Racist Incident Against Northeast Indians Ignites; NE Netizens Express Outrage
“A chapter for North East” is one of the latest Twitter storms to aim for social justice and greater representation. Racism in India continues towards the NE region even today.
The online campaign started after YouTuber Paras Singh had racially abused Arunachal MLA Ninong Ering via his youtube videos.
This enraged many Arunachalees and many people from the Northeast community. As a result, a case was filed against the Youtuber.
We need to find more ways to put pressure on the government, parliamentarians, and bureaucrats beyond this Twitter storm. Chapters on Northeast should start right from primary level. Our education system should be MORE INCLUSIVE. #AchapterforNE #NortheastMatters@ROKIBUZZAMAN2 pic.twitter.com/dv9smLWpWw
— Nilutpal Timsina (@nilutpaltimsina) June 4, 2021
Because of this incident, students will constantly tweet with the tags ‘A chapter for NE’ and ‘Northeast Matters’ from 6 to 8 pm.
This will be done to press the Union Ministry of Education to recognize and address the issue. It has yielded some pretty impressive and optimistic results.
They’ve called upon the Ministry to include more sections on Northeast history and politics in NCERT textbooks. The rationale is that this will allow for greater representation and awareness among other Indians about the region.
This initiative has involved a need to spread greater awareness about how the Northeast has brought laurels to the nation in sports. So, they talk about the achievements of Mary Kom, Kunjarani, Chekrovulu Swuro, and many others.
Rascist insinuations against northeast should be stop.such dispatity can only be bridged by introducing a #AchapterforNE in NCERT textbook.#NortheastMatters pic.twitter.com/lyOtU5em0K
— Eren Murry (@murry_eren) June 4, 2021
“A Chapter for North East” was started to minimize racial discrimination faced by the people of the NE region.
In an interview with ANI, President of AASU Chandigarh, Lingdam Kame, this campaign was a step taken to address the issue and while this may not completely stop the problem it will surely minimize it.
The beauty of Northeast India should be there in NCERT. A humble request to
concern authorities to add a chapter on Northeast India highlighting our culture,
ethnicity & diversity #NortheastMatters #AchapterforNE @ncert @EduMinOfIndia @the_hindu @ninong_erring pic.twitter.com/zlQ2up85hn— Oyin Komboh (@komboh_oyin) June 4, 2021
Kame also said that many students from NE face problems like racism 6 to 7 times a month. This is a testament to how common and normalized it has become.
Racism in India and Discrimination Against Outsiders
Racial abuse is not the only problem and other crimes against NE people are also common. Rapes, assaults, murder and other heinous crimes have been committed against people from the NE region.
Just recently, an NE girl was brutally raped and tortured by five men in Bengaluru.
This is not the first time as there have been several other crimes committed on NE people. The murder of Nido Taniam from Arunachal Pradesh still haunts the people of Northeast India.
Most crimes are also racially motivated. However, even after repeated attempts to educate others on the matter, racism in India against NE continues.
