Us versus Them, Always

Editoral:-
The latest incident in New Delhi, this one ending in an unfortunate fatality, could, as an individual case, be a confrontation gone horribly wrong, but in the larger scheme of things, is a progression of the racist responses which recently painted the Africans living in Khirki extension as drug peddlers and pimps. Nido Taniam was in Delhi to study, but did not live to get through his teenage years because provincial machismo intervened, and what clearly started off as prejudicial name-calling ended in a death. One could argue that Nido was not targeted because he was from the North East, and he probably was not, but he was obviously ribbed because he wore his hair differently; and it is this attitude which lies at the core of the basic problem of intolerance and clear racism which infects us a nation. One sees much the same prejudices in the blanket painting of all Delhites as ‘racist’ by the northeastern groups protesting the incident and we have displayed much the same traits in how we engage the mainstream in our own domains, whether in Sikkim or Arunachal or anywhere in the margins. The latest death has attracted so much media attention that the perpetrators in the case will at least be charged and their cases processed properly. But the protest is about more than that and now that it has attracted attention, more concerted efforts should be made to devise ways by which people, especially the young, become less provincial, more open and less defensive.
It is obvious that the elders and policy-makers have collectively failed in their responsibilities towards the young in failing to address inherent insecurities, adjustment problems and attitude issues among them, especially when they move to new places or receive people from different communities and cultures among them. As a result, simmering discontent and unresolved differences explode on the streets and sometimes end in fatalities like was the case with Nido. And now, there is a protest underway at Jantar-Mantar, with even Rahul Gandhi in attendance and making headlines everywhere. This release might work to settle nerves for the present and after a few days, the young might return to their classes and work with the aggression levels under control. But instead of just being about ‘justice’ for Nido [which, make no mistake, is important], the situation needs to be taken a step further and used to make better introductions and make better, more tolerant citizens out of all of us. If the Jantar-Mantar demonstration remains just a North-East affair, it will only reinforce the prejudices and expand the communication gap which brought things to such an ignominious pass in the first place.
What is required, and is definitely a very challenging ask, is for all sections – people, governments, residents and institutions to sit down and thrash out the issues. Everyone needs to make better introductions and make more concerted efforts to know the other. On our part, it is important that when the young are sent out, they are encouraged to create wider circles of friends and now settle into familiar circles of home, creating their Little Sikkims, Little Arunachals etc. The world has been opened to them [when the move out], and we do them a disservice if we allow them to withdraw into the smallest corner of the familiar there. Apart from constricting their development, we also allow prejudices to get even more reinforced, adjustments even more difficult. Don’t allow such openness, and another generation is groomed with a chip of their shoulders and growing into society leaders who reduce every situation into us versus them collapse into regressive parochialism. It needs to also be accepted that this disturbing chip on the shoulder is reinforced by constant hammering by short-sighted do-gooders when the focus really should be on healing such insecurities. The young, as they take over from the older generation, will anyways be hemmed in by obnoxious insularity, but while they are still young, we should encourage them to experiment with being less provincial and more open, less insular and more social.