Police smeared in Indian newspaper as 'Ku Klux Klan'

AUSTRALIAN police have been likened to members of the Ku Klux Klan in an inflammatory cartoon published in an Indian newspaper in the wake of the death of Nitin Garg in Melbourne.

The cartoon, which ran on page 12 of Delhi's Mail Today newspaper on Tuesday, depicts an Australian police officer in a klan hood saying: "We are yet to ascertain the nature of the crime."

The image is set to put further pressure on already fragile ties between India and Australia following the stabbing of the 21-year-old accounting graduate in a Yarraville park in Melbourne's west last Saturday night.

Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Kieran Walshe yesterday issued a personal assurance to India's high commissioner that "everything possible" was being done to bring the person responsible for Mr Garg's death to justice.

There is discrimination in India but I am not sure it can be classified as rascism because race per se is not a factor. It is easier to find fault with others and Indians generally tend to hold white countries (a bit of a colonial hangover) to a higher standard than they hold themselves.

Australians unfortunately are such easy targets. They have a reputation in team sports (cricket)of being rude and aggressive and quite a few Indians have tended to associate the whole country with those attitudes. The Australian reaction to such incidents is to deny any racial motive even if it soon becomes obvious that there was one. That reaction is understandable because no one really wants to admit that racism exists and most of them are so discomforted by its existence being made aware of that they tend to get very defensive and lash out at the victims and their country. How can the fact that Indians may also hold prejudices be used as an excuse for the brutal killing of a Indian student in Australia? These guys are legally in Australia, invited to attend colleges including some very dodgy ones by paying a substantial amount as fees bringing a lot of revenue into the country. The concerns of these students and of their parents must not be simply brushed aside by pointing fingers at India’s own record. Just see the American reaction to the case of Amanda knox where Italy and Italians have been accused of pretty much everything under the sun and all this about someone accused of murder.

The Indian media has certainly gone overboard but the concern is genuine and one shared by many even if they are not very comfortable with the hyperbole surrounding the whole matter.

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