Kiwi-Indian students’ facebook page protesting Dixit slur bombarded with racist hate messages

WELLINGTON - The Facebook pages of two Kiwi-Indian students, which they set up to condemn the TV presenter for his ‘racist’ comments against Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, have been bombarded with hate messages by many New Zealanders asking the duo to ‘go back to their country’.

According to stuff.co.nz, two law students at Victoria University, Narita Chandra and Niki Singh, have been criticising the Henry’s comments saying it has ’stripped them of their national identity’ and also condemned Henry’s comments on a website they set up, to promote a rally that would be held on Monday. The rally will start outside Wellington railway station on Monday afternoon and head to the Parliament.

However, they were gutted to see the hate messages posted on their facebook pages from New Zealanders, which they considered their own.

“There have been times when me and my colleague have sat down and burst into tears. People have said: ‘You should just go back to your country, Paul Henry is good’. It’s just been like, ‘wow, I didn’t think this was New Zealanders and this was their view’.” Chandra added.

“We are both first-generation Fijian Indians that were born in New Zealand and we both considered ourselves New Zealanders but, [after] his comments ‘will the next governor-general look and sound like a New Zealander?’, we feel that’s basically stripped us of our national identity. We are pretty offended and outraged by his comments and the response by John Key and Television New Zealand,” she added.

Meanwhile, New Zealand Prime Minister John Key has said today that the ‘racist’ comments by one of the country’s TV presenters about New Delhi Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, has embarrassed his country.

On Friday, New Zealand’s high commissioner in India Rupert Holborow and its Foreign Minister Murray McCully had both apologised for the comments calling it “culturally insensitive, inappropriate and vulgar,” Holborow said although he was powerless to act against Henry who had made “gratuitous and insulting” race remarks about Dikshit, he accepted that it was a ” regrettable abuse of freedom of speech”.

TVNZ has suspended Henry for two weeks without pay. (ANI)