Indians are grappling with complex ethical dilemmas, as growing intolerance manifests itself in serious social problems.
The
recent bout of self-reflection comes after a brutal murder in New Delhi
where a 18-year-old male college student died of his injuries after
being brutally beaten by a mob in a bustling marketplace.
The
conflict erupted when he stopped by the confectionery shop with his
friends asking for directions, and the people in shop taunted him about
his blonde hair and teased him about his East Asian facial features.
The
student, a resident of the remote northeastern Indian state of
Arunachal Pradesh, was holidaying in the political capital where such
incidents go unabated and unnoticed in recent years.
The case made national headlines as the dead victim was the son of a legislator of the ruling Congress party in the state.
This is not a lone story. In the past two years alone, many such cases have reverberated across the country.
The
murder of a Nigerian national a few months ago in the country's most
urbane state Goa sparked an onslaught of racial comments while ignoring
the larger problems.
In a July 2013 incident, a Chad citizen
married to an Indian woman and working in the nation's Silicon Valley
and third largest city Bangalore was assaulted by a mob while he was
going to pick his daughter up from school.
The city also
witnessed the mass departure of thousands of northeasterners in August
2012, as they were threatened by rumors of planned attacks.
It
was widely reported in the media last year that India is among the least
racially tolerant country. If one treats this information as a
yardstick, then this would mean labeling all elements in the society as
racists and making sweeping generalizations.
There is no denying
that there is some sort of prejudice involved, as there are some bad
elements in every place irrespective of caste or creed.
All these
incidents have created a lacuna that needs to be filled to prevent this
multi-ethnic and polyglot society from being torn apart.
There
is a deeply divided and polarized society in the country. The invisible
barbed wire around these social problems reveals that there is
regionalism and stereotyping because the urban and rural areas are
separated by economic and cultural chasms.
Sixty-six years of democratic statehood have not been effective to curb bigotry.
Successive
governments for years have ignored the problem and failed to make
anti-racism a part of the education system, even though the northeast
has 25 members of parliament.
Expat communities in our
hyper-connected world engage in cultural and public diplomacy toward
their homelands, and help to build up a framework for all cross-border
cooperation programs between countries.
As India changes
mindsets to transform, one might expect xenophobic attitude to dissolve
and disappear, which is so vexing in everyday lives.
In the northeast where study and work opportunities are more limited than elsewhere, many often move seeking new positions.
Many
of them feel profoundly alienated in other parts of the country, owing
to people's ignorance about their own cultural, geographical and
linguistic diversity.
A recent survey conducted by Centre for
North East Studies and Policy Research in a public university in Delhi
showed that 60 percent of women from northeast India have been subjected
to unfair discrimination and bullying in four Indian metropolises.
There
are several layers to the challenge of fighting bigotry, such as ethnic
and religious conflicts, but most importantly is the trust deficit
between Indians in their own country.
Rather than playing
politics of assigning blame and giving way to anarchy, these tragedies
are an opportunity for all people to celebrate differences and preserve
the multiculturalism.
The author is a Master's candidate in Global Business Journalism at Tsinghua University. himanshu28102000@gmail.com