The recent diktat on the media houses by the Assam Rifles sure have ruffled some feathers of every common Nagas who can read. In this age of modernity,news coverage, either in a visual or a print form has become almost of a necessity like the very air we breathe. Censoring of media to curb news releases and information from a banned outfit to control an insurgency sure does invite various questions and raises many eyebrow.Making mountains out of mole-hills are quite common for many national and regional counterparts but comparitively our local Medias are much different from their other counterparts. Biasness, partiality and one-sided coverage have been often much of a bench-mark of them, as well as creating a hype and sensationalizing many non significant issues are quiet common but in fact the Nagaland media are more of an impartial, straight and independent unlike them. This diktat reminds of the Vernacular Press Act imposed by the then British Governor General Lord Lytton in 1878 which is also known infamously as “The Gagging Act” in order to suppress the Indian National Movement after the Revolt of 1857 during the British Raj. But infact it only created more dissension and revolt from the masses. At the time the Vernacular Press Act was passed, there were thirty five vernacular papers in Bengal, including the Amrita Bazar Patrika, the editor of which was one Sisir Kumar Ghose. Sir Ashley Eden summoned him and offered to contribute to his paper regularly if he gave him final editorial approval. Ghose refused, and remarked that “there ought to be at least one honest journalist in the land.”
Can we claim that we are the world’s largest democracy and an upholder of human rights if we try to resolve vulnerable and sensitve issues with an iron hand policies? Today we need a more responsible media and not just an armchair media. Medias today need to be transparent, accountable, judicious, fair and just. In conflict resolutions, the media have a very important role not only to play the role of information bearer but a bridge of communication between opposing parties, unfavorable groups and hostile camps. India being the world’s largest democracy, it is enshrined in the Indian constitution of Article 19, the freedom of speech and expression, of course with some reasonable restrictions being applied. The Assam Rifles maybe making their point by saying that the extortion demands, death threats etc. carried out by our local papers was a direct support to subversive acts against the public or the state but they are in no way tantamount to some sort of tacit support to the armed elements.Because the Naga people today know very well and have matured wisely enough over the last 60 years of this long-running chronic insurgency that has hit the land and its people and knows what to accept and what not to, what to take in and what to throw no matter what the overgrounds, undergrounds or the middle grounds issues.
Any reformation ,restoring and restructuring of our shattered and broken down structures in today’s world cannot happen without our media’s dissemination of information of relevant topics, important debates with positive outlook and outreach which will have a significant ,pertinent and applicable results for which in the long run will have an impact and yield a healthier society. It seems like the messenger or the bearer was beheaded by some crazy medieval despots just because the messenger brought him the news. It baffles a common man like me about the dynamics of present political bearings and rudders, as for an instance, Ceasefire is on but still killing goes on unabated, Peace Accord with a certain faction but full scale hostility towards some other factions, solution is said to be underway but harassment of common public, night raids, operations continues.On the other side, continuous harassment, extortions, threats from the underground outfits too never stops. Where will the common people go? Why AFSPA when GOI clearly time and again says that the Indo- Naga issue is not a military problem but a political issue and it cannot be solved militarily but through negotiations and peaceful dialogues? People understand that these measures was a fallout after violent activities by the banned group on the security forces but unifying India cannot happen by dividing its people and when it plays the same divide and rule policy of the acquired bygone British legacy upon others. Of course, it doesn’t mean that we subscribe to the NPGs using violent activities which may have forced the GOI to take some drastic draconian measures but two wrongs can never make a right. Today the people are more confused as which one of them are the lesser or the greater evil. The only thing they yearn is peace and to be left alone in peace. The people of Nagaland have become confused, sandwiched and traumatized than ever before. With a militant terror on one side and a legal threat on the other,it is more of like caught between two hungry tigers. It is like standing between a devil and the deep blue sea, where both sides doesn’t seem to have any empathy or consideration for the common people. Either way, it sure is fatal,critical and suicidal.
In a democracy, public opinion is one crucial element and an important factor to generate the working of any democratic process, growth and development of a progressive society and only a transparent and an impartial media can give a proper platform for these features . And public opinion can only be generated after a thorough analysis of any situation in a democracy by letting the people get to hear from every side. Contrasting and diverse views to accommodate space for healthy debates and opinions is vital for the press inorder to garner a sound public opinion on any crucial or sentive issues. The media today cannot just be an audience in the gallery but something that act in accordance to the given situation and brings a soultion in the problems that arises under different circumstances.So the people have every right to be informed and given a chance to opine,choose and take decisions,being a democracy. Releases of press statements by banned outfits can no way alter or regulate people’s minds anymore or like before as people today are much wiser and more sensible than before. The readers know exactly which one to digest and which one not to. Also when we have a democratically elected government, why should a paramilitary force take the role of a state executive?Medias have to meticulously examine critical issues which has ripple effects or undercurrents in a complex society beleagured by multiple problems. Let them in all their wisdom judiciously exercise it for a harmonious society in a true democratic spirit without undue interference because the Media reflects the pulse of the people in a democracy.An independent, fair and a transparent media reflects the image of a progressive society. Let us not hamper that image by coercing or suppressing them.
The Assam Rifles who are known as Friends of the Hill People and Sentinels of the North- East should live up to its name rather than playing the big brother on people’s rights like a military state by applying bullying tactics on tenets of democratic norms and beliefs.Though the step of the Assam Rifles was to curb the unlawful activities of a banned organization, it has not gone down well with the media houses as well with the public too because it violates and tramples the very essence of our democratic principles and values which India espouse,endorse and advocates in the eyes of the whole world.So why contradict and reverse it?
P.S: There are three sides of every story. Yours, theirs and the truth. So let two sides of the story be said and be concluded with the truth by giving the people a chance and the right to be informed. The writer is just a common man and is not a supporter of any particular group or a faction but believes firmly in the Naga Unity and also expects the Indian government to earnestly work out democratically in letter and in spirit of the Indo- Naga political imbroglio through peaceful means and not by using suppressive measures against the press which is the fourth pillar of democracy.Without this,democracy cannot survive and will perish.
Jonah Achumi
Middle Point,Dimapur.
