Protests - Part 33

Karbi Protest, India, 2017

In Annam, the northeastern part of India, more than 300 youths (all male) marched naked to the Karbi Anglong deputy commissioner's office on April 21, 2017.

They were demanding revision of electoral rolls to prevent outsiders from casting votes in the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council election in May.

The Karbis are an indigenous community.  They claim that their political rights to self-government are guaranteed by the Indian Constitution, but immigrants have diluted their voting power.  In 1951 they made up 88% of the district's population, but they now only constitute 44%.  They are demanding a revision of the roll of voters to prevent "outsiders" (immigrants) from casting votes.

One protester said, "The communities, who were covered with a protective law, are now politically naked. Hence we decided to carry out this naked demonstration."

We close with two short videos of the protest.  First, naked protesters chanting.

Second, protesters marching and chanting.  Interestingly, their signs are in English, and they're chanting in English.  This may be for maximum publicity across India.  India has 121 "major" languages (with at least 10,000 speakers) and hundreds of "minor" languages.  When India became a British colony, English became a de facto common language, and apparently it still is.