From being called ‘Coronavirus’ throughout the Covid-19 pandemic to being asked if North-East people eat insects, North-East India has confronted a very novel kind of discrimination that hardly features in public debates and national media. Recently, a young YouTuber Paras Singh is facing some serious legal issues for racist comments against Arunachal Pradesh’s MLA Ninong Ering along with the indigenous people of the state.
As a result, the Arunachal Pradesh government has filed a case against YouTuber Paras Singh for his alleged racial annotations against Arunachal Pradesh’s MLA. Known as ‘Paras Official’ on his YouTube channel, Paras had posted a video on Sunday and called the MLA a “non-Indian” and outwardly claimed the “state was a part of China“. DGP RP Upadhyaya stated, “A case has been registered against Paras for racial hatred and the cyber-crime branch in Itanagar is investigating the matter”.
Arunachal’s Chief Minister Pema Khandu condemned the ethnic disgrace and stated the “video aims at inciting ill will and hatred towards the people of Arunachal Pradesh“. He further added that the social media account of the person needs to be thoroughly investigated for details about his activities and whereabouts and any violation will lead to action as per law.
Meanwhile, the All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union (AAPSU) issued a statement and said, “It is really distressing that even after over 70 years of the country’s independence, people from the state and the northeast region in general still face humiliation in other parts of the country, whenever they go there for work or study.”
However, in yet another video, posted earlier in the day, Paras made an apology video for his racial comments. Netizens, however, felt the video wasn’t for genuine apology due to its content and language, said it was more of a formality to safeguard his social media reputation. Paras Singh had deceptively made the comments while reacting to a letter written by Mr. Ering to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, where he had wanted a ban on the relaunch of PUBG Mobile as Battlegrounds Mobile India.
Paras Singh’s alleged comments directly triggered the law and administration of India which strictly attacked the diversity of Indian culture. The case is going on, a team of Arunachal Pradesh police will leave for Ludhiana on Tuesday to follow up on the case. Upadhyaya said, “The legal procedures would be based on his age. If he is a minor, then we will have to follow the juvenile justice system”.
Last year, when COVID19 hit us North-East people have seen many cases of discernment like –
- A man on a bike spat on a Manipuri woman in Delhi’s Vijay Nagar zone before calling out “Chinese coronavirus coming” and run away from the place.
- A North-Eastern woman as well as her friends were hit with water balloons and called ‘Coronavirus’ by two men on a bike near Delhi University’s North campus.
- A young professional from Mizoram who is living in Pune was mortified by a fellow shopper in a mall as the shopper thought the woman is carrying Covid-19.
Even though the Indian government had to make calling the North-East people ‘chinki’ a punishable offence, the North-Eastern people always face racist comments against them. The Arunachal Students’ Union of Chandigarh has also lodged a complaint at the Cyber Cell, PHQ here seeking immediate legal action against the content creator.