Wow. I don't know where to start.. at the beginning, in the middle or at the end, of this long post. Maybe you should have read my post a little more carefully and thought about it before putting all this work to come up with this stuff. Instead you went into a "anti india/anti hindu" blather (which I resent, because it is nowhere in my post). Of course if there is nothing else left to say, just throw around the anti india/anti hindu accusations. Atleast CarrotandStick came up with a better thought out reply. If FR was indeed anti india/anti hindu, you would have been zotted a long time ago, so please grow up.
My original post was a response to an argument that I have heard mentioned several times...that the NE has separatist groups because it has a lot of christians, and in some cases a majority. My answer to this is that it is a simplistic, cookie cutter view, that borders on being bigoted (but I won't hastily call anyone here anti christian because that would be silly and childish). It is as dumb as saying that the tamil separatism in Sri Lanka is due to them being majority hindus in northern Sri Lanka, or that all hindus are thugs due to the actions of the Saffron groups. It is as dumb as saying the christians in Kerala or Goa would be traitors, if only they had the majority in their respective states. I am not saying that all so-called "christians" are angels either.
The people of the northeast have been fierce and rebellious even before independence. They fiercely resisted British rule, and way back they also used to be headhunters. Could it be that this characteristic contributes to their rebelliousness. And yes of course I did mention discrimination. The incident I mentioned involved soldiers of the Assam rifles, and the army command and the central government tried to ignore the situation until there was widespread and continuous rioting. Recently there was the college girl in Delhi who was raped and the police sat on their hands till it made national news. How many big ticket items of national pride are in the northeast (not counting W. Bengal). Any IITs? Any high tech or research institutes worth being proud of. I may be wrong, there may be a lot going on. Also, on a side note calling them chinkies is wrong. It is not the same as saying gujjus or madrasis. Just my opinion.
By the way, very heroic and admirable of your brother's sacrifice. I was not talking about him anyway. I will ignore the gitmo, iraq, abu ghraib remark because it is nonsensical and completely off-topic. This is all I have to say on this. You can get worked up all you want over it. I did look at your picture on your homepage.. you look just like any other indian..only thing different is the goofy glasses.
Your post to Gengis was pretty sensible, and you have done a lot to clarify your earlier stand, which many of us have obviously misunderstood.
About the presence of a major institute in the NE, IIT Guwahati, in Assam, is one of the leading ones of the seven or so IITs in India. And this particular IIT gets the benefit of the most up-to-date infrastructure. Besides, the NE also has an NIT (National Institute of Technology), in the city of Silchar, Assam, and this too is one of the handful, nine or ten I think, of the NITs all across the country.
Not to mention the multitudes of lawmakers, federal officers, bureaucrats, police chiefs, election commissioners and the like, who have an NE origin, and are prominent across the breadth of the country. HT Sangliana, the police chief, JM Lyngdoh, the fiery Chief Election Commission officer for all elections held in the whole of India, PA Sangma the politician et al are people of immense repute across India, and hail from the NE.
The rebellious nature is most prominent among the hill tribes, and not among the mainstream populace. Many are left-leaning too. And they aren't a very popular separatist movement either, or else they would have been independent a long time ago. Presently, the major issue there is the illegal immigration of Bangladeshi Muslims into the border towns of the NE states, to the extent of Muslims making up majority in some towns. This has infuriated the general population of NE much more than the presence of federal troops there. And the construction of an electrified fence along the border is a primary demand of the elected governments of these states.
Neat answer! Only thing is perhaps you should go back and re-read your own post to find out what exactly is so "anti india/anti hindu" about your post. Your reactions are so commonplace and predictable using expressions like asking me to "grow up" when there is nothing else left to say.
Any respectable Indian would be outraged to even read through the venom you have spewed on Indians and Indian army. (And might I add that CarrotandStick was more subtle in showing you how wrong you were but somebody here needed to return the words you hurled at the Indians)
From your "original post" it is clearly visible that you hold India and (Indians) responsible for all the trouble in the NE and that Christianity hasnt much to do with it. Yeah sure! And your reasons for that are as pathetic as :
There is a good deal of prejudice and discrimination in the way they are treated, from regular indians as well as the government agencies. They are called names like "chinky" and their women are attacked because they are considered "easy".
And,
There was the recent rape and murder, by soldiers, of one of their women. The army ignored the whole thing until there was widespread rioting.
And so there is trouble going on in the NE right? Yeah and like I would start a secessionist war if somebody called me names. Well here are some facts for you:
India never much had a problem with Christianity in its history but the NE of late has seen a huge proliferation of Churches which undoubtedly are of foreign origin and needless to say funded by foreign organistions. And they have been very much involved in seditious activities and instigating youngsters to take up violence. Or else how do you explain that much of the violence is the result of ethnic clensing between (animist)tribals and neo-Christians converts (which has nothing to do with the Army or the Hindus). The (animist)tribals look upon the Church as an aggressors on their lands and the neo-converts regularly pick fights with tribals and the backlash that results (where churches are burnt) are often projected by the western media as "atrocities against Christianity in India". And yet another excuse to for India/Hindu bashing for anti-Indian/Hindus such as yourself. Yeah blame it all on the Hindus.
And as for your theory of local resentment against the army and the example you pick about a rape incident (which happened in Manipur) in which the Army was involved, let me also relate another incident to you.
About a couple of year or so back the Indian Army had declared cease fire with the NSCN and had decided to withdraw from areas that also included Manipur. This started wide spread protests in Manipur against the government descision to withdraw the army from there and the local populace feared they would be at the mercy of the NSCN. And for all you know there was even more rioting for that incident. And you suggest that there is local resentment in the whole of NE ? Because of what?
.....people of the NE physically look different from most of india
.....There is a good deal of prejudice and discrimination in the way they are treated, from regular indians as well as the government agencies.
......There was the recent rape and murder, by soldiers, of one of their women.
You should try bringing in a little be more facts into your arguments rather then make baseless claims about Indian government and Indian Army. Perhaps your are not as knowledgeable as I thought you are but just another average American who pick up all the information from the biased western media. And I have never heard of a dumber comment then this one:
It is as dumb as saying the christians in Kerala or Goa would be traitors, if only they had the majority in their respective states.
Goa and Kerala have had Christianity from a long before and there is (and always was) a lot of local harmony with Hindus and other religions (until now). The Chiristianity in NE is pretty much recent and evangelists Churches have foreign funding and they very much have a political agend encouraging secessionist activities
How many big ticket items of national pride are in the northeast (not counting W. Bengal). Any IITs?
How many big ticket items of national pride are in the northeast (not counting W. Bengal).
Manipur is the leading state in India in sporting activities and has India's best sporting facilities and produces the best sportsmen and women. And dont tell me that AP and Tripura should also have their IITS.
Also, on a side note calling them chinkies is wrong. It is not the same as saying gujjus or madrasis. Just my opinion.
Reading your posts your opinion has stopped making much sense to me anyways.
I will ignore the gitmo, iraq, abu ghraib remark because it is nonsensical and completely off-topic.
And I suppose your comment about atrocities by the Indian Army was "on- topic" right? Anyways whatever the Indian army may have done its still way better than what your army does.