Opinion Mumbai to Melbourne

Incredibly,nobody on the Indian side of the debate has sought to even consider the vulnerability of a certain type of immigrant (the financially vulnerable,vocational student) in a new big city environment (majority of the attacks have happened in Melbourne).

Incredible,because we just recently witnessed a bout of immigrant bashing at home. Sure,Mumbai is a long way from Melbourne and the Senas (and their supporters) aren’t racist in the traditional sense of the term. But analysing the politics of the Shiv Sena (and now the MNS) and their supporters is instructive to what is happening in Australia.

Big cities are a magnet for all manner of people because of the opportunities they open up. Migration,within national boundaries and across borders,is a search for better opportunity. Its benefits extend beyond the migrating individual — in most cases the new host economy benefits as well.

Still,it is important to remember that even big cities have limited resources and there will be competition for those resources which could in theory pit incumbents and newcomers against each other. Also,the process of migration does create perceptions (true or false) among the locals of “outsiders” stealing jobs and resources which should rightfully be theirs. Quite naturally,these perceptions usually take strongest hold among those locals who are deprived of opportunity,usually those with no skills (or very limited skills). The Shiv Sena has been tapping into this disgruntled constituency for decades now — even in defeat,the two anti-outsider Senas together polled some 40 per cent of the popular vote in Mumbai in the recent assembly election,and are still capable of intimidation through “goondagardi”.

Interestingly,and this is instructive to the incidents in Melbourne,the definition of the outsider changes over time. For the Sena,it began with Gujaratis,then south Indians,then Muslims,and now north Indians. Why?

One reason is that,with passage of time,outsiders acquire an insider dimension. As numbers add up over time,so does the security that comes with numbers — it is easier for bigots to rail against a tiny,vulnerable group than a bigger,better organised group. Gujaratis,south Indians and even Muslims in Mumbai are now capable of defending their interests in numbers usually through the established political system,

but also through the economic prosperity acquired out of decades in India’s commercial capital. The newer migrants from UP and Bihar don’t yet have the strength of prosperity and well-entrenched social networks,hence the vulnerability.

Cut to Australia. Almost all the Indian victims of attacks fit a well-defined profile,beyond just the colour of their skin. An overwhelming majority are students,but not at Australia’s best universities. Most are studying vocational courses — cooking,hairdressing,etc — at third rate institutions and need to find work to fund themselves; no scholarships,no rich families in India,so financially vulnerable. It would be fair to assume that many use this as a route to seek permanent residency in Australia as well. But this was completely in accordance with Australian immigration rules until Monday,when the government announced that it would,interestingly,be restricting migrants in the categories of hairdressers,cooks and focus instead on granting visas to people with higher skills — engineers and doctors.

But while they were allowed freely into Australia,the profile of these “students” put them in a higher risk category. Working late night shifts increases the risk of being a victim of urban crime. As does living in rough neighbourhoods,where sentiment against immigration is in any case likely to be the highest. This is the segment where competition for low-skill jobs is the most severe,and even having one of those jobs doesn’t secure much prosperity.

It’s hardly surprising that no Indian students at top rate Australian universities have been attacked; nor have high skilled Indian migrants working as engineers,doctors,management professionals. They live and work in better,more secure neighbourhoods. More importantly,an Indian engineer is not likely to leave an Australian engineer unemployed,so there is not the same competition and resentment,as at lower levels of skill.

But it isn’t just about skills and neighbourhoods. It’s also about numbers. The migration of relatively low skilled labour (that is what vocational students really are) from India to Australia is a relatively recent phenomenon. Australia liberalised its visa rules for this category in the middle of the decade. And this group of immigrants is still a tiny minority. That prevents them from expressing a common voice. It is also too small a number to form a ghetto,something that often provides migrants everywhere in the world with physical security.

So,how should this impact government policy? For a start,it does not make sense to let this issue sour an important bilateral relationship with Australia. It is completely unreasonable to label Australia as an unsafe and racist country,even if the odd police official makes a silly comment about the need for Indians to dress down or “dress poor”. Like elsewhere in the world,including at home,there will be bigots,and “aggrieved” parties who will take anti-immigrant/ outsider positions,and may unfortunately act on them by physically attacking perceived enemies. But fortunately,in most civilised countries,this will be a minority as it is in Australia and in India. The task of a liberal government should be to isolate the extreme minority by exercising the rule of law,but also by engaging closely with the mainstream. On

evidence,the Australian government of Kevin Rudd may be

more committed to doing this than the Congress-NCP government in Maharashtra.

Instead of a counter-productive savaging of a liberal Australian government for not confronting racism — a questionable and offensive proposition that will only encourage the bigots and weaken the liberals in Australia — the liberal government of India should present a more reasoned view than the kind of jingoism that is usually associated with the bigoted Senas in Mumbai.

The writer is a senior editor ,‘The Financial Express’

dhiraj.nayyar@expressindia.com