‘NE exodus scarred Bangaloreans’

Can rumours be powerful enough to orchestrate the exodus of an entire community? At a seminar on Friday, Lawrence Liang, co-founder of the Alternate Law Forum (ALF), tried to examine the genesis of rumours that led to the exodus of people from Northeastern states from the city. The seminar was organised by Mediawatch Bengaluru at St Joseph’s College of Arts and Science.

“We need to examine why these rumours have had such an effect on the psyche of the people from Northeastern background that they decided to leave the city. For rumours to have had this kind of effect we have to acknowledge that there should have been a reason for this,” Liang said.

He said the recent incidents have badly affected Bangalore. “A month after the incident, even though we have returned to some form of normalcy, we need to address the fact that we are an injured body and we need to address the problems,” he added.

Liang, however, complimented the media for it coverage of the exodus. “With the rare exception of a few media houses, the media actually did do a good job cross-checking the rumours. Surprisingly even the electronic media, downplayed several incidents and kept things calm,” he added.

When an audience member brought up the idea of whether or not the exodus was actually a planned evacuation, journalist-author Subir Ghosh turned down the idea. “We can’t say whether or not there was a conspiracy without ascertaining basic facts,” he said.