Media turmoil following allegation of Assam editors' support to "anti-national" elements

By Nava Thakuria*
Reporting turmoil and conflicts was order of the day for most of the Assam-(also northeast India) based scribes as the region was overshadowed by separatist militants with their disruptive activities till few years back. Media persons then faced two edged swords. Reporting would bring brickbats from government agencies, and aloofness could invite wrath from the armed rebels.
Time changed and so did militants’ influence (read power) over the common people. Slowly those militant outfits, who had dreamt of independence out of New Delhi’s “colonial” rule over the alienated region, came to realize that materialization of their golden vision would not be possible in near future. Many turned to peace talks with the government, but few continued their struggle.
While most militant leaders realized their limitations, some elements refused to depart from the notion of armed revolution with the fantasy of a homeland with self-rule. Though never engaged with revolution personally, some emotionally-charged entities too continued their flowery words in favour of militant leaders as and when necessary in public domains.
A section in the media persons is found to be particularly sympathetic towards such a sentiment. Many see this section interpreting an insurgent being killed in an encounter as a Central (popularly termed as Rashtra-Jantra) onslaught on indigenous population. But if a member of armed forces, engaged in counter-insurgency operations in the troubled region, got neutralized, it was projected as a sign of victory to the revolution.
Both newspapers and news channels of the region reported this spirit of the locals, with some even turning sympathetic to the separatists. Even regional newspaper editorials and television talk shows were augmented with such a temperament.
Recently, when most of northeastern localities witnessed an uproarious ambiance with the emergence of the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) that offers Indian citizenship on the basis of religion to asylum seekers from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The ruling BJP brought the bill and got it passed in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of Indian Parliament. However CAB lapsed in the upper house, Rajya Sabha, as the saffron party and its allies did not have majority.
Media sentiment followed numerous anti-CAB protest demonstrations. Some media personalities, including a few intellectuals in Guwahati, began to favour the view taken by the banned separatist militants (read United Liberation Front of Assam-Independent) on the issue. When a few Assamese youths joined Paresh Barua-led Ulfa(I),this was reported as an instant implication of anti-CAB sentiment.
Meanwhile, over 25 Guwahati-based editors signed a memorandum opposing CAB and submitted to Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal to pursue with the BJP leadership to withdraw the Bill, which was criticized as anti-Assamese (Jaati-Dhangshi) in nature. Sonowal, on his part, urged them to repose faith on his authority.
The issue of CAB remained visible on poll-campaigns for general elections, with the Opposition Congress raising the issue all through. The outcome of how deep has this sentiment has rooted would, however, be clear on May 23. The north-eastern region sends elected 25 representatives to the Lok Sabha.
The CAB issue has reached to the media fraternity of Assam in different incarnations. Things turned particularly curious after a Maharashtra-based voluntary organization lodged an official complaint against five media outlets alleging that those exploited the turmoil over CAB and helped banned militant outfits in their fresh recruitment drives. Following the accusation of the Legal Rights Observatory (LRO), the Union Home Ministry asked the state government in Dispur to take necessary actions.
Vinay Joshi, convener of LRO, in his public grievance petition sent on February 14, 2019, accused four editors, namely, Ajit Kumar Bhuyan (chief editor of Prag News channel), Nitumoni Saikia (editor of Pratidin Time news channel), Manjit Mahanta (former executive editor of Asomiya Pratidin newspaper) and Afrida Hussain (editor of InsideNE news portal) of propagating militants’ ideology.
The LRO letter urged the ministry to investigate the role of "suspicious" Assam media outlets and their owners, their financial transactions, source of income, possible flow of funds from foreign intelligence agencies and banned terrorist groups to media owners and all other possible aspects related to it”. The letter added that on various occasions, these media outlets had openly professed the need to take up arms against New Delhi and broadcast propaganda videos of militant cadres.
Responding to the LRO letter, Union home ministry official Sanjeev Kumar sent an official communiqué to Assam police chief Kuladhar Saikia and State home secretary Ashutosh Agnihotri on April 16 directing to take necessary actions in the matter.
While the communiqué did not specify the editors concerned, media outlets reported that the Centre was going for investigations against the editors who opposed CAB and it would take action against them. Seen as an anti-media conspiracy of the Union government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it got support from the media fraternity across the country.
The LRO convener, on his part, claimed that they opposed the editors for spreading “anti-national” propaganda during the turmoil and not for their stand in favour or against of CAB, adding, they respected anyone’s stand on political issues but would continue pursuing with the “responsible authorities” against violent propaganda so that Assam could be saved from burning again.
Earlier, a Guwahati-based concerned citizen (Biswajit Nath) sent a memorandum to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) describing “suspicious” behaviour of some print and electronic media outlets of the State. His letter on November 26, 2018 asserted that a section of scribes always glorified the insurgents and often highlighted Ulfa(I) leader Barua with live interviews. As usual, the Centre on February 22 asked the state government to take appropriate actions in the matter.
---
*Northeast India-based media activist

Comments

New RTI draft rules inspired by citizen-unfriendly, overtly bureaucratic approach

By Venkatesh Nayak* The Department of Personnel and Training , Government of India has invited comments on a new set of Draft Rules (available in English only) to implement The Right to Information Act, 2005 . The RTI Rules were last amended in 2012 after a long period of consultation with various stakeholders. The Government’s move to put the draft RTI Rules out for people’s comments and suggestions for change is a welcome continuation of the tradition of public consultation. Positive aspects of the Draft RTI Rules While 60-65% of the Draft RTI Rules repeat the content of the 2012 RTI Rules, some new aspects deserve appreciation as they clarify the manner of implementation of key provisions of the RTI Act. These are: Provisions for dealing with non-compliance of the orders and directives of the Central Information Commission (CIC) by public authorities- this was missing in the 2012 RTI Rules. Non-compliance is increasingly becoming a major problem- two of my non-compliance cases are...

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

Call to "enjoy" pilgrimage of Sabarmati beyond Ahmedabad, where river water turns black

Sabarmati at Vautha By A Representative Nagrik Sashaktikaran Manch (NSM), a Gujarat-based civil rights organization, has called upon the state's citizens to join in a "unique yatra" along the river Sabarmati, starting in Ahmedabad and ending off the Gulf of Khambhat, where the river is supposed to merge with the sea. Pointing out that in Hindu culture, rivers are equated with Mother Goddess, NSM convener Jatin Seth says, it will be a "special event of pilgrimage", because, just like Ganga, Sarbarmati possesses "special properties." "Starting at Giaspur, one can see how industries are releasing chemicals in Sabarmati, and you get a Thumbs-Up like colour of the water, and if you drink it, you are sure to be at least affected by cancer, and this way would enable you to book your ticket in the paradise. The river has a special smell, too, emanating from a black cocktail-type colour", says Seth in a statement. A village next to Sabarmati river In...

Budget for 2018-19: Ahmedabad authorities "regularly" under-spend allocation

By Mahender Jethmalani* The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation’s (AMC's) General Body (Municipal Board) recently passed the AMC’s annual budget estimates of Rs 6,990 crore for 2018-19. AMC’s revenue expenditure for the next financial year is Rs 3,500 crore and development budget (capital budget) is Rs 3,490 crore.

Is India emulating west, 'using' anti-terror plank to justify state-supported violence?

Fahad Ahmad, Baljit Nagra* Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has accused India of being involved in the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian Sikh leader, on Canadian soil. Narendra Modi’s right-wing Hindu nationalist Indian government is defiant and denies involvement. Indian officials have instead admonished Canada for being a “ safe haven ” for Sikh “terrorism,” a pejorative for Sikh self-determination .

As 2024 draws nearer, threatening signs appear of more destructive wars

By Bharat Dogra The four years from 2020 to 2023 have been very difficult and high risk years for humanity. In the first two years there was a pandemic and such severe disruption of social and economic life that countless people have not yet recovered from its many-sided adverse impacts. In the next two years there were outbreaks of two very high-risk wars which have worldwide implications including escalation into much wider conflicts. In addition there were highly threatening signs of increasing possibility of other very destructive wars. As the year 2023 appears to be headed for ending on a very grim note, there are apprehensions about what the next year 2024 may bring, and there are several kinds of fears. However to come back to the year 2020 first, the pandemic harmed and threatened a very large number of people. No less harmful was the fear epidemic, the epidemic of increasing mental stress and the cruel disruption of the life and livelihoods particularly among the weaker s...

Covid response? How, gripped by fear and groupthink, scientists 'failed' children

By Bhaskaran Raman* “Today’s children are tomorrow’s future”, “Nurture children’s dreams”, “A child’s smile is sunlight”. These are some cliches, rendered rather uninspiring through repetition and obviousness. However, for nearly 2½ years, society forgot these cliches, children suffered as science failed and groupthink prevailed. Worse, all of this has been swept under the rug.

Job opportunities decreasing, wages remain low: Delhi construction workers' plight

By Bharat Dogra* It was about 32 years back that a hut colony in posh Prashant Vihar area of Delhi was demolished. It was after a great struggle that the people evicted from here could get alternative plots that were not too far away from their earlier colony. Nirmana, an organization of construction workers, played an important role in helping the evicted people to get this alternative land. At that time it was a big relief to get this alternative land, even though the plots given to them were very small ones of 10X8 feet size. The people worked hard to construct new houses, often constructing two floors so that the family could be accommodated in the small plots. However a recent visit revealed that people are rather disheartened now by a number of adverse factors. They have not been given the proper allotment papers yet. There is still no sewer system here. They have to use public toilets constructed some distance away which can sometimes be quite messy. There is still no...

Made to sit for hours in DySP office, Gujarat police tells Ranjanben she was never called

Ranjanben in DySP office on November 10 By Pankti Jog* The alleged illegal detention of a visually challenged Right to Information (RTI) and disability rights activist, Ranjanben Vaghela, has taken an unusual turn, with the police, in a reply to her RTI plea, have said, they did not have “any records” of her “detention.”

Search This Blog