On a recent Saturday night, a club in the inner-Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy heaved in all the ways a good club night should. Beats rang out, the thud of bass threatened to rumble drinks off benchtops and people danced without inhibition. If there was a point of difference, it was the theme — a modern, alternative South Indian dance party. In a near-deafeningly loud room, that was quietly significant. "It's a space where [attendees] don't feel strange or feel they stand out," said Pradip Sarkar, one of the night's DJs. "I think for a lot of South Asian young people, especially for international students but also those who grew up here, it provides them a safe space in terms of not standing out, not being picked upon and feeling generally comfortable." For some in the Indian diaspora, feeling comfortable has not been something to take for granted of late. For months, racist anti-Indian content has flowed freely across TikTok, Instagram and X (formerly known as Twitter). Some of it appears to stem from the US and Canada, where de-contextualised videos have been used to fuel a growing anti-migrant sentiment. In February, a member of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) task-force was forced to resign after the Wall Street Journal uncovered a series of racist social media posts, including a call to "normalise Indian hate." (The staffer has since been reinstated, with the support of Vice President JD Vance.) 'Algorithmic racism' Similar content is emerging in Australia. Videos of supporters at the MCG chanting "where's your visa" at the recent Australia-India Test Cricket series went viral over summer, while clips of a crowded Flinders Street Station accompanied with the words "Mumbai or Melbourne?" have received millions of views. "I became aware of it just a few months ago on YouTube and TikTok and was starting to see more and more of this appear in my feeds," said Sarkar, who also hosts a community radio show called Tiger Beats, Elephant Grooves. Friends of his, including in Canada, have reported seeing similar content. "I think in the Western Anglo-centric world, the middle class is feeling financially threatened," he said. This trend also hasn't gone unnoticed for UNSW associate professor Sukhmani Khorana, who has studied the Indian diaspora's place within Australia for over a decade. "There's a particular type of racism that's happening on platforms like TikTok at the moment which is directed broadly at international students, but sometimes more specifically at Indian-Australians," she said. "In the era of multiple platforms and algorithmic racism, I think it can get particularly toxic and vitriolic for these communities." Migrants blamed for housing crisis It provides an uncomfortable backdrop to a fiercely contested federal election. A debate around migration has loomed large over the campaign, at times interweaving with housing and cost-of-living concerns. During this week's first election debate, Peter Dutton went as far to suggest migrants are "flooding the market" and that migration numbers of the past two years are why Australians are struggling to buy or rent property. "If we ask why we’ve got a housing crisis, we can point to that," Mr Dutton said on Tuesday night. Migrants from India represent the fastest-growing diaspora community and largest number of permanent migrants, although recent ABS data suggests Australia's migration surge more generally is receding faster than it grew. Dr Surjeet Dogra Dhanji, an academic fellow from the University of Melbourne, said there was room for a conversation about sustainable migration numbers without "scapegoating" and fuelling animosity toward migrant communities. "It is really a joke to say that housing stress is caused just by migration. The housing stress has been here decade after decade, because the government — the federal and state governments and the shires — have not put in enough effort into getting our housing [stock] up," she said. "I think the perception that the Indian diaspora is taking over Australia or Victoria or Melbourne is totally incorrect. We are only 4 per cent of the population." Dr Dogra Dhanji suggests such arguments sit awkwardly alongside campaign-timed attempts from politicians trying to court migrant votes. "They rush to the temples, the mosques, the community centres — it is tokenism come the elections," she said. "I would ask first of all, 'You malign me or you scapegoat me and then at the same time you want my vote?' Either you accept us as a whole or you tell us that we're not welcome." 'Language really matters' A 2024 survey titled Victorians' perceptions on India and the Indian Diaspora, published by the Australia India Institute and led by Dr Dogra Dhanji, found that just over half of Victorians (51 per cent) agreed that the diaspora contributed positively to the local community. That sentiment was reflected across different age groups, gender and education levels, with the lowest agreement (38 per cent) among respondents with a below-bachelor level of education. Such perceptions, according to Dr Dogra Dhanji, can be informed by the nature and framing of migration debates during election cycles. So far, Professor Khorana believes the early stages of this year's campaign have featured fewer "performative" political gestures than in 2022. (One election-eve dinner photo from then-prime minister Scott Morrison included the caption: "Strong Curry. Strong Economy. Stronger Future.") But she says there's still broad misunderstanding about how and why members from migrant communities, like the Indian diaspora, choose to vote. "There still seems to be this operating assumption that people are going to vote on the basis of their ethnicity or religion rather than other considerations," she said. "Most research has shown that ethnicity, race or religion only becomes a salient feature when that community is slighted in a particular way. "As far as any kind of debate about cost of living pressures are concerned, it's important to remember that they are shared by all Australians, including people who have arrived here recently." A place to belong Back at the South Indian club night at Fitzroy's Laundry Bar, a regular host of Aussie Hip Hop nights, venue manager Jade Trombley beamed at the turn-out. She wants the venue to feel like a welcoming space for a diverse range of communities — but it's also good for business. For Pradip Sarkar, such events reflect a new generation's attempts to carve out a place within the local culture that feels safe and fun. He thinks most members of the diaspora simply crave the same thing as many other Australians — a sense of belonging. "I have friends from the Italian community and a lot of them said back in the 1980s they would have Italian clubs where they would play Italian dance music and it was a place where they would go because they felt they could express and be themselves. "I have lived in Asia for a long time and had English friends in Bangkok — they loved living in Asia, but now and then they did miss a bit of home and would go to the English pub, have the Yorkshire pudding and beer on tap. "I think those spaces are important."