The word “Tripuram” is ringing in the ears of many people from Northeast India today, after a reel by a Delhi-based “creator” went viral. In the video, the creator, Amir Shokeen, asks a youth from Tripura whether he is the “president” of a neighbouring country, and mocks him when he says he is Indian.
The youth, a teenager from the Ananda Bazaar area of North Tripura, was humiliated on camera, according to reports.
The video drew condemnation across the Northeast. Delhi Police registered an FIR on Thursday at the Sadar Bazar police station under Sections 192, 196, 352 and 353 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, after a complaint from the Tripura Students Forum Delhi. Tripura Police has registered its own FIR.
Chief Minister Manik Saha has directed the state police chief to coordinate with Delhi Police. Tipra Motha Party founder Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma has urged police to bring Shokeen to Tripura for a fair investigation, saying he had insulted “the pride and dignity of our state.” Union minister Kiren Rijiju has warned of action.
This is not a new incident; it is the same cycle repeating. A racist incident sparks outrage, people demand action and laws, and, when someone dies, as with Nido Tania, a committee is formed.
As EastMojo has reported, the Bezbaruah Committee has produced few viable outcomes, especially outside Delhi. In December 2025, Anjel Chakma, a student from Tripura, died in Dehradun after a knife attack that followed racial taunts calling him “Chinese.”
Of late, Northeast India has been romanticised as the “Scotland of the East.” Mizoram has seen an influx of domestic tourists, whose viral reels have gathered lakhs of views. Meghalaya’s waterfalls are a tourist favourite, and the Hornbill Festival is on many Indians’ bucket lists.
But when people from the Northeast are on the receiving end of racism, where are the influencers and travellers who romanticised the place?
For the Northeast, the land is deeply tied to the people. They welcome you into their homes with warm food. They help you find a lost wallet through social media. They guide you to the best eateries and give you warm hospitality in their homestays. You can repay them by standing up for them when people in your own cities laugh in their faces, call them “Chinese” and make a joke of them.
Because this is not okay, a young man was stopped on a street in the national capital, told that he did not look Indian, and laughed at for saying he was.
And if you ask almost anyone from the Northeast who has lived in a mainland city, they will tell you of being called “Chinese,” “chinky” or “momo,” or of being asked where they are “really” from. Many have stopped reporting it, because experience has taught them that nothing will happen.
The cycle will not end with laws that do not exist. India has no dedicated law against racial discrimination. After the Nido Tania case, a committee was formed, but as EastMojo has reported, no anti-racial-discrimination law has been enacted since.
The sections under which cases are registered, in this instance and in earlier ones, are general provisions that deal with insult, enmity between groups and public mischief. They were not written for the specific harm of racial abuse.
When the law has no name for what happened to the victim, the case can be treated as a minor offence, or as a matter of “hurt sentiments,” and the person who did it can walk free or be back online in a week.
The cycle cannot end with silence from the rest of India. Racism survives because those who see it often say nothing.
The onlookers who laugh along, the friends who say “it’s just a joke,” the people who share the video for the humour and not the outrage. And it cannot be left to people from the Northeast to fight it alone. They have been marching, filing complaints and explaining themselves for years.
The responsibility belongs to all of India. When a young man from Tripura is humiliated in Delhi, it is an attack on the idea that every Indian belongs equally, and that should concern someone in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai or Lucknow as much as someone in Agartala, Aizawl or Imphal.
The question now is what we do next. Will we watch, share and move on until the next reel and the next outrage? The Northeast has always stood up for itself. This time, the rest of India should stand up with it.
Also Read: Why Northeast India’s tourism boom needs a reality check
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