New Delhi: Barely a week after Nagaland deputy chief minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Y. Patton had threatened a reporter of a local TV channel at a public meeting, the reporter was shot at in a Naga village in the Senapati district of Manipur. The BJP leader, formerly with the Congress, is a powerful politician across Nagaland and the Naga areas of Manipur. Patton is also the state home minister and the border affairs minister.In a public meeting held on August 23 at a village in Nagaland bordering Assam, Patton had called the reporter, Deep Saikia, by name on spotting him. He then rebuked and threatened him. The reporter was publicly chastened by the BJP leader for featuring Naga villagers in a news report for Hornbill TV, in which they had said on camera that neither Patton nor the local MLA Achumembo Kikon, had visited them for nearly a month while the Assam government was carrying out an eviction drive at the Rengma Forest Reserve situated along the state border. Parts of the forest reserve is a disputed land, claimed by Nagaland; the boundary dispute case is in the Supreme Court. As per villagers quoted in Saikia’s report, Patton had visited the border areas only on July 24, and not once since then, even though the villagers have been deeply concerned about Assam government’s eviction drive. Villagers, quoted in the report, said the MLA too was missing. Only on August 21-22 did the Wokha deputy commissioner Vineet Kumar visit the area. In a video clip from the public meeting held at Liphanyan village in the Wokha district, broadcast by Hornbill TV on August 24, Patton could also be seen saying that he had asked “some people” to chase Saikia away from Naga areas but they had not done it yet. Saikia belongs to Assam. Patton also asked him “not to sit in front” of him and said that he “would not tolerate” any questions asked to him. The BJP leader also questioned the reporter for interviewing M. Kikon, the former MLA of the area, on the border issue. Kikon, until recently, was the national spokesperson of the party before quitting from its primary membership. Kikon was defeated in the Bhandari assembly constituency by Achumembo Kikon from the Naga People’s Front and is locally seen as someone quite close to Patton. ‘Bullet remains lodged’On August 30, just days later, Saikia was shot at in a Naga village in Senapati district of Manipur. Saikia was covering a flower show. According to local reports, the young man who had shot the reporter on his leg and armpit at the Laii village of the Naga-majority district, was apprehended by the villagers. According to Eastern Mirror, “The Officer-in-Charge of Tungjoy Police Station, Timothy Ronamai, confirmed that an FIR had been filed (against the youth)”, adding, “though further details were unavailable as the investigation is still underway.”The news report quoted Ronamai as saying, “Saikia is in a stable condition, although the bullet in his underarm remains lodged [there].”Hornbill TV has issued a statement condemning the “shocking and reprehensible” attack on Saikia while he was on duty. “The shooting of Mr. Saikia is not just an assault on his person but a direct attack on press freedom and the democratic values we uphold,” said Dzuthono Mekro, the editor of Hornbill TV.Stating that violence against media professionals “must not be tolerated in a society that values justice, transparency, and accountability,” Mekro demanded swift action by the government against the assailant and any of his accomplices. Expressing “deep shock”, the Mokokchung Times also condemned the incident, and demanded swift action against it, reiterating that an attack on a journalist is an attack on press freedom itself.“Such incidents underscore the growing risks faced by journalists in the region, and we urge the state, civil society, and citizens to work together to protect press freedom,” the newspaper said. Earlier, the Kohima Press Club and the Mokokchung Press Club had condemned Patton’s threats to the reporter. On August 31, the Press Club of India had also issued a statement warning Patton to “respect the fact that journalist’s work is not to amplify only what ministers have to say and act like their public relations officer but to give a platform to common citizen too to express their concerns and grouses against the government of the day and/or its senior ministers if they don’t feel safe in their homes.” The PCI statement had further said, “The Press Club of India stands with the reporter, and warns the Nagaland deputy chief minister to immediately put a stop to such behaviour as that can disrupt a journalist from carrying out his/her profession fully and such acts are in violation of Press Freedom; also goes against Article 19 of the Constitution that guarantees a citizen’s right to work.”