K’taka Govt rattled by racism charge

Trying hard to defend Bengaluru’s reputation as a “cosmopolitan” city, Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara today told reporters here that the assault on the Tanzanian woman by a mob on Sunday night was not racial in nature.
“It was definitely not racist. Bengalureans are not racists,” said Parameshwara, who is also chief of the state unit of the Congress. He claimed the assault on the girl and her friends and the burning of their car by the mob in the IT hub of India took place in the aftermath of an accident.
However, Bosco Kaweesi, who calls himself a friend of the African students here, said the car in which the 21-year-old Tanzanian girl and her African friends were travelling had nothing to do with the fatal accident. The car involved in the accident was driven by a Sudanese student.
The Sudanese boy and his African friends who were in the first car that ran over a woman also got a heavy beating from the mob and were hospitalised. The mob then started hunting for Africans and got hold of the other car, dragged out and beat up those inside the car, including the girl student and set fire to the car.
“It is not uncommon that a mob forms after a vehicle runs over someone and beats up the driver of the car. But why the mob targeted another car driven by an African. But for racism, how else the attack can be described,” Kaweesi said.
The Karnataka Home minister said there were about 12000 foreign students in Bengaluru. The state government was committed to ensure their safety and security, he said. Karnataka DGP Om Prakash also had a meeting with African students here today and he assured them of protection.