Here's a bit of context before I expand on the topic. Recently
Srinivas Kuchibhotla, 32 and his colleague Alok Madasani, 32 were shot at a bar in Kansas, USA. Adam Purinton, a 51 year old white American who was not
bright enough to tell the difference between a middle-eastern and an Indian
committed the dastardly act of open firing at them. On the other hand a young
24 year old American Ian Grillot jumped into the firing line and attempted to
save the two. In the whole chain of events what is noteworthy is that two
individuals of Indian origin were shot at by a white racial bigot and at the
same time another person of similar ethnic background puts his life on the line
to save them. While open firing at his victims Puriton shouted, "Get out
of my country!" According to him they didn't belong there and should go
back to wherever they came from.
And we as Indians
are visibly disgusted and appalled by the events. But do we have the right to?
I'll quote a
personal example first. I have lived in Bangalore for a few years now. A city
which is desperately trying to proclaim itself as a cosmopolitan. Being from a
'Relatively Northern' state I have often faced discrimination within the city
but I have always taken them with a pinch of salt and moved on. But couple of
weeks back during a traffic altercation I was bullied, abused and manhandled by
a crowd which mostly comprised of localites. My Kannada accent kind of gave
away the fact that I was not from the state. The situation escalated when every
new person who joined the mob assumed that I was in the wrong. There was not a
single person who was willing to listen to my side of the story. As a person
who has lived in the city for close to a decade and calls Bangalore his home I
felt helpless and hopeless. At one point fearing my own physical well-being I
had to scoot from the scene. As I was leaving I was told to go back too
wherever I came from.
Next incidence is
of a 19 year old B.Sc student from Arunachal who was mocked at and then killed
when he protested in Delhi. Nido Taniam's life was cut short by a group of
bigots who thought that he looked different, dressed different and spoke
different. According to them he didn't belong there and should have gone back
too wherever he came from.
Next a daily wage
worker is lynched in Chennai. The mob shouted "North Indian Thief"
while they carried his unconscious body as a display trophy. Turned out that
the name of the person was Venkat Rao and he was from Andhra Pradesh. I'm sure
they thought that a "North Indian thief' is better off in North India. And
he should just go back to wherever he came from.
In Mumbai poor
daily wage workers and hawkers are targeted by the so called custodians of Marathi
culture yet no right thinking individual would intervene to protect the rights
of the poor. I'm sure the mob there believes that the hapless poverty stricken
migrants from UP and Bihar are a threat to society. And they should just go
back to wherever they came from.
Where have I come
from? That's a question I'm finding too difficult to answer of late.
The concept of a
country has failed in India. We are a conglomerate of several small countries
under the banner of 'India'. The animosity that is displayed by people of one
state towards another is sometimes comparable to people belonging to two
warring nations.
