What is the North East protesting against?

The North Eastern states are not happy with the CAB and are out on streets protesting. Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura have seen some of the largest protests in the region. But what are they protesting against?

We don't want Bengalis

To understand the reason behind their protest, one has to go back in time to 1873 when the colonial government imposed the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation to restrict long term stay of the 'British Subjects' in many parts of what is now the north east India.

The Regulation was amended in post independence India and 'Inner Line Permit' (ILP) was introduced in Arunachal, Mizoram and Nagaland. This essentially meant that non locals/tribals were not allowed for long term stays in these protected areas. The Modi govt. added Manipur to the list of states with ILPs.

The genocide carried out by Pakistan in the 60s-70s religious persecution in independent Bangladesh, led to a large scale migration of Bangladeshis in Assam and Meghalaya. The demographics changed and the illegal Bengalis slowly started capturing resources. The Assamese saw this as a threat to their culture and language.

The recent protests in Assam and other states of the north east are not against CAB per se. The protestors are against any settlers irrespective of their religion. Neither do they want Hindu Bangladeshis to settle in Assam, nor do they want Muslim Bangladeshis in their state.

If one looks from the Assamese's point of view, this makes sense. The people there want to preserve themselves against the drain on resources put on by the illegal immigrants. They are right when they ask, 'why should just Assam bear the brunt of this illegal immigration'?

On the other hand, the inner line permits and the protests by Assamese people can be labeled as Xenophobia. The people of these states do not want anyone to settle in their states. Much like some housing societies, which do not want non-vegetarians, Muslims or single men as their tenants. They too hide behind the excuse of preserving their 'values' and 'culture'.

These people do not want diversity. They want to impose their own version of majoritarian ideas of 'culture' and 'language' on the States. This is a sort of reverse racism (for the lack of a better word) in north east India against people from rest of the country.

So what does this mean? Where should rest the country stand on this issue?

Well, if one are in favour of uniformity and majoritarian views then one should support these protests. But if one is all for diversity and progressive ideas, then one should condemn these protests as majoritarian and xenophobic.

The Gay Pride has been appropriated by the far Left

On 28^th June, 1969, Stonewall Inn in New York was raided by the police. The raid was part of many such instances where queer people were rounded up and crossdressing men were arrested. The raid on Stonewall Inn invoked protests from the queer community and quickly turned violent. Widespread protests lasted for a couple of days and spread to other cities in the US. The following year on the first anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, first Gay Pride marches were organized simultaneously in many US cities. The marches became a civil movement for recognition of gay rights in America. In the years following the first Gay Pride march, the movement spread to other countries.

India saw its first Gay Pride in 1999, in Kolkata. The movement however did not get much traction. It was only in 2008, that the first coordinated pride marches were held in many Indian cities. The colonial hangover on the Indian legal system meant that homosexuality was illegal and punishable under the Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. Various gay rights groups were fighting a long court battle to decriminalize homosexuality. The movement won a brief victory in 2009, when Delhi High Court partially decriminalized Section 377. The decision was however overturned by the Supreme Court in 2013 and review pleas were dismissed. The Supreme Court finally decriminalized homosexuality in 2018 after a long drawn legal battle between gay activist groups, the government and the religious bodies.

Since the Supreme Court decriminalized homosexuality, one of the prime issues of the Gay Pride has been addressed. The battle of acceptance may not have been won, but the legal battle, for sure, has ended.

Hetro Capitalist Pollution

Meanwhile a strange thing happened. The gay rights movement, which was fighting for their rights, got highjacked. As the pride marches started getting media attention, the movement was infiltrated by the Left. The voices of gay rights were heard less and less as the chorus of political voices reached their crescendo. The pride marches became yet another platform for political sloganeering. This is not surprising since the pride marches in the West too have met a similar fate. Pro Hong Kong activists were thrown out of the Montreal Parade, while Pro China group was allowed to march along as they sang the Chinese national anthem.

Since much of the outrage material on ‘social justice’ in India comes from the US, the political sloganeering at pride marches were no exception. Since the last few years, slogans against a particular political party and random Amercian outrage slogans have held sway. Azadi slogans became common and so did the hatred for Modi/BJP/RSS.

But is it wrong to have a political opinion? Why is political sloganeering during Gay Pride wrong? Well, neither is having an opinion wrong, nor is sloganeering. In fact, it is a right. However, such acts of mixing unrelated politics with a focused movement leads to dilution of the movement itself. The pride marches in India are anyway poorly attended. This year’s attendance in Delhi was just about 1,000. In a city with a population of almost 19 million only a paltry 1,000 people attended the march. The pride march does not resonate with a large section of the society, including queer people. If such a poorly attended march then becomes a platform for politics, it will only discourage people from participating.

Another reason why the current political colour of Gay Pride is a deep red, is because it has been appropriated by the far Left. The anti Modi/BJP/RSS slogans, sprinkled with a generous amount of ‘Azadi’ makes one feel as if they are participating in the monthly parade at JNU or Jadhavpur University. The irony is that the far Left, which claims to be the best friend of queer people, is sawing the branch on which it is sitting.

To understand this better, let us go back to the final days of the hearing on Section 377 in the Supreme Court. Other than the government of India, there were sundry religious groups who petitioned the Supreme Court to not decriminalize homosexuality. Muslim organisations like All India Muslim Personal Law Board, Jamat-e-Islami Hind pleaded the government to save Section 377. Christian organisations pleaded in the Supreme Court for nearly two hours on the last day of the hearing in the case, to stop decriminalization of homosexuality.

On the other hand, RSS, the so called mother of BJP and the entire ‘Hindutva’ movement, went for a reset in its outlook. The BJP as the ruling party in the Union government did not oppose the decriminalization of homosexuality. Had the ‘saffron’ party and Modi set up road blocks, the judgement would have been delayed further. The RSS said, that they don’t support homosexuality, but neither do they want it criminalized. Mohan Bhagwat, the chief of RSS said, ‘the LGBTQ community is very much part of the society and they should not be isolated’. The RSS is also of the view that though same sex marriage is something they do not support at the moment, they are however open to a discussion in the future.

For an organization like RSS to openly accept the queer community and staying open to a discussion on something like same sex marriage is a huge climb down. Given the clout of RSS and its influence on the BJP, the queer community should actually make friends with RSS to further their demands. The Muslim and Christian groups are not going to support their cause given the deep theological connection of Islam and Christianity with homophobia.

But instead of leveraging the recent climb down of RSS on gay issues, the far Left infiltrated Gay Pride is raising slogans against the only people/group that supports them. This is primarily because not only has the Gay Pride being appropriated by the far Left, it has also become elitist. Like around the world, the elites do not care much about the real issues, but care more about abstract nonsense like ‘Hetro Capitalist Pollution’.

If there is any real gay movement left, it should exclude the political sloganeering and random captions from their activism and work with people and groups who can give them a real chance to bring a change. The Azadi and hateful political slogans may belong in the campus of JNU and Jadhavpur University, but definitely not in a serious rights movement.