PC on NE

Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram denied that there was racial discrimination against Northeastern people in any part of the country. Nevertheless, he will write to all states to ensure that there is no instance of it. BJP leader Arun Jaitley had earlier spoken of harassment of students from the Northeastern states. Two students from the region had died in Gurgaon in Haryana and Bangalore. A clear and comprehensive order had been issued by the Union Home Ministry to Delhi police in 2010. Chidambaram said that the circular would be issued in a modified form to all states. He was convinced that the state governments would discharge their constitutional responsibilities to ensure safety and security of all people. It will be more of a blanket notification. Chidambaram admitted that some Tibetans and their northeastern supporters had been detained by the police in Delhi at the BRICS summit but he denied that there had been racial profiling. While Chidambaram was presenting an objective picture by and large, there is no denying that the Northeastern people have reasons to complain. Northeastern young men and women get a number of jobs in BPOs and call centres in Gurgaon and Bangalore for their relative fluency in English. But women from the region do not feel entirely secure. Some time ago, a Mizo woman was raped in Delhi. Eve-teasing of Northeastern women is widely prevalent. The reason may be that they wear western clothes, speak English and often travel on bikes. But that cannot be an excuse. This feeling of alienation is at the bottom of the trouble in the Northeast, especially its militancy. But then the Northeast must be aware that harassment of and violence on women is not confined to Northeastern women or even foreign women which sometimes get undue publicity. Consider the incidence of rape in West Bengal under the redoubtable woman Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee.