By Ananya Guha
The recent murder of Raja Raghuvanshi in Sohra, shows clearly two or three examples of how bias is embedded in the so called ‘mainstream.’ One is treating the NE Region as vague peripheries. That is so because the entire region is considered as one single unit. Secondly the region is regarded as an area of darkness, where witchcraft mumbo jumbo is practised. Thirdly, the hills are ‘violence prone’. Every part of the country is violence prone in some way or the other. Creating false narratives about the region or the state of Meghalaya is the pastime of many media houses. They glibly assumed that Raja Raghuvanshi was murdered by the locals, without waiting for the investigations to be completed. In the process the mainstream media houses created not a dichotomy, but a division, augmented to foster the them and us story, which works in various ways in the country.
The result? Obviously acerbic reactions in the midst of provocation. When will this so-called ‘mainland’ India, stop creating schisms in our diverse and pluralistic societies? There were angry reactions to the painting of Meghalaya as a land of crime. ‘Crime prone hills,’ to be precise. Are the entire hills crime prone, or only a part of it? Which part of Sohra, or the entire state.?
Some writer decades back, had described India as an experiment. Perhaps some people want the experiment to continue, looking askance at the supposed peripheries. That is because the country starts in Delhi and ends in Patna, that is the mentality of some people. What a travesty.
Even today I am shocked to see that many in the mainland do not clearly know about Shillong and Meghalaya. One feels the pinch and it hurts to say the least.
These are lessons we must learn. That quite a few people are not interested to probe into the truth. So when the businessman was murdered, the response was tepid: oh, one of those as usual. It hurts and pains me to see such a response: crime ridden hills, sorcery and ghosts. Rudyard Kipling believed in the white man’s burden of educating and perhaps even chastening the natives. But his stories such as “ Gunga Din” have a human touch, if not a humane one. Recently two incidents took place in different parts of India, which I am tempted to mention. One was in Calcutta where a lady was speaking in Bengali. Another lady accosted her, and asked her to speak in Hindi. Recently in Bangalore, in a bank a lady, the bank employee, insisted on speaking in Hindi, whereas the man insisted that she should speak in Kannada. Such incidents only create division; cultural recalcitrance. In the Bangalore instance was it that neither the man or the woman knew Kannada or Hindi or was it feigned? But this can be a conjecture at best.
In India stereotyping linguistic communities have taken place. In our school days all South Indians were known as ‘ Madrasis’. It was not only a demonstration of ignorance but sheer insensitivity.
Similarly, today North East India is looked upon as a ‘ dark’ region, where atavistic passions prevail. The response of the media to the Sohra murder came at a time, when the police and the local community were on the search for Raja Raghuvanshi, in the midst of inhospitable climate and terrain. The response of people of the Sohra region was compassionate. They decided to pay a candlelight and floral tribute to their guest. It was like a Christian response, responding by love not animosity. Again, the people of Sohra have not yet demanded another apology, but have requested one, cutting across print, electronic media and social media handles. One apology that will be used in print, electronic and social media handles.
The Sohra incident also exemplifies how the North Eastern Region specifically, Meghalaya has been taken advantage of, so that all blame would point at the local communities. This is mainstream people’s way of using the place so that local reputation will be sullied.
All this is saddening. There is sadness when people are not sensitive about localisms and local culture. The whole murder was premeditated and planned for quite some time. And was Sohra chosen, because it is a ‘crime prone hills?’
Stereotyping North East India is nothing new. Worse still is the ignorance. Even in the 1990s a Professor of History, in a central university, thought that Imphal was close to Shillong!
But vitriol should not be answered by vitriol. It should be done as the people of Sohra did- quiet magnanimity with an inner resilience. That is what wins finally.
The attitude of Raja Raghuvanshi’s family initially was one of skepticism. They doubted the work of the Meghalaya Police but retracted later, when they saw what a neat job the Meghalaya Police had done. This is again attitudinal, and a superiority complex. In fact Meghalaya Police getting vital clues later on signed off the murder ‘ mystery’ with elan.
INDIA is no longer an ‘experiment’. She has withstood the ravages of time and has resolved opposites, conflicts, and antinomies. That is the Indian nation, pluralistic, diverse; yet one.