A Meghalaya Woman was banned on 24th June from Delhi Pubs and golf courses as she donned a traditional Jain attire to a party. Tailin Lyngdoh worked as a governess for Nivedita Barthakur’s son. Barthakur is the Honorary Adviser, Health, Government of Assam.
In a Facebook post, Barthakur wrote, “The room was full of Delhi elites who make their maids and nannies wait outside in the heat lest they pollute their surroundings, and I bet many of them were civil servants and keepers of the Indian constitution. It was so appalling at many levels: that a citizen in India is judged on her dress and treated as a pariah; that in this day and age, human rights of so many citizens can be trampled on just because he/she earns an honest living as a help.”
Barthakur also said she was asked to leave the Delhi Golf Club because she ‘looked like a maid.’ Also, speaking to a Northeast daily, she said people were whispering “pata nahin kahan kahan se aate hain,” [don’t know where all they come from] and other forms of insolent comments.
Lyngdoh was wearing a traditional Jain dress that Khasi women wear. She was reportedly verbally abused and said her attire resembled a ‘dustbin’. She was invited to lunch by Barthakur, but when the officials arrived they asked her to leave– calling her a Nepali and various other racial terms.
