: A day after the Tanzanian envoy to India sent a note verbale and called the attack on a student in Bengaluru “racist”, the Ministry of External Affairs said it would send a team to the city to conduct its own inquiry and reassure other frightened African students.
A team comprising the Tanzanian High Commissioner, two Joint secretaries concerned, and a representative of the Indian Council of Cultural Relations, who provide scholarships for the students, will travel to Bengaluru on Friday, MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup said. “We will extend the cooperation of both the Central and State governments and will reach out to the students to reassure them that their security and wellbeing is our primary concern.”
While Tanzanian High Commissioner John W.H. Kigazi said he was hopeful the government would keep its commitment on securing the safety of the students, and that it was necessary to bring all the culprits to justice. “These students had nothing to do with the crowd’s anger over a car accident by another person. Even so they were targetted because there was anger against each and every black person,” Mr. Kigazi told the media. “That means it was a racist attack,” he added, dismissing accounts by police officials in Karnataka that the attack was an “isolated case” of “mistaken identity”.
