In another case of alleged racism, a Northeastern girl was labelled as a foreigner and denied entry into the Tomb of I’timad-ud-Daulah by an official in Agra. The incident happened on 15 September when Manjita Chanu, who was accompanied by her friends, was stopped at the entrance of the monument by the guards.
Chanu explained her ordeal in a Facebook post in which she accused the security guards of asking her to prove that she is an Indian and not a foreigner. “Is this the land of my India? Am I safe here or not,” she wrote.
“They again called Northeastern girl a foreigner and didn’t allow to enter in Agra. Recently, I went Agra with my friend and her younger brother. I gave my phone to her brother to shoot the video. They did not allow me to go and kept on calling me a foreigner. I could speak good Hindi but even then they were rude. While shooting the video this man denied showing his identity card when my friend said to put this on YouTube,” Manjita wrote.
Explaining further, she wrote, “And there was also no lady security guard. The security man tried to check my bag but I denied because I had some personal stuff. And, I asked for a security guard, but they said she is having lunch so I have to wait for long. Then I said, ‘I am getting late I have my train to Delhi, tell me where she is I will personally go and let her check my bag’.” She also claimed that the police security guard showed her the direction but, there was no one there.
“Far away, there was an old lady talking with a guy. She didn’t look like a security guard. When I asked her, she said, ‘I am a cleaning worker here’. I was very upset, I told another security guard what’s going on. We start arguing and they let us go without checking my bag. I was shocked again. Is this the land of my India? Am I #safe here or not,” she questioned through her post.
