The Lok Sabha today rose as one to console the people from the northeast who are fleeing parts of the country driven by rumours of impending attacks on them and demanded strong action against those creating fear psychosis.
Raising the issue in the Lok Sabha, Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj stressed on the need to rise above party lines and send a clear message that people from the northeast have the freedom to live, work and study wherever they wish in the country.
She said the government should create helplines to address grievances of the people from the northeast and step up patrolling across cities, particularly in areas and hostels where they reside in large numbers.
Ninong Ering (Congress) said reports of attacks on people from the northeast send a wrong signal and action must be taken against those spreading rumours.
“We are sad. We think ourselves as Indians.......but after incidents in a small area of Kokrajhar in Assam .... people of Mongoloid features are attacked .... It sends a wrong signal,” Mr Ering said.
He appealed to the Home Minister to treat this matter very seriously and take strict action against those spreading these rumours.
“Strict action must be taken against those involved in spreading rumours as they are trying to create instability...,” he said.
Mr Ering, who represents Arunachal Pradesh in the Lok Sabha, said Parliamentarians must take a personal interest in removing the fear psychosis among the people of northeast.
‘Insecurity among people reprehensible’
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today described as “reprehensible” the growing sense of insecurity among people from the northeast living in other parts of the country and promised that his government is committed to take all steps to control the situation.
Dr Singh condemned all such incidents during a debate in the Lok Sabha on the violence in Kokrajhar, as also in Mumbai and other parts of the country against people from the northeast.
“The growing sense of insecurity among the people from the northeast fleeing different parts of the country is something most reprehensible,” he said.
Dr Singh promised that he commits his government to work with all “like-minded” people to bring the situation under control without any loss of time.
He emphasised that people from the northeast had “as much right” as anybody else to study and work in any part of the country.
Dr Singh urged the people to maintain unity and integrity of the country. The people are one and “we will do everything to provide them security,” he said.
“We should send a clear message that we will do everything to provide security to people from northeast living in various parts of the country,” he said.
Keywords: Lok Sabha debate, North East issue, Assam ethnic violence, Kokrajhar riots, Bodo tribals, migrants issue, North Easterners exodus
Media has comfortably twisted the narrative that it is rumors that is responsible for the exodus of North Easterners from our cities.
Are people so naive and foolish that they will pack up their bags and leave their employment and their house in a jiffy ? It is not because of rumors people are fleeing. People are leaving because they know that if they are attacked, the attackers will go scot free. It is the lack of deterrence for the attackers that is making these people feel vulnerable. There have been attacks on NE guys in Pune and elsewhere and so please don't sidetrack the issue saying rumors are responsible for their fears.
Dear Sir, it is a matter of great shame that our own people are on the run within their own country for no mistake of theirs. It is a matter of great shame that we couldn't assuage the fears of our own people. The problem is the whole episode has been made to look like the people of the Seven Sisters are responsible for the recent violence in Assam because our leadership at national level as well as state level is not ready to acknowledge the issue of illegal Bangladeshi immigration. Is the migrants issue also a rumor like the SMSes doing rounds? Unless the problem is acknowledged we will never be able to find a solution to it and end up alienating our people for some aliens. Lets tackle the issue head on. By not tackling it, it looks like we are taking their side against our NE brethren. We need to comprehensively support NE people and assuage their fears.
Its a misconception that people of India doesn't know much about
NorthEast. The reality is most of the people geographically doesn't know
the state they live in properly. Coming 2014, Let the PM of India be
from NorthEast.
Every Indian has the constitutional right to live (work, study, etc) freely in any part of the territory of India. We will NOT allow this breach of the tenets of the Constitution! My brothers and sisters of the North-East, please do not worry, you WILL be protected.
Dear fellow citizens of the North East, you are as much a part of India
as I am or as other 1 billion people are. We support you, believe in you
and are with you in every way. You are an Indian and if anyone tries to
harm you, he/she should be brought to the book and punished!
We do consider ourselves Indian and we are proud of it, but If natives
of the NER are made to feel this much insecure in, I fear it will only
heighten the secessionist tendency among them. Tommorow if we are at war
with China then what? will NEasterners be hounded because we all look
"chinky"?
Good, LS can go one step further. Send a multi-party team, consisting of
leaders to Assam and be there for a fortnight to establish peace. Also,
a multi-party forum should be established with leading lights in each
state where North eastern people reside to push peace process and
prevent people from fleeing
The Govt must probe the source of such rumors. Could it be cyber jihadis are using the internet to spread panic? If the people behind these rumors are caught the must be punished severely.
It is a shame that this thing is happening in our country.We all are Indian and we should be able to live,work or study in any part of India.
Seal the boarders so people from neighboring countries can not enter illegally.Shame on the government for not taking the swift action.
Stop this asap before it spreads to other part of the country.Its time to call army to stop this mass exodus and bring the calm in the state.
We all are Indian first and this should be told to all.
The current Muslim-NE issue; is it just a rumor or is there certain
level of fact? If its just a rumor, why even such a rumor on such a
sensitive issue? Is it also a rumor that special trains are arranged
for NE in Bangalore? It is not.
While almost morethan half of the mainland India doesn't know NE, and
even those who knew much well of it and accept it as very much part of
India, still doesn't accept the people of NE as Indians.
Weather be it Muslim or Hindu or Christian or what so ever, the
present issue following Muslim against NE, which is just due to some
illegal immigrant from Bangladesh, why effected the people of
India(NE)? Are Bangladeshi illegal immigrants more valuable/important
to the govt. of India then the existing NE India?
There is possibilities that, someday the NE will be separate
independent country from India, and the history will be written as-
'the first movement of NE independence took place after the NE peoples
have to leave mainland India due to the crisis
i am from the NE region of the country, but i think what is happening now is the elements of foreign hands,since china want to claims all of the NE not only Arunachal Pradesh . But i really feel something has to be done for the country.
No wonder PM said that all parties need to be united on this issue. But the fact is that now government needs to take some concrete corrective measures so as to assure whole North-East India feels safe. The whole North East issue is getting worsened day by day because of apathy of Congress Government in the center. If this situation & the ignorance from Center continues then we are creating another LOC issue.
Dear Sir,
Central Government has failed to address the issues raised by North Eastern people since 1983.
Instead of analyzing the root causes and addressing them squarely, they buy time to disenfrenchise the 'Infiltrators' for 10 years.
The root cause is how do we grant citizenship of India to people who do not belong to the country?
The debate should centre to address the citizenship norms and pre-conditions. There should not be natural law if someone is born within the borders of India, becomes Indian citizen. Or naturalization process. Before granting citizenship a thorough examination should be carried out by an agency like CBI, list of eligible candidates prepared and must be granted citizenship after the approval of respective state legislative assembly has debated the eligibility and no potential threat to peace and order of the region.
Central government is confused and working on symptoms.
Definitely the northeastern people have the right to every part of India and miscreants seeking to cause touble should be bought to justice.
But we must not forget the ethnic cleansing that is taking place in Assam and the government and media are completely silent about it. This should not go unnoticed as well and the miscreants should be bought to justice as well.
this is very bad in one country this is happening some miscreants
creating disturbance in country we should unit to g ether in this situation this may be blame one community we should face this with
courage the culprits should be booked immediately.
Mere assertion of solidarity with the NE bretheren is not enough; those
watching the helpless NE citizens waiting for catching the train to
their homeland are shocked at this happening when the nation celebrates
66th independence day. Worse still, the happenings in Mumbai depress
all of us and the latest exodus from Bangalore is a blot on the nation.
UPA government is wholly responsible for this failure in this regard in
spite of its having a special ministrer for ANE and a special plan for
that region..
A very Sad Independence Day celebrationg whole over India in the
History of India after Independence. This is the time to be together
not to politicies an Issue. Lets stand for Oneness, Integrity and say
No to people who are creating panic. If there is any evidence of any
threat or misbehave Please lets Knock our safety measure not accepting
any rumours...High time Politicians come togerther and stand for the
poeple who are in the mode of fear and Panic. If not Now its never for
any politicians, Religious leaders and Social Organisation. And lets
stand strong against any problem mongers with Law and Order My dear
NorthEast fellow people. Saying that lets stop Splitting with Blame
game on each other who are all victimised with such incident. MAy
Almighty Bless peace to all of us.
However,what is Lok Sabha's stand on the illegal migrants from Bangladesh ,which is the root cause of this issue?......PM is still interested in protecting congress vote bank....
Our politicians rose in one voice to comfort and reassure our brothers and sisters in the northeast. In a crisis, that threatens national identity, they rose to show leadership and solidarity. Let each one of us reach out to our brethren today. There is hope for this coutnry.
Mere debates in Parliament are not enough.There is a highly volatile
situation in the north east ,especially Assam.The need of the hour is
that a team of clean and dedicated leaders from all parties must go
there,spend a few weeks with the masses and generate confidence among
them that they are safe.If illegal immigrants from Bangladesh are a
source of trouble,seal the borders and keep strict vigilance.
If Tarun Gogoi is unable to govern bring president's rule immediately.
Nation is above politics and political gains.
Dont say that, "we will do this and that" just do it and that too asap otherwise problem will only worsen
Please Email the Editor