By IANS
New Delhi/Mumbai : The Indian government and the honorary Kenyan consul general reiterated Friday that Indians had not been targeted in Kenya and there were no fatalities among Indians in the east African nation that has been engulfed in violence following the presidential polls.
A day after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh replied to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s letter pointing out that the ethnic violence in Kenya was not aimed at Indians, Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi said Friday: “All Indians in Kenya are safe.”
According to R.A. Goenka, honorary Kenyan Consul-General in Mumbai, things have begun to “calm down” in Kenya.
“The situation today is much better than yesterday. The military has been deployed all around to control the situation,” Goenka told IANS Friday.
However, Goenka emphasized that no Indian has been targeted during the rioting that engulfed Kenya. “This is not ethnic violence between Indians and Kenyans. It is a struggle between two political tribes,” he explained.
Arun Gujarathi, leader of the Nationalist Congress Party, called on Goenka Friday to enquire about Indians and members of the Gujarati community there.
“I had a meeting in the Kenyan High Commission. They have assured that so far no Indians are killed, but there has been tremendous damage to property,” said Gujarathi.
When contacted, the Air-India office said it had no plans to operate special flights to and from Kenya.
“So far, we have not received any request from the ministry of external affairs to do so,” Jitendra Bhargava, A-I spokesman, told IANS.
Goenka said that there are approximately 100,000 Indians living in Kenya, of which nearly two-thirds are Gujaratis.