Students from the Northeast region organized a candlelight vigil at the Central University of Gujarat in Vadodara on Friday in memory of Chongtham Vikram Singh, a Manipuri musician and teacher who was allegedly killed in Delhi recently.
Vikram was reportedly assaulted outside his home in Kilokari village in the national capital after he objected to a group of men who were allegedly shouting and consuming alcohol. He later succumbed to his injuries. He is survived by his wife and a son.
Strongly condemning the incident, the students raised concerns over what they described as continuing racial discrimination against people from the Northeast. They said Vikram’s death highlighted incidents of discrimination faced by people from the region, ranging from racial slurs to physical attacks and killings. They questioned whether the outcome would have been the same if the victim had not been from the Northeast, and said several people from the region had faced discrimination that had, in some cases, resulted in deaths.
The students also recalled the recent death of Tripura’s Angel Chakma in Dehradun, which they cited as another instance of violence faced by people from the Northeast. The vigil was a collective expression of solidarity against racial discrimination and a call for unity, dignity and equal treatment for people from the Northeast.
