Whatever happened to the glass bottle in the Joint Parliamentary Committee meeting on the Waqf Board Bill, this week? Did it break when handled by Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee? Did he smash it on the table? Or did it crack during his scuffle with BJP MP Abhijit Gangopadhyay?
Once broken into pieces, did its shards sail through the air, like drones and deliberately target the Chairman of the JPC, Jagdambika Pal? Did Banerjee aim the remains of the bottle at Pal? Or, was it all just a simple accident?
After watching several television news channels and reading leading English newspapers, the picture is as hazy as the Delhi sky. No two versions of the incident match.
Why, they can’t even agree on the number of JPC members who voted to suspend Kalyan ‘glass bottle wala’ Banerjee: while The Times of India said 10, The Hindustan Times and The Hindu claim it was nine.
This is a perfect example of confused messaging: reporters based their sequence of events on their sources at the JPC meeting. If they spoke to ruling coalition members, they reported one version; if they spoke to Opposition party members, their accounts differed.
Net result: We don’t know quite what happened between Kalyan Banerjee and the glass water bottle.
Just as we still don’t know how an explosion left a big hole in the CRPF school in Delhi, despite TV news reporters virtually crawling into the crater to find an explanation for the ‘white powder’ attack.
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A ruckus, scuffle and smash
The JPC bottle was a “smash” hit across news channels, Tuesday afternoon: “TMC MP smashes bottle…” reported CNN News 18. So did Times Now. Its reporter told us Banerjee lost his shirt and temper, crossed over to the other side, abused BJP’s Gangopadhyay and then attacked him with the bottle before he brought it crashing down on the table.
While The Hindu agreed that “he allegedly smashed a glass bottle…”, the Hindustan Times suggested Banerjee was a little less aggressive: “TMC MP breaks bottle…” read its headline, Wednesday.
Next up, TV news treated us to visuals of Banerjee tenderly guided forward by Asaduddin Owaisi (AIMIM), and AAP’s Sanjay Singh, fellow JPC Opposition party members. His left hand had a bandage.
“Kalyan injured himself,” explained the news channels in one voice.
According to Republic TV, there was a “ruckus” at the meeting, followed by a “scuffle” which resulted in Banerjee attacking the BJP MP and “smashing” the bottle. He went “berserk”.
However, News 24 reported that it was “not sure how the bottle broke and he got hurt…” but agreed that there had been a “skirmish” at the JPC meeting.
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Flying shards
Now, things get murkier: after shattering the bottle and injuring himself, “actively bleeding” (India Today), Banerjee “threw the bottle at the Chair”, in the direction of Jagdambika Pal, said Times Now, adding that “glass shards” were thrown at the Chairman.
How one throws “glass shards” is not explained. Most news channels said that Banerjee hurled the broken bottle at the Chair, others stuck with “shards” going on the attack.
Confusing. The newspapers didn’t help clear the air. TOI said that Banerjee “…smashed a glass water bottle and threw it towards…” Pal, “..injuring his own fingers and getting a one-day suspension”.
“….people aware of the matter” told HT a different story: it said there was a “furious argument” then “Banerjee hit the glass bottle against the table, breaking it… and cutting his hand.” Then, according to “some BJP members”, he “threw the bottle towards the chairperson…”
But Opposition members said, Banerjee “shook his hand in pain, because of which the bottle flew towards the chairperson.”
Best to leave the story here before it becomes science fiction.
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Sniffing for clues
On to the ‘mysterious Delhi blast’ (India Today) that occurred on 20 October at a CRPF school in Delhi.
Here, no one claimed to know what happened or why, including the Delhi police investigating the matter.
Hindustan Times’ Monday report said, ‘Cops scramble for clues after Rohini blast’. It added that “investigative agencies were unable to make a breakthrough in their investigations”.
CCTV footage yielded no “concrete clues” as to the identity of the perpetrators or the “white powder” left behind by the blast. It could be “potassium chlorate” but there were “traces of hydrogen peroxide” too.
Television news channels were so intrigued by the “white powder” and the “dhamaka” that their reporters arrived at the scene of the crime early Monday morning. They stuck to the investigating team, peering over their shoulders—almost falling over them, as they measured the hole of the blast with “an inch tape” (India Today).
Channels such as India Today, CNN News 18 and Times Now intrigued by “some kind of white powder” (India Today), sniffed around for clues—without success. “What was this powder?” asked ABP News.
India TV reported there was a motorcyclist sighted in the CCTV, ABP News told us of the suspected Khalistani connection and most channels acquired the audio tape of the neighbour who rang up to inform the police about the blast.
Times Now briefly showed us footage of the 9/11 attack on New York in 2001. What possible connection could it have to a small hole-in-the-wall attack in Delhi?
It also interviewed the neighbour who called in the blast. The exchange went something like this:
“What kind of bomb blast was it? Was anyone injured?”
“I was at home, how would I know?”
Speculation was rife: The Times Of India said investigators wondered if this was a “message” related to the US identifying Vikash Yadav in the plot to kill GS Pannun on its territory. After all, CRPF was his “parent cadre”, the newspaper added.
Let’s leave it there: You draw your own conclusions.
The author tweets @shailajabajpai. Views are personal.
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)