More than racial profiling : Idea of India as a Nation
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: March 30, 2012 -

Rally against Racial Discrimination on NE at Delhi :: 29th Dec 2008

This is more than the Chicken Neck Syndrome. This goes beyond Racial Profiling and connotes a deep rooted psyche which may be understood as a mental conditioning nurtured politically and socially down the decades.

The very report that a good number of people from the North East region, including Manipur, were hauled up and asked to produce their 'passports' at Delhi in the backdrop of the protest launched by Tibetan exiles against the visit of Chinese premier Hu Jintao for the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) summit tells a story of how the idea of India as a Nation is yet to mature and how a good section of people are made to feel like aliens in their own homeland.

A media report quotes a woman from Manipur as saying, "...when we said we were from Manipur, the cops asked us to show our passports..." and this should sum up where the North East exists in the political and social consciousness of the establishment at Delhi.

Imagine the sense of furore it would kick up if any cop or anyone from the Government of India had the audacity to demand the same from a Punjabi or a Jat in any part of the country.

The peripheral location of the North East region on the map of India is something which cannot be changed, but the important point to note here is that the peripheral location of the region has morphed into a 'peripheral people' and this has political and social connotations, which cannot be swept under the carpet that easily.

No wonder the term 'mainland India' vis-a-vis the North East is gaining currency and this cannot be a matter of pride for a country which has existed as an independent entity for over 60 years.

The disconnect runs deep and this has manifested itself in myriad forms ranging from the manner in which Delhi police have been handling sensitive cases where women from the North East have been the victims to the outrageous dos and don'ts issued by Delhi police for the North East people if they want to be safe in Delhi, a few years back.

The number of people from the North East working and settling down in Delhi has increased by leaps and bounds down the decades and their presence in the capital city is anything but peripheral and this should be more than enough to negate the question of mistaken identity on the basis of one's physical appearance.

The Governments of the North East States should not take this lying down. They may kow tow to the 'High Command' for their selfish and purely personal political gains, but when it comes to the people as a whole, they should rise to the situation and address the sentiments of the people.

Take up the issue with Delhi and tell them in no uncertain terms that the North East will not tolerate such a treatment, which is downright demeaning to their status as bonafide citizens of this land.

Delhi Chief Minister Shiela Dixit and the Police Commissioner of Delhi police should be questioned. How dare some men clad in Khakis detain citizens of this country and demand to see their passports on the ground that they look different ?

On hindsight what happened or is happening in Delhi right now can be traced to the decades of purposely or ignorantly refusing to see that India as a country is not only about the cowbelt and the south of the Vindhyas.

Cops demanding to see the passports of some persons from the North East may be seen as nothing less than the coming to fruition of a policy wherein the history text books prescribed in the schools of the country refuse to acknowledge that there are people and places in this region which come under the Nation called India.

Or is it a case of the North East not included in India's Tryst With Destiny on August 15, 1947 ? Or is it just a case of an ignorant cop asking some juvenile question under the impression that he is doing a good job ?

Either way it sucks and nothing can be more demeaning than to be questioned about one's Nationality in one's own country. That this is happening at the 'official level' is what is most galling.

It is not a gaon wallah raising the question, 'Aap Hindustani hoon ?' but an official of the Government of India.

This is not racial profiling.

This is more like a case of the idea of India as a Nation failing to take off even after more than 60 years of existence as an independent entity. And hereby hangs a tale, a significant one at that.