New Delhi: Congress members from both houses of Parliament representing the North East have resolved to take up the continued attack on people from the region in the metropolis including the national capital in the ongoing Winter Session and have also urged the Government to implement the recommendations of the M.P. Bezbaruah committee without any further delay.
The MPs highlighted the unabated racial attack on the people of the North East in different parts of the capital in recent times. They agreed that this trend was because of lack of knowledge about the region and its ethnic population who have different physical features and origin.
To address this vital issue the MPs have decided to move the Central Government to include history of the North East, mainly its renowned freedom fighters, in the school curriculum. This will help the students from the rest of the country to gain knowledge about the beautiful region and its loving people, they said.
The meeting was organised by the Political Advisor to Congress president Sonia Gandhi who had invited MPs, students, professors, activists and other professionals from the North East for a discussion in the backdrop of hate crimes against people from the region.
Binalakshmi Nepram, an activist, spoke about how freedom fighters from the North East are hardly mentioned in the text books. She also said that if the children who are at their formative years are not taught anything about the North East, people would continue to treat the region as outside India and its residents as ‘outsiders’, she said.
Liyi Marli Noshi, a renowned lawyer who often taken up cudgels of the victims from North East, said that people from the region mainly students who take accommodation on rent face racial slur and also are made to pay much more than others.
Safety and security of the students is the main need of the hour, she added.
Both the Congress MPs from Meghalaya – Wansuk Syiem and Vincent H Pala – attended the meeting where AICC general secretary in charge of North East, V. Narayanasamy spoke about the region and its difficulties.