We must follow Mandela, Gandhi, Martin Luther, says Al Qassemi who has ‘Hend’, or India, as her first name

Princess Hend Faisal Al Qassemi, a member of the United Arab Emirates royal family whose criticism of hate mongering by an Indian led others in her country to speak out, has said that the likes of Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela were the role models to follow in times such as these.

“There is no winner if this turns aggressive. We have to follow the Nelson Mandela-Martin Luther-Gandhi way of doing things,” said Al Qassemi. “We don’t need another Hitler, we need a new Gandhi,” she told The Telegraph Online on Tuesday.

Al Qassemi, who was among the first to call out an Indian for posting Islamophobic tweets, said that in the Emirates hate speech was a crime and punishable offence.

On April 15, the princess used screenshots of a now de-activated account of one Saurabh Upadhyay to state that anyone who was openly racist and discriminatory in the UAE would be fined and made to leave.

Soon others followed suit. Over the past few days, several influential Arabs across UAE went about sharing hate speeches by Indian politicians and videos of the February violence in north east Delhi.

This led to a response by Prime Minister Narendra Modi followed by several ministers. On April 19, the PMO tweeted quoting Modi: “COVID-19 does not see race, religion, colour, caste, creed, language or borders before striking.”

The next day, India’s ambassador to UAE Pavan Kapoor tweeted: “Discrimination is against our moral fabric and the Rule of law. Indian nationals in the UAE should always remember this.”