Agartala: The Tipra Motha Party (TMP) has called on the Central government to immediately enact a comprehensive anti-racial law to safeguard people from the Northeast residing in different parts of the country.
TMP spokespersons Rajeshwar Debbarma, C.K. Jamatia and Anthony Debbarma said the lack of a dedicated anti-racial law has allowed discrimination and racially motivated violence to persist unchecked. They maintained that enacting such legislation would ensure a more systematic and effective response to racism, helping to counter discriminatory attitudes and prevent serious crimes against people from the Northeast.
The demand follows the killing of Tripura native Anjel Chakma, who died after a brutal assault in Dehradun. Chakma, a 24-year-old final-year MBA student belonging to the Chakma tribal community, was attacked on December 9 and succumbed to his injuries on December 26 after undergoing treatment for 18 days at a hospital in Dehradun.
TMP leader Rajeshwar Debbarma said that the party is demanding exemplary punishment for the perpetrators and the application of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
Anthony Debbarma criticised the Uttarakhand government and police for what he described as a delay in initiating action.
He alleged that police registered the case only after Tripura Lok Sabha MP Kriti Devi Debbarman intervened by speaking to the Uttarakhand Chief Minister, and after Chakma’s father, Tarun Prasad Chakma, reached Dehradun and approached the authorities.
TMP supremo Pradyot Bikram Manikya Debbarma claimed that they were attempting to divert the nature of the incident by portraying it as not being racially motivated. “The attackers branded Angel as ‘Chinki’, ‘Chinese’ and ‘Momo’ and brutally assaulted him, even as his father, a BSF soldier, was guarding the borders and protecting the country and its people,” Pradyot Debbarma had said in a video message.
Students from the Northeast staged a demonstration at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on Wednesday, demanding justice for Tripura student Anjel Chakma, who died after being stabbed in Dehradun earlier this month.
ALSO READ: Northeast students protest in New Delhi over Tripura student’s killing
Hundreds of students from the Northeast studying at Delhi University took part in the demonstration, which was organised under the banner of the Northeast Students’ Society of Delhi University (NESSDU).
The Chakma Development Foundation of India (CDFI) had urged Union Home Minister Amit Shah to ensure the trial of the racially motivated murder of Anjel Chakma in a fast-track court and the enactment of an anti-racial violence law.
