Just like the rest of India often treats North-Easterners like foreigners, the North-East also discriminates against Indians who are not from the region. This erodes the concept of the nation-state, writes RAJDEEP PATHAK
It was a delight to watch the grand premier of Kaun Banega Crorepati Season 7. It was amazing to see Big B in his best wit and humour, yet again. While Kapil (of Comedy Nights with Kapil fame) enthralled the audience, there were other highlights of the evening. One of them was the performance of the Shillong Chamber Choir. The choir performed a few Bollywood numbers, before signing off with the latest version of Vande Mataram when the Big B requested all to rise, in respect of the National Song.
The choir also thanked KBC and the host Amitabh Bachchan for giving it a big platform to showcase its talent. The choir members also expressed their gratitude to the hosts for making an attempt, once again, to bring the people of the North-East on to a national platform. Previously, the Shillong Chamber Choir had performed at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on November 8, 2010, when former President Pratibha Patil was hosting a state banquet for US President Barack Obama and US First lady Michelle Obama — thereby, taking the North-East to an international level.
What was evident from the performance of the Shillong Chamber Choir this time was the attempt to tell the people of India that North-Easterners are a part of this country, and not from any foreign land. This highlighted the issue of racial discrimination that the people of the North-East are often subjected to.
In the recent past, much has been written about the discrimination faced by North-Easterners in the northern belt — and in other parts of the country. There have been heinous crimes against North-Easterners including the attack on Nido Tania in Delhi which claimed the 19-year-old’s life. Public outbursts in such cases have been natural. Incidents against North-Easterners are widely condemned, and the authorities are urged to nab the perpetrators.
In Delhi, North-Easterners are often labeled as Chinese, Korean or Nepali and subjected to barbs and racial remarks in buses, bazaars and shopping malls. The women are considered to be ‘fast’ and are subjected to verbal and physical abuse. When police complaints are lodged by them, they are either not taken seriously or the victim is told to mend his or her ways and live like other Indians.
The paradox here is that while the Shillong Chamber Choir sings in praise of the motherland, the capital city of Meghalaya is usually shutdown during major national events such as the Independence Day and Republic Day. While the tricolour flies high at the Secretariat building, the city remains dead. This is because over the past two decades Meghalaya and its entire State machinery has succumbed to the demands of pressure groups.
And Meghalaya is no exception. National celebrations in the North-East have become synonymous with bandhs. locals usually remain indoor and there are no kites flying in the sky, no celebrations, no flowers and no decorations. Thus, there is also no change in attitude! Who cares for the significance of such occasionsIJ
Also, it is difficult to gauge the knowledge-base of the new generation that is being raised in this atmosphere. One wonders if, for such youths, Independence Day and Republic Day are merely chapters in their social science text books, or perhaps a live telecast on Doordarshan of the Prime Minister’s speech from Red Fort, or are these days just about playing cricket or football on the empty streets while waiting for the bandh to be lifted in the evening.
More shocking is the Inner line Permit that is needed to enter States like Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland. This is insulting and humiliating for an Indian who needs Government permission to travel within his or her own country. To make matters worse, pressure groups within Meghalaya are now demanding additional restrictions to prevent the flow of outsiders (non-tribals and foreigners) into their State.
The Assamese population in Meghalaya was the first to be victimised, followed by the Nepalese and then the Bengali community, the all-time favourite prey of the North-East. In those times, we were witness to some of the most barbaric acts on women and children. Tourism had fallen to an all-time low in the State. Dussehra celebrations were marred by curfews; if the rules were relaxed for a few hours, it was always under the strict scrutiny of the Rapid Action Force, the Border Security Force and other paramilitary forces.
Such incidents still send a death chill down the spines of non-tribals in Meghalaya. In October last year, a young entrepreneur, Vikas Nandwal, was burnt alive in Shillong. He was treated at the prestigious All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, but succumbed to his injuries.
It is difficult to fathom why locals in the North-Eastern States are so reluctant, if not hostile, towards cross-cultural diversity. Embracing such diversity is necessary for upholding the integrated Indian identity. The fear of xenophobia rules large in this part of the country, if at all the locals consider themselves to be Indians.
Against this backdrop, it is indeed heartening to see students (tribals especially) from all over the North-East travel to different parts of the country to pursue their careers. But it is also equally disturbing to see a fellow countrymen being ridiculed, insulted or tortured to death because of his appearance.
Ethnic violence per se is not limited to the extent or outreach of the violence that takes place. Whether it is the tribals outside their State; or the non-tribals (Assamese, Bengali Bihari, Nepalese, and so on) living within the State, who are insulted, humiliated, beaten and killed or even threatened to quit any Government jobs that they may have secured on the basis of merit, these forms of ethnic or racial violence destroys the foundation of a State and the nation as well.
Mahatma Gandhi’s words, that “an eye for an eye will only make the world blind”, need to be taken seriously. The foundation of a State or a nation rests in accepting the vast conglomeration of people of different cultures, castes, creeds and colour living under one umbrella. India’s founding fathers had also envisaged this while laying down the broad idea of nationhood in the Constitution.
The celebration of imagination and seeing the fruition of imagination into reality has been shown by the Prime Minister. Now, he must ensure that this spirit does not die a cold death. The North-Eastern States can yield the country huge revenue through their art, culture, crafts and, more than anything else, tourism. But if peoples, other than the tribals, living in these States are harassed and treated as inferiors, the completion of the Statue of Unity, depicting Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel who stitched together disparate states and provinces to give shape to modern India, will only be a symbolic gesture.