Are we Racist ??

While I was busy changing the channels of my television, a news headline got my attention. People from North-East were doing a Dharna on Jantar Mantar in Delhi against killing of a 19 year old boy Nido Taniam from Arunanchal Pradesh. They were demanding equal status for them in their own country. Suddenly there was a lot of buzz about it and every News channel and Political party want to catch this topic for their own benefits. We saw Narendra Modi giving his speech on Nido in North east. We saw Rahul Gandhi sharing the stage with Protestants, giving them hope that In India they will be treated equally and there was new star of Indian politics, Arvind Kejriwal consoling the victims. But is this all drama a reality, is the biggest question right now.

Are Indians Racist?

My Intellectual friends will say no, our democracy has given equal status to everyone and each of us are equal in our country. But seriously, I don’t think so. India is a developing country who is aiming the sky but its legs are tied to our very own customs and culture which are stopping it.

                                              

For this particular incident, Media reported that few People in Lajpat Nagar made fun of Nido’s hairstyle and then a fight took place between them which might have resulted in his death.  His death opens a new debate that why People from North East are treated as an alien in their own country. Arunanchal residents are continuously fighting for India’s prestige against China. It’s their patriotism towards our Country that a Country like China has failed almost every time it has tried to acquire India’s land in Arunanchal.

Then also instead of praising them. They are referred as “Chinki” by their own Countrymen. Chinki is a term referred to Chinese People. But we forget every time, that People of North East are as Indians as we are. These are not done by some uneducated class of People but so called highly sophisticated, elite group of People who says they are educated and working for building of our Nation. I was in Delhi once with my friend, who is a Brahmin by Caste from Uttar Pradesh. So, there are lot of Inhabitants from North East in area called Munirka. We crossed a Momo stall there. I asked my friend if he would like to have them. He straight away refused and said there is no guarantee of these people. I said you can have veg if you want, he said I can’t trust these Chinkis who eat Dogs. By this line, he generalized all North East People in one line. He is no different from any other person reading this blog.

           

According to a survey in India Today, Indians are one of the top racist people in the world. We discriminate People on the basis of color, language, Culture and everything we can think of. Its true people find comfort zone in their similar atmosphere but we should also respect other People culture and traditions.

                

A similar incident occurred in Bangalore two years ago, when more than thirty thousand people from North East were forced to leave the city due to racial attacks on them. It’s not like Indians are only racial towards North East people, they are equally racial boundaries between North and South India. There is an invisible line which divides India between North and South India. You can easily hear people making fun of South India people, particularly in North India. They are referred as Illa people. There are huge cultural, linguistic differences between them but it is a slap on ourselves who claims to live in 21^st Century India, the next super power. Kumar Vishwas joke on Nurses of Kerela in which he referred them as Kali peeli is one of such example.

Often Political parties ignite these differences and create rift between people. Like in Eighties, when Shiv Sena was founded, Bal thackery and his men forced people from South India to leave Mumbai as he claimed they are acquiring all the jobs and no jobs are left for Marathi Manoos. Similar Incidents occurred few years ago, when same Shiv Sena forced people from Bihar and U.P. to leave the City of dreams, Mumbai.

Mumbai is a city of Inhabitants from its very start. It was founded by Britishers and People from all over the Country like Gujarat, Rajasthan, UP have built its current status. It do not belongs to any one class of People. Then also Shiv Sena continues to do various Non-ethical ways and create issues for people of U.P. and Bihar to live peacefully in Mumbai. Due to this there is a very strong anti-Bihari sentiment and Bihari people are seen as Non-progressing and Uncivilized. While Bihar is a place which has its glorious past in which it has given universities like Nalanda while people like Buddha to J.P.

There are many different racial boundaries in our country and we are continuously fighting with them but we have few other obstacles which are there in this world and we are not untouched by them.

                                 

In one of the survey, it was found if you marry a girl not of Indian origin, your parents will have a problem with that. Which can be an obvious issue with some people. But what if I say your parents will have huge differences in their opinion if you marry a girl of White origin and of Black origin. They can accept a Daughter in law of White origin but can never accept her of Black origin. That means Indians feel their race is better than African origin people who have Black skin. We often discriminate people according to their skin color types.

Two months back in Goa, a Nigerian was killed by some unknown people and his fellow Nigerians had done a protest against his death. Then, a Goa minister named Dayanand Mandrekar had compared Nigerians with wild animals and Cancer and asked them to leave India.

Similar incident occurred in Delhi where Delhi minister is charged for misbehaving with Ugandian women.

We feel sad when someone passed racial comments on our own Countrymen Shilpa Shetty in Big brother but we don’t care when we pass similar comments on some other human being.

Gandhiji has always fought against racial discrimination of people. He even fought against Britishers in South Africa, Nelson Mandela continued his legacy and made South Africa a place which is same for every living being, whether white or black.

Racism is so deeply absorbed in our system that it is not easy to erase it completely. But we all should work against it for our better life and our better future.