Journalism of Courage
The BJP released its vision document for the Delhi Assembly elections on Tuesday, promising to make the city world class. The vision, which boasts of the Narendra Modi government’s achievements in the last seven months at the Centre, however, seems to have been written in a hurry. The document calls the people from India’s Northeast “immigrants”.
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One of the titles of the Vision Document says NorthEast Immigrants to be Protected and the text under this reads, “Special cells in all police stations and special 24-hour helpline numbers to be set up for the protection of the NorthEastern migrants. To safeguard the Students of NE origin, special guardianship will be arranged with local families for them.”
Delhi has seen a spate of racial attacks targeted against the people from the NorthEast. In one incident last year, a student Nido Taniam died after he was badly beaten by shopkeepers at a market in central Delhi. Taniam’s death brought to fore the discrimination people from that part of the country face in a cosmopolitan city like Delhi.
The Congress was quick to react. Addressing a press conference, Congress leader Ajay Maken asked, “Is BJP trying to say the people from the NorthEast are not Indian citizens?” He also demanded that the BJP remove this line from its vision document.
