The attacks on Indian students have had two intriguing outcomes. First, the Indian community in Australia, which includes the established community and the more recently arrived students, seems to be divided. Second, the Indian media is relentlessly portraying Australia as a racist country, and Australia is having to try to clear itself of a racist image. Both of these outcomes bear deeper probing.
Australia's Indian-born population has grown sizably over the past few decades. There is a well-established Indian community in most Australian cities. In the past few years there has been a rapid increase in the Indian student population as well: an estimated 90,000 Indian students are currently in Australia.
For a long time the Indian community mixed easily with the wider Australian community. But with the large-scale arrival of Indian students, the Indian community has emerged as a visible ethnic 'other'.
The entrenched Indian community, perhaps already uncomfortable with the increasing number of students, is now in a confrontational mood. They see the vocal student protests following the attacks in Melbourne and Sydney, and the portrayal of Australia as racist by the Indian media, as having the potential to harm the relationship that the Indian community has nurtured over the years with the wider community.
The role of the Indian media has been significant. The incidents in Australia have been widely and prominently reported. But the reporting clearly overstates the degree of racism in Australian society.
So much so that the Australian Government arranged for Indian journalists to tour Australia, and for an educational delegation to visit India, in order to allay fears of racist violence in Australia. The delegation also addressed media conferences in an attempt to persuade the media to take a more informed and balanced approach.
These efforts could be seen as economically motivated — after all, the overseas student industry has emerged as an important sector of the Australian economy. But they also reflect a concern to preserve Australia's reputation as a multicultural society. This could be undermined if Australia were represented as 'racist' .
Representation plays a crucial role in creating 'otherness'. India has dealt with its own issues of representation during the era of colonisation. In post-colonial times any depreciatory depiction of the country is seen as a continuation of the colonial mentality. From travelogues to feature films, all come under the scanner of the educated Indian middle-class, a vociferous critic of