WILL NORTH-EAST STUDENTS EVER BE TREATED LIKE INDIANS? February 01,2014 10:26 AM Will North-East Students Ever Be Treated Like Indians? Even as the national capital is trying to grapple with bigger issues of politics and power, the death of the 20-year old student from Arunachal Pradesh, Nido Taniam, turns the arclights on a question that rarely raises its head in our country - racial profiling and discrimination of people from North-East India. Nido Taniam, who was brutally thrashed by locals in Delhis Lajpat Nagar on 29 January died in a Delhi hospital on 31 January, following an altercation with a shopkeeper and a gang of goons over something as trivial as color of his hair, shows how rampant the discrimination is in the state. Taniam was cruelly hit with sticks and rods following the spat. After the altercation took place, the police arrived at the spot and lifted the victim up. Strangely enough, the victim was dropped back at the same spot where he was then beaten up by locals. He was taken to the hospital by his friends and family and died there a day later. Taniam was the son of Arunachal Pradesh Nido Pavitra, parliamentary secretary for health and family welfare, food and civil supplies. Expressing deep anger over the incident, Arunachal Pradesh MP Takam Sanjoy said, Taniam was a very cool, nice and calm guy. There was an altercation but it soon turned racial. This is a completely racial attack on the student because of his Mongoloid features. This is a serious phenomenon in mainstream India. How can a country accommodate so much intolerance because of how someone looks? This amounts to alienating people from your country. There are already so many problems in the North East already because of these differences. Why are these elements given room in the society?,” he fumed. Also, expressing his annoyance over unwillingness of the Delhi Police to register an FIR against the case, the MP said, My colleague in Parliament, Union Minister of State for Minority Affairs, Ninong Ering had to go the Lajpat Nagar police station regarding the FIR. The death of the student occurred a day after. There were not much external injuries but there have to be internal injuries as he was hit with rods and sticks. He passed away a day after he was brutally beaten up. The case of death of Taniam, a resident of Green Park area of Delhi, was registered in Lajpat Nagar police station, but they are now trying to push the case to Green Park. Why is either of the police stations having a problem in registering an FIR. This is murder and they will have to apply the same laws that they would have in case of anyone else. If the government, police and administration thinks that the Indian Constitution is for a section of India, we will have to go out like Arvind Kejriwal to the streets for our rights, Sanjoy said. This is the manifestation of the flawed policies that the policy makers has come up with for the 45 million Indians who live in the North East. There is still a huge policy challenge in this regard. The entire conscious of the North East is absent form the larger conscious of India, secretary general of Control Arms Foundation of India, Binalakshmi Nepram told CNN-IBN during a panel discussion. Although there are sharp reactions and massive condemnation of the incident, a section of the country still refuses to accept it as a racial one. This was a freak incident. This was not racial as such. People often tend to look differently at us because of our looks, habits and lifestyles. There are legal provisions to stop slurs against people from North East but the mindset of the people have to change first. We have to educate our people, Minister of State for Minority Affairs, Ninong Ering told CNN-IBN during the discussion. Concluding whether Taniams death was a result of a racist attack or just a freak accident isnt going to be an easy one. Nevertheless, his death only heightens apprehensions of people from the north east about the acceptance in the country. Meanwhile, the Arvind Kejriwal government has condemned the act and issued a statement chastising the Delhi police saying it will not support any form of discrimination. In a statement issued to the press, the Delhi government says, The government contemplating a magisterial inquiry into this death, which is not only tragic but raises serious questions on the alleged beating reportedly in public view. It adds that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has directed education minister Manish Sisodia to look into the matter and report back to him. Delhi government makes it clear that it will adopt a zero tolerance policy towards such unacceptable incidents and appeals to people to maintain calm at all costs, the release says.
Posted on: Sat, 01 Feb 2014 19:14:44 +0000