Race attack a ‘hot issue’,says new Oz envoy to India

Varghese,who replaces Australian High Commissioner John McCarthy in New Delhi later this month,also strongly refuted that Australia was racist.

“No I don’t (think Australia is racist). I think if you look at the way Australia has changed in the last 20-30 years you will get a sense of the country which is when tested is open to accepting people from a wide range of backgrounds and from cultures and races. I consider it to be the most multi-cultural society,” he said.

Australian society was free to accept people on their face value and deal with them as an individual rather than based their race,he said.

Varghese,who also served as Australia’s spy chief,said the student issue is a more complicated set of issue rather than just being racist attacks,some of which were linked with each other.

Varghese described the recent attacks on Indian students as initially a law and order issue. “In many of the cases,the Indian students were victims of crime rather than being particularly targeted.”

“There could have been specific cases where motivation could have been racist and I don’t think we exclude that and it is also the case that in some of these cases you were dealing with the groups who were living in part of country where crime was higher or (victims) were commuting at odd hours,” he said.

The impression that the Indian students “as a group are being systematically targeted is very wrong and misleading,” Varghese said,adding he will try his best to resolve the student issue.

Varghese said he was seeing his new role as Australian High Commissioner to India in much more positive aspect and not just as the damage control exercise after the student crisis. There are also other aspects that would need attention for enhancing ties between the two sides,he added.

Calling the Victorian police’s advice to Indian students that they should not talk in Hindi in public as “not practical and desirable,” Varghese,nevertheless,said the students should be equally aware that they are not putting themselves into a risky situation.

He also suggested that Indian students take necessary precautions while travelling during wee hours or going to areas with high crime rate. It will be sensible thing to do for anyone,he added.

On the educational institutions of the country that have come under scrutiny for their performances,Varghese said for “most part I think Indian students have a productive and positive time spent from what we have found from our surveys.”

However,he said there was a feeling of disappointment over the recent educational scams revealing that the Australian education institutions were not up to the mark.

“There is a small slice of educational institutes which we are talking about. Vast majority of Indian students who are doing courses are happy,” he said,adding that performances of a handful of institutions should not overshadow the entire education industry of Australia.

Born to a Malayali couple,Varghese said he saw his new job as envoy to India in professional term first rather than in ethnic or cultural term.

“But clearly for me …there is a sentimental aspect … My parents were originally from India and …I would like to think that my personal background will give assistance to me in understanding in what’s happing in India.”

Though his knowledge of any Indian language is rudimentary,he is a fan of Bollywood and is also hoping to meet some players of the Indian film industry.

“I don’t have time to watch Bollywood films but I do like them and I am hoping to meet some Bollywood players,” Varghese said.