This article in RNZ first appeared in The Democracy Project
That’s the underlying message from a rare visit to New Zealand by India’s external affairs minister, Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.
Jaishankar met with his New Zealand counterpart, Nanaia Mahuta, last Thursday – but only for an hour.
At a press conference with Mahuta in Auckland, Jaishankar was publicly critical of New Zealand’s unwillingness to renew visas for Indian students who had left New Zealand during the Covid-19 pandemic and called for ‘fairer and more sympathetic treatment’.
Mahuta’s response to the criticism was to pass the buck to Michael Wood, New Zealand’s immigration minister, who was conveniently not present, and to point to hardships suffered by New Zealand students themselves.