This will be the first high-level visit from India to Australia since a rash of attacks on Indian students studying in that country began over a month ago, triggering outrage in India and the diaspora community Down Under.

Tharoor, however, made it clear that if attacks continue, it will cast a shadow on otherwise strong relations between the two countries and called for 'action that calms this down so it ceases to be as loud a political issue in India as it has become.

'If there were maybe one incident a year, there may be a brief headline and it will die,' Tharoor said.

'For some weeks now we have been urging people to cool down a little bit, but the fact is that every time there is an incident it's a setback for our efforts to cool the temperature on this,' he said.

Tharoor appreciated the the steps taken by the Australian government to address the issue with the seriousness it deserved, but pointed to the wide coverage given by 24x7 news channels in India, saying it's 'an absolutely natural' story for them.