They weren't in attendance. But Winston Peters and his colleague Shane Jones hung heavy in the meeting room in Papatoetoe on Friday noon. Like thick fog on a winter morning.

Community leaders were gathered in solidarity on April 17. Just a stone's throw from where a 61-year-old man had spray painted a disturbing message earlier in the week.

'Kill All Indian'. The graffiti outside the Papatoetoe Central School had spooked residents, and led to the arrest of a man who lives in the neighburhood.

The solidarity meeting was organised by the Papatoetoe Otara Action Team (POAT), which won three of the four seats in the local board re-election earlier this month.

The mood was sombre. And the question on everyone's mind quite straightforward. How to douse the racial heat against the Indian community simmering away lately?

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Two months back, deputy prime minister David Seymour warned misinformation about the free trade agreement (FTA) with India is spawning a negative sentiment about Kiwi-Indians, especially in South Auckland.

NZ First leader Winston Peters and his deputy Shane Jones don't like the deal their coalition partners have cut with India last December. The deal is to be signed this week, but they won't support it when it comes for ratification in Parliament later.

Jones, in particular, has been gaslighting about how the deal would lead to a deluge of Indian migrants. Peters has expressed similar apprehensions, but he has been less vitriolic.

Political rhetoric framing the FTA as a migration bonanza for Indians has singled out these ethnic New Zealanders. In an election year.

On Friday, Labour Party's MP from Papatoetoe reminded the gathering that politicians have a role to play in social cohesion. 

"When other politicians say things that are discriminatory or hateful, or call out individual racial groups, for whatever reason, it should be called out," said Jenny Salesa, who is also Labour's spokesperson for ethnic communities.

"It should be called out by the leaders of those parties. And if it is actually a leader of a party, or a minister, that's doing it [then] in my opinion it should be called out by the prime minister, who is the overall leader of the government."

That observation was aimed directly at Christopher Luxon and Peters, who is also the foreign minister. It wasn't the first time the prime minister has been called out for not condemning demographic scaremongering from his coalition partners.

In February, Labour leader Chris Hipkins suggested Luxon should be more assertive given that the questionable political rhetoric was stemming from one of his coalition partners. 

Jones has been exceptionally scathing in his reading of the India FTA. During media interviews, Jones has said New Zealand "is not going to be a dumping ground for people trying to come to New Zealand and set up New Delhi". Also that "we do not need any more Uber drivers".

At the solidarity gathering last week, a parliamentarian from the ACT Party – NZ First and National's third coalition partner – was asked if politicians can end up exacerbating racial tensions.

Parmjeet Parmar pointed out political parties may have multiple reasons for not supporting the trade deal. But it was crucial to make that point carefully, she suggested.

"When it comes to hate being expressed towards one particular community, that is where it becomes very serious," she said.

"The issue that we are dealing with today, I would say, is an issue which is of that very, very high level...where somebody has used the term kill. Right?"

Parmar alluded to NZ First's political drift when she mentioned there will be some people "who will have policies that are anti-migrant".

"They will be campaigning on the basis of those policies. But what I would say to the community is be aware where it crosses that line."

Speaking at the meeting, Counties Manukau West area commander Dave Christoffersen said he understood the concerns that were raised.

"I feel your hurt and your fear as a result," he said.