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An Indian-Australian man who was allegedly punched in the face and called racist slurs at Parramatta’s Westfield shopping centre last week says he is scared to return to the area, prompting a western Sydney Liberal candidate to beg for an end to anti-Indian racism.
Bhupi, a 63-year-old engineer, said he was walking through the centre last Monday afternoon when a woman approached him, punched him in the face, and shouted: “F--- off Indian, go back to where you come from.”
Bhupi, an Australian resident of more than 20 years, requested anonymity to prevent attacks online.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
Bhupi is being identified only by his first name to protect his family against online attacks. “It was purely a hate crime,” he said of the incident, which left him with three deep gashes in his forehead and heavy bruising. “My family don’t want me going to Parramatta at all.”
Bhupi has lived in Australia for 21 years and volunteers with a local religious charity. “I do believe that whichever society you live in, you should be a positive contributor,” he said. “If your country has given you something, pay back something. But this incident [shook me].” A 22-year-old woman was charged with assault and assault occasioning actual bodily harm on Friday.
Online racism spills to the streets
The attack has sparked warnings from community leaders about increasingly hostile commentary regarding Australians of South Asian heritage online and in the media. Thirty per cent of Australians hold negative attitudes towards Indian migrants, according to the Scanlon Foundation’s 2025 social cohesion survey of more 8000 people – a 4 percentage point increase from 2024.
The three wounds on Bhupi’s head have since been filled with glue.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
Rattan Virk, who contested the western Sydney seat of Greenway for the Liberals at the May election, said she was devastated by the alleged attack on Bhupi, whom she described as a friend.
As the federal Liberal Party ramps up a focus on immigration, driven by a push from its conservative arm, Virk said racism “had to stop here”.
“We should tackle immigration [policy], definitely, but please don’t point at the immigrants,” she said.
The number of incidents witnessed by Sydney’s diaspora community over the past three to six months “has been more than the last few years put together”, said Pawan Luthra, the Sydney publisher of diaspora newspaper Indian Link, who has been following anti-Indian racism for years.
“Largely, it started with online trolling,” he said. “What’s disturbing is it’s now moved on to physical violence to people who are of Indian origin.”
In January, video emerged of Indian cricket fans in Melbourne being met with “Where’s your visa?” chants at the Boxing Day Test, and in September, an Indian man reported being spat on and verbally abused by four teenagers on a train from Blacktown to Redfern.
In October, Indian pop megastar Diljit Dosanjh complained about racist comments he received when arriving in Australia for his world tour.
Anti-immigration rallies escalate tensions
The Scanlon Foundation’s report cited the targeting of Indian Australians during anti-immigration March for Australia rallies in August as an example of racism.
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In remarks made in the aftermath of the rallies, Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price falsely claimed Labor was bringing in Indian migrants to bolster its vote, before retracting the statement.
The incident strained the Coalition’s reputation and caused Liberal MP Alex Hawke to warn his colleagues against the “ongoing public demonisation” of the Indian community.
Virk, the former Greenway candidate, shared with this masthead comments on her Facebook page that use racial slurs, call for her to be deported to India, mock her accent, and blame Indians for cost-of-living issues – comments she had previously ignored.
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“Now I think it was my mistake to ignore them. It’s come to a point where we can’t take it any more, ‘we’ being people of any origin who have chosen Australia to be home,” she said.
“I think people should start reporting. We should stop and curb this movement now … We need to very carefully use words.”
Khushaal Vyas, a lawyer on the board of Multicultural NSW, said making racist comments about Indians is “not even being edgy any more”.
The diaspora’s concern about Price’s comments was less about how hurtful they were, Vyas said, but that they normalised the rhetoric that led to further vilification: “If they’re saying this on a national stage, of course we can say what we want,” he summarised.
Amar Singh, the NSW Local Hero in the 2023 Australian of the Year and founder of charity Turbans 4 Australia, reported an incident he experienced while travelling in Melbourne, when a man walked up to him on a CBD street and told him to “f--- off to your country” before running away.
“I’ve lived in Australia close to three decades. I’ve never seen so much hate in our society for one ethnic group,” Singh said. “It is really bad.”
The Sydney Morning Herald has opened a bureau in the heart of Parramatta. Email [email protected] with news tips.
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