Corona triggers racial attacks on N-E people
SEVERAL RESIDENTS OF N-E STATES IN DELHI ALLEGE DISCRIMINATION, NO FORMAL FIR YET
NEW DELHI: As the city battles to control the new coronavirus infection, natives of northeastern states in Delhi have alleged facing racial discrimination over their looks since the outbreak originated in China.
Even though the police denied receiving any formal complaint, officers admitted hearing about such instances and assured that they will carry out sensitisation campaigns.
Coronavirus, which originated in Wuhan city of China, has now spread to more than 90 countries and has killed over 4,946 people worldwide. The countries like South Korea and Italy have recorded the maximum number of cases of deadly virus, besides China.
Eoma Peter, a resident of south Delhi’s Safdarjung Enclave, said many families from the Northeast have been asked not to come over to grocery shops and asked to get items home delivered. “Even the delivery staff looks hesitant in exchanging the order and money,” he said.
He said that there have also been instances of local neighbours covering their mouths while around him.
“They think we are Chinese and since the spread of the virus started from there, anyone with Mongoloid features gets attacked here. We have faced racism from mainlanders before but the mischief-makers find their way to throw insults at a particular community even in such times of emergency,” Peter said.
Lalfakawmi Chhagte from the Mizo Students’ Association, a Delhi University students’ body, said she was going to the Kamla Nagar market near north campus with her roommates on Monday evening when a group of men started throwing water balloons at them. When they protested and tried to confront the group, they started shouting “coronavirus, go back”.
“For a moment I thought we heard them wrong, but they kept repeating ‘coronavirus go back’. And we took a few more steps towards them they ran away,” Chhagte said.
She said, “While they ran, some of them asked us to get away from them because we will give them the disease.”
The racial attacks are a latest in a series of such incidents in which people from the Northeast were targeted in Delhi over their lifestyle, food choices or dress.
A senior police officer posted in the Special Police Unit for North-Eastern Region (SPUNER) said, “We have not received any formal complaints in this regard but we have been apprised of isolated cases in certain parts. This is a health emergency and everyone is still learning how to deal with it, but that does not give any excuse for racism. Since such incidents are rising we will conduct awareness programmes with RWAs and Student unions to sensitise people.”
SPUNER was specifically constituted in providing safety and security to the citizens of northeastern states in Delhi-NCR.
Chinglen Singh, president of the United Northeast Residents’ Forum, said that they have received several complaints from the community of brazen racial slurs in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.
“A family that had newly arrived in Delhi from Manipur had great trouble finding accommodation here because most of the house owners said that cases of coronavirus were killing people in China. We had to interfere and make them understand that they were Indians and had no travel history,” Singh said.
Singh said along with preparing the healthcare system to tackle the spread of the disease, the government should also take measures to create awareness among people so that attacks such as these can be avoided.