Guwahati: The students, academicians, politicians, artists, professionals and others from eight Northeastern states on Friday evening bombarded Twitter, a popular microblogging site with tweets demanding inclusion of a chapter on Northeast region, its geography, history, culture, ethnicity, lifestyle on the textbooks of NCERT.
A group of students from Northeast came together to organise a ‘Twitter Storm’ using hashtags like #AchapterforNE and #NorhteastMatters from 6 pm to 8 pm. People from all walks of life joined the twitter storm and tagged those in power including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
People from the northeast region often phase racial slur outside the region. Recently, a youtuber Paras Singh from Punjab posted a video on his youtube channel with racial slur against MLA Ninong Ering and stating that Arunachal Pradesh is a part of China. He was arrested and is in remand in Arunachal Pradesh.
In another incident, popular news anchor Rahul Kanwal while hosting a live panel discussion with panelists which included IPS Rupin Shrama from Nagaland said to the officer, “Don’t worry! You are in Nagaland, electricity goes off even in India. Please go on speaking”. Rupin had faced a power cut during the discussion to which Rahul responded.
Though Rahul had immediately apologized for his tongue slip, he was trolled on social platforms. Soon netizens questioned Rahul, Isn’t Nagaland a part of India?
Joining the storm, former Union Minister and sitting Arunachal Pradesh MLA, Ninong Ering tweeted a thread “Today, I am joining Twitter Storm not only as a representative but as a common citizen of North East India. The world needs to know about us and learn about our history, geography, culture and other aspects.”
“Our geography, ethnicity, culture and way of life need a place in NCERT textbooks,” tweeted Amar Sangno, a senior journalist from Arunachal Pradesh.
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor also joined in and tweeted with an illustration of artist Jene Hai from Arunachal Pradesh. He tweeted, “There is absolutely no doubt that the #NorthEastMatters. It’s essential that a chapter on the NorthEast is included in the NCERT syllabus.”