How ashamed should India be? Mizoram CM Lal Thanhawla says he has faced a 'lot of racism' across country

India, of late, has been forced to look into the mirror over racist attacks within its borders. We can't turn a blind eye to it any more, especially now that the chief minister of a North-Eastern state has come out on racism he has faced across India. 

Mizoram Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla, in an interview to a news agency, also made reference to BJP leader Tarun Vijay's insensitive statement on "black" South Indians. He said Indians — especially North Indians — do not know that there are people of three distinct races in India: Aryans in the North, Dravidians in the South and people of Mongoloid origin in the North-East. 

Thanhawla said in the interview: "Racial abuse is the worst thing in this country. I have faced it myself a lot of times. These are foolish people who do not know their own country."

He also recounted personal experiences."In a reception some 20-25 years ago, one gentleman said to me, 'You don't look like an Indian,' to which I replied?: 'Tell me in one sentence what does an Indian look like'," he said. 

Thanhawla, who belongs to the Congress and has been chief minister of Mizoram for five terms, went on to add: "Even the national leadership, be it the BJP or the Congress or any other political party, if you do not know your own country, how can you be a leader?"

Racism in India

Indians often face racism abroad, a fact made amply clear by the manner in which Indian techie Srinivas Kuchibotla was killed and his friend injured by a man who thought they were from the Middle-East. There have also been several instances of Sikhs being attacked in the US and other countries because of their turbans and facial hair. 

However, India in recent times has had to consider the question of racism at home, after many Africans have claimed they were abused by Indians for the colour of their skin. Even otherwise, people from the North-East have for a long time claimed they were racially abused within India. 

One would have thought that the Supreme Court order of 2012 — where the apex court said using derogatory and racial epithets like "chinki" for people from the North-East could earn the culprit a prison term of as much as five years — would put an end to this. 

However, it clearly did not. Current Delhi Police Joint Commissioner (Operations) Robin Hibu has over the years spoken of several times he had to face racial abuse. One time, he claimed, when he was coming to Delhi by train, he was called "Thapa" — a common racial epithet Indians use towards people of Nepalese or Bhutanese origin — and was forcibly removed from a reserved seat. 

In more recent times, a student from Arunachal Pradesh was made to lick the shoe of his landlord in Bengaluru following a dispute over water. The incident had been seen as a racial attack by the North-Eastern community residing in the city.