By Sandeep Roy
There is no such thing as race. None. There is just a human race – scientifically, anthropologically. This was stated by Toni Morrison, American novelist, essayist, book editor, and college professor. Her first novel, The Bluest Eye, was published in 1970. The critically acclaimed Song of Solomon brought her national attention and won the National Book Critics Circle Award. Racism and racial relations in India have historically been complex. India is ethnically diverse, with more than 2,000 different ethnic groups. There is also significant diversity within regions, and almost every province has its own distinct mixture of ethnicities, traditions, and cultures. Throughout the history of India, ethnic relations have been both constructive and destructive. The other day a girl from Manipur won a silver medal in the Tokyo Olympics and instantly she became Bharat Ke Beti. Everyone said “Well done India,” and “Bharat Mata ki Jai.” The same set of people before the Olympics stood together and abused North-East Indians as Chinese and virus asked what their rate was and ordered them to go back to Nepal.
The unfortunate state of affairs is that we are racist from the core of our hearts. We are the greatest self-centric racist country in the world. We identify our fellow countrymen as Bangalee, Asaamee, Noga-sob, Paiyaan, Sattu, Katwa, Khaaseeya, Beehari, Bahadurs, Coolie, Madrasee, Beef Eaters, Bangladeshi, Gujjus, Maroos and now Anti-national, Tukda- Tukda gang, Lutyens Walon, Moosolman, Farmers and more. The list is growing each day and the end is endless. Rupam Borah – Founder of VIRUS Communication says “We all rush to the blood bank on emergency. Who survives on who’s blood, hell knows.” Every coin has two sides and my intention is to highlight both the sides.
In 2007, the North East Support Centre & Helpline (NESC&H) was started as a separate wing of All India Christian Council. Its initial goal was to increase awareness regarding prejudice and attacks against people from North-East India. Many North-Eastern Indians face discrimination; are refused living accommodations when they travel to urban areas to study and are subjected to racial slurs in reference to the appearance of their eyes. A spokesman for the NESC&H has stated that abuse and harassment of North-Easterners are increasing.
A study from the North-East Support Centre & Helpline reported that 86% of North-East people in 2009–2010 said they faced racial discrimination in metro cities of India, based on such cultural profiling. In 2012, in an attempt to prevent discrimination, the Indian government asked all of its states and union territories to arrest anyone who commits an act of atrocity against a North-Easterner under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
In 2014, a North-Eastern student named Nido Taniam was killed in New Delhi. On 24 January 2014, two women from Manipur were assaulted and thrashed by locals at Kotla Mubarakpur, Delhi. They were at first hurled racial abuses but when they did not react to this, one of the accused untied the leash of his pet dog on one of the women. She started kicking the dog away being scared that it would bite her. Then the attackers started beating her and when the other woman intervened, they dragged her out by the hair. According to them, despite being in the lane crowded with people, no one came to help them. In October 2014, there were two separate incidents, one in which a North-East student was beaten by three men in Bangalore for not speaking Kannada, and a second where a North-East student was beaten by seven men in Gurgaon, Haryana.
In Assam, there have been many attacks on those from outside the region. In 2007, thousands of Hindi-speaking labourers fled from Assam after a series of massacres and bomb attacks. In May 2007, nine of them were killed and another 20 injured in violent attacks. The next month, 26 people from other parts of India were killed in a series of attacks over a period of six days. The police blamed the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) and the Karbi Longri National Liberation Front for the violence. In response, the members of Purvottar Hindustani Sammelan (PHS) staged a hunger strike in Dispur to protest against the “merciless killings of innocent and defenseless Hindi-speaking people.” Overall, 98 non-locals were killed in Assam during 2007. In March and April 2008, a banned Meitei outfit killed 16 non-locals in Manipur. PHS alleged that anti-social groups in Assam were carrying out a continuous hate campaign against the Hindi speakers in the region. In May 2009, nine Hindi speakers were killed in Assam and Manipur, after the attackers set around 70 houses on fire. During 8–10 November 2010, 21 Hindi, Bengali, and Nepali speakers were killed by a faction of the NDFB in Assam. In Meghalaya, the non-indigenous people (who are collectively called Dkhars) are often targets of militant groups.
The recent clash between Assam and Mizoram Security Force is taking another racial turn. Fight of words on Twitter is going on, while someone in a Whatsapp group wrote that it is time for Assam to show who is bigger. The actual participant in such a racial attack is never a victim but his/ her act will always leave a scar on society. The political racial feeling should also stop. It is time for all the political parties to join hands and make the country strong. Audre Lorde was an American writer, feminist, womanist, librarian, and civil rights activist. She was a self-described “Black, lesbian, mother, warrior, and poet” who dedicated her life and her work to confronting and addressing injustices of racism, sexism, classism, capitalism, hetero-sexism, and homophobia. She said, “It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences.” As you sow, so shall you reap, still stands strong. So many countries inside one country make India, therefore, we should all try and bring in the sense of Indianness for every countryman without waiting for those special moments like a medal in the Olympics or a Cricket Match.
I leave you here with your fine sense of judgment to ponder upon. It is not enough to be quietly non-racist, now is the time to be vocally anti-racist.