Besides one-on-one engagement between people, a more strategised approach is required to change the prevalent perceptions held by "mainstream" India about people from the North-East, noted Assamese human rights writer and academic Sanjay Hazarika said today.
Hazarika, along with Assamese writer Dhruba Jyoti Borah and journalist Teresa Rehman, was speaking at a session of the Jaipur Literature Festival, on the racial abuse inflicted upon the people of the North-Eastern region of the country, by the so called "mainland".
Rehman stressed on the need for more people to people engagements in order to combat racial discrimination.
"I believe that one to one engagement between people will change perceptions. We should stop depending on the government, on the bureaucrats and the police. It is time for us to talk with and engage with each other," she said.
Hazarika, however, countered by stressing on the need for a "strategised approach".
"We can talk to each other until we are blue in the face, but unless it is structured, we can keep talking without changing anything.
"It is important to have force, not just of numbers but also of strategising whatever you do, so that it has an impact in one or two specific areas. Attitudes change when people talk to each other but you also have to institutionalise it," he added.
Hazarika also talked about the AFSPA (Armed Forces Special Powers Acts), which he said was "lawfully installed discrimination".
"Amid, the whole notion of discrimination, the fact is that there are areas where discrimination is installed by force of law. So you have something called the 'Armed Forces Special Powers Acts' in several states of the region.
He attributed the reducing number of insurgencies in the region as compared to the "60s, 70s, 80s and 90s", to people's desire of leading a "peaceful" life.
"Part of the reason for this is that people are tired... they want to live a peaceful life. Part of the problem is that we have never tried to explore each other's life traditions and histories," he said.
He also emphasised for a need in behavioural change by making certain alterations in the college and university curriculum.
"Not engaging with each other is another problem. They only interact with each other once they reach hostels in Delhi. So, a behavioural change is needed. For that changes must be introduced in the curriculum," he said.
Borah, meanwhile, talked about the marginalised communities within the North-East, which because of a very limited number of speakers, are disappearing slowly.
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