Youtuber Paras Singh has been booked by Arunachal police under Sections 124A (Sedition), 153A, and 505(2) of the IPC which deal with promoting enmity between groups reported the Telegraph. On Tuesday Punjab police had arrested Singh from Ludhiana after an FIR was filed by Arunachal Pradesh MLA Ninong Ering. Singh had reportedly uploaded a “racist and anti-India” video on Sunday commenting that Ering did “not” look like an Indian and that Arunachal Pradesh was “part” of China.

Singh’s arrest was announced by Union Minister of State for Sports and Arunachal Pradesh MP Kiren Rijiju, who has also asked Ludhiana police commissioner to ensure Singh’s “urgent” transit remand so that he can be taken to Arunachal Pradesh.

Punjab Police searched & taken Paras Singh under custody. Arunachal Pradesh Police team is reaching Punjab. I’ve spoken to Police Commisioner of Ludhiana for urgent Judicial process for transit remand as it’s inter-state arrest so that he can be brought to Arunachal Pradesh. https://t.co/jm3WFAeVBL

— Kiren Rijiju (@KirenRijiju) May 25, 2021

After a massive outrage, Singh, who has over six lakh subscribers on Youtube reportedly removed the offensive comments and put up an apology on his channel. After he was picked up by Punjab police, a woman who identified herself as his mother, also put up a video on his channel and apologised on her son’s behalf, asking that he be forgiven for his mistake.

Apart from scores of hate comments on social media, FIRs have also been filed against Singh by the All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union, Adi Bane Kebang Youth Wing and All Arunachal Pradesh Youth Organization. The Telegraph reported that Arunachal Pradesh DGP R.P. Upadhyaya had sent a three-member police team, led by inspector Techi Vijay to Chandigarh on Tuesday with a non-bailable warrant against Singh. Upadhyaya said Singh “has been booked for sedition and spreading racial hatred. In the video, Singh is heard saying ‘from his (Ering) face he does not look like an Indian, looks like a Chinese’, and pointing to a map of Arunachal says  it is ‘part’ of China.” 

According to news reports Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Pema Khandu said the video was aimed at “inciting ill will and hatred towards the people of Arunachal Pradesh”. And Deputy chief minister Chowna Mein, said he was appalled at the video, adding Arunachal is “proud to be a State in the Union of India where even in the interior most we greet each other with a ‘Jai Hind’ and primary school children even in the border villages sing ‘Saare Jahaan se Achha, Hindustan Hamara’ with pride.”

1/4. I am appalled and greatly dismayed to see a recent YouTube post by one Mr Paras Singh(Bunty) where he has not only questioned the nationality of an MLA from my State of Arunachal Pradesh but also questioned the existence of our State within India.@PMOIndia @DefenceMinIndia pic.twitter.com/A7RISx8viU

— Chowna Mein (@ChownaMeinBJP) May 24, 2021

EastMojo reported that the Naga Students’ Union Phagwara (NSUP) has also condemned the “derogatory remarks of racial slur and demarcation” made by the Punjab-based YouTuber. According to NSUP people from the region are often asked about their nationality if they are “Nepali” or “Chinese adding that this “escalated during the Covid-19 pandemic when we faced discrimination. We are thrown racial slurs calling us Chinky, Momo, Corona, etc,” stated the news report. The Naga students’ body said that in one’s own nation, they feel alienated when treated like foreigners. “It is disheartening when they don’t know that the Northeastern states are an integral part of India,” it said.

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President Donald Trump has been denounced by the US House of Representatives for tweets attacking four Democratic Congresswomen of colour calling on them to “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came”. The resolution, which passed by 240 to 187 votes on July 16, condemned the “racist comments that have legitimised fear and hatred of New Americans and people of colour”.

Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez hit back at the president’s tweets. Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA

In response to Trump’s threat, the four Democratic Congresswomen, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib, who have come to be known as “the squad”, made clear that they would not be marginalised or silenced.

Trump responded to the House vote, by tweeting: “I don’t have a racist bone in my body.” But the House clearly felt otherwise.

The vote was historic, and constitutes the first time the House has voted to rebuke a president in more than 100 years. Mindful of the message that Trump’s statements send to American citizens and the global community, House representatives made clear that the US has no room for “racism, sexism, antisemitism, xenophobia and hate”.

Since his election, Trump has tapped into the latent and overtly racist feelings of some of his supporters, and legitimised their bigotry. Fringe groups such as neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and skinheads marked Trump’s victory in 2016 with a Nazi salute. No longer on the fringe, these groups saw Trump’s election as their coming out party.

Instead of unequivocally condemning these groups, he has pandered to them, leading to dangerous consequences. A recent study reported that every extremist murder in the US in 2018 had links to far-right ideology, making it one of the deadliest years in recent history.

While Trump sees no link between his behaviour and the rise of right-wing white nationalism, Democrats disagree. US Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi recently asserted that what Trump means by “making American great again” is to “make America white again”. Trump hit back by claiming that Pelosi was the racist.

Driving division

During the presidential campaign and during his time in office, Trump has thrived on making racist and xenophobic attacks against a diverse set of people, from Latinos to Muslims. But he has a longer history of racist discrimination against African Americans.

In 1973, he was sued by the Nixon administration, accused of violating the Fair Housing Act after officials alleged his real estate company was refusing to rent out properties to black tenants. The case was settled in 1975. In 1992, he had to pay a fine for removing black and female dealers of the tables in the Trump Plaza and Hotel Casino, when big rollers requested it. Trump also played an important role in spreading the “birther movement”, which accused president Barack Obama of not being born in the US.

Though the US has always been one of the more diverse countries in the world, whites have always been the majority. This will change by 2045, when whites are projected to comprise 49.7% of the population compared to 24.6% for Hispanics, 13.1% for blacks, 7.9% for Asians, and 3.8% for multiracial populations. These changes have driven fears by a subset of the white population that they will feel like foreigners in their own country.

According to a 2018 Pew Research Center survey, most Americans think that growing up in a racially and ethnically diverse US is a good thing, but this is divided along partisan lines. While 70% of Democrats believe that diversity makes the US a better place, only 47% of Republicans do. This means that Trump’s strategy of attacking immigration and diversity resonates with his supporters.

Studies show that people who exhibit high levels of racial animosity are more likely to support Trump. Other studies show that the way voters feel about sexism and the importance of tackling it also affected their probability of voting for Trump, much more so than how they felt about the economy.

Trump to the House: ‘I don’t have a racist bone in body.’ Oliver Contreras/EPA

Trump’s comfort zone

But the focus on the politics of race, ethnicity and religion distracts voters from Trump’s actual political policies, something he has had difficulty defending. In responding to Trump’s tweets, all four Democratic Congresswomen tried to bring the focus back to issues that they believe their supporters care about such as health care, gun violence and, in particular, detentions of migrants on the US border with Mexico.

Trump’s comfort zone is making personal attacks and engaging in identity politics, but he has frequently defended himself – arguing that because he has friends that are African American, Hispanic, Jewish or Muslim he is not a bigot or a racist.

As Trump sees it, he is just being politically incorrect. But such political incorrectness has become a signifier for covert or overt racist sentiments – and studies show it has led to an increase in racially charged violence and discrimination.

Trump’s racist tweets also have global ramifications. Violating human rights and dehumanising and degrading minority groups have become more acceptable in the US of 2019. In response to the controversy surrounding Trump’s tweets, world leaders have been silent and hesitant to criticise. But the House’s condemnation may be a turning point for how much bigotry the world is willing to tolerate from its leaders.

Courtesy: The Conversation

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He said, “Modi is fair, HDK is dark. Even if he takes bath ten times a day, he will still look like a buffalo.” In the run up to the general elections, political parties are leaving no stone unturned to influence the masses on the basis of ‘popular beliefs.’ The recent statement wherein Kage has hinted at the people’s preference of Modi over HDK due to latter’s ‘bad’ complexion is an example of the same.

The current ruling dispensation is infamous for passing communal remarks and promoting its Hindutva agendas. Recently, the Election Commission barred the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Union Minister Maneka Gandhi from holding public meetings owing to their communal speeches. Such reprehensible remarks are not only an insult to the dark people but also re-enforces the notion that black is ugly and thus, not preferred.

Right from the time of Nelson Mandela, people all over the world have been fighting against the injustice and discrimination faced by the blacks. Such racial comments bring shame to the party as well as puts the nation in a bad light.

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