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The year 2025 ended with nationwide protests demanding justice for Anjel Chakma, a 24-year-old youth who was pursuing an MBA in Dehradun. According to news reports, on December 9, 2025, Anjel was out on a routine errand with his brother, Michael Chakma, when they encountered some local men hurling racial slurs at them because of how they looked and the language they spoke.

The brothers protested and the altercation quickly escalated. Anjel was repeatedly stabbed and sustained serious injuries, to which he succumbed after fighting for his life in hospital for 16 days. His last words were, “I’m not Chinese. I’m an Indian.”

Anjel Chakma was from Tripura, one of the seven northeastern states that have been constitutionally recognised as part of India for a considerable length of time. I am also from Tripura, and as many of my peers from the state would corroborate, we have all had to explain where Tripura is at some point during our stay in any so-called mainland state of the country we call our own.

Also read: Whose Life Counts? Anjel Chakma’s Death and the Idea of India Today

Fellow citizens have asked us whether it is somewhere in Assam. I have personally been asked by a civil services aspirant whether Tripura is in South India because its name resembles Trivandrum or Thiruvananthapuram. As Indian citizens from Tripura, these questions are not nearly as baffling to us as the confidence – and lack........

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