Anti-Indian sentiment, also known as Indophobia or anti-Indianism, is a modern term referring to negative feelings and hatred towards the
Republic of India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
,
Indian people
Indians or Indian people are the Indian nationality law, citizens and nationals of India. In 2022, the population of India stood at over 1.4 billion people, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most p ...
, and
Indian culture
Indian culture is the heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, belief systems, political systems, artifacts and technologies that originated in or are associated with the ethno-linguistically diverse India. The term al ...
. Indophobia is formally defined in the context of anti-Indian
prejudice
Prejudice can be an affective feeling towards a person based on their perceived group membership. The word is often used to refer to a preconceived (usually unfavourable) evaluation or classification of another person based on that person's per ...
as "a tendency to react negatively towards people of Indian extraction, against aspects of Indian culture and normative habits".
Historic anti-Indian sentiment
Anti-Asian feelings and
xenophobia
Xenophobia () is the fear or dislike of anything which is perceived as being foreign or strange. It is an expression of perceived conflict between an in-group and out-group and may manifest in suspicion by the one of the other's activities, a ...
had already emerged in
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
in response to
Chinese immigration and the cheap
Asian
Asian may refer to:
* Items from or related to the continent of Asia:
** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia
** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia
** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
labor which it supplied, mostly for railroad construction in
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
and elsewhere on the
West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to:
Geography Australia
* Western Australia
*Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia
* West Coast, Tasmania
**West Coast Range, mountain range in the region
Canada
* Britis ...
. In the common
jargon
Jargon is the specialized terminology associated with a particular field or area of activity. Jargon is normally employed in a particular Context (language use), communicative context and may not be well understood outside that context. The conte ...
of the day, ordinary workers, newspapers and politicians opposed immigration from Asia. The common desire to remove
Asians
Asian people (or Asians, sometimes referred to as Asiatic people)United States National Library of Medicine. Medical Subject Headings. 2004. November 17, 200Nlm.nih.gov: ''Asian Continental Ancestry Group'' is also used for categorical purpos ...
from the workforce inspired the rise of the
Asiatic Exclusion League
The Asiatic Exclusion League (often abbreviated AEL) was an organization formed in the early 20th century in the United States and Canada that aimed to prevent immigration of people of Asian origin.
United States
In May 1905, a mass meeting was h ...
.
During the era of the
British Raj
The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent;
*
* it is also called Crown rule in India,
*
*
*
*
or Direct rule in India,
* Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...
, when the
Indian community of mostly
Punjab
Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...
i
Sikh
Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...
s settled in California, the
xenophobia
Xenophobia () is the fear or dislike of anything which is perceived as being foreign or strange. It is an expression of perceived conflict between an in-group and out-group and may manifest in suspicion by the one of the other's activities, a ...
expanded to encompass immigrants from the Indian subcontinent.
Colonial period
Indologists
The relationship between Indomania and Indophobia in the
colonial era British
Indology
Indology, also known as South Asian studies, is the academic study of the History of India, history and Culture of India, cultures, Languages of South Asia, languages, and Indian literature, literature of the Indian subcontinent, and as such is a ...
was discussed by American Indologist
Thomas Trautmann
Thomas Roger Trautmann is an American historian, cultural anthropologist, and Professor Emeritus of History and Anthropology at the University of Michigan. He is considered a leading expert on the ''Arthashastra'', the ancient Hindu text on sta ...
(1997) who found that Indomania had become a norm in early 19th century Britain as the result of a conscious agenda of
Evangelicalism
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual exper ...
and
utilitarianism
In ethical philosophy, utilitarianism is a family of normative ethical theories that prescribe actions that maximize happiness and well-being for all affected individuals.
Although different varieties of utilitarianism admit different charact ...
, especially by
Charles Grant Charles or Charlie Grant may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Charles Jameson Grant (), American editorial cartoonist
* Charles L. Grant (1942–2006), American novelist
* Charles Grant (actor) (born 1957), American actor
* Charles Grant (dancer ...
and
James Mill
James Mill (born James Milne; 6 April 1773 – 23 June 1836) was a Scottish historian, economist, political theorist, and philosopher. He is counted among the founders of the Ricardian school of economics. He also wrote ''The History of British ...
. Historians noted that during the British Empire, "evangelical influence drove British policy down a path that tended to minimize and denigrate the accomplishments of Indian civilization and to position itself as the negation of the earlier British
Indomania
Indomania or Indophilia refer to the special interest that India, Indians and their cultures and traditions have generated across the world, more specifically among the cultures and civilisations of the Indian subcontinent, as well those of t ...
that was nourished by belief in Indian wisdom."
In Grant's highly influential "Observations on the ... Asiatic subjects of Great Britain" (1796), he criticized the Orientalists for being too respectful to Indian culture and religion. His work tried to determine the Hindus' "true place in the moral scale" and he alleged that the Hindus are "a people exceedingly depraved". Grant believed that Great Britain's duty was to civilise and Christianize the natives.
Lord Macaulay
Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay, (; 25 October 1800 – 28 December 1859) was a British historian and Whig politician, who served as the Secretary at War between 1839 and 1841, and as the Paymaster-General between 1846 and 1 ...
, serving on the Supreme
Council of India
The Council of India was the name given at different times to two separate bodies associated with British rule in India.
The original Council of India was established by the Charter Act of 1833 as a council of four formal advisors to the Governor ...
between 1834 and 1838, was instrumental in creating the foundations of bilingual colonial India. He convinced the Governor-General to adopt
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
as the medium of instruction in higher education from the sixth year of schooling onwards, rather than
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
or
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
. He claimed: "I have never found one among them who could deny that a single shelf of a good European library was worth the whole native
literature of India
Indian literature refers to the literature produced on the Indian subcontinent until 1947 and in the Republic of India thereafter. The Republic of India has 22 officially recognised languages.
The earliest works of Indian literature were o ...
." He wrote that
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
and
Sanskrit works on medicine contain "medical doctrines which would disgrace an English Farrier –
Astronomy
Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest ...
, which would move laughter in girls at an English boarding school –
History
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...
, abounding with kings thirty feet high reigns thirty thousand years long – and
Geography
Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and ...
made up of seas of treacle and seas of butter".
One of the most influential historians of India during the British Empire,
James Mill
James Mill (born James Milne; 6 April 1773 – 23 June 1836) was a Scottish historian, economist, political theorist, and philosopher. He is counted among the founders of the Ricardian school of economics. He also wrote ''The History of British ...
was criticised for prejudice against Hindus.
Horace Hayman Wilson
Horace Hayman Wilson (26 September 1786 – 8 May 1860) was an English orientalist who was elected the first Boden Professor of Sanskrit at Oxford University.
Life
He studied medicine at St Thomas's Hospital, and went out to India in 1808 as as ...
wrote that the tendency of Mill's work was "evil". Mill claimed that both Indians and
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
people are cowardly, unfeeling and mendacious. Both Mill and Grant attacked Orientalist scholarship that was too respectful of Indian culture: "It was unfortunate that a mind so pure, so warm in the pursuit of truth so devoted to oriental learning, as that of Sir
William Jones, should have adopted the hypothesis of a high state of civilization in the principal countries of Asia."
Dadabhai Naoroji
Dadabhai Naoroji (4 September 1825 – 30 June 1917) also known as the "Grand Old Man of India" and "Unofficial Ambassador of India", was an Indian political leader, merchant, scholar and writer who served as 2nd, 9th, and 22nd President of t ...
spoke against such anti-India sentiment.
Colonialists
Stereotypes of Indians intensified during and after the
Indian Rebellion of 1857
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the fo ...
, known as
India's First War of Independence
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against Company rule in India, the rule of the East India Company, British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the The Crown, British ...
to the Indians and as the Sepoy Mutiny to the British, when Indian
sepoy
''Sepoy'' () was the Persian-derived designation originally given to a professional Indian infantryman, traditionally armed with a musket, in the armies of the Mughal Empire.
In the 18th century, the French East India Company and its oth ...
s rebelled against the British
East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
's
rule in India. Allegations of
war rape
Wartime sexual violence is rape or other forms of sexual violence committed by combatants during armed conflict, war, or military occupation often as spoils of war, but sometimes, particularly in ethnic conflict, the phenomenon has broader so ...
were used as
propaganda
Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...
by British
colonialists
Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose their relig ...
in order to justify the colonization of India. While incidents of rape committed by Indian rebels against British women and girls were generally uncommon, this was exaggerated by the
British media
There are several different types of mass media in the United Kingdom: television, radio, newspapers, magazines and websites. The United Kingdom is known for its large music industry, along with its new and upcoming artists. The country also has a ...
to justify continued British intervention in the
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...
.
At the time,
British newspapers
Twelve daily newspapers and eleven Sunday-only weekly newspapers are distributed nationally in the United Kingdom. Others circulate in Scotland only and still others serve smaller areas. National daily newspapers publish every day except Sunday ...
had printed various apparently eyewitness accounts of British women and girls being raped by Indian rebels, but cited little physical evidence. It was later found that some were fictions created to paint the native people as savages who needed to be civilized, a mission sometimes known as "
The White Man's Burden
"The White Man's Burden" (1899), by Rudyard Kipling, is a poem about the Philippine–American War (1899–1902) that exhorts the United States to assume colonial control of the Filipino people and their country.Hitchens, Christopher. ''Bloo ...
". One such account published by ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'', regarding an incident where 48 British girls as young as 10–14 had been raped by Indian rebels in
Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...
, was criticized by
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...
, who pointed out that the story was propaganda written by a clergyman in
Bangalore
Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...
, far from the events. A wave of anti-Indian vandalism accompanied the rebellion. When Delhi fell to the British, the city was ransacked, the palaces looted and the mosques desecrated in what has been called "a deliberate act of unnecessary vandalism".
Despite the questionable authenticity of colonial accounts regarding the rebellion, the stereotype of the Indian "dark-skinned rapist" occurred frequently in
English literature
English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...
of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The idea of protecting British "female chastity" from the "lustful Indian male" had a significant influence on the
British Raj
The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent;
*
* it is also called Crown rule in India,
*
*
*
*
or Direct rule in India,
* Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...
's policies outlawing
miscegenation
Miscegenation ( ) is the interbreeding of people who are considered to be members of different races. The word, now usually considered pejorative, is derived from a combination of the Latin terms ''miscere'' ("to mix") and ''genus'' ("race") ...
between the British and the Indians. While some restrictive policies were imposed on British females to "protect" them from miscegenation, most were directed against Indians. For example, the 1883
Ilbert Bill
The Ilbert Bill was a bill formally introduced on 9 February 1883 during the Viceroyship of the Marquess of Ripon, which was drafted by Sir Courtenay Peregine Ilbert, the legal member of the Council of the Governor-General of India. It concerned ...
, which would have granted Indian judges the right to judge British offenders, was opposed by many British colonialists on the grounds that Indian judges could not be trusted in cases alleging the rape of British females.
Regional anti-India sentiment
South Asia
Pakistan
According to
Christophe Jaffrelot
Christophe Jaffrelot (born 12 February 1964) is a French political scientist and Indologist specialising in South Asia, particularly India and Pakistan. He is a professor of South Asian politics and history the ''Centre d'études et de recherches ...
and Jean-Luc Racine, Pakistan's nationalism is primarily anti-Indian, Pakistan was part of
British India
The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
(before 1947) and is the location of the Indus Valley civilization many thousands of years ago .This is the essence of the country's identity." However Anti-Indian and anti-Hindu sentiments have waxed and waned in the country since its
independence
Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...
.
[
] According to
Tufts University
Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...
professor
Seyyed Vali Reza Nasr, anti-India sentiment in Pakistan increased with the ascendancy of the
Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami
Jamaat-e-Islami ( ur, ) () is an Islamic movement founded in 1941 in British India by the Islamic theologian and socio-political philosopher, Syed Abul Ala Maududi.van der Veer P. and Munshi S. (eds.''Media, War, and Terrorism: Responses fro ...
under
Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi
Abul A'la al-Maududi ( ur, , translit=Abū al-Aʿlā al-Mawdūdī; – ) was an Islamic scholar, Islamist ideologue, Muslim philosopher, jurist, historian, journalist, activist and scholar active in British India and later, following the parti ...
.
=Historic
=
Some Indian Muslims feared the Hindu majority that would gain political ascendance after independence from the
British Raj
The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent;
*
* it is also called Crown rule in India,
*
*
*
*
or Direct rule in India,
* Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...
. This view was bolstered by religious riots in British India such as the
1927 Nagpur riots.
[
] The
Two-Nation Theory
The two-nation theory is an ideology of religious nationalism that influenced the decolonisation of the British Raj in South Asia. According to this ideology, Indian Muslims and Indian Hindus are two separate nations, with their own customs, ...
was enunciated by
Allama Iqbal
Sir Muhammad Iqbal ( ur, ; 9 November 187721 April 1938), was a South Asian Muslim writer, philosopher, Quote: "In Persian, ... he published six volumes of mainly long poems between 1915 and 1936, ... more or less complete works on philoso ...
,
[
][
] which was supported by the
All India Muslim League
The All-India Muslim League (AIML) was a political party established in Dhaka in 1906 when a group of prominent Muslim politicians met the Viceroy of British India, Lord Minto, with the goal of securing Muslim interests on the Indian subcontin ...
and eventually culminated in the independence from
British colonial rule
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...
of both India and of Pakistan in 1947.
[
]
Violence at the time of the
partition of India
The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...
and even prior led to communal tensions and enmity among Hindus and Muslims. In Pakistan, this contributed to Indophobia. In an interview with Indian news channel
CNN-IBN
CNN-News18 (originally CNN-IBN) is an Indian English-language news television channel founded by Raghav Bahl based in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India. It is currently co-owned by Network18 Group and Warner Bros. Discovery. CNN provides internationa ...
Pakistani cricketer and politician
Imran Khan
Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi ( ur}; born 5 October 1952) is a Pakistani politician and former Cricket captain who served as the 22nd Prime Minister of Pakistan from August 2018 to until April 2022, when he was ousted through a no-confidenc ...
said in 2011: "I grew up hating India because I grew up in
Lahore
Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...
and there were
massacres of 1947, so much bloodshed and anger. But as I started touring India, I got such love and friendship there that all this disappeared."
[
]
The
Two-Nation Theory
The two-nation theory is an ideology of religious nationalism that influenced the decolonisation of the British Raj in South Asia. According to this ideology, Indian Muslims and Indian Hindus are two separate nations, with their own customs, ...
is predicated on the belief that at the time of Partition, the Indian Subcontinent was not a nation and in its extreme interpretation, it postulates the belief that Indian Hindus and Indian Muslims constituted nations which cannot co-exist "in a harmonious relationship".
[
][
][
][
]
According to
Husain Haqqani
Husain Haqqani (; born 1 July 1956, alternately spelled Hussain Haqqani) is a Pakistani journalist, academic, political activist, and former ambassador of Pakistan to Sri Lanka and the United States.
Haqqani has written four books on Pakistan, ...
, Pakistan faced multiple challenges to its survival after partition. At the time Pakistan's secular leaders decided to use Islam as a rallying cry against perceived threats from predominantly Hindu India. Unsure of Pakistan's future, they deliberately promoted anti-Indian sentiment with "Islamic Pakistan" resisting a "Hindu India".
According to Nasr,
Anti-Indian
Anti-Indian sentiment, also known as Indophobia or anti-Indianism, is a modern term referring to negative feelings and hatred towards the Republic of India, Indian people, and Indian culture. Indophobia is formally defined in the context of ant ...
sentiments, coupled with
anti-Hindu
Anti-Hindu sentiment, also known as Hinduphobia, is a negative perception, sentiment or actions against the practitioners of Hinduism.
Examples of anti-Hindu sentiments
According to the religious dialogue activist P. N. Benjamin, som ...
prejudices have existed in Pakistan since its formation.
With the ascendancy of the
Jamaat-e-Islami
Jamaat-e-Islami ( ur, ) () is an Islamic movement founded in 1941 in British India by the Islamic theologian and socio-political philosopher, Syed Abul Ala Maududi.van der Veer P. and Munshi S. (eds.''Media, War, and Terrorism: Responses fro ...
under
Maududi
Abul A'la al-Maududi ( ur, , translit=Abū al-Aʿlā al-Mawdūdī; – ) was an Islamic scholar, Islamist ideologue, Muslim philosopher, jurist, historian, journalist, activist and scholar active in British India and later, following the parti ...
, Indophobia increased in Pakistan.
[
]
Commenting on Indophobia in Pakistan in 2009 former
United States Secretary of State
The United States secretary of state is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The office holder is one of the highest ranking members of the president's Ca ...
,
Condoleezza Rice
Condoleezza Rice ( ; born November 14, 1954) is an American diplomat and political scientist who is the current director of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. A member of the Republican Party, she previously served as the 66th Uni ...
termed the Pakistan-India relationship as shadowed by Indophobia.
[
]
In his article "The future of Pakistan" published by
Brookings Institution
The Brookings Institution, often stylized as simply Brookings, is an American research group founded in 1916. Located on Think Tank Row in Washington, D.C., the organization conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in ec ...
American South Asia expert
Stephen P. Cohen describes the Pakistan-India relationship as a neverending spiral of sentiments against each other.
[
]
=In Pakistani textbooks
=
According to Sustainable Development Policy Institute since the 1970s Pakistani school textbooks have systematically inculcated hatred towards India and Hindus.
[
] According to this report, "Associated with the insistence on the Ideology of Pakistan has been an essential component of hate against India and the Hindus. For the upholders of the Ideology of Pakistan, the existence of Pakistan is defined only in relation to Hindus hence the Hindus have to be painted as negatively as possible".
[
A 2005 report by the National Commission for Justice and Peace, a nonprofit organization in Pakistan, found that ]Pakistan studies
Pakistan studies curriculum (Urdu: ') is the name of a curriculum of academic research and study that encompasses the culture, demographics, geography, history, International Relations and politics of Pakistan. The subject is widely research ...
textbooks in Pakistan have been used to articulate the hatred that Pakistani policy-makers have attempted to inculcate towards the Hindus. "Vituperative animosities legitimize military and autocratic rule, nurturing a siege mentality. Pakistan Studies textbooks are an active site to represent India as a hostile neighbor", the report stated. "The story of Pakistan's past is intentionally written to be distinct from often in direct contrast with, interpretations of history found in India. From the government-issued textbooks, students are taught that Hindus are backward and superstitious." Further the report stated "Textbooks reflect intentional obfuscation. Today's students, citizens of Pakistan and its future leaders are the victims of these blatant lies."
=Military conflicts
=
India and Pakistan have had numerous military conflicts which have caused anti-Indian sentiment, with the Kashmir conflict
The Kashmir conflict is a territorial conflict over the Kashmir region, primarily between India and Pakistan, with China playing a third-party role. The conflict started after the partition of India in 1947 as both India and Pakistan claim ...
being the most prominent and important one.
In 1971 rising political discontent in East Pakistan
East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the One Unit Scheme, One Unit Policy, renaming the province as such from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India ...
, on the other side of India from West Pakistan, led to calls to secede from Pakistan, which were brutally suppressed by Pakistan Army
The Pakistan Army (, ) is the Army, land service branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The roots of its modern existence trace back to the British Indian Army that ceased to exist following the partition of India, Partition of British India, wh ...
leading to the Bangladesh Liberation War
The Bangladesh Liberation War ( bn, মুক্তিযুদ্ধ, , also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, or simply the Liberation War in Bangladesh) was a revolution and War, armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Benga ...
. India intervened, triggering the brief 1971 Indo-Pakistani war *
The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6).
The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history.
Events
Jan ...
that culminated in Pakistan's defeat and the secession of East Pakistan which then became Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
. According to Ardeshir Cowasjee
Ardeshir Cowasjee (13 April 1926 – 24 November 2012) ( ur, ) was a Pakistani newspaper columnist, social activist, and philanthropist. Belonging from Karachi, his columns regularly appeared in the country's oldest English newspaper, ''D ...
in West Pakistan
West Pakistan ( ur, , translit=Mag̱ẖribī Pākistān, ; bn, পশ্চিম পাকিস্তান, translit=Pôścim Pakistan) was one of the two Provincial exclaves created during the One Unit Scheme in 1955 in Pakistan. It was d ...
the region's political and military leadership whipped up anti-Indian sentiment with the slogan "crush India", in an attempt to convince the people that the only issue in East Pakistan was India's support of a secession
Secession is the withdrawal of a group from a larger entity, especially a political entity, but also from any organization, union or military alliance. Some of the most famous and significant secessions have been: the former Soviet republics le ...
ist movement.[
]
Writing for Middle East Research and Information Project The Middle East Research and Information Project (MERIP) is a non-profit independent research group established in 1971, that has released reports and position papers on various Middle East conflicts. Its most prominent publication is ''Middle East ...
the Pakistani nuclear scientist Pervez Hoodbhoy
Pervez Amirali Hoodbhoy (Urdu: ;;born 11 July 1950) is a Pakistani nuclear physicist and activist who serves as a professor at the Forman Christian College and previously taught physics at the Quaid-e-Azam University. Hoodbhoy is also a promine ...
stated that anti-Indian sentiment is instilled in Pakistani soldiers early in their training at Cadet College Hasan Abdal
Cadet College, Hasan Abdal (CCH) Urdu/Pashto :کیدت کالج/کیڈٹ کالج حسن ابدال is a residential secondary school located in Hasan Abdal, Attock District, Punjab, Pakistan.
The college has over 500 enrolled students aged 13 ...
and Cadet College Petaro. He also claimed that in order to prosper, Pakistan needed to overcome its hatred of India.[
]
Bangladesh
The Indo-Bangladeshi relationship began to sour within a few years. Political disputes such as the border killing by India, Farakka Barrage
Farakka Barrage is a barrage across the Ganga river located in Murshidabad district in the Indian state of West Bengal, roughly from the border with Bangladesh near Shibganj. Farakka Barrage Township is located in Farakka (community developmen ...
, Indo-Bangladesh enclaves and Indo-Bangladeshi barrier created rifts between the two countries. Indophobia coupled with anti-Hinduism, led to accusations of dual loyalty
In politics, dual loyalty is loyalty to two separate interests that potentially conflict with each other, leading to a conflict of interest.
Inherently controversial
While nearly all examples of alleged "dual loyalty" are considered highly cont ...
among Bangladeshi Hindus
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
by right-wing Islamist extremist Bangladeshis [Bangladesh slammed for persecution of Hindus](_blank)
Rediff.com
Bhutan
Anti-India sentiments rose when the Indian government withdrew its subsidy for the kerosene and cooking gas to Bhutan in 2013 election process. Furthermore, anti-India sentiments have also been attributed to the insensitive comments by Indian diplomats and senior political figures. In August 2017 at the height of the India-China standoff in Doklam, former foreign secretary Shyam Saran's response was received negatively by the Bhutanese regarding Indian intervention in the expansion of Bhutan's foreign relations. He stated that "…it is really for Bhutan to decide what its comfort level is, in terms of expanding its own engagement with the rest of the world. The only thing which the Indian side would like to be assured of is that there should be no surprises in terms of the move that Bhutan makes. That is the only requirement." Bhutan was considered to have laid the foundation of democracy based on anti-India sentiments.
Misbehavior from some Indian tourists in Bhutan has led to complaints in local media, with the Bhutanese government responding by implementing a 'sustainable development' fee for regional visitors.
Maldives
Anti-India sentiments in Maldives rose when "India Out" hastag trended on Twitter in the Maldives on July 26, 2021, the Maldives’ Independence Day. Anti-India sentiments dates back when Abdulla Yameen
Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom ( dv, ޢަބްދުﷲ ޔާމީން ޢަބްދުލް ޤައްޔޫމް; born 21 May 1959) is a Maldivian politician who was President of the Maldives from 2013 to 2018. He left office on 17 November 2018 following his ...
was elected as the President of Maldives
The president of the Maldives ( dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖޭގެ ރައީސުލްޖުމްހޫރިއްޔާ) is the head of state and head of government of the Republic of Maldives and the commander-in-chief of the Maldives National Defence F ...
in 2013. During the government of Abdulla Yameen
Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom ( dv, ޢަބްދުﷲ ޔާމީން ޢަބްދުލް ޤައްޔޫމް; born 21 May 1959) is a Maldivian politician who was President of the Maldives from 2013 to 2018. He left office on 17 November 2018 following his ...
, two Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopters (ALF) helicopters based on Addu Atoll
Addu Atoll, also known as Seenu Atoll, is the southernmost atoll of the Maldives. Addu Atoll, together with Fuvahmulah, located 40 km north of Addu Atoll, extend the Maldives into the Southern Hemisphere. Addu Atoll is located 540 k ...
and Hanimaadhoo that were gifted by India to the Maldives coast guard were returned by the Yameen government citing military intervention and a threat to the sovereignty of Maldives. Furthermore, Yameen accused India developing intentions of state capture
State capture is a type of systemic political corruption in which private interests significantly influence a state's decision-making processes to their own advantage.
The term was first used by the World Bank, around the year 2000, to describe ...
during the internal political turmoil in the country when former Maldives President Mohammed Nasheed solicited Indian intervention. According to Ahmed Azaan of the Maldivian online news organization Dhiyares, "...the "India Out" campaign is a call for the removal of the Indian military from the Maldives." Further, he tweeted that "..It is not a call to cut off diplomatic & trade relations with India" but the Maldives "should be able to forge ties with India without undermining our sovereignty." On 2 July 2021, the country's ruling party, the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), released an official statement citing "concern over the ill-founded and disparaging remarks against Indian diplomats". The MDP alleged that local news outlet Dhiyares and its co-founder and writer Ahmed Azaan, had involved in a "continuous barrage of anti-India vitriol" that "appears to be a well-funded, well-orchestrated and pre-meditated political campaign with the express purpose of whipping up hatred against the Maldives’ closest ally, India."
Nepal
Despite centuries long relation between the two nations, Nepal has clashed with India over different issues such as territorial disputes
A territorial dispute or boundary dispute is a disagreement over the possession or control of land between two or more political entities.
Context and definitions
Territorial disputes are often related to the possession of natural resources s ...
, dispute over the birthplace of Gautama Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism.
According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in Lu ...
, intervention on internal issues and for the support of Nepali ethnic unrest directly responsible for the 2015 Nepal blockade
:
The 2015 Nepal blockade, which began on 23 September 2015 and lasted about six months, was an economic and humanitarian crisis which severely affected Nepal and its economy.
Nepal has accused India of imposing an undeclared blockade trigger ...
. The # BackoffIndia hashtag on Twitter was used by Nepalese supporters around the world, accusing the Indian Government of interfering in the country's internal matters.
Sri Lanka
Anti-Indian prejudice may be caused by the island nation's bad experience with Invasions by Tamil Indian Dynasties (such as the Chola dynasty
The Chola dynasty was a Tamils, Tamil thalassocratic Tamil Dynasties, empire of southern India and one of the longest-ruling dynasties in the history of the world. The earliest datable references to the Chola are from inscriptions dated ...
), their ethnic tensions with Sri Lanka's Tamil minority, who are accused of loyalty to India, India's alleged support and training of the LTTE
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; ta, தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள், translit=Tamiḻīḻa viṭutalaip pulikaḷ, si, දෙමළ ඊළාම් විමුක්ති කොටි, t ...
as well as massacres against Tamil Sri Lankan civilians committed by the Indian army denied by the Indians, such as the Jaffna hospital massacre
The Jaffna hospital massacre occurred on October 21 and 22, 1987, during the Sri Lankan Civil War, when troops of the Indian Peace Keeping Force entered the premises of the Jaffna Teaching Hospital in Jaffna, Sri Lanka, an island nation in South ...
.
=Historical
=
During the defence against the invading Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
Chola dynasty
The Chola dynasty was a Tamils, Tamil thalassocratic Tamil Dynasties, empire of southern India and one of the longest-ruling dynasties in the history of the world. The earliest datable references to the Chola are from inscriptions dated ...
, the Sinhalese Resistance
The Chola conquest and occupation of Anuradhapura Kingdom was a military invasion of the Anuradhapura Kingdom, Kingdom of Anuradhapura by the Chola Empire. It can be seen as an ensuing conflict between Chola and Sinhalese kings after the init ...
killed scores of Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
Tamils as a retaliation for invading Sri Lanka.
=20th century
=
Despite India's alliance with the Sri Lankan government during the Sri Lankan Civil War, anti-Indian views are fairly common among the ethnic Sinhalese
Sinhala may refer to:
* Something of or related to the Sinhalese people of Sri Lanka
* Sinhalese people
* Sinhala language, one of the three official languages used in Sri Lanka
* Sinhala script, a writing system for the Sinhala language
** Sinha ...
, escalated by Buddhist
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
Nationalism and militancy. Attitudes towards Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
**Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nativ ...
s are associated with Indophobia and the Tamils were suspected of spying for the Indians. Indian traders and businessmen, patronized by the Tamil minority, have been shunned and attacked by the Sinhalese.
During the 1950s, discriminatory measures taken by the Sri Lankan government targeted Indian traders (typically from the Indian states of Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...
and Kerala
Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...
), forcing the traders out of Sri Lanka. Following this, trade with India was deliberately scuttled, as was the sale of Indian magazines.
The Indophobia of that era led the Sri Lankan government to go after the so-called Tamils of 'recent' Indian origin. These immigrant plantation workers were imported by the British more than a hundred years earlier and had already been stripped of citizenship by earlier legislation—the first Legislative Act of the newly independent country in 1948. Since then, these Tamils lived as 'stateless' persons and many returned to India.
The IPKF's involvement in Sri Lanka led to the rise of the anti-Indian Patriotic People's Front
The Patriotic People's Front ( hu, Hazafias Népfront, HNF) was originally a Hungarian political resistance movement during World War II which become later an alliance of political parties in the Hungarian People's Republic. In the latter role, ...
.
During the Black July
Black July ( ta, கறுப்பு யூலை, translit=Kaṟuppu Yūlai; si, කළු ජූලිය, Kalu Juliya) was an anti-Tamil pogrom that occurred in Sri Lanka during July 1983. The pogrom was premeditated,T. Sabaratnam, Pirapa ...
, rioters targeted Indian Tamils. During one instance, the Sri Lankan Bus Employees brutally killed seven Tamils including six members of the Ramanathan family (father, young daughter, three sons, and their uncle) and their driver, some of whom were bludgeoned to death.
Southeast Asia
Myanmar
Anti-Indian sentiment against the Indians during the British Raj
The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent;
*
* it is also called Crown rule in India,
*
*
*
*
or Direct rule in India,
* Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...
began to rise in Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
after the First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
ended for a number of reasons. The country's ethnic Indian population was rapidly growing in Myanmar (almost half of Yangon's population was Indian by the Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
). The Indians played a prominent role in the British administration and as a result, they began to be targeted for persecution by Burmese nationalists. Racial animosity towards Indians because of their skin-color and appearance also played a role. Meanwhile, the price of rice plummeted during the economic depression of the 1930s and the Chettiar
Chettiar (also spelt as Chetti and Chetty)is a title used by many traders, weaving, agricultural and land-owning castes in South India, especially in the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka.
They are a subgroup of the Tamil community ...
from Tamil nadu, who were prominent moneylenders in the rice belt, began to foreclose on land held by native Burmese.
In May 1930, a British-owned stevedore
A stevedore (), also called a longshoreman, a docker or a dockworker, is a waterfront manual laborer who is involved in loading and unloading ships, trucks, trains or airplanes.
After the shipping container revolution of the 1960s, the number o ...
firm which operated at the port of Rangoon employed Burmese workers in an attempt to break a strike that was being organized by its Indian workers. When, on 26 May, the strike ended and the Indians returned to work, clashes soon broke out between the returning Indian workers and the Burmese workers who had replaced them. The clashes soon escalated into large-scale anti-Indian riots in the city, killing more than two hundred Indians and their dead bodies were flung into the river. Authorities ordered the police to fire upon any assembly of five or more who refused to lay down their arms, under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code. Within two days the riot spread throughout the country to locations such as Maymyo
Pyin Oo Lwin or Pyin U Lwin (, ; Shan: ), formerly and colloquially referred to as Maymyo (), is a scenic hill town in the Mandalay Region, Myanmar, some east of Mandalay, and at an elevation of . The town was estimated to have a population of ...
.
After Burma achieved Independence, Burmese law treated a large percentage of the Indian community as "resident aliens". Though many had long ties to Burma or were born there, they were not considered citizens under the 1982 Burma citizenship law which restricted citizenship for groups immigrating before 1823.
After seizing power through a military coup in 1962, General Ne Win
Ne Win ( my, နေဝင်း ; 10 July 1910, or 14 or 24 May 1911 – 5 December 2002) was a Burmese politician and military commander who served as Prime Minister of Burma from 1958 to 1960 and 1962 to 1974, and also President of Burma ...
ordered a large-scale expulsion of Indians. Although many Indians had been living in Burma for generations and had integrated into Burmese society, they became a target for discrimination and oppression by the junta. This, along with a wholesale nationalization of private ventures in 1964, led to the emigration of over 300,000 ethnic Indians from Burma. Indian-owned businesses were nationalized and their owners were given 175 kyat for their trip to India. This caused a significant deterioration in Indian-Burmese relations and the Indian government arranged ferries and aircraft to lift Burmese of Indian ethnicities out of Burma.
Malaysia
On 28 June 1969, anti-Indian riots broke out in Sentul, Kuala Lumpur, Sentul where Malays attacked and killed 15 Indians.
In March 2001, a 9-day period of communal violence known as the 2001 Kampung Medan riots occurred between Indians and Malays cost the deaths of 6 people and injuring many more people. The severity of injuries range from head injuries to severed limbs. The riots no doubt caused anti-Indian feelings among Malays residing in Selangor and Klang Valley.
The novel Interlok caused enormous controversial backlash for allegedly being anti-Indian as the book includes racist derogatory terms used to refer to the Indians such as "Pariah" and "black people". The novel also includes the usage of the term ''kasta pariah'' ("Outcast (person), pariah caste"), which often refers to persons from the lowest caste in the Indian caste system.
On 26 November 2018, a riot launched by several group of peoples due to demolish purpose of 147-years-old Seafield Sri Mariamman Temple in Subang Jaya with death of Malaysian firefighter, 24-years-old, Mohammad Adib Mohd Kassim erupted anti-Indian sentiment including several politicians.
Singapore
In 2020, there were lots of discrimination towards migrant workers of Indian origin. There are also a number of locals who passed racist comments about them on Facebook.
East Asia
China
Indian police officers dispatched to Hong Kong and Shanghai during the British colonial era were often discriminated against by local Chinese and were called "red-headed A’san" (红头阿三) because of the Dastar, Sikh turban. Since the dispute between the two countries over the Tibet border erupted in the 1950s, the two sides have been fraught with mistrust. Propaganda by Chinese Communist Party fuels Chinese antipathy towards India.
Western Asia
Qatar
Calls to boycott Indian products began trending on the Qatari Twitter after clips of Indian authorities attacking and evicting thousands of Muslims in Assam went viral. It led the Indian embassy in Qatar to tweet in response that there was a “malicious attempt on social media to spread hatred and disharmony through false propaganda about India”. A 'Boycott India' campaign also trended in June 2022 after 2022 BJP Muhammad remarks controversy, controversial remarks were made against Prophet Muhammad by a couple of BJP members.
Africa
Kenya
Following the 1982 Kenyan coup d'état attempt to remove Daniel arap Moi, President Moi, many Indian shops and businesses in Nairobi were attacked and pillaged whilst a number of Indian women were said to have been raped by the rioters.
South Africa
The first anti-Indian commotion that took place in South Africa was the Durban riots in 1949 that took place in the South Africa's largest city Durban, where angry Black South Africans attacked and killed 142 Indian South Africans, Indians, destroyed and looted Indian property. Many local Whites who were present openly supported the Black South Africans in their anti-Indian killings and even participated in the lootings.
Another anti-Indian riot took place again in Durban in 1985.
The influential leader Mahatma Gandhi experienced anti-Indian racism when he was in South Africa, he was beaten up by a driver for travelling in first class coach.
The Indians were not allowed to walk on public footpaths in South Africa and Gandhi was kicked by a police officer out of the footpath onto the street without warning.
In 2015, Phumlani Mfeka, a KwaZulu-Natal businessman and the spokesman for the radical Mazibuye African Forum tweeted "A good Indian is a dead Indian". He published a letter in the city press claiming that South Africans of Indian origin have no right to citizenship and property in South Africa. Mfeka also claimed there is a "ticking time bomb of a deadly confrontation" between Africans and Indians in KwaZulu-Natal. The South African court barred him from making anti-Indian remarks in Nov 2015.
In 2017, EFF leader Julius Malema stated during a rally in KwaZulu-Natal "They are ill-treating our people. They are worse than Afrikaners were. This is not an anti-Indian statement, it's the truth. Indians who own shops don't pay our people, but they give them food parcels", and accused local politicians of being in the pockets of Indian businesspeople. Malema also said that the success of Indian businesses in the province was due to their strategies of exploitation and monopolisation of the economy. Malema also referred to Indians in 2011 as 'coolies' (which is considered a strongly offensive pejorative term in contemporary South Africa).
In 2021, South African Indians were largely targeted during the 2021 South African unrest. Many Indians in Phoenix, KwaZulu-Natal have armed themselves to fight rioters in absences of police forces. Minister of Police (South Africa), Police Minister Bheki Cele stated that the main motive behind the Phoenix riots was criminal and that racial issues were secondary. He confirmed that 20 people had died in the town in the unrest. He also warned people against falling for fake news designed to increase racial tensions. The aftermath of the events saw influx of emigration of Indian communities from South Africa. The Beaver Canadian Immigration Consultants noted that immigration application for Indians has quadruple to 40 percent mainly from South Africa.
Uganda
The most infamous case of Indophobia is the ethnic cleansing of Indians and other South Asians (sometimes simply called "Asian
Asian may refer to:
* Items from or related to the continent of Asia:
** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia
** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia
** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
") in Uganda by Idi Amin.[General Amin and the Indian Exodus from Uganda
Hasu H. Patel, Issue: A Journal of Opinion, Vol. 2, No. 4 (Winter, 1972), pp. 12-22 ] (See Expulsion of Asians from Uganda.)
According to H.H. Patel, many Indian diaspora in East Africa, Indians in East Africa and Uganda were tailors and bankers, leading to stereotyping.
Indophobia in Uganda also existed under Milton Obote, before Amin's rise. The 1968 Committee on "Africanisation in Commerce and Industry" in Uganda made far-reaching Indophobic proposals.
A system of work permits and trade licenses was introduced in 1969 to Indians' economic and professional activities. Indians were Racial segregation, segregated and discriminated against in all walks of life. After Amin came to power, he exploited these divisions to spread propaganda
Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...
against Indians.
Indians were stereotyped as "only traders" and thereby "inbred" to their profession. Indians were attacked as "dukawallas" (an occupational term that degenerated into an anti-Indian slur during Amin's time). They were stereotyped as "greedy, conniving", without racial identity or loyalty but "always cheating, conspiring and plotting" to subvert Uganda.
Amin used this to justify a campaign of "de-Indianisation", eventually resulting in the Expulsion of Asians in Uganda in 1972, expulsion and ethnic cleansing of Uganda's Indian minority. Some 80,000 were expelled, leading about 25,000 to settle in the United Kingdom.
Pacific islands
Fiji
Anti-Indian riots broke out throughout Fiji amidst an attempted coup. Protesters attacked Indian shops.
Western world
Contemporary Indophobia has risen in the western world, particularly the United States, on account of the rise of the Indian American community and the increase in offshoring of White-collar worker, white-collar jobs to India by American multinational corporations.[Indophobia: Facts versus Fiction](_blank)
Arvind Panagariya, Columbia University archives of ''The Economic Times''
Australia
In May and June 2009, 2009 attacks on Indian students in Australia, racially motivated attacks against Indian international students and a perceived poor police response sparked protests. Rallies were held in both Melbourne and Sydney. Impromptu street protests were held in Harris Park, a suburb of western Sydney with a large Indian population. Representatives of the Indian government met with the Australian government to express concern and request that Indians be protected. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd expressed regret and called for the attackers to be brought to justice. The United Nations termed these attacks "disturbing" and the human rights commissioner Navi Pillay, herself a member of the Non-resident Indian and person of Indian origin, Indian diaspora, asked Australia to investigate the matters further.
Some Facebook groups were set up with Indophobic leanings. The Rudd Government set up a task force to address a proposal to make sending a text message encouraging commission of a racial attack a federal offence. The group was headed by national security adviser Duncan Lewis. The proposed amendment would strengthen police powers to respond to attacks against Indian students. Internet-based racist commentary was able to continue because of protection afforded by privacy laws. The current system allows the commission to investigate complaints of racial vilification and then attempt to resolve complaints through conciliation with ISPs and site operators.
Canada
Anti-Indian sentiment among the white and other populations increased as the numbers of South Asian Canadians increased. It continues to increase even in present day.
Germany
India suffers from a severe image deficit in Germany.
In August 2007, a mob of over 50 persons attacked 8 Indians in Mügeln#M.C3.BCgeln mob attack, Mügeln.
A 2014 BBC World Service Poll showed that 68% of Germans view India's influence negatively.[2014 World Service Poll (Influence of India)](_blank)
BBC
Poland
In 2022 an Indian man was racially abused by an American tourist in Poland by calling him parasites and genocide for European civilization.
United Kingdom
The Indian Rebellion of 1857
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the fo ...
triggered mass anti-Indian sentiment amongst the British public as news of atrocities committed by Indian rebels against British civilians became increasingly widely known throughout the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom, resulting in large scale massacres against the Indians by British troops. The British troops killed about 150,000 Indians in Oudh alone, most of them civilians. Places such as Delhi, Allahabad, Kanpur and Lucknow were all met with general massacre after they were recaptured by British forces. One young officer was apparently recorded as saying "the orders were to shoot every soul ... it was literally murder."
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill also expressed his hatred and disgust of the Indians frequently throughout his political career. During the Bengal famine of 1943, when Churchill was confronted by some British officials to direct food supplies to save the starving Indians, Churchill replied by joking "Why hasn't Gandhi died yet?".
In October 2018, it was reported that Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party candidate for the Mayor of London Shaun Bailey (London politician), Shaun Bailey had written a pamphlet, entitled ''No Man's Land'', for the Centre for Policy Studies. In it, Bailey claimed that South Asian ethnic groups, South Asians "bring their culture, their country and any problems they might have, with them" and that this was not a problem within the Black British, Black community "because we've shared a religion and in many cases a language".
United States
Immigration from British Raj, India to the United States became more frequent between 1907 and 1920 because of Canada's Immigration Act in 1910 which restricted the number of Indians coming into the country. California was where most Indians migrated to and Indian immigrants had a negative stigma around them.
Hatred of the Indians amongst Americans led to the Bellingham riots in 1907. In the late-1980s in New Jersey, an anti-Indian hategroup gang calling themselves the "Dotbusters" targeted, threatened and viciously beat Indians until they were in a coma and died or suffered brain damage. The former President Richard Nixon was found voicing disparaging remarks on Indians in a newly declassified White House tapes citing Indians as the "most sexless", "nothing" and "pathetic". He further remarks about Indian women as the "Undoubtedly the most unattractive women in the world are the Indian women. Undoubtedly."
Vamsee Juluri, author and Professor of Media Studies at the University of San Francisco, identifies Indophobia in certain sections of the US media as part of a racist postcolonial/neo-colonialism, neocolonial discourse used to attack and defame India and encourage racial prejudice against Indian Americans, particularly in light of India's recent economic progress, which some "old-school" colonialists find to be incompatible with their The Clash of Civilizations, Clash of Civilizations world view. Juluri identified numerous instances of bias and prejudice against Indians in US media, such as ''The New York Times'' and ''Foreign Policy'' and attempts to erase and disparage the history of India in American school textbooks misrepresent the history of India during the California textbook controversy over Hindu history with the final verdict to retain the term "India" in Californian textbooks and to remove the disparaging contents from textbooks.
Latin America and the Caribbean
Caribbean
There is occasional anti-Indian discrimination amongst the locals of the Caribbean islands especially Trinidad and Tobago.
Guyana
Anti-Indian sentiments of Guyana sometimes becomes violent. Anti-Indian riots of Guyana saw the black population burn businesses belonging to the Indians, hundreds of Africans and Indians lost their lives rioting.
Media
BBC
In 2008, the BBC was Criticism of the BBC#Indophobia, criticised for referring to those who carried out the November 2008 Mumbai attacks as "gunmen", and not terrorists. Journalist M. J. Akbar chose to boycott the BBC when he spoke of the 2008 Mumbai attacks. British parliamentarian Stephen Pound referred to the BBC's alleged whitewashing of the attacks as "the worst sort of mealy mouthed posturing. It is desperation to avoid causing offence which ultimately causes more offence to everyone."
Writing for the 2008 edition of the peer-reviewed ''Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television'', Alasdair Pinkerton analysed BBC Indian coverage from independence through 2008. Pinkerton suggested a tumultuous history involving allegations of Indophobic bias, particularly during the cold war, and concludes that BBC coverage of South Asian geopolitics and economics shows pervasive Indophobic bias.
In the journal of the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, media analyst Ajai K. Rai strongly criticised the BBC for Indophobic bias. He found a lack of depth and fairness in BBC reporting on conflict zones in South Asia and that the BBC had, on at least one occasion, fabricated photographs while reporting on the Kashmir conflict
The Kashmir conflict is a territorial conflict over the Kashmir region, primarily between India and Pakistan, with China playing a third-party role. The conflict started after the partition of India in 1947 as both India and Pakistan claim ...
to make India look bad. He claimed that the network made false allegations that the Indian Army stormed a sacred Muslim shrine, the tomb of Sheikh Noor-ud-din Wali, Sheikh Noor-u-din Noorani in Charari Sharief, and only retracted the claim after strong criticism.
English journalist Christopher Booker has also criticized the BBC for its coverage of India-related matters. He concludes that the BBC's efforts to reinforce stereotypes of South Asians has been directly responsible for damaging the image of India, and encouraging racist incidents against Indians, such as the Leipzig University internship controversy.
''New York Times''
The newspaper's India coverage has been heavily criticized by scholars such as Sumit Ganguly, a professor of political science at Indiana University and member of the Council on Foreign Relations as well the London-based The Institute of Strategic Studies, Institute of Strategic Studies. In a 2009 ''Forbes'' article, Ganguly faults the ''New York Times'' editorial board for its "hectoring" and "patronizing" tone towards India. He finds anti-India bias in coverage of the Kashmir Conflict, the Hyde Act and other India-related matters.
In 2010, the ''Huffington Post'' charged that ''The New York Times'' is Indophobic and promotes neocolonialism with its slanted and negative coverage. United States lawmaker Kumar P. Barve described a recent editorial on India as full of "blatant and unprofessional factual errors or omissions" having a "haughty, condescending, arrogant and patronizing" tone.
In September 2014, the Indian Space Research Organisation, Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) successfully placed a spacecraft into orbit around the planet Mars, thereby completing the Mars Orbiter Mission. CNN reported this as a "groundbreaking Mars mission", making India the first nation to arrive on its first attempt and the first Asian country to reach Mars. A few days later, ''The New York Times'' published a cartoon on this event, showing a turban-wearing man with a cow knocking at the door of an "elite space club". The ''Huffington Post'' said that the cartoon was in "poor taste" and "the racial, national and classist stereotyping is apparent". ''The New York Times'' subsequently published an apology saying that a "large number of readers have complained" about the cartoon and that they "apologize to readers who were offended".
In June 2016, the ''New York Times'' published an editorial opposing India's entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). During this time, the US administration led by President Barack Obama was actively supporting India's membership. The paper said the membership was "not merited" and that India had "fallen far short" in assuming responsibilities of a nuclear nation. This view was criticized by several western and Indian experts on nuclear issues. Ramesh Thakur, Director of the Centre for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament at the Australian National University, said ''The New York Times'' is "frequently chauvinistic" and that the editorial "reflects a deliberate bias". Alyssa Ayres, a senior fellow for South Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations, rebutted the editorial, saying "the small community of India-watchers in Washington read these words in disbelief" and the paper "should ground its arguments in an appraisal of the complete facts".
In November 2017, the ''New York Times'' published an article by Asgar Qadri attacking the Indian sari as a "conspiracy by Hindu Nationalists". The article was widely lambasted on social media for associating a common Indian dress with religious prejudice and Communalism (South Asia), communalism. In addition, the article was heavily criticized by several Indian journalists, such as Barkha Dutt, who called it "daft commentary" and a "gross misrepresentation of what the sari means to us", and the notion that the sari is exclusively a Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
dress as "utter nonsense". Others criticized the ''New York Times'' for promoting Orientalism, colonial racist stereotypes, and pointed out that the sari is also popular in Muslim-majority countries like Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
.
Pakistani media
Pakistani media commentators such as Zaid Hamid were accused by other Pakistanis of promoting Indophobia. In an editorial published in '''Daily Times (Pakistan), Daily Times'' Tayyab Shah accused him of acting at the behest of the Pakistani security establishment and condemned his views. Along with Lashkar-e-Taiba he is one of the main proponents in present-day Pakistan of Ghazwatul Hind, a battle where Muslims will conquer India and establish Sharia rule according to a Hadith.
Talking to reporters after inaugurating an exhibition in Lahore
Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...
, Majid Nizami, the chief editor of Nawa-i-Waqt, stated "freedom is the greatest blessing of the Almighty, Who may save us from dominance of Hindus, as our sworn enemy India is bent upon destroying Pakistan. However, if it did not refrain from committing aggression against us, then Pakistan is destined to defeat India because our horses in the form of atomic bombs and missiles are far better than Indian 'donkeys'."
Some of the anti-India propaganda is claimed to be driven by the Pakistani military. In December 2010 many Pakistani newspapers published reports based on United States diplomatic cables leaks which portrayed India in a negative light. The Guardian reported that none of the information reported by Pakistani media could be verified in its database of leaked cables. Thereafter several newspapers apologized. The fake cables were believed to have been planted by Inter-Services Intelligence.
''Slumdog Millionaire''
The Indo-British film ''Slumdog Millionaire'' was the subject of many controversies in terms of its title, its depiction of Indian slums and its language use. The film's title was consistently challenged for having the word "dog" in it. The protest took place in Patna where it was written on a signboard "I Am Not a Dog". Activists stated that slum dwellers would continue to protest until the film's director deleted the word "dog" from the title.
Co-director Loveleen Tandan was too criticized by producer Christian Colson. Colson defined her partnership with Boyle a mismatch. Colson noted that the title of "co-director (India)" given to Tandan was "strange but deserved" and was developed over "a Coca Cola and a cup of tea" in order to identify her as "one of our key cultural bridges." During the 2009 Oscar awards ceremony, Tandan was ignored and all credit for the film was taken by Danny Boyle, Boyle.
Some filmmakers and actors from Bollywood were also critical of ''Slumdog Millionaire'' including Aamir Khan, Priyadarshan and Music Director Aadesh Shrivastava.Aadesh Shrivastava outraged at Bachchan's portrayal in Slumdog Millionaire
bollywoodhungama.com
See also
*Anti-Bengali sentiment in India
* 2008 bombing of Indian embassy in Kabul
* Anti-Brahminism
* Anti-Hindu sentiment
* Anti-Pakistan sentiment
* Anti-Romani sentiment
* Barbara Crossette
* Criticism of Buddhism
* Criticism of Hinduism
* Criticism of Sikhism
* List of ethnic slurs
* Persecution of Buddhists
* Persecution of Hindus
* :Persecution of Sikhs
References
; Sources
*
Further reading
* Idi Amin & Indophobia:
General Amin and the Indian Exodus from Uganda' by Hasu H. Patel, ''African Studies Association, Issue: A Journal of Opinion'', Vol. 2, No. 4 (Winter, 1972), pp. 12–22.
*
*K.K. Aziz. (2004) ''The Murder of History: A Critique of History Textbooks used in Pakistan''. Vanguard.
*Abdul Hameed Nayyar, Nayyar, A. H. & Salim, Ahmad. (2003) ''The Subtle Subversion: The State of Curricula and Text-books in Pakistan - Urdu, English, Social Studies and Civics''. Sustainable Development Policy Institute
The Subtle Subversion*Rosser, Yvette Claire (2003). ''Islamization of Pakistani Social Studies Textbooks''. New Delhi: Rupa & Co. .
*Rosser, Yvette Claire (2004). ''Indoctrinating Minds: Politics of Education in Bangladesh''. New Delhi: Rupa & Co. .
External links
{{wiktionary, Indophobia
"Islamic Resurgence in Bangladesh: Genesis, Dynamics and Implications" by Taj I. Hashmi, Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies.
"Terror sans Frontiers: Islamic Militancy in North East India" by Jaideep Saikia, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, July 2003.
"What does 'anti-Indian' mean?" by Zafar Sobhan, ''The Sunday Guardian''.
"Australia and anti-Indian violence" ''The Economist'', 18 June 2009.
"America's New Anti-India Backlash" by David J. Karl, ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', 13 May 2010.
"Religion and Anti-Indianism in Pakistan"by Yoginder Sikand, New Age Islam, 31 December 2010.
"Bangladesh's anti-Indian gun running and insurgent havens persist" by Dr. Subhash Kapila, South Asia Analysis Group, 29 April 2004.
"Why are some Bangladeshis anti-Indian?"by Habibul Haque Khondker, ''The Daily Star (Bangladesh), The Daily Star'', 24 July 2009.
"Rethinking anti-Indianism in Nepal"by Trailokya Raj Aryal, ''MyRepublica'', 25 April 2010.
"Increasing Anti-Indianism in Nepal: Myth or Reality" ''Telegraphnepal.com''.
by S. Prasannarajan, ''India Today'', 10 December 2010.
Anti-Indian sentiment,
India–Pakistan relations
Indology
Anti-national sentiment, Indian
Anti–South Asian sentiment, India