Arunachal, May 26: Paras Singh, a 25-year-old YouTuber who started his channel in January of 2018 and a Social Media Influencer hailing from Ludhiana, Punjab, on his YouTube channel posted a video on Sunday terming Congress MLA Ninong Ering a non-Indian and claimed the “state was a part of China“, sparking furore among Arunchalees as well as people from other parts of the country.
In yet another video, posted on Monday, Singh had apologised for his comments. The YouTuber had made the remarks 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 Indias new avatar Battlegrounds Mobile India.
Paras Singh has 461k subscribers on his YouTube channel.
Punjab Police arrested YouTuber Paras Singh after a case was registered against him for allegedly making a racial slur against Arunachal Pradesh MLA Ninong Ering, a senior police officer said.
Paras apologizes for his actions
As many as ten FIRs were lodged in various police stations of Arunachal Pradesh against the YouTuber but taking suo moto cognizance of the case, the police registered a single case under three sections of the Indian Penal Code, Apa said.
“Following a complaint, he removed the video & apologized saying it was an inadvertent mistake. His family also apologized. He has been arrested“, said Ludhiana ACP Waryam Singh.
After receiving backlash for his video, he posted an apology video title “Sorry Arunachal Pradesh – SAMSUNG,A3,A5,A6,A7,J2,J5,J7,S5,S6,S7,59,A10,A20,A30,A50,A70“, looks like an ad for a series of Samsung phones, in the video, he apologized said that he had re-uploaded the original video in which he made the racist remark after removing those comments.
“What more can I do? Should I hang myself?“, he continued and further stated that he had no intention of offending people and he uploaded the video in anger.
How Bollywood Reacted to this
Bollywood actors Rajkummar Rao and Varun Dhawan took to social media to express displeasure over the choice of words used by the YouTuber. Sharing a story, posted by direct Amar Kaushik, “Not Acceptable. I agree Amar Kaushik,” Rajkumar wrote.
Varun Dhawan too posted Kaushik’s story and wrote, “Having spent so much time in Arunachal Pradesh, it’s time we educate ourselves and others about how wrong this is.”
Also Read: Yuvika Chaudhary apologizes for casteist slur in a video: ‘Didn’t know its meaning’
How the State Leaders Reacted to the Racial slur
Arunachal Chief Minister Pema Khandu condemned Paras Singh’s actions and said that the video aimed at ‘inciting ill will and hatred’ towards the people of the state.
“Based on the video that aims at inciting ill will and hatred towards the people of Arunachal Pradesh, @ArunachalPolice has already initiated action,” he tweeted. The YouTuber was arrested by Punjab Police after a case was filed against him under various sections of the IPC including 124A, 153A and 505(2).
Meanwhile, Kiren Rijiju informed that the YouTuber will be brought to Arunachal Pradesh and that all processes preceding it will be done on an urgent basis.
Deputy Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh, Chowna Mein condemning the remarks made by the Youtuber said, “I am appalled and greatly dismayed to see a recent YouTube post by one Mr Paras Singh(Bunty) where he has not only questioned the nationality of an MLA from my State of Arunachal Pradesh but also questioned the existence of our state within India. To doubt our nationality because of how we look is a problem most of us from the North East of India face regularly in the mainland. What we look like, how we dress, what we eat and how we live makes us no less Indian.”
