It’s barely a week into 2026, and the teaser for Battle of Galwan—dropped on Salman Khan’s 60th birthday, December 27, 2025—has already set social media ablaze. The film which is set to hit the screen on 17 April 2026, dramatizes the brutal 2020 Galwan Valley clash, where 20 Indian soldiers laid down their lives in a fierce, club-and-stone melee defending the Line of Actual Control against Chinese aggression.
The film honors the sacrifice of our brave jawans, and patriotic pride in their valor is rightful and necessary. Yet, when this anger against China spills unchecked into indiscriminate hatred for anything “Chinese-looking,” it inevitably ricochets onto us—Northeast Indians.
Salman Khan portrays Colonel B. Santosh Babu, the fallen hero of the 16 Bihar Regiment, in what looks like a raw, goosebump-inducing tribute to their sacrifice.
The teaser itself is powerful: stirring visuals of soldiers standing shoulder-to-shoulder in the freezing Ladakh night, cries of “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” echoing, and a sense of unyielding resolve. It feels like exactly what we need—a reminder of real courage in an era when nationalism often feels performative.
But here’s where it gets complicated, and honestly, worrying.Chinese reactions came fast and furious. Chinese State-affiliated journalist Shen Shiwei posted a viral thread mocking the teaser as “fictional self-imagination” and “distorted facts,” complete with videos pushing China’s narrative that Indian troops provoked the clash. Global Times piled on, calling it an “over-the-top” exaggeration meant to stir antagonism.
The posts exploded—thousands of likes, reposts, and heated exchanges.Indian users didn’t hold back. Replies flooded in with sarcasm (“A Bollywood teaser rattled a superpower?”), digs at hidden PLA casualties (estimates of 35–45 from independent sources), and predictions that China’s outrage would only make the film a bigger hit.
Memes, boycott calls for Chinese products, and passionate defenses of Indian valor have turned the teaser into a geopolitical flashpoint.
Patriotism is justified here—the loss of our soldiers demands remembrance. But this online firestorm has quickly morphed into something uglier: blanket anti-China vitriol that spills far beyond borders and propaganda. Memes stereotyping East Asian features, casual slurs equating “Chinese” with deceit, and generalizations that paint an entire people as the enemy are everywhere.
We’ve seen this movie before—during the Galwan clash itself, during COVID-19, and every time border tensions flare. The fallout always lands on the same people: Indians from the Northeast and Himalayan foothills who “look Chinese.”People from Manipur, Nagaland, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Mizoram, Tripura or Meghalaya often face the brunt—called “Chinki,” harassed on streets, evicted from homes, assaulted, or worse.
Will young students, workers, and families from the Northeast once again face slurs, evictions, beatings, or worse from those who can’t (or won’t) distinguish between geopolitics and fellow citizens?This renewed hate campaign isn’t just painful—it’s terrifying. It exposes the ugly truth: in the eyes of too many mainland Indians, we’re perpetual suspects, forever “other.”
The uneducated fringes, whipped into frenzy by echo chambers, don’t care about nuance. They see Mongoloid features and react with hate. It’s ignorant, it’s cruel, and it’s a betrayal of everything we claim to stand for as a nation.
The irony cuts deepest when you remember who actually fought in Galwan. Heroes like Major Soiba Maningba Rangnamei (then Captain), a Maram tribe from Senapati, Manipur, serving with the 16 Bihar Regiment.
In the chaos of that night, he fearlessly confronted PLA soldiers—grabbing collars, pushing back, leading his men in the brutal hand-to-hand fight. Chinese propaganda footage, meant to show their side, accidentally captured his courage. For that, he earned a Mention-in-Despatches and later the Sena Medal (Gallantry), with felicitations from Manipur CM N. Biren Singh and Union Minister Kiren Rijiju.
A Sainik School and NDA graduate, Soiba represents thousands of Northeast Indians who guard our frontiers every day.These are the same people who, back home, are treated as suspects because of how they look. They bleed for the tricolor on the borders, yet face internal suspicion and violence for sharing “Chinese-looking” features.
How is this acceptable in 2026? As the film’s hype builds and patriotic fervor intensifies, I fear another wave of offline prejudice. To my brothers and sisters from the Northeast and Himalayan regions living in mainland cities: please stay safe.
Walk away from provocations, report hate incidents, travel in groups, and prioritize your well-being. Your lives matter more than proving anything in the heat of the moment.
And to the rest of India—leaders, police, educators, and everyday citizens—we must do better. Enforce anti-racism laws rigorously, increase awareness, sensitize forces, and teach our children about the diversity and contributions of the Northeast. Condemn internal bigotry as loudly as we condemn external threats.
Celebrating Galwan’s heroes is right. Letting justified anger against a foreign aggressor turn into hatred against our own citizens is wrong. We are one nation—Manipuri, Naga, Mizo, Tripuri, Arunachali, Khashi, Garo, Ahom, Bodo, Kachari and everyone else.
Full stop. No more division by appearance. No more proving our Indianness with blood or tears.Enough. Let’s honor the martyrs by building a country where every Indian feels truly at home.
Naorem Mohen is the Editor of Signpost News. Explore his views and opinion on X: @laimacha.
Naorem Mohen
View More PostsNaorem Mohen is the Editor of Signpost News. Explore his views and opinion on X: @laimacha.
