Prime Time
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s announcement of free public transport for women dominated prime time Monday afternoon onwards, while BSP chief Mayawati’s announcement that the SP-BSP alliance had ended created a maha uproar on some channels.
Republic TV: Anchor Arnab Goswami claimed that Arvind Kejriwal’s move undermined the dignity of women. He lit into Kerjiwal. “He is riding on these insane freebies…”, he yelled out. Later, he called Kejriwal a “consummate liar”.
Some panelists drifted away from the topic and concentrated on the freebies angle, instead.
“What’s the problem if the marginalised women get some benefits? BJP also promised to create two crore jobs,” said activist Tahira Hasan.
Times Now: On #AAPKaFreebie, anchor Navika Kumar questioned Kejriwal’s unfulfilled promises of making the city safe and cleaner. “Arvind Kejriwal must be reminded of the garbage problem of Delhi”, she commented.
BJP spokesperson Shazia Ilmi, once an AAP member, said, “Arvind has failed Delhi with such a move.”
Lawyer Ambika Hirnandani welcomed the move: “This step empowers women.”
“This move is for weaker sections of women who can’t afford tickets,” added political analyst Syed Asad Abbas.
Aaj Tak: When anchor Rohit Sardana asked if the SP-BSP alliance would really break up, BSP leader Sukhdev Rajbhar said Mayawati had clearly hinted at that.
Political analyst Satish Prakash said during the Lok Sabha election campaign, Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath spread the canard that the “Yadav votes are not getting transferred to BSP”. But, the ground reality was different — there had been a transfer of votes. “And everyone knows that BJP tampered with the ballot papers”, he added.
BJP leader Sambit Patra retorted by saying, “blaming the ballot is not right for those who have a history of looting the ballot”.
ABP News: The show ‘Prahar’ also dealt with the SP-BSP break-up.
Ratanmani Lal, a senior journalist, said the coalition should not have been just about the coming together of two leaders — Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav. They needed the backing of party members and their vote banks as well.
Dalit ‘chintak’ Rajendra Werma said if there was a split between the two “it will be sad…. because I feel that this coalition was at ‘samajik level’ and…”if you connected at the samajik level then one day you will bounce back for sure”.
CNN-News18: Anchor Marya Shakil turned to Kejriwal’s promise of free metro and bus rides for women.
Entrepreneur Yogita Bhayana felt that AAP was simply trying to win votes with this move.
Journalist Nishtha Gautam agreed it was an election ploy but felt that “women feel safer in metros as there is safety in numbers”.
Front Page
National newspapers — The Indian Express, Hindustan Times and The Times of India — finally give front page billing to the row that erupted in south India over the new education policy (NEP) draft that proposed to introduce Hindi as a compulsory subject in non-Hindi speaking states.
The Hindu had carried the news on its front page Monday.
HT headlines the news as, “Govt tweaks Hindi plan amid southern pressure”. The Hindu writes the revised version “retains the recommendation to introduce a three-language formula from Class 1, merely having removed the clause stipulating the specific languages that students must choose”.
HT and TOI call the clause “controversial”. According to TOI, the committee in charge of the policy informed “the government that there had been an ‘inadvertent error’ in the text submitted for public feedback.”
TOI, HT and The Hindu carry “interviews” with former chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation K. Kasturirangan, who headed the committee that drafted the policy. He tells HT — and other papers too in as many words— that “there is no question of coercion; it is for the states to decide. The question of Hindi being imposed does not arise.” It also reports the NEP was “drafted 25 years ago, so the new draft NEP was the first in the era of the internet.”
The Indian Express in ‘Explained’ writes, “Tamil Nadu has always opposed this policy, and the new row is over the draft NEP proposing its continuation.”
The Hindu is the only one to note “protests were also reported over the weekend in West Bengal, Maharashtra and Karnataka.”
The Express, meanwhile, discovers in “3 language policy: NEP draft revised, 2 members object” that two other members from the same committee of 11 “objected” to the revision which drops the “contentious” requirements of teaching Hindi and English in schools.
It writes the change was “effected at the behest of Kasturirangan”.
No other paper mentions this difference of opinion within the committee.
SP-BSP break-up
While The Hindu writes the “Future of the SP-BSP alliance turns uncertain in UP”, HT says “Mayawati hints at breaking up with SP, to go solo in bypolls”.
“Addressing a meeting in Delhi, Mayawati directed office-bearers, MLAs and newly elected MPs from Uttar Pradesh to not depend on the alliance to win bypolls on seats that had fallen vacant because the sitting MLAs were elected to the Lok Sabha”, writes HT.
“However, there was no word on the future of the alliance or if contesting in the byelections alone meant it was the end of the road for the alliance”, says The Hindu.
IAF aircraft missing
All newspapers carry the news of the missing AN-32 Indian Air Force plane. The Express makes it the second lead: “IAF transport aircraft with 13 on board lost in Arunachal”. “The weather over the region was turbulent”, it finds.
Under the banner headline “Searches may yield tragic results”, TOI clubs together the news of the missing climbers from Nanda Devi in the Himalayas and the missing IAF plane. It calls the plane an “aging Russian-origin AN-32 transport aircraft.”
“Some ground reports were received on possible locations of the crash site. Helicopters were routed there, but no wreckage has been sighted so far,” TOI reports.
AAP’s promise of free metro, bus rides for women
Common across front pages is Arvind Kejriwal’s announcement of free travel for women in metro and DTC buses, but “the modalities of the scheme were still being worked out” (The Hindu).
HT also puts “Sensex closes above 40,000 for first time” on its front page, calling it “a new record on optimism.” That is the lead story in Economic Times and Business Standard too.
Ajit Doval’s reappointment as National Security Adviser but with cabinet rank this time, gets little attention — just single column space in TOI and HT.
Opinion
The controversy of the three-language formula in the NEP merits comment in several dailies.
The Hindu in ‘Crisis Defused’ says the quick withdrawal of the “mandatory teaching of Hindi in all states” indicates BJP’s desire to avoid controversy so soon after being re-elected. Furthermore, it didn’t want to appear “insensitive to concerns” in the south, especially Tamil Nadu, where it “does not have much of a presence”.
Hindu adds that the revision is “conciliatory” as it allows for flexibility in choosing languages but the implementation of a three-language formula remains — something Tamil Nadu opposes. The Hindu thinks compulsory learning should be limited to one’s mother tongue and English, and the three-language formula should be “given up”.
The Express in ‘Tongue Twisted’ is bewildered by “an impression that English is being demonised”. The NEP suggestion that English has been “`privileged’” by “‘the economic elite”‘, and become a “’criterion’” for education and “‘prerequisite’” for employment maybe true but this not the result of any “nexus” or “conspiracy”.
It says placing the “onus” on the elite and educated to encourage the use of native languages at all levels is misplaced while the suggestion that other languages must be promoted in education instead of English is “disastrous” — such interventions in West Bengal schools harmed employment prospects and the “professional mobility’’ of a generation.
Tweet of the day
Women in Delhi will get a free ride on buses and the metro. What a wonderful idea @ArvindKejriwal ! Will Mumbai emulate this? All the trouble we are going through for the construction of the metro will then be worth it.
— Pritish Nandy (@PritishNandy) June 3, 2019
With inputs from Shailaja Bajpai, Triya Gulati, and Harshit Mansukhani.