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Muivah on the Naga Issue – An Unpublished Interview: III
Subir Ghosh: The Kuki-Naga clash will never end it seems. What do you think your role is in this context? What is your assessment of this issue?
Thuingaleng Muivah: The so-called Kuki-Naga clash is a pure and simple creation of the Indian government. It is an utterly miscalculated venture since the sole motive behind it is to make the Kukis fight against the Nagas. What a proxy war! But, expecting what? And, from whom? However, most of the Indian Press took sides with the Kukis and ran unprofessional and biased accounts of the conflict against the Nagas. Yet, in spite of this scheme of the Indian government, the NSCN never encouraged the Naga people to kill the Kukis. Were it not for the Indian government policy, Nagas and Kukis would have lived together in peace and tranquility. Now, the solution to the issue hinges on the Indian government.
Inadequate news coverage of environmental/wildlife issues
This is a subject so oft-debated in our circles that it is beginning to lose its significance. The basic factors responsible for the virtual non-existence of environmental/wildlife issues in the news media are the same today as they were some years back. Recycling the same issues again would do nothing more than fill up space for Green Voice.
It is time to take things further, to develop a strategy, and work on – not towards – it.
The fight for news-space is not a battle, it is a game. It is a ruthless mind game. What we keep forgetting is that it is not we who set the rules for this game. We indulge in too much rhetoric and create a ballyhoo about ethics and all that. Who cares? Trust me on this one – no one does; for if they did, things would have been different. If we are to play this game, then we have to do so by the rules that are not to our advantage.
Eyeing New Year revelers
• Sections:
Assam's moral police found a novel way of saying Happy New Year—Asom Sena activists decided to turn party pooper by keeping a "watch" on parties.
Asom Sena Chief Organiser, Lakshman Das, had this to say to CNN-IBN: "We want to ensure that no damage is caused to our culture and tradition. In the New Year celebrations this year we will make sure that parties are held without any violation of decency and that revelry stays within the moral norms."
BJP men ransack Pune restaurant
• Sections:
Oh, its happened again.
This time in Pune.
Activists of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Yuva Morcha (BJYM) barged into a popular restaurant in Pune's Kalyaninagar on Saturday night to protest against the “pub culture”. The activists, carrying party flags, entered Soho’s hall where music was being played, shouted slogans and demanded that the restaurant be closed for running an illegal dance floor cum pub and for violating the 11.30 pm deadline.
“The rich culture of the city is being sullied by the pub culture. Youths indulge in illicit activities at these pubs under the garb of freshers’ parties at the beginning of the academic year,” Kale said, adding that his party will target other high-profile clubs and pubs too.
The Indian Express has the full report here.
It's time to raid a Bangalore pub
• Sections:
So it is.
One was wondering when the self-appointed moral cops would be raiding a pub. One does not have to keep wondering.
Activists of a hitherto unknown Karnataka Yuva Vedike went on a rampage Saturday night at a popular pub to express their protest against the "pub culture." These marauders barged into the Athena pub located in the plush Leela Palace and ordered customers to leave the premises. They then went around damaging property and threatening those seated inside.
These knowledgable activists claimed that the pub culture was foreign (uh, huh) to India and hence had decided to forcibly close down the pub. They had more to say. They argued that the pub was running beyond the closing time and had been serving liquor. They further alleged that there was a lot of indecent dancing taking place within the pub premises, following which they had decided to stop the activities going on within it.
Well, with such moral policemen around, who needs the real policemen?