Addressing racial discrimination ; Significant to the North East
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: February 05 2016 -
The Centre, it seems is sensitive enough. Perhaps it this which led Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Kiren Rijiju to remark, ‘We will not allow racial discrimination to take place in the country.’
A statement which has profound meaning to the people of the North East and this is precisely the reason why The Sangai Express (English edition) carried the news on the front page on February 5.
The news story was not North East centric but what happened at Bengaluru some days back reeked of racial discrimination.
Just to jog the memories of the readers, here is a brief recap of what happened at the southern Indian city some days back.
A 21 year old Nigerian student was stripped, humiliated and beaten after a car mowed down a local woman of Bengaluru on January 31 (a Sunday).
Mistaken identity is the line that has been trotted out, but would the student have been stripped and humiliated if she had come from say a European country ?
It is against the incident that Kiren Rijiju made the comment that the country will not tolerate racial discrimination and though it was not spelt out, this was also an admission that some sort of racial profiling does exist in the country.
A native of Arunachal Pradesh in the North East, Kiren Rijiju must have understood how it is to be at the receiving end of racial discrimination.
It was not for nothing why the Centre decided to constitute the Bezbaruah Committee soon after the high profile death of Nido Tania in Delhi some years back.
Again there is a reason why punitive action can be taken up against anyone using terms such as ‘momo’ ‘chinky’ and other derisive terms while referring to the people of the North East.
This again is the reason why the Central Board of Secondary Education has decided to include a chapter on the North East in one of its schemes of study.
Efforts are being made, no doubt, but it is significant to note that even after India achieved independence on August 15, 1947, parts of the country such as the North East are yet to be fully given the due recognition.
Hence the efforts to familiarise the people with the region. Racial profiling is there in the country and it is this which should be addressed to by all.
The fact should be acknowledged and efforts towards addressing the mindset of the people should be taken up.
Rijiju’s statement that the country will not tolerate racial discrimination is a tacit admission that racism does exist and this is worrying.
* Comments posted by users in this discussion thread and other parts of this site are opinions of the individuals posting them (whose user ID is displayed alongside) and not the views of e-pao.net. We strongly recommend that users exercise responsibility, sensitivity and caution over language while writing your opinions which will be seen and read by other users. Please read a complete Guideline on using comments on this website.