Kerala, India: Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader and Chief Minister of Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan, will inaugurate ‘Cutting South 2023’, a global media conclave, at Ernakulam Town Hall on March 25. Furthermore, Congress leader and Kerala’s Leader of the Opposition VD Satheesan and CPIM leader and Kerala Minister P Rajeeve will attend the conclave.
The media conclave is being organised to give impetus to the agenda of anti-India forces, such as the banned Popular Front of India (PFI), of dividing India and promoting separatism in South India, Indus Scrolls reported.
It is pertinent to note that the National Investigative Agency (NIA) filed a charge sheet against the PFI wherein it was stated that the PFI planned to make South India a hub for Islamic terrorism in an attempt to make India an Islamic country.
Kerala Media Academy is organising the conclave in association with Newslaundry, The News Minute, Confluence Media, Canada and the Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ). It is scheduled to be a 3-day conclave. However, Khalistanis and other anti-India foreign agencies are also suspected of being behind this conclave, Indus Scrolls reported.
A media commentator said, “There is a clear agenda of pushing anti-India narratives through this conclave. This was the agenda of PFI. Investigative agencies should probe the source of income. What is the interests of Canada and other clandestine organisations funding this event?” Indus Scrolls reported.
However, one of the organisers posted on social media that the conclave is an attempt by “a group of independent media houses to celebrate good journalism, especially with a focus on both southern India and the Global South.” Furthermore, “the event has several significances— this year marks 175 years since the first Malayalam publication appeared, it is the first effort in southern India to celebrate the region’s journalism, and most importantly it is the first effort in Global South (comprising of Asia, Africa, Latin America and Oceania) to celebrate its glorious traditions in journalism, and to decolonise the narrative around the profession.”
Furthermore, the KUWJ is a Left-leaning trade union which took up the legal fight for journalist Siddique Kappan after he was arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for attempting to create social unrest in Uttar Pradesh.
According to media observers, the conclave attempts to push secessionist narratives in South India. Furthermore, there is no clarity on who is funding the conclave. A journalist said, “Some anti-India groups in the US and Canada are funding it.” The journalist added that one person associated with the conclave has strong ties to Canada-based organisations, Indus Scrolls reported.
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