Face the fact – the media has always had a sloppy side in reporting whats happening in the north-east. The Indian Media, simply fails to actively report any incident thats happening in the North-Eastern parts of our country. The only time it ever appears in the news is for some ULFA bomb attacks or if one of the so called ‘famous’ politicians makes a visit. Apart from that the Indian Media seems to have no reason what so ever to report on the incidents of the north-east.

So what exactly is the north-east. The North-East, as its commonly known across India, consists of the 7 states located at the north-east part of India, viz., Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya and Tripura. Tough many people have heard about Assam in the news, the rest of the 7 ‘sisters’, remain in a total negligence from the media. Partially blame it on the political leaders leading the country. Though they have the time and money to go to every other state in the country, they just cant make it to the north-east.

I have friends who hail from that region, and i admit that, if it wasnt for them, i would have never even realized about this. The media, just feeds us with all the rubbish things from a shoot-out in Delhi to the local political party’s march in Cochin. These things are hailed and showcased as things of national interest, but not the killing of a law abiding officer and how it subsequently put a population into crisis. I’m talking about the killing of Dr Kishan, who was brutally murdered.

The sad part is that, when i got a mail from a friend asking me to help him report this event, i googled for it. The top results for – “Dr Kishan murder” – didnt even reveal any of the top news sites. Here are a few links -

• The tragedy of Manipur – Udayon Misra
• Killings of govt staff spark off violence in Manipur(google “Dr Kishan murder IBN Live” and you get this link)
• What Ails Manipur Post Dr Kishan

It was indeed sad when, i was faced with the question, “We are also Indians, why are we treated differently every where?”. It time for us to stop ignoring whats happening to our brothers and sisters out there, and ask for more stringent action from the government. This news were actively reported by many sites and media, based out of the north-east, but none of the main-stream media picked it up.

Following is the mail that i received -

Respected Sir/Madam,
Three unclaimed bodies lie in the morgue of Regional Institute of Medical Sciences, Imphal since Feb. 17. They have been brutally murdered, hit with spade on head and then smashed with rock. One among them is Dr. Kishan, gold medalist at Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi, a civil servant of Manipur government and Sub-divisional officer of a remote village in Manipur. His mistake – he stood against diversion of development fund by the mighty extortionist, the self proclaimed savior of the region, popularly known in common man’s term as inner government and more powerful than the democratically elected government. He did something which no one, not even the Chief Minister of the state, dare to do. The other two were his sub-ordinate staff.

The incident brought already troubled state into complete standstill since last four days because of Bandh, Strikes and curfew. The bodies are not claimed and ex-gratia rejected by families demanding injustice. With no transportation, market, medicine shop etc. the entire state has turned to a hell on earth. Essential commodities are not reaching the state. People are not having enough food to eat now. My brother is sick and my parents could not even step out of the house to buy medicine. Families of vegetable vendors who buy 1-2kg of rice everyday by selling their vegetables are starving now. The schools and colleges in the whole state are closed.

But what is more shocking than the incident and the situation following it, is the fact that the national media, as usual, is ignorant of the situation. Perhaps, Jawaharlal Nehru’s ” Jewel of India” and “the birth place of modern day polo”, is not as important and as valuable as SRK’s shoulder. Dr. Kishan was as Indian as S Manjunath, a sales manager of IOC, who also met the same fate a few years back, which media took up making it an issue for whole nation which is in fact a great thing. He belongs to the state whose people still praise for Indian cricket team, the state whose sportspersons still proudly represent India in all international sports events. But why so much partiality in recognizing a hero? Is it because the state contributes very little TRP of news channels, buys less copies of newspaper and appeal less interest to the sponsors? Is heroism recognized by a place of birth rather than act he does to the Indian media? Doesn’t the situation of 30 lakh population have anything do with anyone in India?

Manipur is turning into a killing field with daily basis killings on the card. In such a situation in Manipur, when the responsibility of media becomes twofold, where are they? They need to look at the reality faced by the people of the state. They made the news of “Kareena Kapoor and Shahid Kapur Break-up” as breaking news but don’t bother to look at the traumatized situation of a whole state. Do the people of state deserve such treatment? It hurts when all these things are happening right in front of our eyes.

The world will laugh hearing the much hyped term “Superpower India” when the people of the country does not even know the boundary of their own country and not aware of what is happening inside their country. Thanks to the responsible Indian media. Hats off to you!!
Regards,
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Its indeed sad.