TODAY -
The Richard Loitam murder: Denying our inner bigot
firstpost.com | Lakshmi Chaudhry | May 8, 2012
The most contentious aspect of this murder – and its shoddy investigation – is this: Is Loitam’s death damning proof of racism or not? This in turn has led to a broader debate as to whether people from the North-east are, in fact, victims of racism.
Home Minister P Chidambaram dismissed the problem in Parliament as “subtle discrimination” experienced by a wide range of communities. Chidambaram’s claim is echoed by by Nitin Gokhale, who goes one step further in his Outlook essay, “We Are All Xenophobes” He first argues that Loitam’s murder, while tragic and criminal, is hardly evidence of prejudice:
So the likes of Chidambaram and Gokhale may be right, after all – though not in the way they intended. Our attitudes toward our North-east brethren are indeed an example of a broader problem: of a new India that remains mired in the prejudices of the past, be it misogyny or racism. But the magic wand of development will not make our inner bigot disappear.
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* This Post is uploaded on May 08, 2012
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