By IndiaTomorrow.net,
New Delhi, 25 Dec 2014: A day after ignoring the Adivasi massacre in Assam in which 71 people were killed, for not spoiling “BJP’s party” over wins in Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir, two of the country’s most reputed national newspapers The Indian Express and The Hindu not only brought the issue on their front pages but also published editorials today.
IndiaTomorrow.net had carried a story Not to spoil BJP’s victory party, Media ignores Assam tribal massacre highlighting how the two national dailies ignored the brutal massacre by Bodo militants.
The front page of The Indian Express today appreciably covered the Tuesday Assam violence under the headline “Assam on boil as toll up to 70, Rajnath calls it ‘act of terror’”. The item though not the banner story was the most visible news item on the front page. The story and the photograph with it virtually gave the issue more attention and focus than other stories on the front page “Pushing for reforms, govt goes for the ordinance route”, “BJP tie-up scenario divides PDP Omar says ‘we have much more in common” besides the banner on “Bharat Ratna for Vajpayee, Malaviya”.
The photograph of a tribal man with a traditional weapon and two news items on the issue “Many women, children among 62 Adivasis killed, houses torched, five Bodos killed” and “I saw my two sisters, brother killed…I ran into the jungle” amply reflect the great idea of Indian Express that we all had been reading since we started understanding newspapers and ideology of journalism. The coverage reflected how in any type of violence women and children are the most vulnerable when virtually they had nothing to do with any such ethnic conflict.
Not only this, The Indian Express also published an editorial on the issue “Assam in Loop” which threw light on the history of the ethnic conflict in the state. Though the editorial was a bit soft on the central and state government it gave some lessons to the authorities. “The latest spate of violence should not have caught the government unawares, given that the BTAD has reportedly seen 37 militant attacks this year. While stemming the flow of violence must be the government’s first imperative, curbing militant groups will not be enough. The fraying of the BTC Accord must lead to a more imaginative addressing of ethnic demands in Assam,” said the editorial.
On the other hand The Hindu, country’s most respected and reputed newspaper which had completely ignored the Assam violence yesterday over Modi’s victory party today brought the news item on the front page under news story “Assam violence toll mounts to 75”. The newspaper also published an editorial on the issue at its edit page “Carnage in Assam”. The editorial also talks about the history of ethnic conflict and suggests some measures to the government.
The editorial said that, “…state should root out the menace of faux terror indulged in by the NDFB (S) cadres who are estimated to number less than 300 and who strike in hit-and-run mode in areas that are remote, forested and inaccessible. In this battle, the Centre should deploy and commit its security forces to aid the State — rather than indulge in any sort of a blame game”.
But, one thing that would be hard to understand for the readers as to why both the newspapers have failed to demand accountability from the central and state governments and criticize the so-called terrorism policy of the BJP led Narendra Modi government, which the BJP had promised during the poll campaign of May 2014 elections.
