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Reality TV racism jibes hijacks Brown's India showcase
2007-01-18
Gordon Brown, dubbed Britain's prime minister-in-waiting, held talks with India's Prime Minister, but allegations of racism back home have overshadowed a visit intended to raise the finance minister's profile. Brown began his three-day tour on Wednesday aiming to strengthen ties with one of the fastest-growing Asian economies and gain experience before his expected promotion to Britain's top job later this year. But a diplomatic spat has broken out over alleged racist comments made by participants of Britain's "Celebrity Big Brother" against India's Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty. Brown's remarks on the Shetty issue have been making the headlines in India and abroad -- rather than his serious talks with Indian leaders, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who he met over lunch on Thursday. At a news conference with his Indian counterpart Palaniappan Chidambaram, Brown said Britain was "against any form of racism and intolerance." He added that the furore would not affect relations between India and Britain -- sentiments that Chidambaram shared saying the episode had "not strained ties between the two governments and people of India and UK." Brown's remarks followed his condemnation Wednesday in the southern IT hub of Bangalore of "any behaviour that would detract from the view of Britain ... that we want to be a nation of fairness and tolerance." He said he wanted "Britain to be seen round the world as a country of fairness and a country of tolerance." Unfortunately Big Brother is projecting a different picture. Shetty, 31, is one of nine contestants locked in a London house for a show broadcast round the clock by Channel Four. She has been asked whether she has "stubble" and whether she lived in a shack, while one housemate has made derogatory remarks about Indian hygiene and said Shetty "wants to be white". The Bollywood queen told a fellow housemate Wednesday for the first time that she thought racism was behind the bullying she had suffered. Analysts in India described the turn of events as inevitable. Former Indian diplomat, Krishna V. Rajan said media interest in Shetty's progress in the reality show was "understandable." "But obviously there is a risk of disproportionate attention being paid to that and losing focus on the real opportunities in this very, very important visit of Gordon Brown, who is tipped to take over from Tony Blair," he said. C.U. Bhaskar, analyst with the New Delhi based Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses said: "If there is a reflection of globalisation at the socio-political level, it is this." The episode illustrated "the influence wielded by the media in shaping public opinion and interstate relations," Bhaskar said. Newspaper editorials in India noted that Shetty was being well paid for her ordeal. Hindustan Times said Shetty received "a king's ransom" of up to 350,000 pounds (686,000 dollars) -- to participate in the show. "... But the visceral attacks on her show that racism is never far from the surface however politically correct everyone pretends to be," the paper said. "But we are no less racist within the country," the paper noted. "What else explains the quest for the holy grail of fair brides?" referring to an overwhelming preference for lighter-skinned women in the matrimonial market. The Indian Express in its editorial noted the Channel Four show was "designed to bring out the worst in participants." "Indian responses should also factor in our own record on prejudice ... If racism is a fact in many interactions in British society, prejudice is a quotidian reality of Indian social life. "The Indian elite has to do some introspection about this every time it accuses ... the West of racist bias."
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