New Zealand Immigration Minister Erica Stanford has sparked outrage over her racist remarks against Indians, saying she "never responds" to emails from Indians because she considers them "akin to spam".
Stanford made the comments during a parliamentary session on May 6 while justifying the use of a personal Gmail account for official correspondence. She claimed that gets several unsolicited emails, including from Indians who ask for immigration advice. The minister said she never replies to these mails.
The comments drew flak from several corners. New Zealand Labour MP Priyanca Radhakrishnan, who is of Indian origin, said there was no reason to "single out "people from one country/ethnicity in a negative light" as ministers regularly get such emails.
This comes months after Christopher Luxon travelled to New Delhi to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March, when he called for an all-of-New Zealand approach to bolsters relations with India. Both countries are preparing to finalise a free trade agreement by 2025.
Radhakrishnan, a former minister for ethnic communities, took a dig at Stanford, saying, "If you are from India, don't bother emailing her because it's automatically considered spam. So much for the National govt's all-of-government focus on strengthening the relationship between India & NZ and focus on people-to-people links."
Calling the immigration minister's comments "careless at best and prejudiced at worst", she said they "reinforce negative stereotypes against an entire community of people".
Later, Stanford clarified that she was referring to one particular email and not Indian specifically. "In this instance, I recalled a recent email I'd received of this nature when answering," the minister added.
Stanford also pointed out that her official correspondence is handled through her parliamentary office while the emails to her personal account does not come under her ministerial responsibilities.
