Talk about trade, partnership and shared prosperity typically lie at the heart of summits. The Third India-Africa Forum Summit, which brought leaders from 54 African countries to New Delhi last week, was no exception. Clearly, India wants to be a big part of the rising Africa story. Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced $10 billion in new concessional credit to Africa, 50,000 scholarships for African students over the next five years, assistance in skill building, digitally connecting Africa, infrastructure, power, irrigation and more.
All this is good news.
But as India looks to Africa for new opportunities, it cannot afford to forget that its influence will depend to a great extent on how effectively it leverages its soft power advantage. Indian doctors and teachers have helped develop human capital in countries across Africa. India’s low-cost generic medicines have saved millions of African lives. A growing number of African students and medical tourists are coming to India. Potentially, the India-Africa relationship is a win-win. But we can blow it if we don’t face up to the ugly side of Indian-African interactions — racism. Every Indian is not a racist, a bigot or intolerant. But many are. It is necessary to fight racism far more aggressively.
Racism is legally unacceptable, morally reprehensible and socially regressive. Unless there is zero tolerance wherever or whenever it pops up, we risk denting the very image of India that can work to the country’s advantage. There have been far too many instances of African students being at the receiving end of racist barbs and even assaults. This is not new. It existed when I was a student way back in the Eighties. African students in my journalism class in New Delhi often complained of discrimination and racist slurs on the street. Sadly, the problem persists.
Last year there were two horrific manifestations of racism. In September, there was a mob attack on three young men of African origin in New Delhi’s busiest metro station simply because some people alleged that they had misbehaved with a woman in a train. Significantly, the woman had made no such complaint. A video clip of the savagery which went viral on social media showed the mob shouting “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” and “Vande Mataram”, even while the students were being beaten. Policemen did little and the attack ended only after Central Industrial Security Force personnel stepped in.
Then there was the much-talked-about midnight “raid” by Somnath Bharti, then the law minister of Delhi, targeting Nigerian women in Khirki village, part of his constituency in south Delhi. Hearteningly, both incidents were widely condemned. But bigotry and intolerance have not disappeared. And racism remains a matter of concern as is evident by the observations of Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari.
Mr Buhari — who was in New Delhi for the summit — told NDTV that the attacks on Nigerian nationals in India, as well as racist comments against them were “unfortunate” and exposed the mindset of those perpetrating it. In the language of diplomats, that is about as strong as one can get. Racism was not discussed at the India-Africa summit. But clearly, it was on the minds of the visitors. Perceptions matter. For the India-Africa story to be successful, African nations have to feel that the engagement is mutually beneficial and that the two sides have respect for each other.
In a way, what Africa expects from India is cannily similar to what India has traditionally asked of the Western world. Like India, Africa also does not want to be viewed through the prism of stereotypes and be subjected to discrimination.
So how does one tackle racism? A starting point is better understanding of each other and familiarity with each other’s history. What does the average Indian really know about Africa? And how does the common man in Africa view India? Africa is not just about the emaciated, the diseased and dying, where money from donors rescues the suffering masses. Africa has given the world artists, writers and thinkers. It now has a burgeoning middle class. Africa is not homogenous. Far too often people forget that it is the second-largest continent in the world, with a variety of cultures, languages and traditions.
Racism is often an off-shoot of ignorance, prejudice and the inability to accept that everyone does not look the same, behave in the same way or view the world similarly. In the long term, the only way to tackle it is through education. Signals from those in power help. Last week’s summit offered an opportunity to openly acknowledge that the problem exists and India could have seized the moral high-ground by publicly pledging that it is prepared to strike at racism and intolerance. But that did not happen. Instead, there was the usual resolution to facilitate “greater mutual understanding of cultures, traditions and heritage and bringing our people closer through exchanges at various levels”.
The exchanges are on. Since the Second Africa-India meet in 2011, over 24,000 students have received scholarships across 300 training courses in a wide variety of disciplines. More are on their way. It is vital that African students who come to India are treated with the respect they deserve. Apart from the legal and ethical imperative to do so, we must remember that these are the people who can become the unofficial ambassadors of India when they return. What they tell their friends, relatives and colleagues about their India experience will go a long way towards deciding the image of India in their countries. Intolerance is not only abhorrent, it is also unaffordable.
Intolerance can show itself at many levels. During the summit, there was a glaring contrast between the way multiple African leaders praised India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and the way official India, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, blanked him out. Whatever Nehru’s faults, you don’t have to be a Nehruvian to recognise his role in forging Afro-Asian unity.
African leaders still remember India’s consistent support to anti-colonial and anti-racist liberation struggles in so many African countries. That was under Nehru’s leadership. Many of the leaders gathered in New Delhi were clearly puzzled by the Indian government’s silence on Nehru. Some of them decided to go ahead and praise him anyway, only to be met by a stony silence from the hosts. It was not the best demonstration of a pluralistic democracy. There is an urgent need to move from partisanship to statesmanship.
The writer focuses on development issues in India and emerging economies.
She can be reached at patralekha.chatterjee@gmail.com
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