Mob Attack on African Students Reveals Delhi's Ugly Racist Side?

The Delhi Metro mob attack on three African students earlier this week has once again put the Indian capital in the spotlight, questioning its increasing intolerance towards the Blacks.

The shameful incident came to light only after the videos of the attack at the Rajiv Chowk Metro Station went viral on YouTube.

While Indian dailies mostly dismissed the attack as a stray incident, an article published in The New York Times -- Beating of African Students by Mob in India Prompts Soul-Searching on Race -- went on to question the racial overtones of the Delhi Metro attacks.

When Indian Prime Minister visited the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial with President Obama in Washington on Tuesday, a debate about racism was taking shape in the Indian news media, prompted by the video of an angry mob beating three African students in a New Delhi Metro station this week, the NYT report noted.

The Times Of India in a report 'Delhi's problem with us is skin deep: Africans' noted that the city has always been unkind to Africans and the attack on three African students at Rajiv Chowk Metro Station on Sunday evening shows how deep these racial prejudices really are.

The report detailed another recent attack on an African girl, who had to be rescued from the River Yamuna after a mob beat her up and threw her into it.

"Her bones were broken and she was dying. Can such an attack be explained?" a member of Association of African Students in India, Oshobajo Emmanuel said.

About the racially charged incident, a Scroll report noted that India, and New Delhi, in particular, doesn't have a good record when it comes to racial tolerance.

In videos that surfaced on Monday, three African young men are seen being hunted down by an angry mob at Delhi Metro station on Sunday evening.

The Black students, who are in their twenties are seen trying to climb into a police booth for safety but even then the crowd gets of hold of them.

What is most shameful and outrageous is the fact that both Delhi police and CISF, who are deployed at the station 24/7 for security, did nothing to contain the volatile situation.

There is still no clear reason for the mass outrage against the African students. One claim is that the Black students passed lewd comments on some women in the Metro train. However, no woman till now has come forward with any complaint to the police. Another claim is that the three African men had made some anti-India comments.

In the mob attack, one student suffered a gnash on his neck, which had to be stitched up, while the other two were treated for minor injuries.

Many on Twitter also expressed their outrage against this racially charged incident.

Veejay Sai ‏@veejaysai said "Outraged and disgusted with Delhi, the capital of increasing racism where mindless mobs attack Black men!"

Monisha Rajesh ‏@monisha_rajesh questioned: I wonder if the same Delhi men attacking black men in this video would attack fellow Indians for molesting women.

While Sowmiya Ashok ‏@sowmiyashok noted: Worst thing about this video is the # of people recording the attack on their phones and cries of Bharat Mata Ki Jai.