SHILLONG, June 11: Meghalaya Assembly Speaker Metbah Lyngdoh, on Friday, said that the Assembly Speakers from the Northeastern states will submit a memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla seeking early initiation of a comprehensive action plan to put an end to the repeated racial discriminations being faced by the people of North East in the mainland.
The decision in this regard was taken at a virtual meeting of Speakers of North East held under the chairmanship of Arunachal Pradesh Assembly Speaker Pasang D Sona in the wake of racial remarks against sitting Arunachal MLA Ninong Ering by a Punjab-based YouTuber Paras Singh recently.
The virtual meeting was attended by Speakers of Mizoram, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Deputy Speaker of Assam. The speakers of Manipur and Sikkim were not in attendance.
Meghalaya Assembly Speaker Metbah Lyngdoh stated that the issue is very serious and leaders of entire Northeastern states are equally concerned. He suggested taking up the matter jointly with the Centre for a permanent solution.
Chairing the meeting, Arunachal Pradesh Assembly Speaker Pasang D Sona, who is also the chairman of CPA India Region Zone III, expressed grave concern over the racial discriminations and hatreds being faced by the people of North East in the mainland.
Citing example of recent racial remarks against the legislator, Sona said that this is not the first time this happened. “People of North East always face racial discriminations in various forms because of their appearances,” he said, adding that the need of the hour is that leaders of North East should stand united and demand for a comprehensive action plan to put an end to the racial discriminations.
In this regard, Sona suggested an inclusion of an exclusive chapter on the region, its geography, culture, ethnicity and lifestyle of people of North East in NCERT and other text books of all educational institutions.
Stating that this is not a new topic, Mizoram Assembly Speaker Lalrinliana Sailo also said that every North East people face this situation and it is high time to stand together. (with inputs from UNI)
