Debating the Dire Need for Discourse on Racism in India

By Ratna Huirem and Kathiresan Loganathan

Racism is a word not often featured in academic discourses in India. Ignored, deflected, defied, or denied by intellectuals and the common man alike, it is like a damp squib. This article aims to point out that racism is not a farcical phenomenon; but is instead deeply embedded in our society. It therefore traces the narratives of racial discrimination that people from Northeast India have been facing. Ogling, mocking, shaming, name-calling, discrimination at work places have been the relatively softer practices of racism, which can be termed as ‘footnote racism’. However, violent attacks and physical intimidation have been not rare either. These are termed as ‘headline racism’. The 2012 exodus of the NE people from various cities of ‘mainland’ India, their racial profiling, and selective targeting during COVID-19 are testimonies of racism against them within India, their own country. The media relegates stories of and from the NE to near insignificance. The NER is perceived by most outside the region as a hotbed of violence. This further adds to the foreboding and misconceived imagination and perceptions.  Hence, public knowledge about the NER is marred often by falsities, stemming from poor or wrong narratives. This is often manifested in the form of racist practices. Distinct bio-physical markers make the NE person stand out and this ‘different’ appearance creates a lot of complexities. Being an ethnic and racial minority in India, their ‘otherness’ is made palpable through various overt and covert hierarchical social positioning and practices of racial supremacy by the dominant majority. Neo-capitalistic practices towards employment in typical sectors also have a foreboding of colonisation. Arguments that the SC/ST Act provides protective cover is untenable as every person residing in the NER is not all SC/ST. It is the lurking covert but embedded racist pathology that must be tackled.

Keywords: Denial, Discrimination, Ethnicity, Hierarchy, Northeast India, Phenotype, Racial Formation

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17455989

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