NE : Not just a geographical location - Educating mainlanders
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: November 22, 2014 -
Hate crime. More than self explanatory.
More and more obvious that to many people in mainland India the North East is not a geographical location but comes with a load of preconceived notion.
Extend this mentality to the people living in the North East region and the result can be horrifying.
So it stands that whenever people from the North East region have to step into mainland India, they are more often than not viewed as some alien objects.
Chinky is not just a term to refer to the physical attributes of the North East people but also comes along with its baggage of discrimination which can take different forms.
The mental divide is deep and wide. Murder, assault, rape and molestation may happen to anyone, but the disturbing and unacceptable point is when these crimes are committed with a preconceived notion.
And majority of the crimes against the North East people come under this category. Not without reason why crimes against the North East people in mainland India are referred to as hate crimes. It is the mindset that is unacceptable.
A more than telling example that to quite a large number of mainland people in India, the people of the North East are different and hence can be kicked around and even killed. This mentality sucks and it runs deep.
The constitution of the MA Bezbaruah Committee is a fitting example of the Government taking cognizance of this deep rooted malaise.
But there still remains the question of whether this will be enough to check the hate crimes against the North East people in mainland India.
All the more reason why the murder of a research scholar at Delhi on November 19 evening at Delhi and assault of yet another young man at Bangalore, again on November 19 should not be taken as just statistics.
The case of another youth found dead at Delhi on November 20 too should be investigated thoroughly.
Cannot write off the uncomfortable doubt that these cases could not have been just the handiwork of some criminally minded individuals.
A beginning has to be made and the first point, especially in the assault case of the youth at Bangalore and murder of another one at Delhi, is not to view them independently of all the harrowing experiences that the North East people have had to undergo in mainland India.
There cannot be a one line statement on how to deal with the matter but the policy framers of the country have to agree that the idea of India as a Nation is yet to mature.
One way to deal with this is to include the history and geography of the North East region in the school curricula.
The young minds need to be taught that India does not begin and end with what has been hitherto taught.
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