Gun survivors

Saw a video of a debate in Times Now about the treatment of north east students in the rest of India. Attending the debate was the spokeswoman – Binalakshmi Nepram. This was the first time I had heard of her. Her upbringing was in a Vaishnav community of manipur. It was amazing how she presented the faces of northeast of which, the rest of India was unfamiliar with. While most Indians thought Northeast guys ate dogs and pigs, here was a woman from a vegetarian community.

Her insight to the causes of violence in the Northeast was useful, as was her aim to disarm the state militias for a better living, she had gathered her community of anti gun protestors. The Indian government must re think its position on the northeast. Isolating the people of the seven sisters has always been the policy of the state. It was thought since they have no news to offer, ie. no significant vote bank, there should be nothing new to offer them. It was very recently that the laws restricting movement of people within the states such as Manipur was removed to bring in foreign investments.

There is still a long way to go, until and unless people get their jobs and a steady state of income, they will continue to pick up arms against the state.