Reporters Without Orders Ep 21: Kashmir and Azadi, Times Now's Tejpal tapes and more

Amit is back from Kairana to join Cherry in the latest episode of Reporters Without Orders. Rohin and Nidhi join us over the phone. We also have our Campus Politik editor Sumedha joining the panel.The podcast begins with Nidhi talking about her recent interview with a Kashmiri mother. She says, “As much as they want to believe in Azadi -- they do believe in Azadi as a collective sentiment --  but a lot of them might not host militants anymore.” Nidhi also shares the challenges she faced while pursuing and articulating this story.Furthermore, Nidhi speaks about Gurez valley, a village in Kashmir where the Kishanganga Hydro Electric project is located. She says, “There is no electricity in most parts. The main town has about four hours of electricity every day.” She says that despite the absence of basic amenities, the society seems fairly self-sufficient. There are new aspirations among local youth when they see outsiders, she adds.Rohin speaks about the upcoming farmers' protests which have been under-reported. He says, “From June 1 - June 10, a big movement of farmers is going to begin across 15-16 states. Named as ‘Gaon bandhi’, the farmers will neither send supplies to cities nor visit them.”Sumedha talks about the protests against land acquisition in Bhavnagar in Gujarat. She says, “It is about lignite mining that is going to happen in Bhavnagar. This land was basically acquired from farmers without due compensation.” She adds, “So there’s this long-standing struggle which is almost reaching a saturation point.”“I really hope that we don’t see a situation like Tamil Nadu where it brews into a violent agitation and it is only then that we hear about it," she says.Rohin mentions the apology letter written by Kumar Vishwas to Arun Jaitley that was talked about a lot on digital portals. Rohin says, “Kumar Vishwas hasn’t literally apologised but he has put all the blame on Kejriwal by stating that he was only following his leader’s footsteps. So whenever Kejriwal made comments, he simply followed him.”Amit says that the language used in the letter also seems demeaning. He says, “Words like kursi ke pissu, thook ke chaatna…is the kind of language that is expected from Kapil Mishra. Despite being an eminent writer, Kumar Vishwas has used such language which has surprised me.”Speaking of the letter, Amit adds, “That’s the easiest way to get out of this mess which he (Kumar Vishwas) was left in.”Amit talks about the recent encounter that happened in Jharkhand in which three naxals belonging to Tritiya Prastuti Committee (TPC) were gunned down. He says, “Google three words: Naxal, encounter, Jharkhand...and what you will find is shocking as every month multiple encounters are happening in the state.”  Amit explains a brief history of Tritiya Prastuti Committee.A state that was apparently neutralised in operations conducted by security forces two years back, he says, “In a way, the situation was under control and suddenly there is a rise in the number of encounters.”Rohin says that the Patthalgadi movement is being talked about in Ranchi.  He adds, “There are rumours that two or three active members of the movement have gone missing. The issue has not gained the desired momentum.”Sumedha talks about the NL Campus Politik story on LGBT petition filed by students of IIT. She says, “Throughout the fight to decriminalise Section 377, over the last two decades we’ve seen that only very prominent, financially affluent figures have had the courage to come out and approach the court.” She adds, “I think it was extremely brave of these young people to come out and talk about this and to take the fight to the Court.”Cherry says that despite the doubts about the veracity of Cobrapost's sting, the entire episode has been underplayed.

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