People from North-East are as good citizens as other Indians, then why they are subjected to unabated discrimination and racial abuses outside the seven-sister StatesIJ Answers lie in cultural lag and lack of common national identity
The death of Nido Tania, a student from Arunachal Pradesh, in the national Capital after he was beaten up by a mob following a row over his ‘hair colour and appearance’ has once again evoked strong protest from North-Easterners facing “racial discrimination” day in and day out in metros, particularly Delhi. They demand justice for Nido and strong anti-racism initiatives. Nido’s case is not the first incident; there were many in the past that triggered protests from North-Easterners demanding strong action against racial discrimination. One may recall similar protests in the wake of Richard’s death, Dan Sangma’s suicide and murders of Ramchanpy Hongray and Rengamphi Awungshi.
Grievous racial discrimination and prejudices are daily experiences of North-Easterners outside their home turf of seven-sisters. They face verbal abuse on the streets and snide remarks from colleagues at workplaces. Not to miss fleecing by auto-rickshaw drivers and local shopkeepers. Fear, anger and despair are what they feel in the run for justice. In a country where eating with or getting married to a person from a different caste is still a taboo, their being discriminated in Delhi is not going to shake the collective conscience of the nation. Rabble-rousing will not stir the corridors of power. Not in a hurry. Moreover, reaffirming their Indian-ness time and time again will remain an uphill task. Furthermore, legal battles are protracted and expensive.
In Nido’s case also, like in previous incidents, mainland India will either remain silent or deny the existence of racism. To them, Nido just gave in to the ‘anger-prone, over-aggressive behaviour of north Indians’. A poll published in the Mail Today on February 4 shows that 67 per cent of residents who responded to the poll denied that racism exists in Delhi. A mere 25 per cent of respondents felt Delhi is ‘racist’. Oddly enough, the poll skirted the issue as to why people with sharp features almost always have an opinion about ‘slant-eyed, snub-nosed’ North-Easterners.
Even 67 years after princely States of the region were merged or annexed with the Indian Union, people from the region are still perceived and treated as ‘outsiders’. Non-N-E Indians visiting Taj Mahal or Red Fort are never subjected to a test to prove their nationality. But those from North-East are asked to produce their passports or other documents to prove that they are indeed Indians. In some cases, a ‘bona fide’ Indian has to intervene to endorse and stand guarantor of a North-Easterner’s claim to be an Indian national!
It is not just sheer ignorance that makes every ‘slant-eyed’ person a ‘chinki’ or ‘Nepali’ as they are often referred to. It is, in fact, a deliberate attempt to malign people from the North-East. In the mass exodus of North-Easterners from south Indian cities in August 2012, they were deported to Guwahati by special trains and that was what the Government could do best to protect them. In contrast, when non-locals were targeted by armed militants in the North-East, local Government and civil society organisations opened relief camps and provided security round the clock for days.
And yet, many in the mainland refuse to acknowledge that racism exists in India. Contrary to belief, a poll published in the Washington Post last year claimed India is the second most racist nation in the world. A report by Sunday Guardian quoted a Delhi broker saying “…otherwise this neighbourhood is quite safe; a lot of working people stay here. We accommodate chinkis, but never habshis (Africans and African descendants).” A radio jockey Jonathan Brady of Red FM, an FM radio channel in Delhi had commented in a live broadcast in his show that “shopkeepers will now have to make their own security arrangements as Gorkhas have taken to singing” referring to Prashant Tamang, who won the Indian Idol Season 3 in 2007. That is simply racism and nothing more.
Amid these racial tendencies, the worst sufferers are women from the region, who are stereotyped as promiscuous. The whole debate surrounding the 2005 infamous Dhaula Kuan rape case, suicide by Dan Sangma, murders of Ramchanpy Hongray, Rengamphi Awungshi in New Delhi and alleged rape of a Manipuri girl by an NGO chief recently are testimony to such racial profiling. It is not surprising when, following the infamous Dhaula Kuan incident, some colleges of Delhi University came up with ideas of separate a “dress code” for girl students from North-East. The intention was to ‘help them avoid sexual harassment’. The Delhi Police circulated a booklet in 2007 asking women from the region not to wear “revealing dresses” and giving kitchen tips on preparing ‘bamboo shoot’ and other ‘smelly dishes’ without ‘creating ruckus in the neighbourhood’. Such appalling initiatives from educational institutions and law enforcing agency expose symptoms of pervasive racial discrimination deeply embedded in Indian society. Or consider the mysterious death of Rengamphi Awungshi, a Manipuri girl. The Delhi Police thought rats were the prime suspects. And most of the mainstream media bought the police version. Her kin were pinning their hopes on the judiciary, while several rounds of hearing took place without the support of the Delhi Police, the mainstream media too had stopped pursuing the case after a while.
In the wake of the alleged rape of a Manipuri girl, the alleged culprit who was an NGO chief killed himself. His close friends, family members and people, who claimed to be progressive, had, however, launched a campaign against the so-called media trial. They projected the alleged culprit “as studious, hardworking, the champion of gender justice with a tag of unquestionable and undisputable persona”. Though his suicide proves him neither guilty nor innocent, they filed an abetment to suicide case against the woman with an intention to subvert the due process of law and fair trial.
Such stories and instances are not exhaustive if we take into account daily experiences of thousands of people over the years and decades. In one such recent incident, a friend of mine had to run from pillar to post for five days to register a case against an errant auto driver. His attempt proved futile. He, along with his sister and her two friends, was coming from Agra to Delhi and reached Nizamuddin Railway Station around 10.30 pm. They took an auto up to North Delhi area. The auto driver took them somewhere in Ghaziabad and refused to drop them to their destination. Petrified, the girl cried as her brother almost came under blows of the auto driver in an unknown deserted road at midnight. luckily a Ghaziabad police’s PCR van intervened and dropped them off at Anand Vihar ISBT.
When he requested Ghaziabad police to register a case against the unruly driver, he was advised to take up the matter with the Delhi Police since both the driver and the vehicle belonged to the national Capital. Resolved to teach the driver a lesson, he went from one police station to another and met people as advised by his colleagues and seniors. His determination crumbled in front of complex procedures. He, like many other people from North-East, was forced to suffer in silence!
Back home, military personnel are given a free hand in the name of counter-insurgency. While this is so in the mainland, nobody in many villages, towns and cities of North-East is sure at what time jawans will call out all the residents and detain them for hours at a local playground till the security forces sanitise the area. No one can be safe as anybody could be subjected to frisking and strip-search to check for scars of bullet wounds on the body at any time, any place.
Recently, the three-member committee, appointed by the Supreme Court, had probed six cases selected randomly from 1,528 alleged fake encounters in Manipur. In the report, the committee said that in all the cases, the security forces have blatantly violated the law and its procedure and have engaged in cold-blooded murder. The Supreme Court bench, which heard the case, found the committee’s report ‘very disturbing’. Consider the Supreme Court’s observation: “The commission has found that none of these cases was genuine and they could have been killed in fake encounters. It is very distressing to know what the report has found out... let it not be an adversarial litigation. The State and Centre should be equally concerned. In fact, it should be a more important matter of consideration for the Centre. This perhaps is not the best way to integrate people but this is certainly the best way to alienate them.”
However, the Union Government and Indian masses are yet to wake up to this call. To one’s complete and utter amazement, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal — whose direction can keep officials on their toes — and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi — whose little outburst can reverse a national policy — joined the anti-racial protest. They are ones who are supposed to initiate measures/policies to end discrimination against North-Easterners. Instead, they simply endorsed the demand of North-Easterners.
One wonders who is going to deliver justice to North-Easterners and whether racism is systematised, institutionalised and State-sponsored!
(The writer is Deputy News Editor, The Pioneer)