Melbourne, Jan 6(ANI): Secretary of the Federation of Indian Students of Australia (FISA), Gautam Gupta, has said that life is terrorizing for Indian students living in the country, as no state-level politician or the Indian Government have provided any assistance despite repeated attacks on the community.
Gupta emphasized on the challenges faced by the 'grief-stricken housemates' of murdered Indian student Nitin Garg, who was stabbed to death at West Foorscray, a suburb of Melbourne by some goons on the night of January 2.
"I asked his grief-stricken housemates whether anybody had offered them assistance of any sort. Had a state-level politician spoken to them, or perhaps someone from Canberra? The answer was no. Had anyone from the Indian Government been in touch with them? Again, no," The Herald Sun quoted Gupta, as saying.
"This was less than 24 hours after Garg's death, but no one in authority had been in contact with them to find out how they were coping. These young guys, in their 20s, had no support system. I asked if they needed any financial assistance, but they said they were fine. So, I gave them the contact details for a psychologist and I recommended that they seek trauma counseling," he added.
Gupta further said that despite the promises made by the Australian Government, the situation has not improved in the country where reports of Indians being attacked are getting regular.
"Now, with a death that has sent shock waves through the whole Indian community, I feel as if things are getting cumulatively harder instead of easier. The strange thing is that the State Government refuses to acknowledge the issue of racism that needs to be legitimately debated after the continuing attacks on Indian students in Melbourne," Gupta said.
"If you asked me my opinion, I would definitely say there is an element of racism in Australia - and this is backed by academic research from the Australian National University," he added.
He also said that despite the great work done by many sections of society to make the Indian students feel welcome, it just takes one person or one incident to take it back to the very beginning and make the community feel that no progress has been made at all. (ANI)
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