Meghalaya MLA urges Northeast CMs to form forum to address 'racism'

By: Rana Pratap Saikia

Meghalaya MLA Ampareen Lyndoh has suggested that the chief ministers of all 7 Northeast Indian states should form a common forum to address the issue of prejudice against the people from the region with mongoloid features experience in mainland Indian states.

Talking to InsideNE, Lyngdoh said, "Northeast's chief minister's forum should be formed and all the chief ministers of the Northeast must get together and start addressing this issue to the government of India. Once we have all the chief ministers on board who already have other forums to address other issues, it will be possible to address such concerns unitedly

She also lamented the continuance of such instances despite the existence of the Northeast Indian Forum signals at the lack of knowledge and awareness.

Condemning the racial profiling of the Northeast Indians, Lyngdoh said "During a pandemic, there is already heartburn among the population of the country. This heartburn is further sacrilege as you have seen that there is a displacing of the trust of the people of Northeast with mainland India. This is indicative of the fact that things are not getting mended despite many efforts."

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Tensions have once again risen to the fore after the deaths of two siblings from Nagaland who died within days of each other after alleged medical negligence led to the death of one at a Gurugram hospital.

Terming the deaths as "gruesome", Lyngdoh said that Gurugram police must give an account of what actually happened to put the minds of the Northeast Indians at ease.

"We have seen some gruesome videos of this incident allegedly showing the deceased youth's body. We need the police department of the state to clarify what occurred. Whether the videos were taken pre-post-mortem or after then," Lyngdoh stated, adding that the police chief of Haryana must release an official statement to "dispel the mistrust that has occurred owing to such horrific videos and accounts circulating online."

Lyngdoh also said that the women empower committee of the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly to ask for its own inquiry and details of the incident.

"Our Tura MP Agatha Sangma has already written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah -- I will send moral support to our MP to the note. We will wait for 10-15 days and then if any official clarification is issued, we might have to probe the issue further."

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