New Delhi: In an incident that has shocked the journalist fraternity across the northeast, Yanthungo Patton, Nagaland deputy chief minister and senior state leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), singled out a reporter working for a local news channel at a public meeting this past August 23, and stated on camera that he had asked “some people” to “chase him” out of the area.The reporter, Deep Saikia, who was asked “to not sit in front of him” by the BJP leader at the meeting, and told that he “would not tolerate” any questions asked to him, belongs to Assam and works for the Nagaland-based Hornbill TV.In a video clip aired by Hornbill TV on August 24, Patton, who is also the state home minister and border affairs minister, could be seen getting up from his seat at the public meeting held at Liphanyan village in the state’s Wokha district, on sighting the reporter, and called out his name before rebuking and threatening him.Screengrab from Hornbill TV’s telecast of the minister’s speech where he was threatening the reporter.Patton was the chief guest at the village meeting which was held in light of Assam government’s eviction drives at Rengma Reserve Forest located along the disputed Nagaland border. The Assam-Nagaland border dispute is a long-pending issue and the case is in the Supreme Court. However, the Assam government was carrying out eviction in the area, close to Uriamghat, that borders Nagaland’s Bhandari assembly constituency. On August 23, Assam forest minister Chandra Mohan Patowary was to visit the area to hold a plantation drive on the evicted site. Tensions had escalated in the border villages as that plantation drive was opposed by people in the nearby Naga villages on the ground that the border dispute was still being heard at the Supreme Court. Eventually, the Assam government had to stall the drive.On August 23, Patton, along with the local MLA Achumbemo Kikon, came to the site to hold a joint meeting with the Assam forest minister on the matter of public concern. Opposing the plantation drive, people in the nearby Naga villages had told the Sakia on camera that Patton had visited the village on July 24, and till August 20, neither him, neither the Wokha district commissioner nor the Bhandari constituency MLA, Achumbemo Kikon, had visited them even as Assam Police was carrying out “unilateral” steps to fence the evicted area allegedly under border dispute and planning a plantation drive.As per local reports, on August 18, Assam carried out a joint eviction drive with Nagaland in the area and demolished 41 houses in the Haldibari area, though people’s resistance had pushed the police to stall it at Krishnapur. This past August 23, the Supreme Court had put a stay on the Gauhati high court orders based on which the eviction drives in Uriamghat were being carried out.Naga villagers had told the reporter that it was only on August 21-22 that the Wokha DC visited their area, followed by the local MLA and the home minister Patton on August 23, to hold the joint meeting with the Assam forest minister. The Naga village council chairman and village head could be heard criticising the state leadership on Hornbill TV for not visiting them for about a month when they felt unsafe at their homes with Assam Police carrying out the eviction drive.After the joint meeting, on August 23, Patton and the local MLA, who belongs to the Naga People’s Front (NPF) and is seen as extremely close to the BJP leader, held public meetings in the Naga areas including at Liphanyan village where he accused the reporter of “misreporting”, and asked, “Who are you to say that I never visited the area? I will not tolerate such things…This was the reason I asked some people to chase him away but they didn’t…” The BJP minister could also be heard asking why he interviewed former Bhandari constituency MLA M Kikon on the matter. Kikon was, until recently, the BJP national spokesperson. He resigned from the party. Kikon, who had fought the last assembly polls on a BJP ticket, had lost the seat to Achembemo Kikon of NPF.Several senior journalists of the region took to social media to condemn the BJP leader’s act, while the Kohima Press Club and Mokokchong Press Club have issued statements condemning the Nagaland home minister for his actions.“The Kohima Press Club condemns the display of such dictatorial behaviour, targeting reporters for carrying out their duty. As journalists, it is our fundamental duty to question in our quest for truth and providing fair and comprehensive accounts of events,” the statement said. “Journalists have both the right and the responsibility to ask questions, seek clarity, and report events without fear and reprisal. Any attempt to silence or restrict the press undermines not only the profession but also the public’s fundamental right to information…. The press fraternity will continue to stand united against any attempt to undermine or intimidate its members,” the Mokokchung press club said in a statement.Later, Patton issued a ‘clarification’ claiming media reports on neglecting the people of the border areas as “baseless and unfounded” and that he has been “constantly monitoring the situation”. However, he did not mention anything on his ill treatment and threat to the reporter.