Roshan Nauhria and Anil Sharma expressed their huge disappointment at yet another racial essentialism propaganda directed at the migrants.

The aim is to help address the urgent issue of political and cultural polarisation. It is time not just for the Kiwis but also the Indians to unite together and get out of this In-Group and Out-Group division of politics.

Vision NZ, the new political party led by Hannah Tamaki of Destiny Church, is making insensitive statements like these to put a “stop to all further mosques, temples and other foreign buildings of worship being erected in our country”. In Mrs Tamaki’s press release, she says the party wants “to put Kiwis First and immediately stop the phony Indian marriage scheme”.

Her comments have come soon after Shane Jones gained political mileage in the last few days, showing his angst towards the Indians. New Zealand First MP Shane Jones has entered into a war of words with some members of the Indian community and has vowed to come up with a new population-based migration policy for his party.

It was fortunate that the Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern who is known for her deep empathy and emotional intelligence reversed the controversial decision by Immigration New Zealand that would have made it harder for migrants to get partnership visas.

Following Jones intense social and internet bubble syndrome, Mrs Tamaki has also decided to join the show by announcing that the building of a temple or mosque of these “others” will not be allowed in New Zealand. This is the instigation created to show that we are a threat, in order to get a high level of alertness and emotional arousal from the common folks who may not even be particularly following any religion themselves.

Over 50 percent New Zelanders do not follow any religion. We are Kiwis who have left our country, our land and our families and relatives to call this our own country. We live proudly as Kiwi Indians as we belong to this country by choice. We have lived on this land and we call this our home. How can we allow a handful of people to create racial differences that are going to make co-existence difficult or even impossible for people who are at the receiving end.

Mrs Tamaki also said her party was “pleased to let the Prime Minister know that, no we are not them, and they are not us, but they can be us if they who choose to integrate with our Kiwi way of life and not the other way around”. Promoting friendship needs to be put together as narratives to block this harmful growth of political ideologies from spreading. Political leaders need to build empathy around the world to connect diverse groups of people through sharing and learning and being inclusive. With research and experience, we know that focusing on individual characteristics rather than group identity can be a powerful bridge-building tool.

Getting to know people of other communities and faiths allows us to see individuals rather than partisan representatives of one side of a conflict. Each group has its own set of talents as well as it own problems, and by acknowledging both these strengths and weaknesses, we validate the identity of each group and recognise its existence and its importance to the social fabric.

Roshan and Anil gave out a message saying, “We as Indians need to stand together before we get manoeuvred around by politicians on the perceptions of belonging to “out-groups” that drives us apart rather than bringing us together. It is what political parties do to divide us and gain absolute mileage for their personal gains. The day we can all unite as humans first we will realise there is not much separating us despite deep demographic, cultural and political differences. Indians need to unite first”.

-TIN Bureau