One would imagine that the sudden creation of 300,000 refugees and mass panic in the world’s largest democracy would warrant a news story in the United Kingdom but apparently not.
In recent days in Assam, a region in north east India has seen a surge in attacks between Hindus and Muslims in the area and there have been accusations of ethnic cleansing. Entire Muslim villages have been burned or Muslim sections of villages allegedly leaving at least 78 people dead. News from Assam resulted in a mass protest in Mumbai by Muslims which turned violent. Both these stories led to apparent threats from Muslims against North Eastern civilians in other parts of India which in turn led to a mass exodus of North Eastern Indians who abandoned their studies and jobs and crammed into trains headed to Assam. The Indian government even had to add extra train services to cope and mobile SMS services throughout India have been curtailed as this, together with social media, was regarded as the technology being used to fuel the unrest. I am permitted to currently send 5 messages per day.
That’s pretty big news and while the New York Times has been reporting it, Britain’s broadsheets seem to think it’s not worth covering. In the same week the Guardian found time publish an article from one of its British correspondents in Delhi to write an article in which her conclusion was that it is easy to get away with acting like a posh toff in Inja. Right.
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