Where Northeasterners are not Welcomed

Woryaomi Kharay *

Protest in Delhi against killing of Nido Tania in February 2014 :: Pix - Debanish Achom

The recent spurt in discrimination and racial attacks against people of Northeast in Indian major cities, especially in the national capital, Delhi, is a matter of shame for a country that prides itself on being the largest democracy in the world. India is always known for its "unity in diversity" – a country that supposedly espouses cultural pluralism as against cultural monism.

However, the brutal killing of Nido Tania, a Delhi University student from Arunachal, at Lajpat Nagar; beating to dead of Akha Salouni, a call centre employee from Manipur, at Kotla Mubarakpur, and the dead of Kawilungbuo Chawang, also from Manipur, under mysterious condition at Chirag Delhi, among others, tell us a different story – that certain sections of the society cannot feel at home in India anymore.

Recently, I had a telephonic conversation with a friend from home, who suggested (visibly out of rage) that "people from northeast should stand up together and tell India to leave us alone". While that may sound rash and impractical, it does depict the height of disenchantment and frustration brewing in the hearts and minds the people concerned. Attempts to improve security of the northeast in the city seemed to be evasive. Despite assurances from political leaders, law enforcement officers, and directives from the High Court of Delhi, the situation is hardly any better.

Mainstream/Mainland Ethnocentricism

Ethnocentricism is the attitude that regards one's own culture or group as inherently superior. It is the inability to appreciate and/or accommodate the ideas and viewpoints of others who practise a different way of life. It fails to recognize that there is a common ground for all peoples to coexist as common humanity in spite of the variations in social and cultural traditions.

There is a strong wave to view India in a dichotomous manner – the mainstream vs non-mainstream. The corollary to such narrative is that the sections of society under the non-mainstream category, often comprising of tribals and others at the lower rung of social strata, and people at the periphery of Indian geography, are systematically branded with all possible negative markings to their exclusion from participating in the larger Indian social life. A case in point is the humiliation of the former Lok Sabha speaker, P.A. Sangma, at the hands of his colleague, who dismissed his appointment of Speakership as one who does not belong to the mainland/mainstream India.

Such is the severity that people hailing from northeast and residing elsewhere in mainland Indian cities had to bear the awkwardness of asserting their Indianness time and again. If the Indian tennis icon, Sania Mirza, was branded as "daughter inlaw of Pakistan", her fault – marrying a Pakistani cricketer, Shoab Malik, the northeasterners are dubbed as "chinky", "Nepalese", "Chinese", "Tibetans" and so forth. Unfortunately, this is not a one-time experience, but an everyday affair for many.

Casteism and Cultural Indifference

Another possible reason for the uneasy relationship between the locals and the northeasterners is the age old practice of caste system among the Hindu society. The Varna scheme of caste system, based on the notion of "purity" and "impurity", divides Hindu society into fourfold with the Brahmins occupying the top position in the caste hierarchy, followed by Kshatriya, Vaishya, and Shudra.

The locals tend to look at the northeasterners through the lens of their strictly caste ridden Hindu society. By culture, most social groups in the Northeast are meat eaters. For example, the Nagas' preferred food items include pork, beef, dog meat, bamboo shoot, fermented soybean etc. The mainland Indians, on the other hand, are largely followers of Hinduism who revere vegetarian foods.

The hierarchized food culture of the caste Hindu society placed vegetarianism at the top rank (Srinivas, 1966). Non vegetarian foods are considered impure and hence lowly nature. It was not surprising to find that the writer himself was once implored by a Brahmin neighbor, hailing from Uttar Pradesh, to avoid cooking meat until he had to shift to another rent accommodation in two to three days. A visible indication is that people from northeast are being looked down because of their food culture.

Westernization and Christianization are widespread in northeast. For the locals, young northeast men and women clad in jeans and other western clothes are sure orgy party goers. Such was the culture indifference that a landlady had to gaze in amazement and shock as if she had spotted some alien creatures when three young Naga women in western clothes walked down the stairs to head for the church. "Is this how you worship God?" – derided the old land lady.

The socio-cultural conditioning of the northeast communities is such that it permits unsuspicious and liberal intermingling of both the sexes right from the childhood. This is often viewed in terms of sexual openness and immoral indulgence by the locals.

Police Apathy

While it is well known to all of us that most states police are not victim friendly, the northeasterners in Delhi and NCR face double disadvantage. They are not only burdened with language barrier, but are also discriminated in every possible way because of their mongoloid feature. In most of the cases involving northeast native, getting an FIR registered with Delhi police proved to be a harrowing task. Often leaders of various northeast students unions had to make a number of phone calls soliciting VIPs assistance in getting FIRs registered.

We may recall the incident that ensued following the mysterious dead of one Tangkhul Naga girl, Ramchanphi, in her rented accommodation at Chirag Delhi in 2013. A male relative of the house owner was suspected to be involved in the sudden demise of the young Naga girl. However, personnel at the Malvya Nagar Police Station refused to register FIR when approached by the Tangkhul Naga Students Union. Furious at the lackadaisical attitude of the Delhi police, several members of the Students Union resorted to sit-in protest at Malvya Nagar Police Station until the police budged in.

The habitual excuse of the Delhi police in denying FIR is – "you will not pursue the case; you will be going back to your home state sooner or later". Alas! Justice becomes a far cry for any northeast victim in such a scenario.

Way Forward

In a stark report, the North East Support Centre in 2009 reveals that 86% of the people from northeast residing in Delhi and NCR are subjected to some sort of racial discrimination. Series of incidents related to harassment of northeasterners prompted the former Chief Minister of Delhi, Sheila Dikshit, into action. She called for a meeting with MPs and police commissioners to rectify the sorry state of affairs then: "We will go into this because we must see that they (northeasterners) feel safe. It's a sad picture if they are feeling unsafe, it has to be rectified", assured the former Chief Minister.

Years later, the atrocious murder of Nido Tania shook the national conscience triggering serious debates in national media, civil societies, academia and political parties alike. Since then, several measures and suggestions have been pouring in from concerned authorities to ensure the safety of northeast community in Delhi. It was suggested that the presence of Delhi police had to be intensified in pockets and areas where concentration of northeast population is high. Whether this has helped in plummeting crime rate against northeast communities is for anyone to judge.

A few days ago, the Bezbaruah Committee, set up in the backdrop of Nido Tania murder to look into issues concerning safety and security of northeast community in metropolis, has submitted its report to the Home Ministry. The Committee has reportedly suggested a number of recommendations including deployment of an IPS from northeast in every city with significant northeast population, special squads for speedy redressal of hate crimes and enactment of anti-racial law.

While enacting new laws and stricter implementation of existing laws, and other measurements may help in assuaging certain anti-northeast elements to some extent, it is hard to imagine that this whole complex of anti-northeast socio-politicocultural attitude will wane away any time soon. The solution lies in genuine recognition and acceptance of the people and its absolute way of life in love and admiration. A quick fix and cosmetic treatment will evade all answers in our quest for permanent solution.

Our netas should start educating their own kids about northeast native and its diverse cultural aspects. Simply shouting at the top of their lungs that "Arunachal is an integral part of India", in times of Chinese incursion is not enough. Nothing short of embracing the northeast as part of the larger mainland/mainstream family will solve the problem. The onus is with the mainstream Indians.