Another Insult to Northeast India Exposes the Gap Between “Act East” Promises and Daily Reality
A video from Delhi has stirred up fresh anger in a scarred heart. Amir Shokeen, a social media maker, has been charged with racially abusing and harassing an indigenous youngster for online content. Later, the influencer was arrested by Delhi Police. However, the men did apologise and say the clip had been scripted and that both were joking, a statement which critics of the clip reject. Tipra Motha leaders said racial abuse does not deserve to be considered social media.
In the police complaint, the Youth Tipra Federation stated that the creator used the derogatory term of Chinese for the youths and derogatory term for Tripura. Its chief wondered why Tiprasas are referred to as Chinese in Delhi or Bengalis from Tripura misidentified as Bangladeshis. The question is what’s at the heart of the issue the citizens being foreigners in their own country.
This is no one-shot! A student of MBA programme at Tripura died after a brutal attack in Dehradun last year during which the attackers had been insulting the brothers with the word Chinese. The statistics reveal a system that fails to provide justice. Only 33 FIRs were registered in Delhi during 2014-26 that led to convictions. The Bezbaruah Committee was established more than a decade ago and it had concluded that 86 per cent of migrants from the Northeast had been discriminated against. The Centre has also stated that it does not have any regional information for racial slurs and harassment against Northeast people. Unmeasured things are not addressed.
This is a contrast to official rhetoric that is quite sharp. The Prime Minister refers to the region as the Ashtalakshmi of India and talks of the phrase ‘Act East’. Ministers say it’s the next best thing to grow the nation. A region can’t be a growth engine if the young people of the region are mocked on the streets of the capital.
Arrests are good, but they are not sufficient. The country requires a specific anti-racial discrimination law, fast-track courts to address hate crime, good data collection and sensitization programmed in schools and policing. It also requires platforms that prohibit the payment of “humors” based on racist stereotypes.
In the meantime, ‘Act East’ will continue to be a slogan for investors, and Northeast citizens continue to pose a painful question: When will they be recognized as Indians in India?
