Mizoram CM: I am a victim of Racism in India

SINGAPORE – At a time when racial attacks against Indian students in Australia have attracted comments from the top leadership in both countries, Mizoram chief minister Pu Lalthanhawla on Thursday said he too was a victim of racism – but in India.

Speaking at a conference on water at the Singapore International Water Week, the chief minister said: “In India, people ask me if I am an Indian.”

“When I go south, people ask me such questions. They ask me if I am from Nepal or elsewhere. They forget that the northeast is part of India. I have told many that see, I am an Indian like you,” Lalthanhawla said.

“I am a victim of racism,” he said. Indians consist of three races – “Dravidians, Aryans and we in the northeast,” Lalthanhawla said.

Though many northeastern students complain of such discrimination in places like New Delhi, a state chief minister speaking in an international podium about an issue unrelated to the subject concerned was not liked by other Indian delegates present.

Courtesy:- TOI, 26th June 2009