Monday Musing
[ Amar Sangno ]
20 February, 2026 was a day of ‘cosmic irony’ for the people of Arunachal Pradesh. We went the extra mile to prove our patriotism by playing Vande Mataram, followed by the national anthem, during our Statehood Day celebration, unlike our Mizo brethren, who wouldn’t have played Vande Mataram, except for the national anthem.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Statehood Day message categorically stated, “One of the things that has always amazed me about Arunachal Pradesh is the tradition of people greeting one another with ‘Jai Hind’. To me, this is a living affirmation of national pride and unity.”
Alas, on the same day, three Arunachalee women were subjected to racial abuse by neighbours identified as Ruby Jain and Harsh Singh in Malviya Nagar, New Delhi. The couple was later arrested by the Delhi Police.
What was most disappointing and shocking was that our political leaders, especially BJP leaders, who thump their chests to prove their loyalty and patriotism and sing the Indian national song during the Statehood Day celebration, kept mum on the racial abuse incident, until Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma led from the front in condemning the incident and demanded accountability and action against the culprits.
Their reactions came later, but it was too little and too late.
Patriotism at the cost of our state’s pride and unity? Seriously, do Arunachalees still need to prove our patriotism or Indian-ness?
Greeting ourselves with ‘Jai Hind’, our inclination towards Bollywood movies, and our undying love for the Hindi language are enough to prove ourselves as proud Indians, forget about the geo-politically touchy subject like outright rejection of Chinese cultural propaganda bait to lure Arunachal’s people.
Twelve years ago, we lost our young brother Nido Tania to a racially motivated crime in January 2014, when Tania was murdered near Lajpat Nagar, Delhi. Late Tania’s murder had shaken the collective conscience of the nation and exposed deep-seated racial discrimination and prejudice faced by people from our Northeast region for looking different and being racially different in other parts of the country, particularly in metropolitan cities.
The recent Malviya Nagar incident is a testimony that mainland Indians have a stereotypical mindset towards people from the Northeast, based on their looks and race. Thanks to the power of social media, it created ripples across the country and drew unprecedented support, including from celebrities.
Tania’s incident had a similar impact, leading the central government (the ministry of home affairs) to constitute the Bezbaruah Committee in February 2014, chaired by MP Bezbaruah (a retired IAS officer and member of the North Eastern Council). The committee consulted with Northeast communities, acknowledged widespread issues like racial slurs, harassment, discrimination in housing and employment, and institutional biases, and submitted its report in July 2014.
The key recommendations focused on legal reforms, law enforcement, education and sensitisation, awareness, and integration. Other than some short-term measures like setting up the Delhi Police’s Special Police Unit for North Eastern Region (SPUNER), helpline 1093, legal aid panels, sensitisation workshops, and social media outreach, the core structural changes remain largely unimplemented or inadequate even after a decade.
There is no comprehensive standalone anti-racism law or major IPC/BNS amendments specifically addressing racial hate crimes and motives against Northeast people. Fast-track courts and special squads nationwide not fully realised. Though a monitoring committee (under the MHA, headed by a joint secretary) was formed following the Supreme Court’s directions in the 2016 judgement in related PILs, meetings have been reportedly infrequent -14-15 meeting in 11 years.
One of the most important recommendations of the Bezbaruah Committee was to integrate Northeast’s history, culture, and diversity into NCERT curricula, school and university projects, teacher training programmes, etc. Sadly, none has been implemented yet in NCERT books, even after a decade.
Repeated social media campaigns for integration of the Northeast’s history, culture, diversity and ethnicity were done by the youths of the region. On 4 June, 2021, the ‘Twitter (X) storm’ campaign using the hashtags #AchapterforNE* #AchapterforNEIndia*, and #NortheastMatters, was organised by people from the Northeast, demanding inclusion of the region’s history, culture, and geography in the NCERT syllabus.
The campaign was triggered by a racist, derogatory video uploaded by a YouTuber, Paras Singh, who called Arunachal MLA Ninong Ering and the people of the state “non-Indians” and claimed that Arunachal was part of China.
Our people wear their patriotism on their sleeves; our love for India as a nation has always been unwavering and unmatchable. The question is, do we get equal treatment as Indians? Why should our Mongoloid features be a symbol of racial abuse or an Indian burden?
It’s high time our political leaders from the region stood firm and united, irrespective of political differences, for our own region and for our own identities in the Indian union. Let our united voice be heard in Delhi. No more racial abuse, no more stereotyping. We are proud Indians.
