‘Looks Chinese’: PUBG gamer’s racial slur on MLA has Arunachal fuming

Itanagar: An alleged racial slur made by a Punjab-based YouTuber against former Arunachal Pradesh MP and sitting Congress legislator Ninong Ering has not gone well with a large section of Arunachalees.

YouTuber Paras Singh, who goes by the name ‘Paras Official’ on his YouTube channel, has allegedly termed “Ering as a non-Indian and Arunachal Pradesh, a part of China,” in one of his videos posted on Sunday.

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Paras made the comments while reacting to a letter addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi by Ering recently, wherein the latter had asked the PM to ban the re-launch of PUBG Mobile India’s new avatar Battlegrounds Mobile India.

Ering had reasoned that the game was aimed at deceiving the government and citizens and should be banned in the country.

The former MP had also said that “re-launching the game was a mere illusion and a trick to collect user data of the citizens, including children and transfer it to foreign companies and the Chinese government.”

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Singh, while commenting on the development in his video, can be heard saying “Mujhe to nahi lagtha yeh (Ering) Indian hai (I don’t think he is an Indian)” while pointing out at the MLA’s profile picture on Twitter. He then asks his viewers to check if Ering looks like an Indian and later goes on to ask if the people from Arunachal Pradesh look like that.

The content creator is then seen searching for Arunachal Pradesh on a map, after which he says: “Arre yaar yeh (Arunachal) to China ki side me hai (guys this is on China’s side)” and adds, “yeh China walon ka hi hai (It belongs to the people of China)” before saying “ek tarah se unhi k saath hi hai halka fulka touch hota hai, India me aata hai (in a way they are with them (Arunachal is with China), touches India a little).”

Speaking to EastMojo, Ering said the “immature” comments made by Singh have not hurt him personally.

“He is free to point out mistakes, if any, but the racists remarks are serious and something which needs re-thinking,” Ering said.

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“When I was an MP, I’ve always been the one to ask the government to ban apps which are not in public interest. Moreover, games like PUBG are spoiling our Arunachalee children. This is not about us but their future,” he said.

Ering said he would soon file complaints against Paras at the Pasighat police station and Crime Branch.

Meanwhile, Arunachal Pradesh DGP R P Upadhyaya said a case has been registered against Singh for “racial hatred” and the Cyber Crime branch in Itanagar is investigating the matter.

The All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union (AAPSU) has also slammed the comments made by Singh.

“The AAPSU strongly condemns the statement made by youtuber Paras Singh in which he has categorically defamed former union minister and present MLA Ninong Ering as a Chinese and has vaguely degraded the state’s rich culture, its ethnic dresses and raised doubt over the territorial integrity of Arunachal Pradesh,” union general secretary Tobom Dai said.

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The youtuber needs to be booked under appropriate sections of law for his mischief and misrepresenting the state of Arunachal Pradesh which can have far reaching ramifications, Dai added.

Meanwhile, one Halley K Jamoh, a native of Pasighat in East Siang district has lodged a complaint at the Pasighat police station demanding stringent action against Paras Singh under relevant sections of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 and Information Technology Act, 2000.

Efforts made to contact Paras Singh for his comments were not successful. He has, however, pinned a small comment in his channel wherein he has apologized “to those who were hurt by his remarks.”

Paras has also deleted the particular section of the video where he had made the aforementioned comments.

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