‘Mahatma Gandhi’s Statue Beheaded in Ukhrul’: Beyond the Good Indian Citizen in Race Debates

Abstract

As an alternative to the security and development orthodoxy, race debates subsume and supplant the more radical politics of identity, territory, and citizenship in the Northeast borderland, at least at the national level. This goes a long way to responding to the grievances of many Northeast communities especially recognition of citizenship and legal reforms to protect Northeast communities in metropolitan India. However, there are two main limitations of this approach explored in this chapter. First, the challenges faced by Northeast communities in contemporary India are framed as problems of metropolitan cities, marginalizing the borderland. Second, race debates at the national level ensure the ‘idea of India’ is inviolable. Yet the idea of India, and an unqualified citizenship, remains contested for many in the Northeast.