Adnan Sami not alone, many Indians do face humiliation abroad

When Bollywood singer Adnan Sami landed in Kuwaiti airport on Sunday, he was in for a shock to see how the officials of Kuwaiti immigration treat Indians.

Enraged, Adnan Sami tweeted about the episode:"Kuwaiti airport immigration mistreated my staff for no reason and called them ‘Indian Dogs’! When you were contacted you did nothing!! How dare d Kuwaitis behave like this with arrogance?!"

Soon Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj took cognizance of the tweet and asked him to call her immediately, which he did. The issue is likely to be taken up on Monday with the Kuwaiti officials through diplomatic channels.

But this is not the first time Indians face humiliation abroad. From Shah Rukh Khan to Abdul Kalam faced similar ill-treatment when they visited the United States, for example. It was a humiliation waiting for many whenever they go abroad. For decades, it remained unreported as individual cases.

Though apologies and diplomatic regrets follow the episode, it leaves a deep scar in the minds of Indians and many of them display lack of self-confidence in global forums. Indian students and Indian theatre groups or cinema personalities are the major targets of such ill-treatment.

Sushma Swaraj has set an example of quick response to any plea from any Indian who faces difficulty abroad. No foreign minister in the past, including Atal Behari Vajpayee, can boast of this confidence-boosting gesture from a minister. India should go beyond this. It is not feasible for the minister to respond every time on Twitter as lakhs of Indians will be travelling around the globe soon.

For decades, Europeans, Americans, Japanese or Arabs have subjugated Indians to ill-treatment or bullying at the entry point of their countries and it is time the modalities should be worked out and all the visiting foreign dignitaries are informed about the problems being faced by Indians in their countries. Unless the minister finds a long term solution, the issue remains a short-term issue forever.