MP’s ‘derogatory’ analogy of faulty fridges, foreign students
A National MP’s comments have received a frosty reception after he compared overseas students to ‘‘faulty fridges’’ that should be sent back to where they came from.
Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi, a list MP based in Manukau East, has acknowledged he ‘‘could have used a better analogy’’ during a regular radio interview on the Indian programme, Nachda Punjab.
His comments came at the same time an estimated 150 Indian students are set to be kicked out of New Zealand because their supporting visa documents were found to have been forged by agents in India.
A migrant worker’s group has labelled Bakshi’s comments ‘‘derogatory’’ and ‘‘outrageous’’.
The interview a couple of weeks ago, which was mostly not in English, translated to Bakshi saying, ‘‘if New Zealand gets fridges from China and they’re faulty then they send them back’’.
The comment was on the back of a question from a member of the public who asked why the Government was treating Indian students as if they were ‘‘economic commodities’’.
Bakshi said his comments had been ‘‘misinterpreted’’ and weren’t referring to the Indian students facing deportation but were instead aimed at ‘‘training institutes in New Zealand that are being investigated by NZQA because concerns have been raised’’.
But Migrant Workers Association organiser Anu Kaloti, who was also invited on to the show said his comments were ‘‘totally unacceptable’’.
‘‘For me as an Indian, the comments were really embarrassing,’’ she said.
‘‘It’s one thing for him not to be helping but it’s another to be making derogatory comments – it’s outrageous.’’
The students facing deportation were planning one last-ditch protest last night outside a public meeting being attended by Deputy Prime Minister Bill English and list MP Parmjeet Parmar.
Kaloti said some of the students could be deported within days and it was for MPs to listen and at least ‘‘try and alleviate some of the issues’’.