Lal Thanhawla Racist Remarks Hurt Chakmas

Aizawl, May 17 : Chakma organizations have taken a strong exception to Mizoram Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla’s alleged racist remarks against the Chakmas which appeared in a local vernacular daily on April 28.

In a joint statement on May 15, eleven Chakma students and social organizations demanded Mr Thanhawla to make a public statement clarifying his positions on the contents of the news report appeared in the newspaper and apologize to the Chakma community if he had actually made such remarks.

The newspaper quoted Mr Thanhawla as saying at a felicitation function of students at Vanapa Hall, organized by Mizo Zirlai Pawl (Mizo students association) on April 27, that the Chakmas, who are not original inhabitants of Mizoram, have increased in number that they have become a nuisance in the state.

"We consider the alleged statement of Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla as racial profiling against the Chakma community and an insult to all the Chakmas. Racial profiling/racial discrimination is explicitly prohibited under national and international laws," the statement said.

The Chief Minister was further accused of using derogatory terminologies against other non-Mizo tribes, which the Chakma organizations said is uncalled for, highly objectionable and has the potential to create further sense of fear, insecurity and alienation in the minds of the minority communities in the state.

The Chakma organizations, according to the statement, was shocked that such racist remarks came from Chief Minister, who himself had alleged racial discriminations against the people of North East region by the mainstream society of the country at both national and international forums.

He must live by his conviction against racial discrimination and not practice the same against the ethnic minority communities, who are his own people, in his own home state, the Chakma bodies demanded.

The Chakma organizations also stated that such remarks were in stark contrast to what the Chief Minister had said in an interview with the North East Sun magazine (January 15, 2010 issue), in which he had claimed that Mizoram of my dream is a vibrant, prosperous state where peace prevails and the people, irrespective of caste, creed or religion, live side by side in harmony and prosperity.

The Chakma organizations further demanded the state government of Mizoram to immediately constitute a Judicial Committee on the line of The Rajinder Sachar Committee appointed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the national level, for preparation of a report on the social, economic and educational status of the Chakmas and other minorities in Mizoram.

"We note that minorities, in particular the Chakmas (who are the largest minority community in the state) are still the most backward and disadvantaged educationally, socially, economically and politically.

The reasons for their backwardness must be found out and recognized, and adequate measures taken for their uplift and welfare by the state government of Mizoram and central government of India," the statement said.

The state has the constitutional responsibility to work for uplift of all the sections of the citizens, without any discrimination on the basis of caste, creed, religion, language or discrimination of any other kind or manifestation; and protect and promote all their human rights and fundamental freedoms as enshrined under the Constitution of India and international documents to which India is a party, the Chakma organisations said.