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- The sudden outpour of anger and Islamophobic tweets was because of the narrative that Muslims are spreading Covid-19 in India, with many linking the entire Muslim community to Tablighi Jamaat , after a surge in infections following a gathering held by the group.
Indians in Gulf region
- India’s Diaspora in the Gulf, numbering around 8 million, has of course always been important to India’s economy and its policy
- The Gulf is India’s main source of expat remittances.
- Around 50% of them are unskilled and another 30% are semi-skilled. Only a small minority of 20% of them are skilled and lucratively employed, but all these migrant workers together form the backbone of India’s ties with the region.
- Their contribution of nearly 40% of the total foreign exchange remittances to India is critical to its economy.
- Their labour is vital for the GCC economy.
Indians in UAE
- In 2013, the UAE’s population was 9.2 million, of which 1.4 million are Emirati citizens and 8 million were expatriates.
- 5 million migrants in UAE are of Indian origin.
- LARGEST SOURCE of remittances for India (~14 billion USD)
- Many prominent Arab businessmen, journalists, activists, lawyers, professors and some mebers of royal families took to social media to condem the islamophobic messages and targeting of muslims in India
- Princess Hend Al Qassimi’s , a member of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) royal family warned that Indians working in the UAE would be “fined and made to leave” if they made racist and discriminatory comments.
Reaction from OIC
- Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC) of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the federation of 57 Muslim nations, had condemned “the unrelenting vicious Islamophobic campaign in India maligning Muslims for spread of Covid-19 as well as their negative profiling in media subjecting them to discrimination and violence with impunity.”
Strict Law
- The UAE outlaws all religious or racial discrimination under a legislation passed in 2015.
- The anti-discrimination/anti-hatred law prohibits all acts that stoke religious hatred and/or which insult religion through any form of expression, be it speech or the written word, books, pamphlets or via online media.
India – Gulf relations
- Over the last six years, Prime Minister Modi has built a strong structure of ties with these nations, on old foundations, with a focus on taking these relations to new heights.
- These relations flow from the millennia-old engagements that India has had with West Asia.
- Every joint statement concluded during Modi’s interactions with Gulf leaders recalls the age-old civilisational links between India and the Gulf, as also their shared views and concerns relating to the regional security scenario.
- The ties fostered during Modi’s prime ministership have gone beyond rhetoric to concrete deals.
- Both the UAE and Saudi Arabia have offered to make major investments in India, amounting to $70 billion and $100 billion, respectively, to develop India’s infrastructure and the energy and industrial sectors.
- The countries have also manifested their personal regard for the Indian prime minister by bestowing high awards upon him:
- In 2016, the Saudi ruler conferred on him its highest award, “The King Abdulaziz Sash”.
- UAE conferred on him the “Order of Zayed”, its highest civilian award in 2019
- PM Modi also received the “The King Hamad Order of the Renaissance”, Bahrain’s highest civilian award.
People to people diplomacy
- Track 2 diplomacy or “backchannel diplomacy” is the practice of “non-governmental, informal and unofficial contacts and activities between private citizens or groups of individuals, sometimes called ‘non-state actors’
- Track 3 Diplomacy – People-to-people diplomacy undertaken by individuals and private groups
Damage Control
- The social media backlash in the Arab world had generated concern in South Block, and featured in a series of phone calls between External Affairs minister S. Jaishankar and his counterparts in GCC nations.
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