I thought i should share my views on this topic given that i am a senior journalist in guwahati working with Times Now and also because i am a resident of Beltola in Guwahati where this incident happened.
the administration was caught on the wrong foot completely which gave both sides enough opportunity to indulge in the mayhem. but the police did succeed in breaking the procession ahead of Last Gate which is appreciable but the fact remains that their reaction was too slow. lets be practical....the miscreants can't be punished......there's no record...none of the media houses including us were able to get hold of footage showing the adivasis induling in the agitation...but only the retaliation by locals and that too from a distance....miscreants cant be identified....i dont mean to support the locals but ive always advocated a practical approach to solving problems but departing from making shrill slogans like what some political parties always do. now regarding the media....i wonder if you have seen the snap published by Telegraph on page 1 the next day...this is what i call responsible journalism....it shows a person preventing others from hitting an adivasi woman lying on the road...but have you seen what other dailies have published? well, some amount of sensationalism can't be prevented but there's always a line to be drawn. will you believe that a news channel showed a lady being paraded naked? ..... my question is ...why was it shown a day after the incidents and not on saturday? what is the objective of the news channel? does it want to inflame passions? assam is a multi ethnic state and an incident like this can have an adverse repurcussion in other parts. kindly ponder over what i've said and let me know your opinion. warm regards. Rajeev Bhattacharyya pmalakar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: The vandalism of the agitionists was condemnable, but, its retaliation was most barbaric and shameful. For the entire thing the leadership of the agitionists, the civil administration and the police are responsible. The Government should take stern actions against the erring officials. Again, the miscreants, who indulged in the violence should be punished immediately. It would not be difficult to identify them because it was all in camera. The soothing thing is, at least for once, the media are behaving sensibly. Paresh Malakar
