India has right to be concerned about Indians abroad: Tharoor
http://mangalorean.com/news.php?newstype=local&newsid=63294
New Delhi, Jan 9 (IANS) The Indian government has the right to play a role when Indian communities abroad are in trouble while at the same time respecting the sentiments of the host country's government, according to former UN under-secretary general and author Shashi Tharoor.
"The government can do a lot of things (when Indians abroad are in trouble) but not necessarily in full public view. The sentiments of the host country's government should be kept in mind while dealing with such situations," Tharoor said at a press conference here Tuesday.
Tharoor's comments came in the wake of the recent incidents in Malaysia where ethnic Indians, a minority group in that Southeast Asian nation, held protest marches amid allegations that they were being discriminated against by the government.
In Kenya too, ethnic Indians were affected in the post-election political violence involving Kenyan communities.
"Previously, the Indian government took the position that if Indians go abroad and become foreigners, they cease to be Indian citizens," said Tharoor, who is here to attend the 6th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, the annual conclave of the Indian diaspora.
"But the scenario changed dramatically in the last two decades. The Indian government looked to connect with the diaspora with the aim of utilising their experience and skills - so much so that a ministry (the ministry of overseas Indian affairs) has been set up," he said.
Tharoor said if India gained from the remittances sent by overseas Indians, it was also the responsibility of the Indian government to look after the welfare of overseas Indians.
"Indians in India can no longer afford to be indifferent to Indians abroad," he said.
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It is holistically wrong for Indians who have settled abroad, or are descendants of Indians who had settled abroad of their own free will or through coercion like 'indentured' labourers during the previous centuries to now look towards India for protection.
Their loyalty must be to country which has given them a home and the inalienable rights enshirined in the relevant country's Constitution.
Just because imbecile Politicians in certain countries want to continue to 'Rule the Waves' it need not necessarily be that the citizens of Indian origin should look for foreign help. It is only too obvious that Inddia has its own vexatious political problems.
Does one really expect the Indian "Politician' who would be of the same or more inferior mettle than the Malaysian politician to take a sympathetic interest in the predicament of ethnic Indians abroad. He has his own problems on how to loot and siphon wealth whilst holding office. No one makes politics a profession - except for this very purpose in the first place. Not for the LOVE of mankind and the country. Look around and see for your self and you will 'see' this TRUTH.
Ethnic Indians in Malaysia, as citizens of the country, must exert their rights to the fullest extent, come what may, as provided for in the Secular Constitution of Malaysia.
The problems that ethnic Indians face today can be attributed to trusting their ethnic political leaders far too much and being hoodwinked by them from all angles and in the final analysis finding themselves placed in the most disadvantageous of positions. The ethnic Indians MUST have, at the outset, demanded their rights , just like other ethnic groups are doing, for jobs in the Civil Servuice; Police; Army; Banks etc right from the start instead of being rubber tappers and Bandar Raya labourers. Now that the Ethnic Indians seem to have woken up and do not appear to be the servile old Indian labourer seen in cartoons - it may now be opportune for them to start further exerting their rights in every way and form irrespective of the consequences.
They should of course NOT ASK for more than their rights. The rest is for them to earn through their own initiatives and labour.
There is no CHOICE on this point. If one has to undergo sufferings and death - so be it. That may be one's "'Karma."
Leave India to the Indians.
DEAL with the Malaysians now BEFORE it is MUCH TOO LATE to bring some sense into the holders of power today and BE AWARE that the Nation is SECULAR under the Constitution. No other law over rides that. Religions and religious laws that we now have are made by MAN too. It is only the leaders of every Religious ilk who surreptitiously attempt to mislead us that they are Divine.
Divinity DOES NOT EXIST in a vacuum or in a racist and marginalised suffering Society.
Divinity is LOVE and COMPASSION.
Not what those so called self appointed Religious leaders try to lump down our throats as if though we are imbeciles not worth our salt.
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