UK PM Boris Jhonson to visit India while the Rashmi Samant topic is still in the talks, the visit of UK PM is also seen as a diplomatic visit where the topic of Rashmi Samant can come on the table to discuss the matter as well the further actions that could be taken.
Prior to some days External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said in the Rajya Sabha on Monday that India would take up the issue of alleged racist incidents in the United Kingdom with the United Kingdom if possible. He also referred to India as the “country of Mahatma Gandhi” and said that it would never be able to turn its back on racism.
In response to a BJP MP’s concerns about bigotry and cyberbullying, which prompted Indian-origin Rashmi Samant to resign as president of the Oxford University Students Union, the minister claimed that New Delhi has close relations with the UK and will take up certain issues with great candor when possible.
“I note the sentiments of the House,” he said. “I do want to say that as a land of Mahatma Gandhi, we can never ever turn our eyes away from racism wherever it is. Particularly so when it is in a country where we have such a large diaspora,”
Samant, the very first Indian woman to be elected president of the Oxford University Students Union, was forced to step down only five days after taking office due to anti-Semitic and sexist comments she made on social media.
Ashwini Vaishnav of the BJP said she was cyberbullied and that a faculty member openly attacked her parents’ Hindu religious values.
“As a friend of the UK, we are also concerned about the consequences on its reputation,” Jaishankar said. “What I do want to suggest is that we have close relations with the United Kingdom (and) that when possible, we will discuss those concerns with great candor.” “We will keep a close eye on these trends. We will lift it if necessary, and we will continue to combat bigotry and other forms of discrimination”
Samant now believes she has been deliberately maligned and that Internet trolls, including a faculty member, have falsely drawn her relatives into the situation.
