Eight-year-old climate activist Licypriya Kangujam made headlines in 2019 when she addressed the COP25 summit in Spain on the issue of climate change. Hailing from Manipur, Kangujam is one of the youngest climate change activists in the world and has over 1.2 lakh followers on Twitter.
However, taking up a public cause on social media brings with it the risks accrued to public figures, and Kangujam, now nine, was met with a racist comment on her Twitter profile on February 2, who called her a “Chinese (Cheap) version of #GretaThunberg” [sic].
Responding to the tweet today, Kangujam used the tweet to highlight another social issue: Racism faced by people from the northeast states.
“This is how racism looks like to our North Easterners by mainland Indian people. We may looks like Chinese but we born as an Indian and will die as an Indian. RACISM IS NOT AN OPINION,” he tweeted, sharing a screenshot of the racist tweet about her.
Racism against Indians from the northeast is an increasingly documented social issue. Last year, in the aftermath of the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kiren Rijiju, minister for sports and youth affairs, urged state governments to sensitize residents against such stigmatisation after many people from the northeast were harassed over their looks.
As Twitter’s rules require account-holders to be at least 13-years-old, Kangujam’s account is handled by her guardian. Her Twitter bio says it is managed by “Team Licy”.
In March last year, she was tagged in a post by MyGovIndia which sought to highlight stories of inspiring women. Responding to the post, which noted that she had been awarded a Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Children Award, a World Children Peace Prize and an India Peace Prize and asked, “Isn’t she inspiring,” she replied tagging Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Dear @narendramodi Ji,
— Licypriya Kangujam (@LicypriyaK) March 6, 2020
Please don’t celebrate me if you are not going to listen my voice.
Thank you for selecting me amongst the inspiring women of the country under your initiative #SheInspiresUs. After thinking many times, I decided to turns down this honour. 🙏🏻
Jai Hind! pic.twitter.com/pjgi0TUdWa
Following her tweet, Kangujam was a frequent target of cyberbullying. In December, she told The National News that she blocked between 10-100 people every day and received threats and abuse every day to "silence my voice whenever I speak out [against] any of our leaders".
During the ongoing farmers’ protests in India, Kangujam tweeted asking Greta Thunberg—who heralded the global school strike for climate movement that Kangujam was part of—to lend her voice in support of the farmers.
"Hi @GretaThunberg! Please extend support to the voice of millions of Indian farmers. This is the world's biggest historic protest for their rights," Kanjugam, who is also called "India's Greta Thunberg", tweeted Kangujam at the time. Thunberg went on to support the movement, leading to a wave of arrests in India after a document she shared to organise protests was alleged to have included links to Khalistani material.
