The outbreak of the COVID-19 started spreading a malicious impact on racism in the country and worldwide. In India, the pandemic reinforced racism against Northeast Indians, which the country has been grappling with this social problem in the last one decade or so. People shamelessly profiled Asians or mongoloid looking individuals as a suspect carrier of the virus and the resultant taunts and discriminations increased. Such discriminations were overt acts of racial prejudice that primarily stems from the non-recognition or misrecognition of Northeast Indians, who are mainly mongoloid race, as Indians. During the pandemic, the fight by Northeast Indians was with the mindset of the rest of Indians as much as the virus itself. It was a fight not only against the presumption of being ‘non-Indian’ with negative affiliation, or worse ‘unwanted Indians’, but also to get due recognition and acceptance as equal Indians. North East India is the land of gripping scenic beauty formed of high hills, cascading waterfalls and undulating streams and exotic wildlife. It comprises eight states – Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura. It also comprises of enchanting places like Kaziranga National Park, Living Root Bridges, Tawang Monastery, Gurudongmar Lake, Unakoti Hills, Vantawng Falls, Dzukou Valley, Loktak Lake etc. Yet it is the least explored and understood.
Punjab Police on Tuesday arrested Paras Singh a 21-year-old YouTuber from Janakpuri after a case was registered against him for making a racist slur against former Arunachal Pradesh MP and incumbent Congress legislator Ninong Ering in one of his videos posted on Sunday. He was arrested after he allegedly called Arunachal Pradesh a part of China and said state’s MLA Ninong Ering “looks like a non-Indian”.
The development was announced on Twitter by none other than Union Minister Kiren Rijiju, who tweeted that the Arunachal Pradesh police is on its way to Punjab for securing his transit remand. Rijiju said he had already spoken to the Police Commissioner of Ludhiana for an urgent judicial process for transit remand to facilitate Singh’s transfer to Arunachal Pradesh.
He tweeted, “Punjab Police searched & taken Paras Singh under custody. Arunachal Pradesh Police team is reaching Punjab. I’ve spoken to Police Commissioner of Ludhiana for urgent judicial process for transit remand as its inter-state arrest so that he can be brought to Arunachal Pradesh.”
The accused, Paras Singh, was booked by the Arunachal Police after the video on his YouTube channel “Paras Official” went viral. Paras had allegedly called Ering as a non-Indian and Arunachal Pradesh a part of China after the Congress legislator wrote a letter to PM Modi, asking to ban the re-launch of PUBG Mobile India’s new avatar Battlegrounds Mobile India.
In his letter to PM Modi, the former MP contended that “re-launching the game was a mere illusion and a trick to collect user data of the citizens, including children and transfer it to foreign companies and the Chinese government.” Ering said it poses a big threat to India’s security and asked the Prime Minister to stop the re-launch.
However, a call to ban the re-launch of the popular game PUBG did not sit well with the Punjab-based YouTuber, who created a video dissing the former MP. In his video, Singh could be heard passing a racist remark against Ering, saying “Mujhe to nahi lagta yeh(Ering Indian hai(I don’t think he is an Indian)” while pointing out at the MLA’s profile picture on Twitter. He then goes on to ask his viewers to check if Ering looks like an Indian and subsequently compares if the people from Arunachal Pradesh look like him.
Later in the video, the YouTuber is seen locating Arunachal Pradesh on a map, following which he says: “Arre yaar yeh (Arunachal) to China ki side me hai (This is on China’s side)” and adds, “yeh China walon ka hi hai (It belongs to the people of China)”. Singh further adds,”ek tarah se unhi k saath hi hai halka fulka touch hota hai, India me aata hai (In a way it (Arunachal Pradesh) is with them, only a small part of it is in India).”
