What happens when you fear being an outsider in your own country? I am referring to the ever growing trend of regionalism and separatism that seem to have caught on globally. And for a country like India, which is a kaleidoscope of cultures and ethnic origins, the possibilities are rather terrifying.
Take for instance the Jaipur bombing. Two days after the bombing, when news trickled out that a Bangladesh based terrorist organization was allegedly involved, the reaction over the table was very disturbing. All Bangladeshis will be rounded up and interrogated, I was told by one person. Which than translated to anyone speaking Bengali will be rounded up. Since the instances of mob justice have grown in the past few months in India, can anyone be blamed for fearing such a situation? Will a mob know the difference between a Indian Bengali and a Bangladeshi? To that matter, what will be the fate of those legal migrants from Bangladesh who probably have been in India since Independence. Will the angry, scared mob think twice?
The answer I am tempted to say is no. But since it has not happened yet, I will reserve my judgment and keep my fingers crossed in hope. But, aren't we, collectively the mob, being encouraged to pick on the outsider in the name of regional pride these days? Mumbai and Thackeray comes to mind, Assam and ULFA comes to mind, and numerous other outsiders will soon be feeling the brunt of being not in their own backyard very soon if the trend continues.
So what is the alternate? Last time I looked I was an Indian and India was my country. But should I now stay where I was born or where my mother tongue is spoken. Will I be an outsider in my own country, if I am in the wrong city or province. Are all our labor over writing those 'Unity in Diversity" essays in school going to waste? For a country which stood united and fought for its freedom barely half a century ago, isn't it deplorable that we took no time to fall apart and tear at each other at the name of regionalism?
3 comments:
We might try going the whole hog to prove ourselves "progressive" but when it comes to actually practising it we cut a sorry figure. From South Africa to South India, factionalism and regionalism is now an ugly monster, threatening to tear apart the tenuous fabric that holds together a pluralistic society. Today Zimbabweans are butchered in the streets of South Africa, tomorrow the same monster will reaches out for innocent Bangladeshis struggling for survival in the slums of Yamuna pushta. Today a demographically dwindling Europe invites Asians and East Europeans to do their dirty work and tomorrow these very people will come under fire. It's about time we probed the phrase 'unity in diversity' a bit further and actually made a difference by practising it ourselves!
Regional profiling is a burning issue as racial profiling is today. In the west at least you have the consolation of saying that as they are white and don't know and Indian from a Sri Lankan but in India you are robbed even of that excuse. Someone asked me only very recently that do my Muslim friends discuss controversial issues openly with me? I was quite stumped at the question but I told him that we have regular long discourses and very constructive arguments over everything may it be politics, religion or mere mundane issues of lack of water, just as same as I do with my other Christian or Hindu, French, Americans, Australian friends.
Let me add something to it. Its quite joke among my NRI relatives that when they go back to India and visit any museum or historical place, they have to pretend to be Indian nationals to avoid the hefty fees. So, when asked where are you from, anybody who answers I am Indian is immediately caught as outsiders, because Indians invariably say they are from Mumbai or Kolkata and so on. :-)
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