Open dialogue on racism, sexual assaults and marginalisation of North-Easterners

Diana Naorem *

Jamia Students protesting against racism towards NE students on 28 October 2009 :: Pix by Ibomacha Oinam

This is the key note address delivered at the Open Dialogue

65 years old Indian republic is essentially a curfew republic. It is yet to become a secular democracy. Racist policies and practices predominantly influence the functioning of public institutions including the media. Political dissidents are eliminated in darkness to gratify the conscience of the nation—a nation which excludes dalits, SCs and STs and racial minorities and politically restive regions. For more than half a century an extra-constitutional law has been in force in the conflict regions like the North-East of India and Jammu and Kashmir without the declaration of Constitutional emergency. An activist Supreme Court of India in 1997 upheld the constitutionality of a law which empowers the armed forces in a disturbed area to shoot to the extent of causing death on mere suspicion in aid of civil power.

Though India acceded to the Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Racial Discrimination on 3rd December 1968, 8 years before she became a "socialist, secular republic" discrimination based on race, skin colour, language and region continues to be an everyday reality. 2005 Dhaula Kuan rape, rape of a Gurgaon based BPO working Mizo woman in 2010, Ramchanphy Hongray, Reingampy Awungshi, murder of Richard Loitam and the mass exodus of 2012 amongst others are tales narrating the racist experiences of the people from the north-east in main cities of India.

Big eyes and sharp noses typical of North Indian features consider themselves as superior to the yellowish, chinkeyes, flat-nosed, short tempered and short physique Mongoloid people of the North-East. Such kind of racial superior-inferior mentality reminds us of the colonial era.

In all such cases of sexual assaults against the North-easterners, a separate norm has been formulated by the biased mainstream media. While in all other similar instances, the place or region to which the victim belongs is not revealed to the public, however, in sexual assaults against North-East woman their place or State is revealed conveniently by the insensible mainstream media. The victims are branded as promiscuous, characterless and easily available and inviting. The accused person(s) are projected as "studious, hardworking, the champion of gender justice with a tag of unquestionable and undisputable persona or above the law".

Till now the Bangalore Government has yet to book those persons responsible for sending threat mobile messages to the North-East people. It has failed to punish the xenophobic perpetrators according to the established rule of law.When non-Manipuris were attacked in Imphal by the so-called armed groups, the Manipur Government provided them security round the clock. When people from the Northeast were attacked brutally in the south Indian cities and even forced them to leave, they were deported back upto Guwahati by special trains.

The Central Government has so far, failed to act on the recommendations of three public bodies which called upon it to repeal the fossilised demon's law – the Armed Forces Special Powers Act. The differences in skin colour and culture is a crime as is revealed by the statement "yeh hum aur aap jaise nahin hain" made by the Delhi Law Minister Somnath Bharti a few days back. In June 2012, the Punjab Legislative Assembly moved a resolution to send the street dogs away to China, Nagaland and Mizoram where they are more needed. In 2005, Delhi University came up with a separate "Dress Code" for North-Eastern female students to help them avoid sexual harassments.

India's secular democracy fails to neutralise xenophobic governance. To such xenophobic governance, black women and yellowish Mongoloid women from the Northeast symbolise prostitutes or sex workers. To such racial stereotyping mentality, every Northeasterner is either a drug addict, easily available and consumable, or an anti-national. In one of the Delhi University colleges in north campus, students sit in three columns one each for Indians, foreigners and north-easterners. In 2005 Leishichon Shaiza in Mumbai 2005 and Ramchanphy Hongray in Delhi, 2009 both were brutally murdered by two mentally deranged persons as was reported in the media.

Does one become a mentally deranged person after raping or murdering a North-eastern woman ? For 65 years the people of the North-east had been construed as distrustful, less loyal and trouble-makers or problematic in the eyes of the State as well as the mainland public. While AFSPA and other similar oppressive policies represent the crisis of the Indian State, the perception of every North easterner as a drug addict, promiscuous or an anti-national represent the crisis of the mainstream public opinion. Indeed these structural crises are working against the interests of the marginalised and oppressed communities across the country.

The organisers of this dialogue do not intend to hold a public trial of someone, but it seriously seeks to comprehend the logic that a person's commitment and contribution for social justice is a standard for guaranteeing or assuring his or her sexual conducts. It seeks to question the moral propaganda or moral ethics which has been created around such personalities as if their integrity and conduct is unquestionable, and also the assumption that they would not have been indulged in such bestial acts.

When the students' community from the North-east in the campus celebrates their ritual cultural night every year – showcasing their culture and traditions with typical Northeast dishes, all the so-called progressive forces in the campus comfortably entertain themselves, however, when these students raise their voices against what they feel unjust and unfair to their interests, the progressive-accommodative space suddenly shrinks to a zero tolerance. Posters articulating against racism and character assassination of north-easterners were deliberately torn down, distorted, removed and over-pasted. Thanks to the so-called sensitive and progressive forces in the campus.

We hope this discussion will generate a debate around the Indian apartheid and ways towards bringing it to an end?

Alana Golmei, founder of the Northeast Support Centre and Helpline, Delhi pointed out certain cases where North-Eastern women were sexually harassed and assaulted.

Report on the Open Dialogueon Racism, Sexual Assaults and Marginalisation of North-Easterners in India

The key speakers of the Open Dialogue were Dr BimolAkoijam, Associate Professor, Centre for Study of Social Systems, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Professor NiveditaMenon, Center for Comparative Politics and Political Theory, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Alana Golmei, Founder, Northeast Support Centre and Helpline, New Delhi, Nalin Mishra, Activist and Papori Bora, Assistant Professor, Centre for Women's Studies, JNU.

Alana Golmei pointed out certain cases where North-Eastern women were sexually harassed and assaulted. She mentioned specific cases where landlords flatly denied accommodation to North Eastern people, where employees were not given proper salary, and extreme cases of rape and murder. She firmly asserted that people from the North-East are living in constant victimhood, and therefore it is time we speak out for our rights.

Professor Nevedita Menon started with a strong declaration that India is a deeply racist, casteist and sexist country. She expressed her thoughts on how one, as an activist, as a friend of the victim of sexual assault or a friend of the alleged accused of sexual crime should act at times of such incidents. Particularly in relation to the alleged rape of a Manipuri girl by an NGO Chief, she is of the view that the suicide of the alleged culprit proves neither guilt nor innocence.

But the fact that his close friends, family members and people who claimed to be progressive have filed an abetment of suicide case against the complainant is itself a clear indication that they do not care about due process and fair trial when it comes to their family and close friends. Further she expressed her disapproval of the new wave of mediatisation of politics, and urged strongly that this be resisted. Showing concerns over the increasing impunity enjoyed by most radical men, and the culture of seeing all women as suspects, she said that it is high time we as women, saw ways in which solidarity could be extended to each other.

Nalin Mishra briefed about the progression of the case of the alleged rape involving late Khurshid Anwar. He gave the factual accounts of what he and some of the complainant's friends underwent while registering an FIR and how they were being targeted by the other party. He expressed his deep resentment over the continued character assassination of the complainant that took place within the social media. Papori Bora chose to place the case within a larger issue of how the North- Easterners have been victims of the very idea of India itself.

More than fifty years of counter insurgency operation in the North-East has produced a gendered, racialised and sexualised violence in the region. She highlighted some of India's racial and gendered assumption in regards to the North-East, most of which are inflected in discourses of power and nation building exercises like, ideas of cultural nationalism, Indian Constitutionalism, Counter Insurgency mechanisms, Look East Policy, etc. She is of the view that colonial narratives have constructed the people living in the North East as migrants. She also talked about the irony of branding the North-East as both primitive and Western by the mainland culture.

Dr Bimol Akoijam, went a level deeper and located the issues of racialism and marginalisation as something that is inherent in the structure itself. According to him, there are certain structurally located prejudices against the North- East which are produced through popular culture, academia and through the politics of the state. Therefore, we should be careful not to be swayed by "We are one" slogan, how much ever beautiful it looks, but rather should try to understand the reality and also ourselves. We should search for a unique way of expressing ourselves instead of looking at ourselves in ways other people look at us.

The Dialogue ended with multiple question and answer rounds. Many students and faculty members expressed their views on the issue. All together it was a successful exercise organised by the Concerned Students from the North East. This is the key note address delivered at the Open Dialogue