Front Page
This morning, most of the leading newspapers had the climate at different summits on their minds.
Hindustan Times dedicates a large chunk of its front page to two big summits: G20 in Argentina, and the climate summit underway in the heart of Polish coal country. According to the newspaper, the stakes are high for India at COP24 in Poland as it is among “the worst affected by climate change because of its large population and its poverty”.
In an editorial, The Indian Express focuses on PM Modi’s strategic balancing act at G20, writing, “Given the history of India’s foreign policy and its deep suspicion of the West, there is no question that a trilateral summit with President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is an important marker in India’s foreign policy.”
It adds, “But as Modi’s renewed trilateral summitry with Putin (Russia) and Xi (China) proves, India does not have to choose between one camp and another.”
“Sure, these were important meetings”, agrees HT, but of greater significance is what the summitry has in store for the future: “India’s relevance will only increase as its economy grows. It should focus on building an alternative to multilateralism…and speak out, even if it is the only voice doing so, on climate”, it writes.
The other Modi
Meanwhile, scam-accused diamantaires Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi resurface on The Indian Express front page: “Nirav Modi Scam: IT report waved red flags 8 months earlier, was not shared”.
It adds in its ‘Explained’ box: “Clearly, if the findings of the Income Tax investigation had been flagged to various agencies at an early stage, it could have acted as a better check on such offences.”
The judge
The Times of India chooses to lead with a “stunning claim” made by the recently retired Supreme Court judge Kurian Joseph, one of the four judges who held the historic press conference this January.
In an interview with the paper, Joseph, “said he and three other most senior SC judges held their much discussed press conference on January 12 as they felt that then CJI Dipak Misra was being controlled from outside and was allocating cases to judges with political bias’.”
Religion & Rahul Gandhi
“Rahul Gandhi takes bull of faith by its horns”, reports The Telegraph on the Congress president’s interview to Hindi daily Rajasthan Patrika. “I have a perspective of religion and that will only deepen with time…” he is quoted as having said, “The second aspect is the religious faith of others. I am Congress president. If anybody calls me to a temple, to a mosque, to a gurdwara… I have to respect their sentiments”.
On its front page, The Times of India quotes Congress MP Shashi Tharoor as he “defends” Gandhi’s sudden interest in Hinduism. Speaking at a literature festival, Tharoor said “it was wrong to see these visits as some sort of a cynical opportunism”.
Deeper into the paper, in the editorial section, journalist Sagarika Ghose looks at the politics of religion: “In the clash between ‘hard Hindutva’ and ‘soft Hindutva’, citizens are being squeezed between hard realities and soft options… Both yatra and gotra are seen as tickets to big political rewards as rival political parties getting ready for the race are saying: ready, steady, go-tra!”
The struggle of Rajasthan’s girls
In a report titled “In election time, where MeToo sits uneasy with Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao”, The Indian Express navigates Rajasthan’s high rates of female foeticide and the Bhanwari Devi rape case to highlight all that hasn’t changed for the state’s women.
Prime time
On its show Newshour, Times Now conducted a discussion on the row kicked up by Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu’s comment that Congress president Rahul Gandhi “is the captain of the captain”, a reference to Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh.
While the chief minister refused to go to the groundbreaking ceremony for the Kartarpur Sahib corridor in Pakistan, Sidhu did, reportedly at Gandhi’s behest.
In light of the remarks, some Punjab ministers have asked Sidhu to either apologise or quit as minister.
Manjinder S. Sirsa, an MLA from Delhi and the national spokesperson for the Shiromani Akali Dal, questioned Sidhu’s comment: “It was Imran Khan’s decision to open the Kartarpur corridor and that is alright but does it give Navjot Singh Sidhu the right to insult the sitting chief minister of Punjab? Does it give him the right to insult a Punjabi Sikh minister? No.” He called Sidhu “a stooge of Rahul Gandhi”.
Suneet Chopra of the CPI(M) also found Sidhu’s comments insulting: “Mr Sidhu went beyond the limits of dignity. We must not forget Capt Amarinder took a stand against Pakistan when all the other ministers kept watching like novices.”
BJP spokesperson and columnist Tuhin Sinha added: “The Pakistan foreign minister made it clear that they have nothing to do with religious sentiments; for them this plan was a googly, a sinister plan to checkmate India. Is Sidhu grateful for this googly?”
India Today anchor Pooja Shali discussed the same issue with Charan Singh Sapra, the vice-president of the Mumbai Congress, and BJP spokesperson Aman Sinha.
Defending Sidhu, Sapra said, “This is the issue of Kartarpur corridor and relates to 15 crore devotees who want to go over there. Sidhu raised the issue and both the governments took notice of it. Now… BJP is targeting this one statement but they are not talking about (union ministers) Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Hardeep Singh Puri, who also went to Pakistan.”
Sinha replied, “Mr Sidhu has made a complete mockery of democracy… The government of India should be given credit for setting up the corridor but the BJP is very clear that we will not fall into the trap and design of the Pakistan government, which has nothing to do with Sikh religious sentiments.”
News it’s just kinda cool to know
A complete ban on plastic may actually prove counterproductive, 40 researchers of Scotland’s Heriot-Watt University have warned in a press release, saying it may double the global energy consumption and triple greenhouse gas emissions, Geek reports.