“Indian to nahi lagti ho…”
When an immigration officer at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport said this to Monika Khangembam a few days ago, little did the he know that his asinine comment (Kahngembam’s Indian passport was in full view) would make headlines all over the country. The news was splashed all across TV channels, newspapers reported it in detail, and the social media went berserk.
This is how the events unfolded: Hailing from Manipur, Khangembam, a corporate communications professional, was travelling to South Korea for a conference. At the immigration desk, an official took it upon himself to check out her “Indianness”. After passing the gratuitous comment about her not looking like an Indian, he went on to double-check, “Pakka Indian ho?” Obviously, the Indian passport she was presenting was not proof enough for him. Persisting, he asked her how many states there are in India, and then wanted to know where she hailed from. On learning she was from Manipur, he took ridiculous to a whole new level, asking her to name the states with which Manipur shared borders. When Khangembam protested she was getting late, he smirked and said the plane would not go anywhere in a hurry. Another lady at the counter found it all too amusing and giggled.
Yet another case of harassment of people from the North East. Yet another instance of racial discrimination by an Indian against an Indian. Yet another statistic.
Yes, Indians are racist
The unsavoury incident serves as yet another reminder that harassment of people of North East is not only rampant, it is institutionalized, with state authorities practicing it brazenly. This was not a case of lumpen elements or disadvantaged sections picking on a person who did not look like them; it was officers of the Government of India mocking a person from the North East, humiliating her and making her feel small. Racial profiling in its truest sense.
Racism, discrimination, violence and sexual violence against people from the North East region of India are not new, but of late, they have assumed monstrous proportions. Consider the following statistics:
- On January 29, 2014, 19-year-old Nido Tania from Arunachal Pradesh was assaulted and killed by some shopkeepers in South Delhi’s Lajpat Nagar.
- On January 25, 2014, two Manipuri girls and their friend were beaten up by locals at Kotla Mubarakpur, New Delhi.
- On February 4, 2014, the case of a 20-year-old girl from Assam trafficked to New Delhi on the pretext of being provided a job came to light. Three people were arrested in connection with the case.
- On February 7, 2014, a minor girl from Manipur was raped by her landlord’s son in South Delhi’s Munirka. The accused was arrested.
- On February 9, 2014, two Manipuri boys were beaten to death by a group of five men who subjected them to racist taunts. One person has been arrested in this case.
- On April 8, 2012, 19-year-old Richard Loitam, hailing from Manipur, and a student of architecture in Bangalore, was found dead in his hostel room under mysterious circumstances. Racial violence was suspected.
There are many more incidents that point to racism among mainland Indians. New Delhi has emerged as the hub, with surveys pointing out that it is the country’s most intolerant city. A recent study conducted by Jamia Millia Islamia’s Centre for North East Studies and Policy Research, along with the National Commission for Women (NCW), found that 60 per cent of women from the North East who have moved to major cities in India have reported facing harassment and discrimination. A staggering 81 per cent of women respondents said they faced racial discrimination in the Capital.
Another survey conducted in 2014 by Delhi-based NGO Reachout Foundation and Centre for Policy Research revealed that as many as 54 per cent people from the North East feel that discrimination is a reality in the national Capital, while 74 per cent felt that Delhi is the most unsafe place in terms of ethnic discrimination. As many as 27 per cent of the respondents said discrimination is experienced either at a restaurant or sporting events and other public places, while 24 per cent pointed to educational institutions. Around 13 per cent said they face discrimination at their workplace. Disturbingly, the survey found out that only four per cent of the victims of discrimination reported the matter to the police.
“We face discrimination, be it in public transport, on the roads, in the market, in educational institutions, at the workplace, and so forth, just because we look different, or we have a different language and culture, and people have a wrong perception about the North East,” says J Maivio, Vice-President, Northeast India Welfare Society, who is also a member of the Bezbaruah Committee set up by the Ministry of Home Affairs in 2014 in the wake of Nido Tania’s death to look into issues levaquin faced by north-easterners. “Stereotypes, verbal abuse, racial comments are very common,” he adds.
Manifestations of racism
The othering of the people of the North East takes many forms. The most commonly reported manifestations of racism include racial slurs such as “chinky”, “chowmein”, “Chinese”, “Nepali”, “bahadur”, and so forth. “Yes, we have Mongoloid features, yes we look different, but does that take away our Indianness,” asks an anguished Dr Alana Golmei, General Secretary, North-East Support Centre. Sharing a personal experience, Dr Golmei gives instance of CISF officials harassing her three nieces at IGI airport a couple of years back. “We were waiting to board an Indigo flight, and suddenly these officials walked very officiously towards my nieces and demanded to see their ID cards. Out of all the people in that area, these worthies zeroed in on just the three north-eastern girls,” she recounts.
Sadly, the incidence of racism has been increasing over the past few years. “When I came to Delhi for the first time in 1993, racism was hardly an issue,” says Shanta Saikia, a journalist hailing from Assam. “I never felt discriminated against; nobody called me ‘chinky’, no one asked if I am an Indian. It’s only in the past three to four years that the situation has changed for the worse, and so drastically,” she adds. Rationalising the upsurge in the incidence of racism, Saikia says it is a case of two diverse cultures coming together, and not getting along too well. “The North East has a tradition of a more liberal upbringing; we dress differently, and mingle with the other sex freely. Gender interaction is not taboo in the North East, but mainland India does not seem to take too kindly to our ways. As a result, people of the North East get labeled in a certain way, and harassed and discriminated against.”
In a Facebook post, Khangembam writes: “Me and a lot of people from North East have constantly faced subtle racist jibes whether in the form of a sarcastic remark, smile, or attitude. Sometimes you cannot define it but you just feel it so you never express. Maybe this time it was something tangible so I could express it. Sadly you have to be killed to prove there is racism. (Richard Loitam, Nido Taniam)”
But what explains the racist behaviour of those who should know better? Government functionaries, police personnel, advantaged sections of society, et al, are expected to behave differently, with more sensitivity and understanding. Says Maivio, “In spite of the fact that India is developing in all spheres, it is unfortunate that we still have important government functionaries and officers who are reluctant to accept that the North East is as much a part of India as Delhi or Mumbai is. I see it as intentional reluctance on their part to accept us for the simple reason that we look different. We are very vulnerable; the locals think we don’t have a support system and won’t be able do anything since we are ‘outsiders’. Even the law-enforcing agencies are biased, unfriendly and not cooperative and they always try to reach a compromise. So, we hardly see any charge sheet filed, leave alone a trial.”
The way forward
That Indians are highly racist can be taken as a given. But if the fabric of our society is not to be torn into bits, we have to get over the denial and then get together for a solution. It is already late; people from the North East have faced so much discrimination, they are highly embittered. In a moving video created by YouTube channel, Old Delhi Films, a young girl from the North East says: “If North East is all about small eyes, then India is all about small minds.”
The OTHER INDIANS – (ODF) | North East India
Unless the government takes steps urgently to educate the masses about the existence of 40 million Indians in the North East who have Mongoloid features, different food habits, language and history, we will stare at disintegration.
Maivio lists a number of steps that can be taken right away. “As the country progresses and matures, citizens should also move forward by breaking the walls of disunity, of race, of caste or of physical features. We need a policy to make sure that barriers are broken and all are accepted as equals. An anti-racial law needs to be enacted, people have to be educated about the North East, North East culture and history needs to be included in the curriculum of schools, colleges and universities. Besides, all government officials should mandatorily be sensitized about the North East and there should be special fast-track courts designated for dealing with cases related to the region.”
That sounds eminently sensible and doable – the sooner we take steps to ameliorate the situation, the better.
Suneeta Kaul
References:
Discrimination against north east people: Survey by Economic Times
