write2kill on Facebook
Muivah on the Naga Issue – An Unpublished Interview: III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.
Phooling all the people all the time
My colleagues were exhilarated. They were agitated too. So the woman who, they claimed, had killed hundreds and got away with it, had finally been gunned down. Quite rightly so, they belligerently maintained. Those who live by the sword must die by the sword, was the apology. But they were disturbed as well. What if the man, who had liquidated her and been subsequently nabbed, were to be hanged for the justice he had meted out? It would become a travesty of justice.
The boss, barely able to gulp down his lunch in this choked state of mind, felt rape is fine, but rape cannot be an excuse for killing your rapists. Yes, nodded the others sotto voce, almost as if rape is the greatest thing than can happen to a woman. The boss, need one reveal, was a man? The physical humiliation and emotional trauma that Phoolan had to undergo during that infamous, seemingly-unending gangrape was perceived as "okay". All in the game, you see.
So FTV has hurt the government's sensibilities, again
• Sections:
So the morally upright Indian government has once again banned FTV, albeit for 10 days. But banned nonetheless. The information and broadcasting ministry, for its part, has been extremely thoughtful in announcing the reason to the public as well.
An official statement tells us that it was noticed by the ministry that "A programme on FTV channel was telecast on September 4, 2009 at 15:37:34 hours and 19:01:48 hours showing women with nude upper body which was offending against good taste and decency." The Indian government had banned FTV a few years back on the same grounds.
Well, if FTV goes off air it wouldn’t make a fig of a difference either to our GDP or the stock index. It wouldn’t make people in our rural areas any poorer than they already are. If you leave out some diehard fashion aficionados, FTV’s absence is not going to peeve anyone.
TRAIng times for religion
• Sections:
It becomes slightly trying for a blog that stands for freedom of expression to defend religion in any way or on any count. Given the backdrop that most attacks on freedom of expression both in India (primarily from the Hindu right) and cross the world (primarily from the Islamic right) come from those steeped in religion. And, of course, it is ironical that an unrepentant atheist has to write all about it.
The other day there was a report in the Hindustan Times about the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) advocating the restriction of religious and spiritual television channels.
NDTV office ransacked over Husain poll
• Sections:
The NDTV office in Ahmedabad has been ransacked by Hindu rightwingers for running a poll on whether MF Husain should be awarded the Bahart Ratna.
Activists of teh virtually unknown Hindu Samrajya Sena group on January 19 barged into NDTV's office, broke furniture, destroyed studio equipment and even smashed the air-conditioners and other electrical fittings.
The channel's website reported:
One of the staff member, who was in the office at the time, was attacked and beaten up with hockey sticks. The attackers plastered NDTV's office with poster and banners describing the channel as traitors and demanded an apology.
The same group had threatened NDTV two days ago. It is believed to be affiliated to the Shiv Sena. The police took more than an hour to respond to the incident despite phone calls. However, they have finally registered a case.
Another report had some other details:
Criminal proceedings on against former Star India CEO
• Sections:
The Supreme Court has exempted former Star India CEO Rathikant Basu from personal appearance before a trial court looking into criminal proceedings initiated against him for allegedly showing obscene movies on its channel more than a decade ago.
A bench headed by Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan, however, has refused to stay the proceedings. The criminal complaint was filed under Sections 239 and 294 of the Indian Penal code and Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act 1986 for aiding and abetting exhibition of obscene and vulgar films in December 1996. [Link]
FTV bows to government's obscenity guidelines
• Sections:
FTV has apologised and the government has condescended. The government Friday revoked the ban on FTV six days before the two-month period suspension of the channel for beaming salacious images of skimpily-clad models. The channel apologised and assured that "such error" will not be repeated in the future.
FTV has assured the government that there would be no future violation of the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act 1995 or the Advertising and Programme Codes. The government revoked the ban after the channel assured that it has put in place a strict vigilance committee to oversee the programme content telecast on FTV.com India channel.
The vigilance panel will ensure that there is no violation of programme code contained in Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995. FTV has also assured that any programming considered inappropriate by the ministry will be immediately removed, the ministry said.
Yes minister
• Sections:
We don't need to poke fun at the Minister for Information and Broadcasting Priyaranjan Dasmunsi. He is well-nigh capable of doing it himself. The minister came up with ridiculous answers to the posers from Karan Thapar on CNN-IBN's Devil's Advocate. You wouldn't know whether to laugh or to cry.
In case you missed it, here are the highlights:
Karan Thapar: Minister, you are missing the point. I don’t deny that you have the power to ban, you do. But I’m asking you, how you interpret the words ‘good taste’ and ‘decency’?
Priyaranjan Dasmunsi: I feel proud of banning FTV for two months. I feel proud as an Indian, as a citizen conscious about the culture and the dignity of women. I feel proud of it.
Karan Thapar: But you are not answering my question. I’m asking you a simple question: how do you understand the words ‘good taste’, ‘morality’ and ‘dignity’? Define to me what do you mean by them?
FTV ban: Some quotable quotes
• Sections:
The disgust over the ban on FTV was expected. What is also expected is the fact that for each, the exact reason for the disgust might be different. Let's have a look at what some had to say.
Something from the Times of India (Late-night TV: Too hot for govt to handle?; April 3, 2007)
"I am genuinely against censorship," asserts fashion photographer Atul Kasbekar, who has many swimsuit calendars to his credit. "Shooting fashion calendars is an art and they have no business to look down upon it. These programmes are not voyeuristic, they are just fashion. Anyway, perverts can look at other means, including internet, to satiate themselves. Will the government ban them too?"
We could have arguments about his art, but then...
More from fashion designers in Daily News & Analysis (Moral policing has to be imposed by every individual on himself; April 3, 2007):
Watch it, then ban it
• Sections:
So, what goes on before the bureaucrats carry out the politicians' bidding?
The Daily News & Analysis (DNA) hazards a guess (Minister for moral values; March 30, 2007 [Link]:
This is probably what happens: Dasmunsi and his babus watch all the television channels like hawks, looking for prurient stuff, stuff that will corrupt the morals of the nation. After all, they have been entrusted with the responsibility of protecting those morals and they intend to do their job thoroughly. They therefore pick on a channel and, voila, they zap their remotes and the station is shut down.
The Telegraph had a tongue-in-cheek piece (Past 50, the hottest govt job a man can get; April 4, 2007) [Link]:
Hindu mob ransacks Star News office for interview of lovebirds
• Sections:
The staff of the Mumbai office of Star News was attacked Monday and its offices ransacked by about 50 activists of the so-called Hindu Rashtriya Sena after it broadcast an interview with a runaway couple – a a teenage Hindu girl and a young Muslim man.
“The attack happened Monday evening because of a report that we carried. We have never heard of the group that attacked the office. They call themselves the Hindu Rashtriya Sena. It is difficult to say who they are. It was just a bunch of people who came and attacked the premises of Star News and broke everything inside including the private property of employees,” said Uday Shankar, the channel’s CEO.
“Some people suffered minor injuries. Mercifully, there were no serious injuries. In this specific case, there was no earlier threat. We don’t even know the exact reason for the provocation,” Shankar said.
FTV is too hot; so our guardians have banned it
• Sections:
Whether the Indian government cared for the hundreds of farmers who have committed suicide in central India is something we can debate about. What we cannot is the fact that its commitment to safeguarding public morality is above question. Caesar's wife, you know.
The custodians of Indian morality, the venerable Information & Broadcasting Ministry, has now banned Fashion TV for two months, starting on All Fools Day. No, we are sure the government is not playing a prank on us. It does not play the fool with issues such as taste and decency.
"The transmission or re-transmission of this channel on all platforms has been prohibited...for showing programmes that are against good taste and decency, denigrate women and are likely to adversely affect public morality," a government statement said.