Racial Discrimination: An Experience of North East Indians in the Metropolises

One of the challenges in the construct of a modern political nation of India is the competing identities that confronts in the making of an Indian identity with regard to Northeast region (NER) and their women working in the metropolitan cities in India. The NER is the melting point of South Asia and Southeast Asia, as a result of which there is microcosm of cultures that reflect both the regions which are uniquely of its own and do not reflect the Indian counterpart in their society and culture. Many North East people have sought livelihood in the cities. After the advent of liberalizing in the Indian economy there has been an onslaught of MNCs in which many Northeastern women are employed wearing western attire to suit the image of the company, which has led to stereotyping them in a derogatory manner that makes them vulnerable to confront violence in the changing social landscape of the metropolitan cities. The paper seeks to study how the hyphenated identities of Northeast Indian is confronted as gender relations gets strained with increasing tensions between men and women belonging to a different racial and cultural milieu. The racist hate crimes of Richard Loitam, Ms.Sangma and Nido Tania followed by a rape of 14 years old girl from Manipur in New Delhi drew massive protests and formulation of anti-racial laws. Why do the mainstream Indians perceive the North East Indians with prejudice? Why has the new spirit of intolerance increased? How will the new anti-racial laws be used effectively? What are the strategies to reduce racial discrimination in India? The intersectionality theory would be used to comprehend why the North East women are the easy targets of discrimination, racism and violence comprehending the social realities of the hyphenated identities of being a North East Indian.