Expressing grave concern over the latest incident of racist attack against a Sikh youth in the US, Punjab Congress president Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday sought the Central Government’s proactive and aggressive intervention in ensuring protection of Indians living abroad.
“The growing intolerance and the spate of violence targeting the Indian diaspora has serious implications for the country and needed to be checked before it escalated to unmanageable levels,” said Capt Amarinder.
Calling for urgent high-level intermediation to prevent their recurrence, he said that it was “not enough” for the Indian Government to condemn and express concern over these shocking and biased attacks.
Also coming down heavily on the Modi Government for its failure to take up the issue in all its seriousness, the State Congress chief accused it of “licking up to the Trump Government to promote its vested political interests”.
“The Narendra Modi led Central Government should engage with the Donald Trump administration in the US at the highest levels to pre-empt any further incidents of this kind,” he added. He said that the sudden increase in the frequency and intensity of such acts, particularly in the US, suggested lack of a protective policy framework to secure and safeguard the Indians living abroad.
“Whatever the provocation or the motivation, these attacks are tantamount to murder and attempted murder and needed to be tackled as crimes, with exemplary and deterrent punishment to the culprits,” demanded Capt Amarinder. Citing the string of attacks against people of Indian origin in recent days, the former chief minister said that there was a distinct climate of hatred being promoted against Indians in the US and some other countries.
He urged the Trump administration to come out openly and sternly against elements engaged in perpetrating hate crimes against member of the Indian community, many of whom were settled in the US for the past several decades and were making significant contribution to that country’s economy and growth.