Even Ude is derogatory: Jatin Das

Following the govt’s decision to take action on the chinki issue, painter Jatin Das reacts to the nomenclature problems.
In an attempt to prevent racial discrimination against people from the North East states, the Ministry of Home Affairs has asked to book anyone who commits an act of atrocity against people from the region under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.The punishment — up to five years of imprisonment and denial of anticipatory bail. Though the whole of Odia community doesn’t strictly fall under this, when BT asked renowned painter Jatin Das to comment on how he feels when somebody refers to an Odia as “Ude”, he said, “One should understand that calling a Bengali Bong or a Gujrati Gujju is different from calling an Odia Ude. Bong and Gujju are just shortened versions of the names of the communities. But when you call us Ude, it’s used in a derogatory sense. The term was coined when Odias were the working class in Bengal during the British Raj.”
The painter thinks the Indian government should concern itself with more pressing matters of the country than debate on this. “Our government should highlight basic problems like food, shelter or illiteracy. They should not waste time on these trivial matters of name-calling. We should also possess a sense of humour to accept these issues. But the lack of proper education is making our countrymen react to the wrong things,” he signs off.
Stereotyping could mean jail!
Shaan, Singer and TV anchor
Community: Bengali
Stereotype: Bong/Macher Jhol
We are getting overly-sensitive about being politically correct. People have been using chinki and other stereotypes for years, and no one found anything wrong in using them. Besides, no one uses the words with malicious intent. It was used to refer to the shape of the eyes... even I have been called chinki by friends. We have much larger issues to focus on.
Meiyang Chang, Actor/ TV show host
Community: North East
Stereotype: Chinki
I am an Indian and have lived here all my life. But I think people are used to addressing people in a certain way. It is very common — it is the same way we address Bongs and Sardars. It is funny that a rule as harsh as this has been implemented now.
Suchitra Krishnamoorthi, Actor
Community: South Indian
Stereotype: Idli Sambhar, Madrasi
It’s absolutely ridiculous. People need to be educated not punished for their stupidity if they choose to insult you. People using these words are ignorant. The government should focus on larger issues. The need of the hour is to educate such people and not to put them behind bars.
Cyrus Sahukar, Actor
Community: Parsi
Stereotype: Bawa
Stereotypes are terrible because they separate the individual’s personality, person, and point of view and place them in an assembly line. But most people use it without realising that it is insensitive or derogatory. More than punishing people, the focus should be on creating awareness.
(Compiled by Melissa D’costa)