No, I’m not from Nepal. No, I don’t do ‘nepali dhanda’. Yes, I belong to India. Yes, I face racial discrimination each day in its capital.
Racism, discrimination and sexual violence against people from northeast region of India are nothing new. To say that North eastern people are at the receiving end of this perpetual hate crime in almost all the cities and other places in India is like giving a thumbs up to Delhi for keeping up the practice.
AS Reingamphi from Choithar village, Ukhrul district of Manipur was found dead in her rented accommodation in Chirag Dilli. There were signs of brutal assault on her nose, face and legs. The reports of the two post-mortems conducted remain inconclusive about the cause of death. And the landlord and the police claim that the girl committed suicide and the injuries on her person were caused by rats!
The tragic death of Reingamphi has become just another example of the continuous violence against women from the Northeast. But her death brought forth a united Northeast collective and women’s groups like never seen before in Delhi.
The death of Nido Taniam, the incident of racial profiling of African nationals in Khirki Village, the molestation and physical assault on two women from Manipur – when will we stop excusing racism on moral and political grounds.
There is an urgent need for the authorities to launch a mass education and sensitisation programme for the police as well as the general public towards people of the Northeast, and about racism.
The notion that north easterners are incapable of doing anything against the 'mainland' people, makes the so-called custodians of morality feel that they can will their imagined racial supremacy upon northeastern and 'other' people.
A Delhi based social scientist argued through her tweets that people should learn to accept mild teasing because that’s the way it is. In that case, why don’t we advertise on our travel sites and tell all the tourists that groping, mauling and touching inappropriately is acceptable in the sub-continent, please come only if you 'agree that these are mild teasings'.
There is nothing like mild racism; like there is nothing like mild sexual assault. Racism is just that and its various forms need to addressed and condemned. Trivialization of racism is as unacceptable as the act itself.
Racism is not only inherent among common citizens; it is also practised by the state authorities in the form of racial profiling of people from north east India. The police refuse to register FIRs and harass victims to narrate the incident in ‘Hindi'.
It is about time Indians acknowledge the malice of racism and address it collectively. We need amicable and practical political solutions that need to be implemented.
And we need to turn India into the democracy it claims to be so that the rule of law can work for all its inhabitants.
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