Murders of four Indians in the US in one week and no one is talking about it
For Indians, different murders evoke different amount of "kadi ninda" (condemnation, or none at all) at different periods of time. Or so it seems.
Four Indian-origin persons have been killed in the US (in separate incidents) in the past one week alone, and yet no one seems bothered, forget expressing condolences.
Only months after Srinivas Kuchibhotla, an Indian engineer, was shot dead in a Kansas City bar, with many calling it the first incident of racial killing after Donald Trump's controversial ascension to US presidency, this latest spate of violence agaist Indians should have come as a shocker.
On the contrary, the recent attacks, unlike in the case of Kuchibhotla, haven't elicited much response from anyone — politicians, including the prime minister, media and even the public at large.
Hate crimes against Indians
On May 8, a 32-year-old Sikh man, Jagjeet Singh, was stabbed by an unidentified man allegedly over cigarettes outside a grocery store in California. An eyewitness, another clerk at the store, said Jagjeet had refused to sell cigarettes to a person after he didn't show an ID. The man then left the store, mouthing racist abuses and warning Jagjeet of dire consequences.
The customer then returned and stabbed Jageet, who, after battling for his life for nine hours, died, in the hospital, PTI reported.
This was the third incident in the past week involving killing of Indian-origin people in the US.
On May 10, an Indian-origin couple was shot dead in an apparent revenge attack by their daughter's ex-boyfriend, who was later shot dead by the police.
Mirza Tatlic, 24, fatally shot Naren Prabhu, a Silicon Valley tech executive, and his wife at their home in San Jose, CBS San Francisco reported.
This followed another incident wherein an Indian-origin doctor, Ramesh Kumar, was mysteriously found dead in a car in Michigan. Police are yet to ascertain the cause of the death and the family members have ruled out the possibility of it being a "hate crime".
Although it's still not clear if the last two murders were racially motivated, the events leading to Jagjeet Singh's killing clearly indicate hate crime motive. Indeed, many Indians living in the US, have reported an increase in violent crimes, intimidation, threats, vandalising of property, including places of worship, etc after Trump came to power.
While Trump's divisive campaign rhetoric provided enough fuel leading to such hate crimes, what is shocking is the Indian government's, and indeed the media's, muted response.
From the ruling establishment, only Union external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj tweeted about the incident, that too after being prompted by Punjab CM Amarinder Singh:
@SushmaSwaraj Another Sikh youth killed in suspected hate crime in US, seek your help to protect Sikhs living abroad https://t.co/Rj331sCxPz
— Capt.Amarinder Singh (@capt_amarinder) May 7, 2017
I have spoken to our Ambassador Mr.Navtej S.Sarna @IndianEmbassyUS. We are committed to help and protect all Indian citizens abroad. https://t.co/i4AxU1dJi9
— Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) May 7, 2017
Forget a stern response, these crimes against Indians living abroad have even escaped the timeline of our Twitter-loving Prime Minister Narendra Modi. But it's not surprisng considering the fact that even Kuchibhotla's death in the much-apparent hate crime in Kansas had failed to draw any response from the PM.
While one can only guess the Indian government's silence on the issue, experts believe it is driven by concerns such as Trump's crackdown on H1-B via curbs, the backbone of Indian IT industry; the US endorsing India for a permanent seat in the UN and so on.
It, however, begs the question: what is the point of jobs, business investments, US-India ties when one has to pay with their lives?
What is also disturbing is the silence of the Indian mainstream media, which had covered the US presidential elections rather diligently. Even social media, the go-to place for Indians to outrage, hasn't seen much noise over the loss of Indian lives in the US.
A case of selective outrage?
Cherry picking and outraging over some issues and keeping mum over others has been the norm for quite some time now. Many experts have termed it as the empathy gap. David A Graham wrote in The Atlantic that people tend to empathise with places they are familiar with, or with strangers "who are just like us", or places they aspire to go.
This "empathy gap", however, doesn't quite explain our absolute silence over these racial crimes. The Indian media has been routinely criticised as being "Delhi-centric", or only focusing on "upwardly-mobile issues", or issues that appeal to the mainstream — the urban middle class. What makes the silence even more deafening is the fact that a headline screaming "hate crimes against Indian expats" would, in all likelihood, have brought enough TRPs to the media.
But it's the silence of the people that is more perturbing, especially with everyone running after the "great Amercian dream" (of settling there). Have we, as a nation, also become numb to the violence?
Misplaced sense of priority
Is it a a misplaced sense of priority, a phenomenon noticed among Indians lately, that explains this?
There are enough incidents which have taken place in the recent past that say so. We were the most outraged lot over unverified comments from Snapchat CEO who allegedly called us poor. In no time, people on social media and elsewhere started "mobilising" and uninstalling the app as a proof of their patriotism. And this was just one of the many examples.
Condemning, protesting, and demanding the government — and the media — to acknowledge, act, and respond to the killings of Indians abroad would also be an act of patriotism and empathy for the kin of the victims. Or, are we scared that it would make us anti-nationals, especially since that would mean "not toeing the government" line?