Little did he know that Indian politicians across its two main national parties would make statements, which would make him believe that God alone will henceforth grant Indian visas to Africans, because motor mouth politicians will surely do all they can to stop them. The latest to join this anti–African chorus is former Goa Chief Minister and Home Minister Ravi Naik, who has not only called Nigerian’s ‘negros’ but has asked the centre not to give them any visas.
This was a week after Goa Chief Minister said that “Nigerians have a different mentality”.
While the diplomatic fire dousing is on in full swing in New Delhi with the Ministry of External Affairs telling African diplomats that India is land of Gandhi and Buddha, Goa is getting increasingly intolerant of either playing Gandhi or Buddha to Nigerians here. However, the knee jerk reactions of other parties politicians to Ravi Naik’s statement should also be dismissed, specially the ruling BJP which has been a party to this conspiracy of silence on tackling the menace of rampant drug peddling in Goa by Africans, mainly Nigerians.
There are really two issues that need to be settled here. 1) Do Ravi Naik’s statements have depth and should they be taken seriously and b) Has Ravi Naik come with clean hands when he is attacking the menace of drugs in Goa. In short does he take the high moral ground and call for the banning of the entry of nationals of particular country?
The response to question one needs to be weighed very sensitively. We are not making out a case of xenophobia against any one of any nationality. Race related attacks or discrimination cannot be acceptable and condoned. But those defending Africans in Delhi (and rightly so) need to understand the Goa situation. Goa is the underbelly of African life in India. It is a kind of behaviour that most from that continent who live and work in Delhi, would detest.
Many students – about 5000 – come to India to study engineering, science and medicine at universities. Many are on Indian government scholarships, offered through diplomatic initiatives. These students do not find their way to Goa to live. Others who do, take advantage of the academic cover and move in here. Th crop that has consistently arrived in Goa are not students who lead a peaceful life. If you were on the National Highway 17 on October 31 2013 or Pastor Ekitah Bertin was, when they ran riot damaging property, no one in their right senses would conclude that peace loving Nigerians lived in Goa. Nothing that has happened after that day, has restored any confidence. Therefore, as controversial as it sounds, Ravi Naik’s outburst is justified, strictly in the Goa context and not in the national one.
Now let’s come to the perhaps equally significant issue of whether Ravi Naik can make these statements with clean hands. And the answer to that is an emphatic no. Irrespective of whether the Goa House Committee report on the nexus between the police, politicians and the drug lobby, was tabled or not, its findings sent to the media by the committee chairman Mickky Pacheco, made damning conclusions about Ravi Naik and his son Roy Naik’s involvement in the drug trade. Daddy Naik has even said that there are so many Roy Naik’s in Goa. And he has asked why should his son be singled out?
Therefore Ravi Naik’s sudden decision to hold a press conference and speak out against Nigerians has little to do with his concern to drive them out and everything to do with trying to get an issue to use as a lever to get back into active politics with the hope of getting a Congress ticket from Ponda, in the grandfather quota. So no, he has not come with clean hands on this.
Actually no one has clean hands on this issue. The Congress (in whose Government Ravi Naik was Home Minister, and the presence of Nigerians multiplied) and the BJP which could not even get a detention centre in place to deport those living illegally, are partners in the crime of abetting the presence of these unwelcome guests.
