“Why don’t you talk with an Indian accent?”, “Are you Chinese?” George Chakma, Kalyan Chandra Kaman and many other students from northeastern states face such comments regularly while studying and living in other parts of the country.
After Anjael Chakma’s death, students from the North-East studying in other parts of the country describe daily life as being as routine as it is with quiet alertness. College campuses, hostels, rental houses and public transport – spaces common to all, often become sites of racial scrutiny, where appearance and accent invite intrusive questions, ridicule or suspicion for students from the North East.
limiting social interactions
Mr Kaman, a native of Lakhimpur, Assam, has been living outside the state since 2021 for studies. After completing his undergraduate education from the National Institute for Locomotor Disabilities in Kolkata, he is currently pursuing his postgraduate education in Public Health at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) in Mumbai.
Mr Kaman talks about being mistaken for identity regularly on campus. Students from the North-East, he said, are often identified because of their facial features and labeled “foreigners” (non-Indians) based on appearance alone, which is a perception he has faced himself. He recalls being subjected to casual abuse, often presented as jokes and circulated as harmless pranks among friends.
Over time, such experiences determine how many students approach life in the city, and influence where they go and with whom. For some people, this means avoiding certain neighborhoods altogether and limiting social contacts largely to familiar circles that provide a sense of safety.
Mr Kaman is from the Miri (Mising) tribe of Assam and speaks Mising at home. Meanwhile, Mr George, a member of Tripura’s Chakma community, speaks Chakma at home.
Citing his experiences in both Kolkata and Mumbai, Mr Kaman said that in Kolkata, many of the racial comments he faced came from people who were not originally from Kolkata. He observed that this was partly shaped by the city’s demographics, noting that in parts of North Kolkata, the physical characteristics of residents are often similar to those of people in Assam and other northeastern states.
Subtle abuses: widespread patterns of racial hostility
She also mentioned that some friends refer to her using terms like “Chinky” or “Momo”, often without the intention of being explicitly racist, but through repeated use these phrases become normalized. He said, “The TISS campus is comparatively mild, there is little overt racial discrimination, but here in everyday conversation generalized comments are made as jokes…. If I get offended, eventually I will have no friends, so I choose not to say anything.”
Most incidents do not escalate into physical violence, racial slurs or discrimination, but rather have the cumulative effect of more “subtle” versions, Mr. George said. Such incidents similarly create a sense of insecurity that reinforces the fear that what happened to Anjel Chakma was not an isolated act but part of a broader pattern of racial hostility that has been largely ignored. “Is it only an issue when it happens directly… it only comes to notice when something bigger happens,” says Mr George.
Mr. George is a native of Tripura and holds a Ph.D. Are. Scholar of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). He left the state in 2014 to pursue graduate studies at JNU, completed his master’s degree at Jamia Millia Islamia during the CAA-NRC protests and later returned to JNU for M.Phil and PhD. He is also the convenor of North-East Students Forum in JNU.
Misconceptions about North Eastern States
Mr. George said he completed his Ph.D. at the campus. Have met fellow students including. Students who have little or no knowledge about the North-Eastern states. He said states like Manipur and Assam are relatively familiar but Tripura is unknown and little heard about and is a “black hole of a place”.
He recalled being asked whether Tripura was located in the south of the country; “Is this a South Indian city?” And, on another occasion, “Does it snow there?” Mr. George, recognizing the widespread feeling of ignorance behind such questions, replied with a sarcastic “yes.” The repeated, playful, sarcastic “yes” has since become his calm, habitual response to misconceptions about the field.
Mr George recalled another incident when a batchmate seriously asked “Why don’t you speak with an Indian accent?” At the time, he said he was too naïve to recognize the question as part of a deeper problem; One theory is based on the assumption that speaking with a particular accent defines who is considered an Indian.
He said such prejudice is persistent, often meaning that the North-Eastern states exist outside the mainstream imagination of the country. Mr George also mentioned being told as a perceived compliment that his accent was “normal”, a comment which reinforced the idea that the majority’s accent was considered standard. The episode raises larger questions about how notions of what is ‘normal’ are shaped by dominance and visibility rather than diversity, she said.
Speaking about everyday microaggressions, Mr George said subtle forms of exclusion often occur even in routine interactions. He said that when he enters a store the shopkeepers sometimes ignore him and choose not to take care of him immediately. Although such encounters rarely involve outright hostility or outright aggression, he said assumptions based on appearance are common. He mentioned that shopkeepers and auto drivers often quote prices after making quick decisions based on a person’s looks.
Mr. George lives in a rented apartment, cooks food from his culture, and spends most of his time on campus, completing chapters of his PhD while shuttling between the library and his academic work.
Sharing some things from Jamia during the CAA-NRC protests, Mr George said that his presence at the protests was sometimes considered as a symbol of inclusivity. He said, “Because of my presence there, their protest has become extremely inclusive…even media persons were coming disproportionately to take a byte.”
unequal inclusivity
When asked about friendships on campus, Mr. George said that many of his close friends are from outside Northeastern, but he understands why students are often attracted to people from the same community. He said when Northeastern students socialize together, they become highly visible on campus. Mr. Kaman said in this observation, he has seen a similar pattern on his campus, where limited acceptance and unequal inclusivity often leads Northeastern students to seek safety and familiarity within their regional or community groups.
Mr Kaman said he makes a conscious effort to spend time with friends outside the North-East and often visits their homes when invited. During one such visit to a friend’s house in Mumbai, a small child asked her if she was Chinese. The question remained with Mr. Kaman, because it showed how quickly and carelessly such notions take shape, even in the mind of a child. “I was shocked and thought it was better to stop visiting people’s homes,” Mr Kaman said.
Does the silence around the hills extend to campuses like TISS and JNU?
Mr. George pointed out that Northeastern issues rarely attract sustained attention on campus unless they reach the point of extreme violence. “Unless it’s a ‘big and bad’ issue, it won’t get attention,” he said, adding that atrocities in other regions are often more easily discussed. According to him, the concerns of the Northeast come to the fore only when they involve major incidents like rape, murder or large-scale violence like the caste conflict in Manipur. “Something has to be big and dirty to attract attention,” he said. “Sometimes they even talk about it, but it doesn’t last. It melts away.”
In the case of Anjal Chakma’s death, Mr George said there was a feeling of consensus. An evening protest was organized on campus, in which students from different walks of life participated. “Everyone was on the same page,” he said, adding that the presence of students from outside Northeastern was a moment of collective acceptance.
Looking more broadly at campus culture, Mr George noted that national institutions like JNU are often expected to be more inclusive and less tolerant of racial discrimination, while JNU is “an extension of outside society”. Asked whether JNU felt like a safe campus, Mr George said, “It used to be a little better… a lot of things are changing.”
Shri Kaman presented a comparative view of TISS and described it as relatively “safe”. She said that during orientation, students are clearly instructed on issues of racial bullying, inclusivity and gender sensitivity. “TISS is cautious,” he said.
Mr. Kaman observed that Northeastern students are often welcomed into right-wing circles when they speak out in favor of those groups, but he also noted that this inclusivity is conditional. When students are not politically united, narratives such as Christian conversion in the Northeast are often mentioned instead.
Explaining his approach towards campus life, Mr. Kaman said that he is an extrovert who consciously tries to build and maintain relationships, even when jokes are made at the expense of his culture.
When asked about his career plans, Mr Kaman said he initially came to TISS for its renowned placement opportunities and added that employment prospects in the North-East are limited. “I have unofficially dropped out of the placement drive,” he said. He told that he does not want to go to those states where racial stereotyping against people from the North-East continues.
Mantasha Ahmed is a freelance journalist based in Indore with five years of experience. She reports on the important intersections of education, civil rights, social issues, and culture.)
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