Sushma Swaraj tweets: Shake hands with Africans, tell them India loves them

“I appeal to fellow Indians. Next time you meet an African citizen, pl shake hand and say ‘India loves you’,” the minister said.

Also read: Africans, Delhiites break the ice as police play host

On Tuesday, Swaraj met with the family of Congolese national Masonda Kitanda Olivier saying as a mother, she understood the “pain of a mother who loses a son on foreign soil”.

I appeal to fellow Indians. Next time you meet an African citizen, pl shake hand and say ‘India loves you’.
Pl RT

— Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) June 2, 2016

I have seen today’s Indian Express report by Somya Lakhani ‘Africans, Delhites break the ice as police play host’. Thank you Indian Express.

— Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) June 2, 2016

Swaraj, however, refused to characterise the death of Congolese national Masonda Kitanda Olivier as a racist attack, and invoked Buddha and Mahatma Gandhi to convey that India can “never have a racist mindset”. Read more about that, here.

Substantiating her argument that it was not a racial attack, Swaraj said: “All criminal acts should not be construed as racial attacks. As the CCTV footage of the incident in question showed, this was an act committed by goons who also thrashed the Indian bystanders who had attempted to intervene to save Mr Olivier. Delhi Police immediately swung into action after the unfortunate incident. Two of the perpetrators of the crime have already been apprehended, while a search is on for the third person.”