India, along with the rest of the world, is fighting Covid-19. The fatal coronavirus has claimed 27 lives across the country (according to the latest data released by the government of India) and the total number of active cases has surged up to 901. The media, however, is reporting that the cases has crossed the 1,000-mark. Even in times as sensitive as these, there seems to be no end to racial discrimination in the country. Days after a man from Delhi called a Manipuri girl ‘Corona’ and spit on her, another shocking incident has come to light. A group of students from Nagaland were allegedly denied entry into a supermarket in Karnataka’s Mysuru.
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A video of the engineering college students being driven away has gone viral. One of them can be heard saying, “We are Indians, we need groceries just like you do. We are human beings like you guys. We live here and we also have our Aadhaar Card. How can you discriminate (against) us?” Take a look:
Meanwhile in Karnataka, Naga migrants from Northeast India not allowed to buy food. Shameful. Racism in India is an everyday affair. pic.twitter.com/MPt0Eip4gi
— Dolly Kikon (@DollyKikon) March 29, 2020
While the students are begging to be allowed to shop, which basically is their right, a member of the staff at the store tries to stop the other student from recording the entire incident.
An FIR was immediately registered after the video went viral and the staff of the grocery store had been taken into custody. Commissioner of Police, Dr Chandragupta said, “We urge people and shop owners/staff to desist from doing such acts and behave responsibly in this time of crisis”.
Remeber, it was only a few days ago that the Chief Secretary of Nagaland had put out a tweet, asking all the different states to take action against those harassing people from the Northeast by linking them with COVID-19.
Any Naga facing any kind of racial discrimination/harassment in other States may please send me an email at temjentoy@gov.in giving details. They can also contact my team by phone at 03702291120 or 03702291122 or 1070 @EastMojo @NagalandExpress @Neiphiu_Rio
— Temjen Toy (@temjentoy) March 26, 2020
Meanwhile, one of the students who were denied entry into the grocery store in Mysuru, shared that the incident has affected him a lot. “One of the staff members at the store told us that we are not Indians. I should say I am not okay. I am psychologically affected,” he said.
We hope that the government continues to take strict action against perpetrators of such hate crimes. This is the time to come together and fight the crisis together as a community, not to use it as an excuse to discriminate against people.
Featured Image: Twitter
