CMS flag concerns over racial bias against people from N-E
AIZAWL/SHILLONG: Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, chief ministers of northeastern states and North East Students’ Organisation have raised serious concern over the alleged incidents of racial discrimination in different parts of the country against the people of the region, officials said Tuesday.
An official in Aizawl said that Mizoram chief minister Zoramthanga on Monday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah to take action against those who are racially attacking and harassing people from the northeast. Zoramthanga in a social media post said: “I am pained, shocked and in my worst awe seeing a video ... when the humanity stooped so low.”
Meghalaya chief minister Conrad K Sangma also expressed his concern over the incidents of racial discriminations. He wrote on Facebook, “In connection with an incident that took place in Mysore, I spoke with the Lok Sabha member of Mysuru Pratap Simha. He assured to look into the matter. Simha informed me that an FIR was filed with the police and two people were arrested in connection with the incident.”
Their statements came after two engineering students from Nagaland, studying at a college in Mysuru, were denied entry at the grocery store earlier this week, after a staff of the store reportedly insisted that they were Chinese nationals.
In a bid to deal with the racism against people from the northeast in the wake of the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, the Nagaland government has set up helpline numbers.
Nagaland chief secretary, Temjen Toy, said, “any Naga facing any kind of racial discrimination and harassment in other states may send mails to him or can contact officials of his office”.
The North East Students’ Organisation (NESO), a conglomerate body of eight student and youth organizations of seven northeastern s t ates, al s o strongly condemned the “recurring incidences of violence and discrimination due to physical appearance meted out to indigenous people from north east”.