New Zealand is preparing to host Narendra Modi, the first Indian Prime Minister to visit this country in four decades.
It should be a major diplomatic and economic moment, coming as the India free trade agreement edges closer to ratification and the Government celebrates early signs of export growth.
But behind the diplomatic spectacle, homegrown tensions are still bubbling away.
Foreign Minister Winston Peters, who will be absent from the weekend's events, has been openly critical of the deal, accusing National of quietly tightening immigration settings linked to it without proper transparency.
NZ First's Shane Jones referred to a "butter chicken tsunami" when expressing his immigration concerns with the FTA.
Destiny Church leader Brian Tamaki has claimed his guns were seized because the Government and police are "bending over backwards" before Modi's trip. Tamaki accused the police and the Government of "taking my guns to please Modi".
It's after a video emerged of Tamaki accusing Modi of targeting Indian Christians with threats and violence.
"I think we should reciprocate in kind. Let's purge New Zealand of Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims," Tamaki said.
India New Zealand Business Council chair Edwin Paul told The Front Page that those inflammatory comments are confusing and upsetting, particularly for newer migrants.
"So people who have been here long enough, for instance, I've been here about close to 30 years, and I knew when the China free trade agreement happened, and I was living in Auckland then, I knew all the dramas that happened then.
"The same kind of racist rhetoric and comments, et cetera, and it was a phase in time. And then when it was all done and dusted, it all just died, right?
"I expect the hyperbole around this and people who will want to leverage this to increase, especially after the visit, because there'll be meme-worthy material, there'll be photographs ... So this will be milked as much as possible in the negative sense, until probably up till the election.
"This FTA is about 15 years at least in terms of tenure and will outlast five governments; that's the reality of it. So, I think new migrants are confused because we do get a lot of calls. I've been asked in community groups and in the media as well about this specifically.
"For those who've been around and who have seen this happen before, we're quite comfortable saying, yeah, this is just noise. The signal is getting stronger and louder, and this noise will pass at some time," he said.
Paul said the biggest misunderstanding is that many New Zealanders still see India mainly through outdated stereotypes of poverty and chaos.
"Most Kiwis think India is a Third-World country, and it's got millions of people. There's poverty. When we came, they used to ask very obvious questions about snake charmers and elephants on the road, and no doubt they are still there.
"There are still snake charmers in India. There are elephants on the road. But that is not the definition of India.
"India is the country now leading in supercomputers, launching space missions, and becoming the third-largest economy in the world. This is a country where the big businesses are actually coming into.
"So whether it's pharmaceuticals or manufacturing or, you know, consulting, everybody is setting up shop in India and leveraging that growth," he said.
Modi is scheduled to touch down in Auckland on Friday for his first official visit and depart on Saturday.
A "well-advanced" security operation is underway, with specialist police staff being flown into Auckland from around the country.
Listen to the full episode to hear more about:
- Business confidence and investment
- Migration rhetoric
- More than a market
- Economic upsides.
The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald , available to listen to every weekday from 5pm. The podcast is presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting who joined NZME in 2016.
You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio , Apple Podcasts , Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
