Indian govt will not be silent on racial attacks: Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj

NEW DELHI: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj today reiterated that the safety and security of Indians abroad is the top priority of the Indian government.

"It is not possible for this govt to remain silent while an Indian is in problem elsewhere," she said in the Lok Sabha today.

While informing the House about the series of racial attacks on Indians in the United States, Swaraj said that the Indian government is in constant touch with the US administration at the highest level on the attacks.


"The government has raised the issue with the American authorities and have demanded a speedy investigation. American authorities have assured strong actions in these incidents," Swaraj said.

Swaraj also listed how top US leaders including President Donald Trump had denounced the racial attacks. She also rebuffed opposition charges about delayed reaction by the Indian government to the racial attacks in the US on Indians.

The minister quoted a letter from of wife of Srinivas Kuchibhotla in which she thanked the Indian embassy's prompt action.

The External Affairs Minister also said that there is no need to issue a travel advisory for Indians travelling to US as the racial attacks seem to be of sporadic in nature while the general sentiment was not against the Indians.

On February 22, Indian nationals Srinivas Kuchibhotla and Alok Madasani were shot at a bar in Olathe, Kansas, by a man shouting "get out of my country". Kuchibhotla, 32, later died at a hospital.

On March 3, a Sikh American was shot and injured in Kent, Washington by a gunman who reportedly told him to "go back to your own country."