New Delhi: For much of the week, the Hijab row in Karnataka and the murder of a Bajrang Dal activist in the state’s Shivamogga district, the ensuing violence there and the political statements that followed, dominated the front pages of most Urdu newspapers. However, as Russia’s advance into Ukraine started looking like a foregone conclusion — and finally happened Thursday — the developments in faraway Europe were also constantly on the front pages and in the editorials.
ThePrint brings you a wrap of what made headlines in the Urdu media this week.
Russia-Ukraine war
Russia’s aggression, and ultimately, invasion, of Ukraine was on the front pages of both Inquilab and Siasat. While Inquilab focussed on the crash in the world markets and the loss of investors’ money, Siasat wrote about the Russian claims of having hit defence installations. Siasat also carried on the front page a story on the meeting between Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan and Russian President Vladimir Putin, during the former’s Moscow visit that coincided with the actual attack on Ukraine. In its editorial, which said Putin had foisted a war on the world, Siasat argued that it is the responsibility of the world now to make him stop the assault not just on human lives and livelihoods, but also the world economy.
In its 23 February editorial, Roznama Rashtriya Sahara said the rising tensions between Ukraine and Russia had pushed the world at the edge of a third world war, and come at a time when the world has just started to come out of pandemic and the common man in every country across the world is contending with hardships. It is imperative on the world as a whole, the paper said, to stop this war.
Throughout the week, the developments in Ukraine and the fine balance India needs to strike, given its good relations with Russia, remained on the front pages of Urdu newspapers. On 20 February, Inquilab wrote about Russia’s praise for India’s balanced stance. On 23 February, Roznama wrote about Putin’s statement in the Kremlin Security Council meeting that Russia had tried all possible means to reduce tension and is now considering the division of Ukraine, even as Russia recognised Donetsk and Luhansk as independent.
Also read: Ukraine ‘dissatisfied’ with India’s stand on Russia invasion, ‘pleads’ to Modi to talk to Putin
Karnataka hijab row
Over the week, the administrative, and later legal, questions about whether girls can wear hijab in classrooms in Karnataka assumed a different hue, with the murder of a Bajrang Dal activist in the state’s Shivamogga district being linked to the row. On 25 February, Roznama reported on the front page about the continuing tensions in the district and also the demands from former chief minister Siddaramaiah for action against BJP leader K.S. Eshwarappa for allegedly fomenting trouble. On 25 February, the paper carried a story on how baptised Sikh girls in the state were also being asked to remove their turbans.
On 23 February, Roznama carried a story quoting the state advocate general’s statement in the Karnataka High Court that there was no bar on wearing hijab in the campus, but only in classrooms. It also carried a statement from the sister of the slain Bajrang Dal activist, Harsha, that people should not communalise the issue as that is what cost her brother his life. On 22 February, under the headline “Which way is India headed…” Siasat carried three reports — one about a woman in Bihar’s Begusarai allegedly not being allowed to do a bank transaction because she was in a burqa, one about a statement made by the Karnataka government in court that hijab is not an essential religious practice, and a third about Bihar minister Amrendra Pratap Singh’s claim that the Hindu population in the country is decreasing and the Muslim population is increasing.
On 20 February, Roznama carried on its front page the day’s developments on the hijab row, stating that 58 female students across Karnataka had refused to remove their hijabs. It also carried a story about a private college in Mysuru that revoked its uniform code to allow Muslim students in hijab attend classes.
Also read: Karnataka govt order imposes hijab ban without objective, should be quashed, petitioner to HC
Assembly elections
The front pages mostly carried news of the voting percentages of various phases of the ongoing assembly polls in the five states. In an editorial on 24 February, Inquilab wrote that the eagerness of voters in UP to exercise their democratic right is a result of their anger over the unresolved issues of the past five years.
In its 22 February editorial, Siasat decried the propensity of political parties to use court judgments as political tools to win elections. It also alleged that in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP is resorting to all means, including threatening voters, to retain power. In its post-poll analysis on 20 February, the paper wrote that while the Congress without Amarinder Singh has a task in hand to retain Punjab, BJP’s chances do not look too bright either.
Lalu and Nawab Malik’s legal woes
The legal woes of two politicians — former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad and Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik — were covered prominently by the Urdu press. On 20 February, Inquilab wrote that Lalu’s troubles in the fodder scam had gotten bigger. On 22 February, Siasat and Inquilab reported that a special CBI court had sentenced him to five years’ imprisonment and a fine of Rs 60 lakh.
The arrest of Malik in an alleged money laundering case was on the front page of all the three newspapers on 24 February. Roznama also carried a statement from NCP supremo Sharad Pawar saying that Malik has been jailed for speaking the truth, and another from alliance partner Shiv Sena, stating that the minister had been targeted for political reasons.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
Also read: Owning Dawood-linked properties, money laundering — what ED charges against Nawab Malik are