India Day was celebrated at Trim Castle in Co Meath on Sunday, a year on from the annual event being cancelled due to a spate of attacks on, and abuse towards, members of Ireland’s Indian community.
The event, which has been organised by the Ireland India Council (IIC) since 2015, aims to celebrate relations between the countries.
A violent attack on a man originally from India in Tallaght, Dublin was one of the main reasons for the event’s cancellation last year, alongside a string of hostile messages left on the council’s social media pages and phone line.
“It was very upsetting for the whole team,” said Aparna Shukla, cultural co-ordinator for India Day. “Every day we were debating whether we should or shouldn’t do it, but the attacks were increasing in number.
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“We were getting a lot of ground reports from communities that it was spreading throughout Ireland, and we were getting a lot of abuse on our social media.”
Shukla is responsible for pulling together the event’s cultural itinerary, which this year included Bharatanatyam dance and a fashion show featuring “Indian ethnic wear” such as saris and lehengas. Indian dance routines, she said, tell stories that unfold over the course of a performance, often conveyed by arm and hand gestures.
Shukla moved to Ireland in 2002, a time when just a couple of thousand Indian people lived in the State. Today, the community is 80,000 strong.
She recalled being pleasantly surprised by the friendliness of strangers on the street when she first arrived. Things have changed over time, she said, but last year was anomalous and, in her opinion, was the result of “some kind of funded agenda that was carried out by people who were recruited for some campaign”.
The IIC said the vast majority of hostile phone calls it received originated from the US, and Shukla said some of the abusive comments made on social media came from Make America Great Again (Maga) supporters.
After last year’s disruption, she believed proceeding with the event year’s event was “very important”.
“Everybody missed last year, and we got such an overwhelming response when we released this event,” she said. “We got random phone calls saying, ‘You are so welcome in this country and we are so happy that you are celebrating this year.’”
Prashant Shukla, the council’s co-chairman alongside Damien Nee, said the situation has improved a lot over the last 12 months.
He said there have been no “significant incidents of violence” towards the Indian community so far this year and he credited the Government for its support in building a “friendly atmosphere”.
“This is something I can be proud of in the Irish system,” Shukla said. “In many countries, violence has happened against the Indian community, but no country in the world actually tackled it the way Ireland tackled it.”
A portion of the day centred around the EU-India Free Trade Agreement, which was signed earlier this year and described by European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen as “the mother of all deals”. The council is encouraging Ireland to take a lead on the agreement as it is implemented over the coming months and years.
[ Taoiseach welcomes EU-India trade deal as ‘positive opportunity’ for Irish firmsOpens in new window ]
A “trade and investment forum” with networking opportunities also took place, and Ireland India Day was attended by a number of Irish companies, including AIB, Bank of Ireland, Kildare Village and Forever Health Foods. A number of political representatives, including members of Meath County Council, were also present.
The cultural portion of the afternoon, in Aparna Shukla’s eyes, was an example of her community’s integration in Ireland. Alongside Indian musicians, Co Kerry-born singer-songwriter Francie Conway and local players from Trim performed for attendees.
“Culture creates understanding and understanding builds relationships,” she added. “I may be biased because I’m from India, but I feel India is like a cultural capital of the world. Our music and dance that you see, they are traditions that are thousands of years old. I think people are very privileged to be able to witness those performances in Ireland.”
