ones who were Indians themselves. Interestingly the video of an Indian student being bashed in a Melbourne train that was used by most Indian channels to establish OZ to be a racist country actually shows the faces of the attackers and they are all teenagers. Wait a minute: One of the attacker is actually Indian too. Due to privacy related to teenagers involved in attacks, the police didnot name him at all. I wish it had.
The youtube video of Jonnie is excellent. Can you please permit its use on AAERI site. It will help future potential Indian students.
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I’ve been saying this till I was blue in the face! I totally agree with you on the shoddy journalism by the Indian media. It’s reached a point of stupidity and yes, possibly racism if we want to stretch it that far. And the media just do not want to hear the views of those Indians who think Australia is a wonderful country.
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Hi,
Great article! I made a documentary a year ago that you might appreciate. It’s about the racist experiences that people have had in Sydney. Check it out!
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Dr. Singh, Once while in India, I met a producer of Aajtak channel and asked him why they sensationalise an unimportant incident or repeat the package several times in one broadcast. His reply was “to gain a better TRP. The channel would be viewed most if they sensationalised news”. And mind you, the new breed of “TV journalists” are very good at modulation that adds to the hysteria. In my time, (not very long ago) we had been trained not add our opinion in the news story. Call a spade a spade.
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Thanks, AShok. TRP is now the main issue, rather than balanced/fair/correct reporting. Shame!!
Regards
Yadu Singh
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A well written article by Dr. Singh which clearly exposes the double standards that continue to exist with Indian journalism. Times of India is losing credibility by the minute by reporting and highly exaggerating such baseless articles and claiming racism.
It’s about time the Chief Editor at Times of India puts an end to this nonsense and protect the gift of being a credible journalist or risk utter and complete failure.
For all you know it could be a genuine ploy to rally support given the struggling financial situation of the once so mighty Times Group by stirring up controversy at any given opportunity.
There is a huge opportunity for these vocational students to learn the art of adapting to a new & developed environment. The poor calibre and lack of communication, etiquette skills of some of these students is extremely questionable hence a proper briefing/grooming program should form the backbone for any potential students.
Happy Australia Day Everyone!
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This message is for KP, Australia
what you mean by students need to learn gooming?
We are civilaised 5000 years ago , every indian can speak english better than other nationalities, even if they do not do all that does it mean you attack them, happy indian day, if you are indian and wishing australia day , it is a shame, one day you will understand when something will happen to you
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Thanks, KP. Many valid comments. Students’ issues are quite complex. I was myself the chair of the Indian Consul General’s committee on students’ issues and have seen the issues from very close angles.
Regards
Yadu Singh
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the media around the world is the same…make a drama of everything to generate sale…the key question is what is going to happen to the murderer of nitin?..would be interesting to see/
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Thanks. As you know, Vic Police is investigating this murder.
Regards
Yadu Singh
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amaan yaaar ,Racism in India nahin suna kya ,,,,racism is everywhere …jab hum india mein kissi ko kala kaluta boltey hain to wo kya hai …yeah castism kya hai …bolo kya hai …Bolo Kya hai ….
baat ka batangad hai , koi bhi pitt sakta tha , galtee sey hindusthani nikla , abb to lag gayee watt australia kee…………………………..
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Thank you.
Regards
Yadu Singh
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Till now this issue in Australia which is titled as “Racism in Australia” by media is misleading common folks in Australia & back in India. I would like to appreciate Dr. Singh for his initiative & sparing his time to make people aware on this matter through this article.
We all know that Criminal attacks cant be categorised as Racial Attacks. Criminal when commiting crimes don’t see that the victim is Indian, Australian, Asian or from any other race. The motto of criminal is to commit crime irrespective of consequence. The way these crimes are published in newspaper by media OR spread through radio/ other communication media it is not stopping/ reducing crimes but giving chance to criminal to commit crimes as media will help them to categorise their crimes as racial attack.
Every country has criminal & I strongly believe that most of the criminals are stateless persons. So rather then focusing on strengthening law & order to reduce crimes we are wasting our energy in categorising them racially motivated crimes which is directionless.
Australian government treats the people in their country equally irrespective of any race. Normal Australians are quite co-operative. The way media exaggerates these in articles it leaves a wrong impression on them. Till now Australians were supportive & but now these all rumors are making them hesitate in lending their helping hand to immigrants who come to settle in Australia.
I think Mr. Singh has eloborated enough in his article & will request people to believe in actual/ true picture which is described to them by people living in Asutralia (e.g. Dr. Yadu Singh) rather then following the virtual picture which is given to them by media.
Cheerz
Anuj Kulshrestha
Reply
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Till now this issue in Australia which is titled as “Racism in Australia” by media is misleading common folks in Australia & back in India. I would like to appreciate Dr. Singh for his initiative & sparing his time to make people aware on this matter through this article.
We all know that Criminal attacks cant be categorised as Racial Attacks. Criminal when commiting crimes don’t see that the victim is Indian, Australian, Asian or from any other race. The motto of criminal is to commit crime irrespective of consequence. The way these crimes are published in newspaper by media OR spread through radio/ other communication media it is not stopping/ reducing crimes but giving chance to criminal to commit crimes as media will help them to categorise their crimes as racial attack.
Every country has criminal & I strongly believe that most of the criminals are stateless persons. So rather then focusing on strengthening law & order to reduce crimes we are wasting our energy in categorising them racially motivated crimes which is directionless.
Australian government treats the people in their country equally irrespective of any race. Normal Australians are quite co-operative. The way media exaggerates these in articles it leaves a wrong impression on them. Till now Australians were supportive & but now these all rumors are making them hesitate in lending their helping hand to immigrants who come to settle in Australia.
I think Mr. Singh has eloborated enough in his article & will request people to believe in actual/ true picture which is described to them by people living in Asutralia (e.g. Dr. Yadu Singh) rather then following the virtual picture which is given to them by media.
Cheerz
Anuj Kulshrestha
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Thanks Anuj.
Regards
Yadu Singh
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Who cares if the Indian media is racist or not. Australia is my home now and would like Australian leaders to acknowledge that even if there is a one percent chance of this being a racial problem it will not be tolerated and will be dealt with stongly. The speech I heard from Julia Gillard and Simon Crean was more of how India has more of a crime rate etc. It did not give me the confidence that Australian Govt would do its utmost to stop this. This is not the time for rhetoric – it is time for action.
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Thanks, Palu. You have made very valid observations.
Regards
Yadu Singh
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This blog really hits the issue in the face. As far as see, the key message to the Indian Media from this blog is – “Shut Up or Be Objective. You are solving WRONG problem”
Media across the world has always been opportunistic but our Media in India goes out of ways to CREATE a problem where there is none – most likely to fill in the program hours than to report News. What is very concerning is that with those kind of comments and remarks, those who probably harboured some racist thoughts, would get a wind and come out and THEN it might become racist attack! We will hear the Indian media saying – ‘See, we told you’. Anyone who saw 1997 movie Mad City could just get the sense of scary proportion a small thing can blow up to just because Media acts irresponsibly.
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Thanks, Kapil.
Regards
Yadu Singh
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I am not convinced that these attacks are racially motivated, however they seem to have one common denominator. Usually carried out late at night. As we know most assaults / robberies happen at night. I don’t know how pokice could eradicate racial motivations. That is a societal problem much in the same epidemic as ‘ome Marathis’ agains UP wallas/Biharis. Perhaps vigilance can go both ways. At the end of the day even if the police find these perpetrators, don’t know what it is going to change. Until the societys attitude change, these random attacks by these ignorant and ill educated kids will go on against ALL people of different ethnicity.
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Thank you, Ali. Very true comments with lots of sense.
Regards
Yadu Singh
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Any country developed or under developed has similar law and order problems.Since I have come to Australia (20yrs) I find that unsocial elements prey on the unsuspected and therefore we Indians have been careful and warned our kids not to walk alone in parks and secluded areas.Unfortunately lately we see our Indian youngsters doing what they should not be doing.Only if Garg had taken a lift from his friend and not walked through the deserted park he would have been alive today.I suppose the Indians are soft targets and rightly the Indian media has blown it beyond logic. Infact last year my brother in law and family changed their holiday plans and visited only New Zealand because of the student issue.We assured them of their safety but they paid no heed .
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Thank you Sushma Ji. Very good points.
Regards
Yadu Singh
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Hi
Good article – however I have read many like these before – summarizing the events from the past but failing to answer a simple question – How do you change it?
Lets change the headline from RACISM to LAW & ORDER. Now my take away from the above article is “Australia has a Law and Order problem just like India – But Australia is a developed country and far more advanced that India (at the moment)” – the fact that these criminals know that they can get away with these inhuman crimes is the main issue. Now Mr.Singh, Why dont you write something about this – you will get ample amount of information from the same sites you have quoted in your article. Or Can you guide The Australian Police to do their jobs properly. They will tell you straight – Now you are gonna tell us about how to do our jobs? Similarly, the Indian Media will tell you the same.
So ask the right question – How to tackle this Law and Order Problem in Australia? You cannot compare India with Australia. We all know Australia is better in many ways and hence people Migrate to Australia – otherwise they would Migrate to India.
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Thanks. Good points. Will give a serious thought to it and will write.
Kind regards
Yadu Singh
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Thank you Dr Singh for bringing to light the actual facts regarding the murder of Indians in Australia and the role of the police and media. The fact remains that Indians are being killed for whatever reasons, i feel the Australian Police ,especially the victorian Police neeeds to be more responsible and effective in stopping crime.
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Thanks, Mrs Gemmell.
Regards
Yadu Singh
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Jo aap kah rahe hain vo to sab theek hai. Lekin aap ke kahene ka maqshad nahi samajh me aa raha hai bhai sahab!! Sare aam sabhi insaan me kuchh na kuchh “racism” to hoti hi hai. Sensationalism to media me common hai. Ab hamhi ko dekh lijiye – aap ka ye blog media ka ek ansh to hai. Matlab yeh bhi media me gini ja sakti hai. Hamaare vartalaap is vishay me to emotional bhi hai – that is sensationalism to some extent.
Dar asal kisi bhi insaan ko maar dalna keval gair kanoon nahi balki ghor anyay hai bhai saab!! Nitin ke ghar wale kitni mushkil aur itminaan se unhe pala posa, bada kiya aur overseas bheja padhne aur unnati karne ke liye magar itne masoom umr me kisi ne use yahan maar dala. Main problem to yeh hai ki ham iske baare me kya karenge!!!!!!!!?
Bickering about the iniquities of the media and whether they are racist or we are will not get us anywhere.
Kya kahene!!!!!!!!?
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Thank you Alfred Bhai. Your comments have a lot of sense. Would be nice if they are in English as many can’t read Hindi.
Regards
Yadu Singh
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I am so glad that you have put those very true view out to radicals that seem to jump on the bandwagon just to create Hysteria. The way Indians put down fellow indians is amazing yet those things are not put on paper. We have religions, within those religions we have the caste system, within those caste systems we have how fair our skin is. It’s funny when for eg; a west indian cricketer gets suspended/fined, the india media plays the race card, Blacks v Whites. Yet we are quick to call the africans/ west indians kala in the day to day dealings of life. Yes Rathore is being dealt with in the courts when it happened 19 years ago, but will there be justice. He is only being charged for a minor charge. Like they say “he will get away with murder”. And where is the justice in the 1984 Sikh massacre, and where is the justice in………………You can go on and on. I was watching on an indian tv channel a couple of years back a mentally challenged women being stoned to death. Instead of the media calling the police and ambulance or even trying to stop the attrocity, they were filming this “LIVE”. Wake up Indian media, clean up your own back yard before telling others to clean up theirs
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A very valuable contribution in the debate from you. Thank you. A lots of sense in your comments.
Thanks/regards
Yadu Singh
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Doesnt matter, whether Indian or Australian media. They r same. Publicity is all that they want. I completely agree with you with rest. I must say Australians are very fair. Every society will have bad elements.
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Thank you Shashi. I agree.
Regards
Yadu Singh
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Its very sad to hear about any Indian subjected to violence and murder. The Indian media love to sensationalise every incident when it happens in the western world. According to the Indian media all western countries are racist. This has become a very easy word to accuse anybody with. This is how they sell their newspapers and TV News.
But we want VIC police to investigate and try to get to the bottom of this problem in some suburbs. They need to be more vigilant and take action against persons doing such offences. A quick result in this matter will give everybody the confidence that Police is there to protect.
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I agree and think this response is reasonable and understandable.
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I agree with you, Jyoti.
Thanks
Regards
Yadu Singh
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With all respect, doesn’t the Australian reaction to the KKK cartoon remind you of the Islamic reaction to the Prophet holding a bomb? With all seriousness, rightly or wrong I think the Australian reaction was over the top, showing no humour and not advocating what they say other minorities should do in relation to freedom of speech.
As far as Indian media is concerned, I agree with you. Most of them are unprofessional, solely trained to stir emotions perhaps worse than Australian media, but lets face it Media as an industry is not a very noble trade. They are there to bring publicity, and this cartoon suddenly did this. A job well done to the cartoonist.
Thank you very much for your article and the time you have spent on it.
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Thanks, Nikhil. There is truth in your observations.
Thank you for your views.
Best regards
Yadu Singh
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Thank you for bringing some sense into debate. Lots of imotional words are being bandid around which is not good for the debate. There needs to be logic and rational which at present seems to lack. No human being will condone any form of violence but lets have little bit of logic.
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I totally agree with your comments. India is a racist country, media people don’t have moral responsibility…
If you ask the do they have proof ..?
Tell will tell u they are not claiming it. They are just asking the question ?
Like wise ” After presenting a case to be a rasist one they ask “Is this a racist attack?” And this is how they present …
You may have seen the movie Fasion where priyanka copra is being shown sleeping with a black person as all bad thing. or i will say worst.
Why ?
They they didn’t choose a fair skinned person to show the same ..
REASON because we live in the one of the most rasist country in the world.
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Thanks, Harish. Emotional approach is not going to help. We need to analyse an issues with rational approach. You have made very valid comments.
Best regards
Yadu Singh
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