Akangjungla Longchar
Dimapur | July 11
Student Community of the Northeast region in Delhi are in a state of disbelief and anger over remarks made in a booklet issued by West Delhi Police: ‘Their (North East) women don’t cover up enough, they mix with no one and their food smells so awful that it is a threat to public order’. What the Delhi Police label as “Words to Seven Sisters (the seven northeastern states)”, written by the deputy commissioner (West Delhi), Robin Hibu, an IPS officer who is himself from the Northeast, has only made Northeast different from India.
The booklet talks about ‘scantily dressed women’, immorality of northeastern women, smelly traditional dishes and the booklet claims that it comes as a means of civilizing the people from the northeastern region. No wonder, this particular booklet has left many concerned people from the north eastern region struck with surprise and disbelief.
Naga Students Federation’s president, Imchatoba disagrees as he believes that Northeastern people are more civilized than any other Indian States and it cannot be comprehended as to why such step motherly treatment is meted towards Northeasters.
MP Wangyuh Konyak opines that when India is a ‘land of diversity’ than why such discrimination for the Northeast people. “We should not interfere in other’s culture and others should also leave us alone”, the MP staunched in his say.
Grace Guite, president of the Paite Students’ Organisation in Delhi, said the booklet implied that women from the region had “loose morals”. She added that while food habits should be a personal affair, the reference to “ruckus in the neighbourhood” only showed how unsafe the capital was for anyone.
NESO Chairman, Samujjal Bhattacharyya said the separate code would only alienate the student community from the region. “It is not a healthy move. Why isn’t there a separate booklet for other states or region of the country? The manner in which the issue has been tackled will only see the feeling of alienation grow. Food and dress are personal choices and there should not be any imposition,” he said.
Abu, a Research Student says that the key person is trying to be a moral policeman. “I am totally disturbed and frustrated by this booklet because it is projecting Northeastern women very cheap” Abu said while expressing her disagreement with the booklet
Convenor of NPMHR, Delhi Unit Chon says, “It is a very serious issue. They have failed to understand our culture and from the type of culture we hail we are very tolerant people. But the question here is how about us tolerating them. The Police officer should be acting as a defender instead of issuing this very, very biased guideline”. Joyson a Freelancer in Delhi also agrees to this and say that it is not something objective or constructive; it only implies the negative points that students from Northeast are always having fun and indulge in immoral activities which are not always true.
However, Mughato, Convener, Northeast Students’ Coordination Committee has a totally different stand. According to him there is nothing to object in the booklet. Also, National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) secretary in charge of the Northeast, Bengal and Jharkhand, S. Gogoi, says “It is a welcome step. It is an eye opener to those planning to study and visit Delhi. It is for our security. Nothing much must be read into it.”
Ironically, the title of the booklet reads ‘Security Tips for Northeast Students/Visitors in Delhi’, it has drawn a line between the people of the northeastern and mainland Indians, in a discriminatory way by non other than the Delhi police.
This police’s code of ‘security’ tells the 45,000-odd Northeasterners living in and around the capital how to dress and what not to eat. The booklet on dressing states “Dress code: When in Rome do as Roman does, Revealing dress be avoided. Avoid lonely road/bylane when dressed scantily. Dress according to sensitivity of the local populace,”
As for food habits, “bamboo shoot, Akhuni and other smelly dishes should be prepared without creating ruckus in neighbourhood”. Bamboo shoots feature in the cuisines of most of the northeastern states while the akhuni, made from fermented soya bean, is a Naga staple.However, this is not the first time that such discrimination has been meted out to the northeastern people, though such open discrimination by a law enforcing agency in the capital might be the first. Term it as an attack on democracy or individual rights or discrimination, but it surely calls for collective response and a strong public debate to bring about a concrete answer.
Morung Express News
