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Assam: Media bodies slam CM for targeting journalist over religious identity
In a statement issued on Thursday, the Journalist Union of Assam (JUA) slammed Sarma for the personal attack on the Muslim reporter based on his religion
Guwahati: Several media organisations in Assam have expressed concern and slammed chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for questioning a journalist’s religious identity and allegedly targeting him.
On August 21, during a media interaction in Guwahati, one reporter—Shah Alam—questioned Sarma about alleged illegal hill-cutting at Mandakata, which falls in his Jalukbari constituency.
In the interactions that followed, which can be seen in videos that went viral, the CM asked the reporter’s name and associated him with the Muslim owner of the private university on the outskirts of Guwahati, which Sarma had earlier accused of indulging in ‘flood-jihad’ by cutting hills in nearby Meghalaya leading to flash floods in Guwahati.
“I would like to question Shah Alam and Mahbubul Haque of USTM (University of Science and Technology Meghalaya) whether they would allow us to live in Assam,” Sarma retorted while adding that the biggest issue in the state was demographic change (the Muslim population growing at a faster rate than Hindus).
In a statement issued on Thursday, the Journalist Union of Assam (JUA) slammed Sarma for the personal attack on Alam based on his religion.
“Instead of answering the query from the journalist, the chief minister referred to his religious identity,” JUA president Samim Sultana Ahmed and general secretary Dhanjit Kumar Das mentioned in the statement.
The Gauhati Press Club also issued a statement expressing concern at the comments made by the CM and remarked about increasing instances of disparaging responses by political leaders when journalists ask them questions, as part of the job, during press interactions.
“In the latest case, the honorable chief minister pulled the religious identity of a journalist into context without any apparent relevance during a press interaction on August 21. The Gauhati Press Club expresses deep concern at such an incident. We urge all political leaders to ensure no recurrence of such instances in the future and show dignity to their position and the media’s role,” said the statement by GPC president Sushmita Goswami and general secretary Sanjoy Ray.
“A journalist’s duty is to ask questions. To answer or not is the prerogative of the person being asked the question. However, in this case, the concerned journalist’s question was pulled out of context, with his religious identity foregrounded without any conceivable reason,” another statement issued by president Durba Ghosh and general secretary Nasreen Habib of the Assam Women Journalists Forum.
