Members of the Meghalaya Pradesh Youth Congress (MPYC) in Garo Hills have banned the entry of The Shillong Times, Tura edition on the allegation that people of that region are fed stale news. While raising any issue is the democratic right of every citizen and the case in point may or may not have merit, the attempt to bulldoze and issue diktats without first exhausting all democratic means of engagement smacks of high-handedness that is the normally adopted by non-state actors such as militants. Threats, intimidation and a forced ban of peoples’ options to read or not read a particular newspaper is equivalent to throttling their democratic rights. It is unfortunate that the Youth Congress should find nothing better to do. The point then is whether those who claim to represent a political party actually know their brief. Is a newspaper the most important issue for the people of Garo Hills? Are there not enough issues that bedevil the rural populace of Garo Hills such as the farmers’ woes, lack of potable drinking water, the lack of road transport communication and a host of developmental and governance gaps. Have the Youth Congress ever voiced these issues that are closest to peoples’ hearts.
Is the current attempt to muzzle the media yet again a calculated act instigated by vested interests? Should a political party play hand maiden to such vested interests? Can the Youth Congress run amuck threatening those who sell the newspaper or those who ferry it across from Shillong to Tura? Where is the rule of law? Should the All India Congress Committee and the All India Youth Congress not be briefed about the anti-social activities of their cadres? Is this the way the young cadres of a political party behave? Obviously there is a huge leadership gap here and it shows that the Congress leaders are unable to tame their unruly cadres.
The media functions amidst great constraints in a region with grave communication bottlenecks. If some of the basic necessities of life take so long to reach Garo Hills from the state capital; if the recent bandh by a militant group could result in near starvation for the villagers of Garo Hills, then we can well imagine how weak the system still is and how difficult it is for a media house based in Shillong to also reach Garo Hills at the same speed that it can reach other readers in an around the state capital. Newspapers that do reach Garo Hills the same day are published and based out of Guwahati. That’s the basic difference! These are issues that need to be sorted out across the table, not through threats and blackmail.
