In another shocking incident in Bengaluru, a young man from Mizoram was beaten in a residential complex by three men, who can be seen abusing him and asking him to ‘get out’. As per reports, the young man and his friend had a confrontation with the three residents regarding his scooter being damaged, after which the three residents abused them and beat them up. One of the residents can be seen brandishing and hitting one of them with a rod. The incident comes hot on the heels of the mass molestation incident which occurred on New Year’s Eve where many women were harassed and molested on the streets by men.
This is just Bengaluru’s latest brush with accusations of racism. In 2012, thousands of students from the north-east left the state after rumours of violence against the community. And in 2014, three Manipuri students were beaten up for not speaking in Kannada. Then there was the time when a Tanzanian student was stripped and beaten by a mob in Bengaluru.
That feeling right now? That’s shame.
The common point between all these assaults is obviously how dare these people be different from us? How dare they not speak our language, despite being from different states and sometimes, different countries? This the point where preserving one’s identity and culture crosses over to outright enforcing it. And that’s condemnable.
Not to mention the kind of discrimination people from the North-East face all over the country and continue to face to this day. For all the talk of India one nation with no disharmony (because to say otherwise would be “anti-national”), this is very poor evidence of it.