Majuli’s lesson: check, check and recheck facts

The editor of supplements at Mail Today, a unit of the India Today Group of Publications, is probably ruing the day he accepted an invitation from the Directorate of Assam Tourism and Assam Tour Operator Association on a junket “to visit and promote a few places of tourist interest”. Nishiraj Baruah, who wrote the piece, is of Assamese origin and wrote an article that is part descriptive and part opinion; his travel essay which began with asking a celibate monk whether he had ever wanted to have sex led to a storm of anger and protests and threats of legal action, forcing his paper to print a formal letter of apology. The disciple strongly denied any such feelings but Baruah kept prodding him.

The wave of fury on Majuli island, in the heart of the Brahmaputra, and across Assam, was provoked by the question that he raised, developed on an interview with a bhokot or a religious follower sworn to asceticism and a life of celibacy, whether the sprawling monasteries could be “a breeding ground for child abuse and homosexuality … in the absence of women.”

Majuli is a place of extraordinary, luminous beauty, a gem for its pristine surroundings, its unique ecosystems, the Vaishnavite traditions of the satras or monasteries started by the Vaishantive saint Srimanta Sankaradeva in the 15th and 16th centuries and the resident culture of the Mishing tribe. It has a special part in most Assamese hearts, even those who haven’t been there. It is also an exceptionally sensitive place, deeply aware of its unique role in the history of Assam and a society based on equality of belief and tolerance that Sankaradeva developed.

There are problems and challenges there, as everywhere else. I’ve been there many times over the past 15 years: corruption has eaten into government efforts of “development”, projects have stagnated, if not collapsed, basic services and needs – such as health and education — have not been met. All this flies into the face of the beauty that is extolled.

What is however clear from this episode is that unless there is due diligence and adequate research into sensitive issues by hacks of both print and broadcast variety, they should avoid writing about such issues. There’s a cardinal rule that most journalists in the media these days, always eager for a special story that would beat the competition, break with unfailing regularity, and that is check, recheck and check again. Our mistakes haunt us in print.

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North by North-east: The mess in Manipur

Well into its eighth week, the road blockade by Naga organizations in the northern districts of Manipur, has crippled life in the state. The Nagas are protesting both the state government’s decision to hold elections to the Autonomous district Council both in Naga and non-Naga tribe areas after a long gap as well as its refusal to allow Thuingaleng Muivah, the supremo of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland which has long campaigned for an independent Naga homeland, to visit his home village of Somdal. The standoff has led to the Centre airlifting essential supplies such as critical medicines and food as well as using another highway through southern Manipur and Assam to enable supplies to get through. Petrol prices have crossed Rs. 150 per liter, LPG cylinders were selling for Rs. 1,500 and hospitals cut back on surgeries because life-saving medicines and oxygen were inadequate. I don’t know how people can survive in such conditions but the bandh is now a blatant misuse
of the right to strike while denying basic human rights, including the right to life, food and basic essentials to others.

Sensing political support from their respective constituents, both parties have dug in their heels. Actually, one of the reasons why the state government is so strongly opposed to the visit is that it had not been consulted by the Centre on such a sensitive issue as Muivah is pledged to cleaving Manipur to get his homeland just as the Meiteis are determined to prevent that.

But once the hubris about the elections dies down – they are taking place with reports of intimidation and threats and even attacks on Naga candidates, mostly of the ruling Congress Party – there should be an effort to bury the hatchet. The Naga Ho Ho, the representative group of the Nagas, has said that the Nagas and Meiteis can no longer live together because of the Manipur government’s attitude. By showing an accommodating approach, the Manipur government could capture lost ground by allowing Mr. Muivah to visit his village briefly – he is going back after 40 years. And the Naga groups should lift the blockade if they believe in a rights based approach for all. Otherwise, if the Centre decides to break the blockade by force, as it is Constitutionally and legally bound to ensure the flow of essential supplies, there will be a worse confrontation.

By Sanjoy Hazarika

North by North-east – (published 6 June 2010)