The Northeast is not only about the scheduled tribes, it has various other communities included in the general category, scheduled castes, minorities and OBCs. Manipur’s population comprises of the Meitei, the Meitei Pangal, the Lois, the Tangkhuls, the Thadous and several other tribes. The Union Home Minister P Chidambaram and the powers that be in New Delhi must first understand this fact before speaking about the issues in the Northeast or Manipur. P Chidambaram while giving his reply to a Calling Attention Motion by Opposition leader Arun Jaitley on issues of racial profiling of Northeast students spread across the country had mentioned about according highest importance to development of the Northeast as well as prevention of atrocities against scheduled tribes while denying the existence of racial discrimination of the Northeast people. This simply illustrates the fact that the Home Minister had only a vague understanding of the Northeast and its peoples or its varied problems. So we may safely say that, the powers that be in New Delhi do not have the moral mandate to speak about issues of the Northeast or solutions. They are crying foul about certain underground groups of the region seeking secession from India yet the Indian mainstream including the political establishment is still not accepting the Northeast peoples in their fold. It may be politically correct on the part of the Home Minister to deny racial profiling of Northeast people in other parts of the country but we must say he is not the one experiencing the insults and violence. The mass exodus of students seeking higher studies and educated youth from the region primarily because of unemployment had been repeatedly hounded in the metropolitan cities and other places in mainland India. Students return with experiences of racial profiling and discrimination. Hundreds of rape cases involving Northeast girls are happening on a regular basis right on his doorstep at New Delhi. Is he going to deny that? Is the Home Minister also going to deny the police advisories on the food habits of the Northeast people? Does he have the time to ponder upon the fact that the Northeast palate is different from the Indian palate? We like fermented fish or bamboo shoots in our food as we are part of the Southeast Asian world. We are proud of our food habits just as the mainland Indians relish spicy food.
Indian political leaders often quote the phrase ‘Unity in diversity.’ The diversity is there, no doubt about that. But where is the sense of unity? Where is the Northeast and for that matter Manipur located in the Indian imagination? The region is not even reflected in the national anthem that the founding fathers have adopted. The Home Minister denies racial profiling or discrimination. It seems he has not done his homework. We can begin counting mainstream political attitudes right from the special laws. The Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) is in operation only in the Northeast and Jammu & Kashmir. Is it not an extreme form of racial profiling or discrimination? A colonial ordinance enacted for suppressing the Quit India movement in the days of British Raj had been resurrected in the present day avatar of AFSPA and enforced among the peoples of the Northeast and Jammu & Kashmir. While the Indian government tries to defend its position in case of the Northeast and J & K, it refuses to enforce it in Maoist areas. By saying this, we are not advocating its imposition in Maoist areas. We are simply trying to expose the double-speak of the Indian government and its negation of the Northeasterners as full-fledged Indian citizens. We are the ‘Others’ who needs special laws or treatment. And for the record, we certainly do not need the patronizing attitude of the political establishment.
Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/05/and-the-other/