NE students rally at JNU campus
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, August 22 2012: The Northeast Students' Forum (NESF), Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi organized a huge Protest March in JNU Campus yesterday against the ongoing racist attacks on the Northeasterners in cities of India.

Around 700 students, representing various students' organisations, participated in the Protest March showing solidarity in the campus.

The protest march culminated in a mass gathering and delivering of solidarity speeches from different students' leaders.

The messages vehemently condemned the racial discrimination on the North East people as a reflection of the historical and political design of the Indian State.

The Forum strongly condemned the nefarious attitude of the Indian state in propagating and giving a communal tinge to the current controversial issue.

"The NESF understands the ongoing attacks on the North Easterners as a part of a deeper hatred towards the people of Northeast (NE).

Racial discrimination is a daily experience in the Indian mainland.

"The politics against the people of NE has been a long drawn process.

India's concern with the NE is only with its geo-political, economic and strategic importance but not with the people and it has never been a part of the Indian consciousness.

"In this instance, one is reminded of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel's letter to Jawaharlal Nehru on November 7, 1950, "Our northern and north-eastern approaches consist of Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim, Darjeeling and the tribal areas in Assam.

From the point of view of communication, there are weak spots�.

The people inhabiting these portions have no established loyalty or devotion to India.

Even Darjeeling and Kalimpong areas are not free from pro-Mongoloid prejudices.

"It is no surprise that the people of NE are suspiciously looked upon since the inception of the Indian State," a statement issued by the NESF asserted.

The mass exodus of thousands of North Easterners from Bangalore, Pune, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, etc, after being threatened and attacked, underscores deeper historical and political problems which have remained unresolved, the NESF statement posited.

Stating that the mass exodus had highlighted the sense of alienation and insecurity in mainland India, the NESF rued that the state and media have been consistently dismissing them as "rumours" while adding that it was a deliberate ploy to cover up such racist incidents.

"If it were mere rumours, then why were special trains arranged for people to flee?" the NESF categorically questioned while asserting that it were not rumours but threats, plain and simple that were instrumental in making thousands of people flee within a very short span of time.

The crimes against NE community at the heart of India are constant reminders of how vulnerable these people are, the NESF maintained while recalling the attempted rape and murder of Ramchanphy Hongary, the brutal murder of Richard Loitam, suicide of Dana Sangma to mention a few among others, wherein justice is denied, informed the northeast community of their existential threats in India.

The killing of four passengers and seriously injuring seven others by throwing them off from a moving Bangalore-Guwahati Train at Jalpaiguri in North Bengal on August 19 nullifies the state's repeated assurances of providing security.

Pointing fingers towards Pakistan, accusing it for circulating and uploading the so-called doctored video footages in social network sites is one of the tactics of the Government of India to divert the issue and give it a purely communal tinge and overtone, the statement charged.

National dailies have reported that attacks upon the North East community have gone beyond communal or religious boundaries taking new dimensions.

The controversial Kokrajhar incident has been manipulated to unleash an anti mongoloid campaign in mainland India.

The attacks on the Tibetans and Nepalese youth in Indian cities are testimonies to this.

The issue, now transcends regional boundaries.

It has partaken the character of pure racial discrimination and deep rooted hatred towards the Mongoloids.

These racial attacks have once again seriously questioned India's self proclaimed ethos of "democracy" and "multiculturalism, " it maintained.

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