The Bangalore racist attack on a 21-year old black Tanzanian woman by a mob once again raised questions about the existence of racism in India. She was attacked because some other black person in another car had fatally run down a woman. Yet, Karnataka CM don't find any sort of racist angle into the incident. It happened in the modern city of Bangalore which is also known as the silicon valley of India. Such incidents can affect India's liberal image severely because racism has been a global phenomenon and history is full of racist discrimination against black people in the countries what we call "superpowers" today.
India is fighting racism within its own boundaries. All of us are aware of the existence of North Eastern racism in India and that people from North East are often referred to as 'chinki', an offensive word for them. Sometimes it is also said in a casual way without having the intention to offend anyone but the fact of the matter is that the term is offensive and now it can land you in jail for 5 years if you call any North Eastern People 'chinki'. If we broaden our minds we'll find more such teasing happens in India every day like South Indians being mocked by the term 'lungi - pungi' and people from UP and Bihar being called as 'Bhaiya' and 'Bihari'. This happens mostly in Delhi and some other north Indian states but exists everywhere.
We every day come across to the "racist" TV ads of fairness cream. The marketing of cosmetic products in India is based on the claim of making one's skin 'gora'(white). getting a lighter tone skin. These misleading advertisements are in fact racist too. Sometimes it depicts a lady initially not-so-white not getting attention from her boyfriend, but after applying a certain fairness cream she gets a milky white tone skin. As a consequence of it, she now gets good attention and has many boyfriends. Elsewhere, cosmetic companies may be sued for such misleading and racist ads.
Sometimes racism is also utilized in Indian politics especially to mock others. Remember the union minister Giriraj Singh's racist comment on Sonia Gandhi. During his informal chat with reporters, he blatantly asked “Agar Rajiv Gandhi koi Nigerian ladies se byaah kiye hote, gori chamra na hota, toh kya Congress party uska netritwa sweekarti kya? (Had Rajiv married a Nigerian lady, had she not been fair-skinned, would the Congress have accepted her leadership?)” After that Singh apologized for his comment after opposition lambasted him.
So it is an undeniable fact that racism exists in India and Indians are a colour conscious people who want their skin complexion to be white. But It doesn't mean that Indians hate Black people. India, the maker and follower of "atithi devo bhava" principle, receives her guest with full decorum and with great respect irrespective of their colour, creeds or religions. As home of world's second largest population, some miscreants with conservative mindsets do exist in India. But they cannot paint the whole country as racist. No country is perfect in that manner. I am not defending my country, and certainly not that criminal mob, rather I am admitting that racism does exist here which needs to be exorcised. The mob should be given an exemplary punishment by the law so that such incidents won't happen again.
India is fighting racism within its own boundaries. All of us are aware of the existence of North Eastern racism in India and that people from North East are often referred to as 'chinki', an offensive word for them. Sometimes it is also said in a casual way without having the intention to offend anyone but the fact of the matter is that the term is offensive and now it can land you in jail for 5 years if you call any North Eastern People 'chinki'. If we broaden our minds we'll find more such teasing happens in India every day like South Indians being mocked by the term 'lungi - pungi' and people from UP and Bihar being called as 'Bhaiya' and 'Bihari'. This happens mostly in Delhi and some other north Indian states but exists everywhere.
We every day come across to the "racist" TV ads of fairness cream. The marketing of cosmetic products in India is based on the claim of making one's skin 'gora'(white). getting a lighter tone skin. These misleading advertisements are in fact racist too. Sometimes it depicts a lady initially not-so-white not getting attention from her boyfriend, but after applying a certain fairness cream she gets a milky white tone skin. As a consequence of it, she now gets good attention and has many boyfriends. Elsewhere, cosmetic companies may be sued for such misleading and racist ads.
Sometimes racism is also utilized in Indian politics especially to mock others. Remember the union minister Giriraj Singh's racist comment on Sonia Gandhi. During his informal chat with reporters, he blatantly asked “Agar Rajiv Gandhi koi Nigerian ladies se byaah kiye hote, gori chamra na hota, toh kya Congress party uska netritwa sweekarti kya? (Had Rajiv married a Nigerian lady, had she not been fair-skinned, would the Congress have accepted her leadership?)” After that Singh apologized for his comment after opposition lambasted him.
So it is an undeniable fact that racism exists in India and Indians are a colour conscious people who want their skin complexion to be white. But It doesn't mean that Indians hate Black people. India, the maker and follower of "atithi devo bhava" principle, receives her guest with full decorum and with great respect irrespective of their colour, creeds or religions. As home of world's second largest population, some miscreants with conservative mindsets do exist in India. But they cannot paint the whole country as racist. No country is perfect in that manner. I am not defending my country, and certainly not that criminal mob, rather I am admitting that racism does exist here which needs to be exorcised. The mob should be given an exemplary punishment by the law so that such incidents won't happen again.
The attack is shameful. What makes it worse is the reluctance on part of ministers to accept that this is racism.
ReplyDeletePrecisely said! It's a blunder of Karnataka CM to deny the role of racism into the Bangalore incident.
Deleteशुरुआती गुस्सा तो एक्सीडेंट के कारण था जो बाद में कई रंग ले गया. मुझे तो लोकल vs बाहरी विचारधारा ज्यादा लगती है. मंत्रियों की बात अलग है उन्होंने अपना और राज्य का बचाव करना है. लेकिन undercurrent ठीक नहीं है. उसे समझाना चाहिए. तभी सुधार होगा.
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