DEHRADUN, 29 Dec: Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami spoke to the father of the student from Tripura, who was killed in an alleged racial attack here, on phone on Monday and assured of strict punishment to the accused, as leaders cutting across political lines called for comprehensive efforts to end “hate crimes” against the people from the Northeastern states.
Rahul Gandhi and other opposition leaders targeted the BJP, alleging that the murder of MBA student Anjel Chakma (24) was a fallout of the ruling dispensation “normalising” hate and encouraging a “divisive mindset.” Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav demanded that the Supreme Court step in and ensure justice.
Former union minister Shashi Tharoor said the brutal killing “is a national disgrace,” and political and religious leaders must speak out against the abuse of the people from the Northeast as “silence is complicity.”
Rajya Sabha member Kapil Sibal said union Home Minister Amit Shah must speak up against the hate crimes. In a post on X, he said the murder is “a shocking display of a hate crime, of bigotry, of the silence of our leaders in government who by their inaction are complicit.”
“What happened to Anjel Chakma and his brother Michael in Dehradun is a horrific hate crime. Hate doesn’t appear overnight. For years now, it has been fed daily – especially to our youths – through toxic content and irresponsible narratives. And it’s being normalised by the hate-spewing leadership of the ruling BJP,” Gandhi said on X.
Tharoor said the Northeast is “not a distant appendage to the Indian identity; it is central to it. Yet, people from the region are routinely subjected to racial profiling, exclusion, and abuse. This must end.”
“We must demand justice … not only in the courts, but in the conscience of the nation. His death must not be reduced to a statistic or a fleeting headline.
“It must ignite a movement for education, empathy, and reform. Schools must teach the histories and cultures of all Indian communities. Media must portray Northeast Indians with dignity. And society must unlearn its biases,” the Congress MP said on X, and called for building “a society where no Indian is made to feel foreign in their own land.”
Assam Chief Minister and BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma said the death of the student from Tripura “following brutal racial abuse in Dehradun is heartbreaking and unacceptable,” and urged Dhami to ensure strict action against the culprits, so that justice is served.
Dhami, in his phone conversation with Anjel Chakma’s father, Tarun Prasad Chakma, said he was saddened by the incident and that the state government stands with the victim’s family.
The chief minister said that children from India and abroad come to Uttarakhand to study, and such an environment has never existed here before. Dhami said that the government will take strict action in this matter.
He told Tarun Prasad Chakma that five accused have been arrested in connection with the incident, while another accused is suspected to have fled to Nepal, and efforts are being made to arrest him by declaring a reward.
The chief minister said also that he has spoken to Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha as well as union Home Minister Amit Shah and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh regarding the incident.
Assuring all possible assistance from the Uttarakhand government, Dhami said he would talk Dr Saha to help the family.
Anjel Chakma, a final-year MBA student at a private university here, was seriously injured when he was allegedly attacked by some youngsters with a knife and a bracelet on 9 December. He died on 26 December, after being hospitalised for 17 days.
His father, a BSF jawan currently posted in Tangjeng in Manipur, had alleged that his son was “brutally attacked” when he tried to defend his brother, who faced racial slurs and was called “Chinese” by the attackers.
The assailants called his sons “Chinese momo” and other racial slurs, the father of the victim told PTI over the phone. Anjel told them that he “was also Indian, not Chinese” but they attacked him with knives and blunt objects, the devastated father said.
“It is shameful that such incidents are taking place in our country. Who are these people to question anyone’s nationality? Even if there is doubt, one should go and complain to the local police,” AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi said.
In a statement issued from the Samajwadi Party headquarters, Akhilesh Yadav said, “A divisive mindset is taking lives every day and such elements, enjoying political patronage, are flourishing like poisonous weeds.”
He claimed that such negative forces pose a serious threat to the country, its unity and integrity.
Yadav said it is imperative for peace-loving and harmony-driven citizens to unite, identify such antisocial elements within the society and socially boycott them, warning that otherwise anyone could become a victim of such violence in the future.
In Tripura, Tipra Motha supremo Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma announced a Rs 10 lakh cash reward for any information leading to the arrest of the main accused.
Debbarma’s announcement came days after the Uttarakhand Police declared a Rs 25,000 cash reward for the arrest of the main accused.
“I heard that the Uttarakhand government has declared Rs 25,000 on information leading to the arrest of the mastermind in the Anjel Chakma murder case. Is this the price for arresting the mastermind in the killing of Anjel Chakma, a final year student of MBA? I declare Rs 10 lakh to one who provides clues leading to the arrest of the person who had murdered Anjel Chakma. The amount will be paid from my own pocket. Don’t make fun of us,” Debbarma said in a video post.
Meanwhile, Tipra Motha Party (TMP)-run Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) on Monday announced a compensation of Rs 3 lakh to the family members of the student.
“The people of Northeastern states are Indians and not Chinese,” Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi said on Monday as he condemned the killing of the Tripura student in Dehradun.
“I am Indian, not Chinese. The people of the Northeast are Indians, they are not Chinese,” said Gogoi, who hails from Assam and is the Congress’ state unit president, at a press conference here.
“This is exactly what 24-year-old Anjel Chakma had to say on 9 December, when he was returning from the market on an ordinary day and was harassed by some people who called him Chinese,” the Jorhat MP said.
He said this is something that has happened with many from the Northeastern states.
“He (Chakma) could have left quietly after hearing those insulting words. Perhaps if he had done that, he would still have been alive. But he could not tolerate it that day and he said, ‘I am Indian, not Chinese’,” Gogoi said.
Gogoi said students from the Northeast travel across the country for studies and Chakma had gone to Dehradun for the same reason, but “paid with his life.”
In Karbi Anglong districts of Assam, Gogoi said, the Karbi tribes are being called Chinese on their own land. (PTI)
