The other remains alien

Except the fact that we are 'Indian', everything else is ambiguous here. Kashmir to Kanyakumari and Kutch to Kohima, each state has its own identity with diverse languages, cuisines, clothes, customs and climate.

We are historically complex in our ethnic relations. On one hand we are mutually influenced by our cultural practices and on the other hand we practice extreme discrimination in the form of ethnic violence.

In order to explain this duality I would like to highlight two elements- one is the caste system, which was invented by the Brahminical social order, tying up a considerable number of Indians a hierarchical mindset. This led to the exclusion of a massive part of the population. It did so with the help of several practices of untouchability which led to an extreme form of exploitation, harassment and discrimination.

The other one is racism which understandably provokes a fair amount of discomfort since it presents an unattractive picture which stands in sharp contrast to the official "unity in diversity" rhetoric. Unfortunately it doesn't quite end there but includes religion, sex and region-based discrimination.

It is painful to believe that our society is divided on the basis of caste and colour. Another highly hypocritical contrast is discrimination based on gender. All of this is practised in our day-to-day life. In most advertisements it is found that women and men are always portrayed as fair and handsome.

Beauty is valued by the skin colour since the time of the Brahminical social order which was later reaffirmed by the colonial mindset.

The search of fair-skinned brides in newspaper advertisements is a classic example of deep-rooted beliefs and practices of gender-based discrimination.

Media has a heavy influence on people, and talking of the above, advertisements further reinforce this. There are so many cricket players and Bollywood stars endorse these fairness-enhancing cosmetics and creams, making people believe that success, beauty and power are determined by skin color. From 'fair and lovely' to matrimonial advertisements in the newspapers, all of this is indicative towards an obsession with white skin, which clearly proves that our mindset is still backward, casteist and colonial.

We Indians are easily offended by any act or incident of racism that is directed at us but we conveniently forget prejudices that we carry in our culture. Calling people who come from the Northeast part of our country as 'chinki' just because they have Mongoloid features, to address all South Indians as ‘Madraasi’, non-Bengalis in West Bengal as ‘mulki’ and North Indians 'Bhaiya's in Mahrashtra, all of these are merely different shades of racism.

In all of the above, we cannot leave behind foreigners who come to our country or reside here, especially the ones who are dark/black skinned.

On one hand we have celebrities like Aamir Khan doing advertisements to promote 'atithi devo bhava', meaning 'guest is god' and on the other hand we have rising incidents of racist attacks on people of African origin. This has led to our country being portrayed as a racist nation.

The problem has accentuated in the recent times due to incorrect profiling of these people as drug-peddlers, traffickers and those engaged in prostitution and other crimes by law enforcement agencies. The central government is responsible for protecting all foreigners regardless of whether they are students, tourists or citizens.

It truly doesn't behove of a nation which claims to be multicultural. Racism and xenophobia lead to hostility between nations on a larger level thereby leading to retaliation.

We must not forget the recent incidents of attacks on Indian students in foreign countries, for example the incidents in Australia. If we want to be respected and treated as equals we must learn to practise the same. 'Practice what you preach' would indeed be an essential learning for us.

The writer is s a renowned academician and social activist