Is it so difficult to figure out whether there is a racial dimension to what appears to be a sudden surge in the attacks on Indians in Australia over the last year or so?
Here's a thought (no rocket science involved): The governments of the two countries constitute a panel of sociologists and behavioural scientists (criminal psychologists / cultural anthropologists / ethnographers / urbanologists / whatever other types of relevant experts there might be) from both countries, and direct them to carry out a detailed study of all the reported cases of verbal abuse and/or physical assault and battery on people of Indian origin in Australia over the last few years. This should put an end to the speculation, claims, accusations, allegations and all kinds of name-calling that's been flying around in both directions.
If it turns out that racial / ethnic prejudice is the root cause of these attacks, then the Australian governance establishment should acknowledge it and try to fix the root cause instead of staunchly denying racial motivation. Conversely if it turns out that these are just regular instances of urban crime, averagely distributed over a normal cross-section of the population and not skewed in the direction of any specific race or ethnicity, then the Indian media should stop trying to whip-up public outrage by playing the race card every time they broadcast breaking news of a fresh attack.
I wonder if Shashi Tharoor - arguably the most open-minded, level-headed, rational, sensible and sincere politician in the ruling party - might consider taking this up as a project, instead of getting himself into and out of inane controversies. Especially given the fact that his portfolio of responsibilities requires him to be directly concerned with matters that constitute 'external affairs', rather than with exploring how social media could be leveraged to air his own opinions on policy matters among the twitterati.
