RIYADH: Saudi Arabia is the most secured place for Indian housemaids, said a veteran Indian politician and member of legislative assembly currently on a visit to the Kingdom. Abu Asim Azmi, sitting Samajwadi Party (SP) member of the Maharashtra Assembly and an outspoken Muslim leader, said he has failed to understand why the Indian government has imposed a number of restrictions on Indian women seeking to work as housemaids in Saudi Arabia. Azmi was speaking at a press conference, organized by Akhtarul Islam, president of Middle East (NRI) Association in Riyadh, Thursday. “In many respects Saudi Arabia is the most secured place for women even when compared with the Indian capital New Delhi,” he said. There has been propaganda, he said, against Saudi Arabia suggesting that Saudis mistreat housemaids and that Saudi (employers) do not respect women. It was wrong to generalize these events, he said. “It would be wrong to pick one case of ill-treatment and create an outcry that Saudi Arabia is not a safe place for housemaids,” he said. In comparison, Azmi cited media reports in Indian newspapers that constantly highlight attacks on women workers. “Saudi Arabia is more secure for women workers than the Indian capital New Delhi,” he said. Women workers in New Delhi, he said, feel insecure and vulnerable to attacks by hooligans. “It is a routine to read reports in the newspapers that women workers were attacked, molested and murdered,” he said. Saudi Arabia is home to some millions of housemaids from Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Indonesia and African countries. In fact, Azmi said, considering the high percentage of unemployment in India the government should encourage Indian women seeking to work as housemaids in Saudi Arabia. The MLA lambasted Indian embassies and consulate offices in the Gulf countries saying that officials in counselor and labor wings of Indian missions are acting more like “dispatch clerks than diplomats.” He said the Indian government should not forget that over four million non-resident Indian (NRI) workers living in the Gulf have contributing immensely to the country's exchequer through their monthly remittances. “What the Indian government is doing in return for their contributions for these NRIs?” he asked. The leader said the Indian government has also failed to respond positively to offers of funds from recruiting agents that could have helped in increasing the number of staff in its foreign diplomatic missions in the Gulf countries.
