A Khasi woman was asked to leave the plush Delhi Golf Club for wearing her traditional attire a couple of days ago, and the government has come down sharply on the incident, calling the incident of “a case of racial discrimination”.
Tailin Lyngdoh, a resident of Meghalaya, was wearing a ‘Jainsem’, a traditional Khasi dress, when she went to a lunch hosted by a member of the club on June 25.
Lyngdoh said she was asked by the manager to leave while they were having lunch, saying such a dress was not allowed.
The club has tendered an apology to the member who had brought the guest, Nivedita Barthakur Sondhi. Lyngdoh, who is Sondhi’s son’s governess, was accompanying her employer.
Lyngdoh said the manager told her that “it is not allowed, so you must go out. I went out, but it was very sad for me to hear such a thing. I have travelled to many places and everybody has complimented me on my traditional dress and nobody has ever said such a thing to me”.
In a Facebook post, Sondhi said, “Lyngdoh, an extremely proud, Khasi lady who has travelled the world in her Jenseim from London to UAE, was thrown out of the Delhi Golf Club because her dress was taken for a maid’s uniform!”
Although she was invited as a guest of a member, she was humiliated and the two gatekeepers did not even have the grace to apologise, the post read.
“It is so appalling that a citizen of India is judged on her dress and treated as a pariah,” she said.
Union Minister Kiren Rijiju said the incident reflected the club’s “elitist mindset”, asked the city police chief to take appropriate action.
The urban development ministry has sought a report from the club.
Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul M Sangma demanded legal action against the club.
“All legal options available according to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989... should be taken advantage of, so that such behaviour is not repeated in future,” he said in a statement.
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