Pito Swu

When ignorant people like you, call the safeguards for Ladakhis, Mizos, Nagas or Khasis “xenophobia,” it shows how little they understand the story of these regions. These communities did not randomly decide that others should not buy land there. When they became part of India, they did so with specific agreements that promised their land, culture and way of life would be protected. To dismiss that as arrogance is to erase history. Think of the scale when a Ladakhi moves to Delhi, nothing changes for Delhi. The city continues as it is, its identity intact. But if thousands of outsiders suddenly buy land and settle in a small village in Nagaland or Mizoram, the very language, customs and culture of that place could vanish in a generation. That isn’t a hypothetical fear, it has happened in many tribal areas across the world where no protections existed. The people of these regions are not asking for privilege, they are asking for survival. And then there is the land itself. Ladakh, the Northeast, the hill states, these are not like the plains of Uttar Pradesh or the metros of Maharashtra. They are ecologically fragile zones, where even a small change in population pressure, industry or lifestyle can throw the environment off balance. Those who live there know that the margin for error is thin. Protecting their land is not hypocrisy, it is common sense born of experience. The truth is that India’s unity has always depended on respecting its diversity and that includes the right of smaller communities to exist without being swallowed by larger populations. Equality does not mean uniformity. What the Constitution has given them is not a favour but a recognition of reality. To brand it xenophobia is not only wrong, it is an insult to the very spirit of India’s federalism. @Wangchuk66 @GitanjaliAngmo @Tsering_gaphel #Ladakh