In the wake of the assault on two Naga youths here, Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju Saturday met a group of students from the northeast and assured them that "hate crimes will not be tolerated".He said that the central government will soon enforce the Bezbaruah panel proposals for the northeast people."The government believes India is a democratic nation and such hate crimes will not be tolerated. Our society must not be intolerant, we must exist harmoniously together," Rijiju said, adding the attack was "unacceptable".
He also said the government has decided to have a dedicated helpline and police force to deal with issues of students from the northeastern region.
The Lok Sabha MP from Arunachal Pradesh said he has spoken to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the national security advisor and have decided to hold a high level meeting on the matter."What steps must be taken to avoid such incidents from taking place in future will be discussed," he said.The minister met the group two days after two men from Nagaland, both call centre workers, were beaten up and assaulted by a group of people Wednesday night in Sikanderpur area near the Mehrauli border.Aloto Chishi alias Sukoy and Awana alias James said the gang that attacked them shouted racial slurs at them."I had already met Prime Minister Narender Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh on the issue and we are fully committed to not allow such incidents to be repeated across the country in the future," Rijiju said.
"Integrity and solidarity of the country would not be allowed to be disintegrated as the people of country from every part, including NE region, have equal rights to live and earn their livelihood," he said.He said, "The home ministry would implement the recommendations of the committee headed by MP Bezbaruah, retired IAS, member, North East Council."Bezbaruah had looked into various concerns of northeast people.The minister approved setting up a separate exclusive helpline for the northeast people in Gurgaon.If the helpline proves beneficial to check racist attacks, the same would be replicated across the metro cities where people from the northeast live.
After meeting Gurgaon Police Commissioner Alok Mittal and pisional Commissioner D.P.S. Nagal and other senior officials, Rijiju told media persons that the home ministry would soon implement the Bezbaruah committee recommendations.He said that his ministry and people of NE region are satisfied with civil and police administration of Gurgaon for their quick reactions and action following the recent incident.Gurgaon police Friday arrested three youths from Sikanderpur on the Mehrauli border where the incident took place.
Gaurav Yadav, 23, a resident of Sikanderpur, Ram Bihari from Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh and Vijay Kumar from West Bengal have been arrested.Bihari and Kumar, both aged around 20 years, are tenants of Yadav.Gurgaon Police have also identified two more people involved in the incident.The minister clarified that he was away from Delhi and that was why he could not visit Gurgaon earlier.He said he did not meet any of the two victims as both had been discharged from their respective hospitals.