New Delhi: Prime time Thursday went from Mumbai to Ayodhya to Patna and beyond.
Mirror Now focused on the implications of the serological survey in Mumbai while NDTV 24×7 dissected the New Education Policy (NEP) — but trust Republic TV to stick to its guns, which are currently trained on the Sushant Singh Rajput death investigation. And while India Today soberly discussed the NEP, its sister channel Aaj Tak discovered some ‘black magic’ hera-pheri in the Rajput case. On CNN-News 18, anchor Amish Devgan and BJP’s Sambit Patra went with all guns blazing at Congress leader Karti Chidambaram for his comments on “Rahu Kaal”.
First, to Mumbai. Mirror Now‘s Tanvi Shukla and Mumbai’s serological survey that revealed more than half of its slum-dwellers had coronavirus antibodies. “Is Mumbai heading towards herd immunity?” she asked.
“A population of six-seven thousand people in three wards isn’t a reflection of the entire Mumbai city. We would need all 24 wards and do a large sero survey,” said Dr. Rahul Pandit, Fortis Healthcare and a member of the Maharashtra Covid-19 task force.
Dr Jayanti Shastri of Kasturba Hospital in Mumbai pitched in, “What’s important is that these antibodies persist beyond three months. We’ve another round in August when we will collect samples and compare.”
The Sushant Singh Rajput case is getting curiouser and curiouser, and so is Republic TV. Breaking her silence, Rajput’s alleged former partner, Ankita Lokhande rubbished all claims about his mental health not being okay.
“Depression is such a wrong word to use. You can say he was upset… Depression is a very big word to use,” Lokhande stated.
Supreme Court lawyer Aryama Sundaram said, “This was an unnatural death, everyone was quite surprised at the speed at which the cause of death was immediately put as a suicide.”
PK Jain, former Additional DGP, Maharashtra, defended the current investigation: “Mumbai Police has been investigating properly — Sushant Singh was not a child that his money was taken away, and he was being blackmailed. These are just statements,” he said.
NDTV 24×7‘s Vishnu Som spoke to Congress MP Shashi Tharoor and Dr K Kasturirangan, Chief of the New Education Policy panel to discuss the NEP 2020.
“The initial five years is the foundation period and no structured education will be imposed on the child. We have brought in the mother tongue in the policy as it recognises the cognitive abilities of a child,” Kasturirangan explained.
“The New Education Policy recognises the fact that we are a country with very rich languages and we have to do justice to that,” he said, adding that there is no compulsion about any language being imposed on the states.
Tharoor had an elementary question: “My concern is, why have they unleashed this during the Covid-19 lockdown period without having come to the Parliament?”
It was all about Ayodhya on News 18 India. Amish Devgan told viewers that “Karti Chidambaram has said he doesn’t want any new place of worship, and has also questioned why the Bhoomi Pujan is being done in Rahu Kaal.” Devgan was referring to the Congress leader’s tweet.
Naming others, like Shashi Tharoor, Kapil Sibal and Digvijaya Singh, Devgan proclaimed, “Ayodhya mein mangal, lekin Congress bole amangal” at the top of his lungs.
Sambit Patra chimed in saying that the Congress is never seen going to a mandir and they have only worshipped their “goddess Queen Victoria & Crown Prince”. Ha, ha.
And in an “exclusive” interview on ABP News, Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust member Kameshwar Chaupal, who had laid the first brick at Ayodhya in 1989, said “This Ram Janmabhoomi temple construction will wash away the humiliation and struggle faced by the Hindu society.” Huh?
Finally, Aaj Tak left no stone unturned to talk about how Rhea Chakraborty did “kaala jaadu” (black magic) on Sushant Singh Rajput. Anchor Anjana Om Kashyap started the show by saying that she would “reveal” the truth that Sushant’s sister Mitu Singh has said in her statement to the cops.
“Sushant’s sister has accused Rhea of doing jaadu on her brother,” Kashyap said, adding that “Going by the family’s statements, if we analyse Rhea’s role, it reveals that she only came to Sushant’s life for money and career in the film industry.”
