When a man on his honeymoon was found murdered in Meghalaya, India’s racist instinct kicked in.
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00:00When a man on his honeymoon was found murdered in Meghalaya,
00:03India's racist instinct kicked in.
00:05Without evidence, many blame the people of the Northeast,
00:08calling them savages and killers.
00:10But as the truth comes out, it's time they ask,
00:13why is racism against Northeastern Indians still so normalized?
00:17Going to the extent of inciting people
00:21to actually take revenge
00:26against the residents of the people of Meghalaya.
00:30While the police in Meghalaya were still investigating,
00:33many on social media blamed the entire Northeast.
00:36Not the wife, not the unknown culprits,
00:38but the tribal communities of Meghalaya.
00:40These weren't just a few trolls.
00:42It was a wave of dehumanizing, castist and racist rhetoric,
00:46reducing an entire region to violent stereotypes,
00:49calling them cannibals, human traffickers, criminals,
00:52and all without a single piece of evidence.
00:55As it turns out, the real story was very different.
00:58The wife, Sonam Raghuwan, she was arrested,
01:00not in Meghalaya, but all the way in Uttar Pradesh.
01:03Police say she hired hit men to kill her husband.
01:05She was allegedly having an affair.
01:07No one from Northeast was involved.
01:09Even Shumdarang called out the knee-jerk reactions
01:11and prejudices faced by people from the Northeast.
01:14But by then, the damage was done.
01:16Meghalaya's name had been dragged through the mud
01:18and the people of the Northeast were once again reminded
01:20that to many mainland Indians, they're still outsiders.
01:24Some taxi drivers claimed that they even saw a decline in tourism.
01:27We're taxi drivers, we're getting a little hurt.
01:30This isn't new.
01:31From Delhi to Bangalore to Mumbai,
01:33students and professionals from the Northeast
01:35regularly faced discrimination.
01:36Called chinky, told to go back, denied homes, jobs, respect.
01:40When young men and women, boys and girls come from the Northeast
01:47to different parts of India, they're often teased
01:51for that very same physical features.
01:53And when something like this happens,
01:55it doesn't take long for racism to bubble up again.
01:58Meghalaya's Chief Minister Konrad Sangma said it clearly.
02:01Our government and the state have been defamed,
02:03and none of the accused are even from Meghalaya.
02:05Civil society groups have demanded an apology,
02:08not just for the wrongful blame,
02:10but for dangerous, unchecked racism.
02:12India can't keep saying unity and diversity
02:14while treating Northeasterners like second-class citizens.
02:17Racism in India doesn't always come in the form of slurs.
02:20Sometimes it comes in silence.
02:22In blame, in who we think looks like a criminal.
02:26Maybe it's time we look in the mirror
02:28and add Northeast history and culture to our textbooks,
02:31not just our travel plans.