The midnight raid by Delhi Law Minister Somnath Bharti and his supporters on a group of Africans in South Delhi’s Khirki village, as well as the unfortunate events that followed, are the latest in a chain of recent developments that have put the spotlight back on the inherent racism among Indians and our relations with the peoples of the African continent.
Bharti and his men, who allegedly beat up the Ugandan women living in Khirki, made one urinate in public and threatened them with expulsion and murder, showed us a mirror of our ugly selves. We, who at the drop of the hat go and cry ‘racism’ whenever an Indian is attacked in a Caucasian country, do not even think twice before indulging in the worst kind of discrimination against black people. And why would we, when we mete out similar treatment to our compatriots from the Northeast or the south?
But the more worrisome part is that Khirki is not the first instance. In fact, it is only the latest.
On October 31 last year, a Nigerian national, Obodo Uzoma Simeon was found dead with stab wounds at Mapusa in Goa, triggering protests from expatriate Nigerians in Goa, who blocked a road for hours. In turn, Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar ordered police to locate foreign nationals (read Africans) in Goa, who were staying on in the state without proper documentation. This caused a massive diplomatic row to erupt, with a Nigerian diplomat in Delhi threatening the expulsion of Indians from his country if the Goa CM continued with his drive against Nigerians.
Before this, on April 22, 2012, 23-year-old Burundian Yannick Nihangaza, a student at Lovely Professional University in Jalandhar, Punjab, was almost beaten to death while he was going to a party on April 22, 2012.
These three instances illustrate just how strained Indo-African relations are currently. Relations that have existed since time immemorial, now seem to have almost reached breaking point.
They could not have come at a more crucial moment. In the past decade, with India’s economy growing at breakneck speed, Africa has emerged as a key market for Indian businesses as well as a key energy supplier to energy-starved India. What is more, Africa has also become a new battleground for us and our rival-cum-competitor, China.
The international and Indian press have been agog with stories of how the Chinese, ever since their country began to grow, have significantly increased their interaction with Africa. From healthcare to industries to military aid to cultural ties, the Chinese are going the whole hog.
In contrast, India too has increased ties with African nations, extending trade relations as well as humanitarian aid.
The western media has criticized China’s African policy and termed it as a ‘neo-colonial’ power on the continent, doing business with Africa only to selfishly serve its own needs. In contrast, India has received praise from the west for helping African nations, for instance by providing them with cheap, affordable medicine. The press has dubbed it as ‘the New Scramble for Africa’, one in which the sheer force of China’s economic engine is up against India’s more empathetic measures.
India’s current African policy is highly influenced by history. The Indian presence in Africa dates back to the Graeco-Roman period, when India traded with ancient, Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt as well as the ancient Kingdom of Aksum in modern-day Ethiopia.
In the Middle Ages, Gujarati traders traded extensively with the cities on the Swahili Coast of East Africa like Malindi, Mombasa, Kilwa and Sofala.
In the colonial era, Indians went to Africa in droves as indentured labourers and businessmen.
Most famously, Africa was the training ground for the father of our nation. His successes in South Africa and later in India inspired a generation of African leaders including Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Obafemi Awolowo of Nigeria, Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, and Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia in their own national liberation campaigns. India thus played a key role in quickening the pace of decolonization in Africa.
Indians and Africans were united in their opposition to apartheid in South Africa, and were at the forefront as part of the Non-Aligned Movement, the United Nations and the Commonwealth. Indo-African relations were held up as the stellar example of South-South cooperation.
This is the goodwill that we have garnered in Africa after centuries. And now, the recent incidents threaten to unravel it all – with disastrous consequences for India.
Africa has one fifth of the world’s land area, with 54 independent nations and a population of 1.032 billion. It has half the membership of NAM, one-third of the UN and occupies a prominent role in South-South cooperation.
Almost one quarter of India’s crude oil imports are sourced from Africa.
India’s bilateral (non-oil) trade with Africa has grown exponentially, during the 10-year period of 1998–2008, while imports and exports have risen. From $70 billion currently, trade is projected to reach $100 billion by 2015.
A slip-up by India at the moment could play into the hands of China, which is continuously and tirelessly expanding its footprint in Africa, our traditional sphere of influence.
With such high stakes involved, India cannot be complacent in the matter. We just cannot afford a repeat of the incidents that have taken place. If we do, the Chinese will steal a march on us. And all our pretensions of being a world power-in-the-making would have gone to the dogs.
