Racism in North East: Nagaland lynching shows victims of racial biases in Delhi could be racists in their homelands

The lynching of a man in Dimapur in Nagaland shows that a section of people in North East--Assam and its surrounding seven states, also suffer from the same malaise--RACISM.

People from the eastern part of the country generally say that they are looked down upon in rest of the country and that they are never given due respect.

They say that they are called 'outsider'.

But it is also true that not just Nagaland, but many other states in the region viz. Assam, Manipur, Tripura, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim, too have extremely poor record when it comes to tolerance.

SHUN YOU PREJUDICES TOO

Syed Farid Khan was accused of being a rapist. Thousands took to the streets and broke the jail to bring him out. He was paraded naked and later killed on the spot. The blood-thirsty mob even went to the extent of taking selfies with their cell phone cameras, on the spot.

This is the kind of sickness, which was witnessed on March 5 is rarely seen anywhere else. Clearly, there are deep prejudices and racism in society in North East (the eastern part of India) as well. It exists elsewhere in India too, and here too.

SPREADING HATE ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Khan was termed as a Bangladeshi infiltrator, a man who illegally stayed in India. Truth was that he was an Indian national. His brothers are in Army. Shame on those who spread the racist messages to kill a person in broad daylight. Shamefully, the Naga outfits publicly issued statements against him.

BIHARIS TARGETED IN NORTH EAST

People from Bihar are mistreated in this region. The labourers, both Hindu and Muslim, from Bihar are killed by local militant outfits just because they belonged to a region outside North East. Such incidents occur time and again.

IN ASSAM, LOCAL MUSLIMS TERMED OUTSIDER

With Muslims, the situation is extremely bad in entire region. In Assam, Muslims settled for centuries, and living for generation, are never looked upon as 'local'. They are always treated as outsiders. In Kokrajhar, the BTAD region, the riots were directed at local Muslims.

False propaganda over Bangladeshi immigrants responsible for Bodo-Muslim clashes!

RSS' propaganda over immigration has affected media also

For years, there has been a sustained campaign that Muslim population has been growing by leaps and bounds in Assam.

The truth is exactly the opposite. However, the fact is that if a lie is repeated hundreds of times, people tend to believe it. With Sangh Parivar and its allied groups mouthing the same at every forum on ground and on internet, it had already prejudiced the minds.

The outbreak of the Bodo-Muslim clashes that have displaced lakhs of people in Assam, must send us into introspective mode. After 65 years of independence, we are yet to gain maturity. The Kokrajhar violence just shows it.

Though the state government's inept handling is another aspect, national media also fell prey to the bogey of immigrants' capturing Assam. Census reports clearly show that there is no en masse entry of Bangladeshi Muslims in Assam.

Even native Assamese Muslims are labelled as Bangla and outsiders. This is a sad situation. Nilim Dutta, who  is head of Strategic Research and Analysis Organisation, Guwahati has delved into the issue of violence in Assam at length.

Poisoning the minds of people is easy in this age. But its also important that one should de-communalize it. To understand the complexities behind the violence, the tensions, the land related issues and the cause of trouble in Kokrajhar, first have an unbiased mind and then read this article here.