Much fanfare was given to the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Australia this week. The visit culminated in a massive "Melbourne Meets Modi" community rally at Marvel Stadium that drew tens of thousands of Indian/Australian Modi supporters. Nuclear armed India with the worlds largest population 1.47 billion, (mean age 28, Australia 39), like China is a rapidly growing economic and military power in our region, New Delhi is not that much further from Canberra than Beijing. About one million Indian born people live in Australia, people of Indian descent make up our largest foreign-born community and overseas diaspora, they also make up our largest source of immigrants.

Just as we are rightly concerned about the rise of Chinese power and influence in our region, should we also be concerned by the rise of India? Australia and India through a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, presently share a friendly relationship, but that may not always be the case, as my Tamil/Indian friend said to me recently; "When we protested back home, the police beat us with sticks."

I'm not keen on their 'right' to wear ceremonial swords into schools.
Why should only one group have swords?
Maybe we should let all the kids have swords?

No.

No swords in schools!

Ban on religious knives in Queensland schools overturned
http://www.nine.com.au/australia-news/queensland-court-overturn-law-ban-religious-knives-school-grounds-racial-discrimination-20230803-p5yu67.html

"The state had introduced a law allowing Sikhs to carry a ceremonial sword known as a kirpan but it barred those of the faith from carrying the instrument in schools.
Now, the state's highest court has found the legislation to be unconstitutional under the Racial Discrimination Act."

I don't care about cultural sensitivity, religious or racial discrimination here.

No swords in schools.

So what happen if Indians start turning our creeks and rivers into the Ganges?
Do we get to say that's not how we do things round here, or are we supposed to accept it as cultural enrichment?
Go drop a bog in the river ourselves?
Can't beat 'em join em?

In SA, the Labor Premier says Indians are good for wiping Australian's bums. In Vic, Labor and the PM were kissed Indian bums.

Oh dear, someone is obsessed with bums, the licking and wiping in particular, maybe he is missing out. No, Malinauskas didn't mention Indians, he was concerned about people of your vintage in need of Sanitary assistance, and who was going to provide it. As for Albanese and Allen in Victoria they attended a welcome rally in Melbourne for Modi there were 25,000 Indian/Australians there. I don't see that as a problem. As for the Lovely Pauline, she was covorting with a far right Neo-Nazi in the back seat of a car in England, too busy doing exactly what a sycophantic Hanson supporter claims Labor politicians are doing in Australia with Indians.

The vast majority of Indian migrants in Australia speak English. According to Australian Bureau of Statistics data, over 95% of India-born Australians report being proficient in English, with many arriving on skilled visas. While the majority of new arrivals from the subcontinent do speak English. Indian migrants are often highly skilled filling employment vacancies in Information Technology, Healthcare, Engineering, Finance, and the Trade sectors.

Hi Paul

Interesting questions. I am uncomfortable with the rock star treatment of Modi – yet another populist demagogue quietly winding back civil rights and constraining democracy. His Hindu nationalist agenda and poor treatment of ethnic and religious minorities have taken India backwards from the admirable pluralist democracy it was a few years ago, and which the authors of its constitution intended.

But … though it is imperfect, it is still democracy with many shared values and interest with Australia, from rule of law to cricket. And the fact that India is now our largest source of migrants will reinforce the sense of affinity and connectedness between us.

Given the USA is unpredictable and unreliable, and China is growing more powerful and threatening, it makes sense for us to be building alliances and relationships across the region. People have been predicting that India will be the next global economic superpower for decades, and so far they have been wrong; but it is now the world’s largest country by population, so who knows? It could turn out to be the best friend we have. And if the world turns pear shaped, I’d rather be ruled from New Delhi than Beijing.

Hi Rhian,

India is often described as a "flawed democracy" with many internal divisions, and diminishing freedoms, and persecutions. Narendra Modi with his Hindu Nationalism is very effective at exploiting those divisions, Modi didn't create the divisions, they existed from time immemorial, but is extremely effective at their exploitation to his political advantage.

On the surface Modi might appear as popular as a rock star, and he certainly likes to cultivate that image within India, and with the majority of the Indian diaspora overseas, including in Australia. I thought Albanese was a bit over the top with his fawning adulation of Modi at the 'mega concert" in Melbourne. I have said many times here that I believe Australia should be a non aligned neutral participant in the geopolitical game that is playing out in the world, and not ruled by anyone including Washington, Beijing and now add New Delhi. If it all blows up, we may suffer from collateral damage, but that is something we have no say in anyway.