Northeast students’ campaign for ‘a chapter for NE’ storms Twitter

Our Reporter
Dimapur, June 4 (EMN): The “Twitter Storm” campaign organised by various organisations and universities from the Northeast from 6 pm to 8 pm on Friday ended successfully with its hash tags #AchapterforNE #NortheastMatters trending in the microblogging site.

The campaign was initiated to urge the Central authorities to include a chapter about the Northeast in NCERT textbooks. The hash tag #NortheastMatters was trending in number 2 in the country with 144k tweets on Friday evening, while #AchapterforNE was trending in number 3 with 136k tweets at the time of filing this report. It started as a stand against the rising cases of discrimination towards people of Northeast by individuals and sections of people in the country.

From among the many tweets, K Therie, president of Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee tweeted: “Racial discrimination is a blot on India’s much cherished expression of ‘Unity in diversity.’ Change in mindset through education needed. #NortheastMatters #AchapterforNE.”

Congress MLA Ninong Ering tweeted, “Today I am joining Twitter Storm not only as a representative but as a common citizen of North East India. The world needs to know about us and learn about our history, geography, culture and other aspects. Hence, I stand up with the demand of inclusion of North East India curriculum in #NCERT and other educational boards like #ICSE and state boards. These demands are on the line of key recommendations made by Bezbaruah Committee Report and a Private member bill introduced by me in 2017 for the compulsory teaching of North East India Syllabus. I am hopeful that @PMOIndia and @HMOIndia take note of this demand from the people of Northeast India and educate the world about us! Jai Hind”.

Expressing his solidarity, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor also tweeted, “There is absolutely no doubt that the #NorthEastMatters. It’s essential that a chapter on the NorthEast is included in the NCERT syllabus. We must know our own country better”.

The campaign also garnered the support of prominent personalities like Hima Das, Indian Athlete and Arjuna Awardee, Pratima Bhoumik, Lok Sabha MP from Tripura and Gaurav Gogoi, deputy leader Lok Sabha INC among others.