New Delhi: The Congress on Monday asserted that the people of the northeast are Indians and nit Chinese and demanded justice for Tripura youth Angel Chakma, who was brutally attacked in Uttarakhand’s Dehradun in a racial assault and later succumbed to his serious injuries in the hospital.
Addressing a press conference here, Congress Deputy Leader in the Lok Sabha and Assam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi demanded immediate arrest of the main accused, who is still absconding.
Gogoi said, “Chakma on the day of the incident had said I am an Indian and not Chinese. People of northeast are Indian and not Chinese.”
Referring to the brutal attack on Chakma, the Congresd leader said that unfortunately a youth from Tripura was said same words in Dehradun when he along with his brother was returning from market, what many people had faced, called him Chinese.
Gogoi pointed out that if Chakma could have left silently without opposing and if he would have done so despite insult, he would have remained alive.
“But that day he responded saying that I am an Indian and not a Chinese and what proof should I give to prove the same,” Gogoi said.
The senior Congress leader expressed grave concern over racial profiling of students and people from the North East of the country.
Taking a swipe at the government, he said, “The Modi government talks about ‘One India’, but it does not talk about the diversity within it.”
“In this ‘One India’, how many languages are there, how many states are there, how different people’s faces are, it does not talk about that,” he said.
The Congress MP said that the case must be investigated in a time-bound manner and the guilty must be given the harshest punishment to convey a message across the country that there is zero tolerance for such crimes.
Gogoi also called for raising awareness about the history, culture, languages and literature of the northeast.
He pointed that Unakoti in Tripura, the place Chakma came from, has some of the ancient Shiva temples.
He noted that students from the north east travel across the country for their studies, and Chakma had also gone to Dehradun for the same reason.
“He did receive education, but also paid with his life”, he highlighted, while expressing grief over his death.
Gogoi demanded that the delay in registration of the FIR must also be probed. Quoting the family members of Chakma, he said the FIR in the matter was registered 12 days after the incident, which provided enough time to the main accused to escape.
He also demanded that the main accused, who has been absconding to be immediately arrested and punishment must be given.
The Congress leader also raised the issue of Karbi Analong and said that karbi community people, who have been staying there for decades are being called Chinese and asked to go back.
