By Ayesha Tabassum
She
isn’t a star or a politico. She is a regular city-bred girl. But her
face seems to have become synonymous with the Justice for Richard cause.
Bangalore City-based Monika Khangembam, a 24-year-old mass communication
post-graduate student is the one who made Loitam Richard’s story a
headline across the media. Monika, who sparked the national struggle for
justice, recently met Union HRD minister Kapil Sibal. Now back in
Bengaluru, she is optimistic about bringing a change.
Talking about her meeting with the minister Monika says, “He is a
straight-forward person. The most important development is that the word
‘race’ will be included in the UGC guidelines.
The guidelines state that, ‘can’t discriminate a person on the basis
of caste and creed.’ They will now also include the word ‘race’.
Additionally, he has told us that whatever can be done at the
institutional level will be taken up by the HRD ministry.” It doesn’t
stop here. Monika says the minister has promised to set up a central
helpline cell with the collaborative effort of the police department and
students association.
Not just in India, the youngster has been recognised by international
agencies for her struggle to bring about a change on various other
issues. Her campaign against Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in
Manipur has led the British Council to invite her as a peer facilitator
at the Euro-Africa Summit in Belgium this June. Additionally, because
of her AFSPA campaign, she has been specially invited to the Tallberg
Forum at Stockholm in Sweden where 300 leaders from around the world
will gather in June for a dialogue on How on Earth can we live together?
Beyond our imagination.
At present, Monika who is interning as a corporate communication and
marketing trainee is busy ensuring Richard’s case goes forward. Though
at the heart of this movement, Monika says she is a regular girl. But
what transformed her into a ‘leading lady’ of the cause is interesting
to know.
Like many other North-Eastern students, Monika came to Bengaluru to
study at Commits. But the covert atrocities meted out to her
contemporaries disturbed her. When she heard about Loitam Richard’s
death, it was her interest to find out more about the boy that led her
to his Facebook account. This was just a few days after Richard was
allegedly murdered. “I messaged his friends who had posted on his wall
saying, RIP Richard, those b******* must be punished. But no one replied
and only after constantly trying, I was able to get in touch with his
school friend and uncle who told me what happened,” says Monika. With
the help of her online friend in Mumbai, Nipen Singha, Monika set up the
Justice for Richard page that had 2,11,063 as of Sunday. “We started
inviting friends to join the group and within a day, there were more
than 2,000 who had joined us or shared the page,” she says.
Post the online rage, the rest is history. The support of the
national media and support from every member of the FB group led the
struggle to become a national movement. “None of the online members have
met each other. But I am thankful to each and every campaigner who has
made this struggle his/her struggle,” says Monika. Though the youth are
branded as aggressive and irresponsible, here are youngsters who know
what they want and are standing up for it. “We do not want to be
anti-government. We just want to make people and authorities aware of
what is making us unhappy,” says Monika who is disturbed by the way
people from the North-East are stereotyped.
“We are called Chinese by other students. Most North-East students
are ragged for months on end. We feel really hurt as we are part of
India, we are Indians, then why are we treated like foreigners?”
questions Monika.
