Zeenews Bureau
New Delhi: Even as India rejected the ‘hysterical’ comment of Australian acting Foreign Minister Simon Crean on racial attacks against Indians, Australian High Commissioner Peter Varghese met with External
Affairs Minister S M Krishna to hold discussion on the issue on Thursday.
Though Varghese described the meeting as ‘private’, he is learnt to have expressed his displeasure at the way Indian media have ‘whipped up a frenzy’ over recent attacks on Indian students in his country, calling them ‘racial’.
He blamed the media for the drop in visa applications of Indians by almost half. The Immigration Department figures, for the period from July to October 31 last year, show a 46 percent drop in student visa applications from India compared with the same period in 2008.
The figures also show overall offshore student visa applications dropping by 26 percent, indicating larger fall-out.
The death of 21-year-old Nitin Garg, who was stabbed fatally in the abdomen as he walked to work at a hamburger restaurant on Saturday night, follows a string of crimes against Indian nationals in Australia. A half burnt body of an Indian worker was also found on Sunday.
It has led to wide spread uproar in India.
Dismissing Australian suggestions that Indian reaction on the issue of attacks was "hysterical", External Affairs Minister SM Krishna on earlier said India expects that its citizens, whether they are students or otherwise, should be safe in that country.
"None of us needs to be hysterical but all that we expect is that Indian`s, whether they are students or otherwise, should be safe in the countries to which they go for pursuing their higher studies," he said reacting to reports of Australian government asking Indian leadership not to fuel "hysteria" over the issue.
However, Verghese has denied the reports quoting his government`s acting Crean as having described the Indian reaction as "hysterical." "He did no such thing," the envoy said.
Krishna also advised parents to be "discreet" and better informed about the courses and the institutions while sending their children for studies in Australia.
"The kind of courses to which our students have been going are certainly not very encouraging...So I would suggest the Indian parents to be discreet. They better get informed themselves about what courses to send for and what courses not to," he said.
PTI inputs
