A shocking news appeared in the newspapers today on 5 September, 2023, a day which is celebrated as Teachers’ Day in India and that news was regarding registration of an FIR against four leading editors and journalists of Editors Guid of India (EGI) namely Seema Mustafa, Seema Guha, Bharat Bhushan and Sanjay Kapoor. Their fault is that they visited the ethnic violence infested state Manipur between August 7 and 10 to study the media reportage on the violence in the hill state. On their visit, they found that ground reality of the carnage affected areas and people is not reported unbiasedly and impartially. The true picture of the violence, the state inflicted with more than four months was deliberately distorted and only one sided reporting was done by some of the media outlets. All the four editors have been charged with trying to provoke violence in the state.
The whole world is in knowledge that worst of its kind violence between Meiteis, Kukis and Nagas tribes has been perpetuated. This violence has claimed lives of around 130 people, another more than 400 people wounded and approximately 60000 people were forced to leave their houses. The issue of strife and contention which centres around to tribal status to Meiteis of which Kukies are opposed of. Manipur’s proximity to international borders with Myanmar has made it prone to insurgency and conflict. Instances of ethnic violence are often attributed to decades of unresolved strife between various tribal and non-tribal groups. This ongoing violence was triggered by the Manipur High Court’s decision in April 2023 to include the state’s majority Meitei community in the list of Scheduled Tribes. This strife has led to churches being burned, sexual violence, killings and other atrocities. In late July, a harrowing video emerged of two Kuki women being paraded naked through the streets of a small Manipur village by a group of men. One of the women was then allegedly gang-raped. On this issue, opposition members of parliament have brought a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, citing his government’s failure to respond to the violence.There might be existing several other issues and all these issues are primarily political in nature and could be solved and resolved only through the political and social intervention of the state and central government. Unfortunately that’s not happening.
As expected from the press, EGI has decided to study the ground realities of the state which is plagued with the ethnic violence from the prospective of reportage in media. On visiting, they found certain glaring facts regarding manipulation of the actual ground situation by some of the media outlets. The fact finding team concluded that during the ethnic violence, journalists of Manipur wrote one sided reports, the Internet ban made matters worse, a common narrative was set by the Meitei media collectively through consultation with each other, since the internet was suspend, communication and transport was in disarray, Meitei media become a party to the vilification of security forces, state leadership become partisan during the conflict, arrangement should have been made for the distribution of credible news etc.
There might be reasons for disagreement with the report of EGI. But it is highly shocking to scuttle the freedom of press and independent voice by Manipur Government. Editors Guild of India is working for the protection of the press freedom and raising the standards of editorial leadership of newspapers and magazines since more than 40 years. Renowned and leading editors across India of wide spectrum of newspapers and magazines are associated with it. It is expected from the fourth pillar of Indian democracy that independent, fair and impartial information reaches to the masses. For the last 4 months, Manipur is burning in ethnic violence and it is the prime responsibility of the government to contain the violence and restore the peace in this hill state. Instead of that, government has chosen to curtail the wings of editors and journalists who are supposed to bring forth the real happenings and situations in any part of the nation or of any incident, bigger or small. Most people agree that news organizations and journalists should reflect all sides of an issue and not push a particular agenda. A candid, just and fair, objective and unbiased news and information is the right of every citizen and at the same time responsibility of media and government to provide authentic, reliable and impartial information to the masses. The action of Manipur government is thoroughly undemocratic, against the freedom of press and a blatant tendency to curb the reliable and independent information. Filing an FIR against the editors of EGI is refreshing the days of emergency. There is always a room for disagreement as each one sees the situation through his or her own perspective and thought process. The happenings in the last few years strikingly point towards the intolerance, justifying the wrongs as good, scuttle the voice of dissent mercilessly and harrowing the opponents by this government. Numerous socio-political activists, thinkers, journalists and students’ leaders have been put behind the bars on the allegations of indulgence in anti-national activities and they are languishing in the dingy rooms of prisons. Some of the prominent activists who are of old age couldn’t sustain this onslaught and inhuman treatment and died. Now the independent press is the new target and this action of the government indicates towards that. The action of Manipur government is vehemently condemnable and needs to be reverted back immediately. In the present scenario, the moot question is whether this nation is heading towards the anarchy where no voice matters except the king?
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