Sushma Swaraj, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, raised Nido Taniam's death in Parliament
Arunachal Pradesh student Nido Taniam's death after being beaten at a south Delhi market last week raised tempers in Parliament today and forced the Lok Sabha to adjourn.
Opposition MPs ripped into the government for not checking the race discrimination of students from India's northeast.
"I'm amazed that the Delhi Chief Minister is sitting on a dharna at Jantar mantar and the Congress vice president also joins. One rules Delhi government and the other represents the Central government. What is happening?" said Sushma Swaraj, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, amid cries of "shame".
"A child came from Arunachal Pradesh and they made fun of his hairstyle. We need to understand the diversity of this country, that those with sharp noses and flat noses all belong to India," she said, in a remark that many thought ended up reinforcing stereotypes about people from the region.
She urged the government to set up hostels for students from the northeast, to be shared by those from Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to help bridge divides.
Nido, 20, died on Thursday, hours after he was beaten by a group of shopkeepers at Lajpat Nagar who had jeered at his hairstyle and made allegedly racist comments. His family alleges that he died of severe injuries from the beating. The police have booked six men for assault and alleged race attack.
MPs loudly demanded a law to check racism, shouting slogans till Speaker Meira Kumar said, "the incident should be condemned by the entire House. A message should go that Parliament and Lok Sabha, that children and people of the northeast should be protected."
Central minister Ninong Ering, one of the two MPs from Arunachal Pradesh, deplored that such discrimination continued so many years after independence. He asked the Centre to include chapters on the northeast in schoolbooks to help sensitise people and improve awareness on the region.