People from northeastern states are Indians, not Chinese: Gaurav Gogoi

New Delhi: The people of northeastern states are Indians and not Chinese, Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi said on Monday as he condemned the killing of a Tripura student in Dehradun.

The student, Anjel Chakma (24), from Unakoti district of Tripura, was attacked by a group of six people when he objected to racial slurs hurled at him and his younger brother by them on December 9. Chakma succumbed to his injuries at the hospital on December 26.

"I am Indian, not Chinese. The people of the northeast are Indians, they are not Chinese," said Gogoi, who hails from Assam and is the Congress' state unit president, at a press conference here.

"This is exactly what 24-year-old Anjel Chakma had to say on December 9, when he was returning from the market on an ordinary day and was harassed by some people who called him Chinese," the Jorhat MP said.

He said this is something that has happened with many from the northeastern states.

"He (Chakma) could have left quietly after hearing those insulting words. Perhaps if he had done that, he would still have been alive. But he could not tolerate it that day and he said, 'I am Indian, not Chinese'," Gogoi said.

Dehradun police have arrested five of the six accused. One of them, Yagyaraj Awasthi, a resident of Kanchanpur district of Nepal, is absconding.

Gogoi slammed the delay in registration of the FIR in the case and said it must be probed.

"It took the police 12 days to register an FIR. Only when students held a demonstration was the FIR registered," he alleged.

He said similar incidents happen in other parts of the country as well, when police do not register complaints of people from the northeastern states.

Quoting the family members of Chakma, Gogoi said the delay in registration of the FIR gave the main accused enough time to escape.

He demanded that the case be investigated in a time-bound manner and the guilty be given the harshest punishment to convey a message across the country that there is zero tolerance for such crimes.

He also called for raising awareness about the history, culture, languages and literature of the northeast. He said Tripura's Unakoti, where Chakma came from, is home to some ancient Shiva temples.

Gogoi said students from the northeast travel across the country for studies and Chakma had gone to Dehradun for the same reason, but "paid with his life".

In Karbi Anglong districts of Assam, Gogoi said, the Karbi tribes are being called Chinese on their own land.

On Union Home Minister Amit Shah's remarks during his visit to Assam on Monday that "infiltrators" in Assam and the rest of India will be identified and sent back, Gogoi said, "The home minister is visiting Assam, the main issue today is the Sixth Schedule. The house of the chief of the council, a BJP member, ... was burnt by protesters. The Sixth Schedule is overseen by the home minister." The Congress leader was referring to protesters setting ablaze the residence of Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC) chief Tuliram Ronghang in Assam's Diphu on December 22.