Icy reaction to MP’s fridge quip
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 broadcast Nachda Punjab.
His comments came at the same time as dozens of Indian students say they 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.’’
His comment was on the back of a question from the 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 were not referring to the Indian students facing deportation. They 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 radio show, said the MP’s comments were ‘‘totally unacceptable’’. ‘‘For me as an Indian, the comments were really embarrassing. It’s one thing for him not to be helping, but it’s another to be making derogatory comments - it’s outrageous.’’
Prime Minister John Key said he had not disciplined Bakshi, whom he noted had admitted using an unfortunate turn of phrase.
Labour immigration spokesman Iain Lees-Galloway said the comment showed National saw international students ‘‘as nothing more than a commodity’’ when many were the victims of exploitation. ‘‘It clearly hasn’t occurred to Mr Bakshi that these people are human beings who have fallen into the Government’s broken immigration system.’’
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.
Immigration New Zealand has issued deportation notices to 39 students, but advocacy groups have claimed that as many as 150 could, in fact, be sent home.