Crisis And Conflict: India’s Northeast And Covid-19 Pandemic

Xara Behzaad, BA LLB (B), Alliance School of Law, Alliance University, Bengaluru

Introduction

The Seven Sisters of India or India’s northeast belt comprises of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura. The region is home to a variety of tribes and communities that are diverse and distinct in their culture, language, traditions and values. But the people of this region have faced the worst of racial discrimination in India by their fellow citizens. This discrimination is often supplemented with slurs and derogatory terms. When the COVID-19 disease was declared as a global pandemic, a halt had been created to the daily activities of the people. People had to take extra care and precaution, and the situation had become a crisis. A chaos had been created in the surroundings for healthcare, groceries and other necessities. While the people of the mainland were concerned with steps to defeat the crisis, the people of the northeast living in mainland had to combat with the increased discrimination. Such a situation of a pandemic demands a unified feeling among the citizens, but there was an absence of it. A stigma was attached to the people of northeast when they stepped out of their homes to buy necessities. The objective of this study is to present the findings of racial discrimination towards the northeast Indians that denied them healthcare and other necessities based on their physical attributes. The research paper also aims to discuss about the role of past illegal immigration of Bangladeshis in 1971, CAA and NRC of 2019, past separatist movements, media and negligence on part of the government that has created a large gap between the northeast and the mainland. This blockage of knowledge has led to people being ignorant and has resulted in the racism as can be seen in the findings of the following paper. The paper aims to address why the people have failed to address the issue in the past that has resulted in such a predicament.