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In Germany, Rahul Gandhi attacks the Modi government: The Congress president stated that the Narendra Modi government’s “exclusivist” policies were detrimental to the nation as they could push “tribals, poor farmers, lower caste people, minorities”, the ones out of the development narrative, into the trap of insurgents, The Hindu reports. Gandhi said the creation of the Islamic State terror group was a result of the “exclusivist policies followed in the aftermath of the American invasion of Iraq”. He also linked lynchings in India to joblessness, and the ill effects of demonetisation and poor implementation of GST.
His comments drew a lot of flak.
What Rahul Gandhi made ISIS out to be: a romantic idea unemployed & uneducated Islamists believe in.
What ISIS is: A military and political pursuit of a group in which most are highly educated and wealthy. https://t.co/7aQEe9FEqP
— Swarajya (@SwarajyaMag) August 23, 2018
Rahul Gandhi wins first prize for finding absurd reasons for the lynching epidemic. He tells a German audience that it is the fault of demonitization and GST which created mass unemployment. Really? Seriously?
— Tavleen Singh (@tavleen_singh) August 23, 2018
Photos of him from the trip, posted by the party’s social media team, were trolled too.
Sir what do you know about India and Indian culture??
Rahul Gandhi: pic.twitter.com/FtsBCXv7kQ
— Nisha (@niissh) August 23, 2018
BJP 2019 @narendramodi election campaign has started already. Our stalwart campaigner @RahulGandhi commenced it yesterday in Germany. ??????
— #CongressMuktBharat ?? (@CongressDahan) August 24, 2018
ThePrint political editor D.K. Singh reports that photos of the “frolicking” team have stoked concern within the party. Read why.
#Sleepchallenge: Union minister K.J. Alphons tweeted a photo of himself sleeping at a relief camp for Kerala flood victims. The backlash was intense, and so began #Kannanthanamsleepchallenge (Kannanthanam is what the ‘K’ in his name stands for).
Sleeping after hard day of work
Please note: I am the one who is sleeping, but I am the one uploading photo while I am sleeping, because I am the sleeping I am the uploading
Kumbidi kku polum tholpikkan aavilla makkale pic.twitter.com/PT9SgtWdC3
— Sara..thush (@neeharabindu) August 22, 2018
ഓഹ്.. മൈ ഗോഡ്.. !!
.
.ഇവനെ ഇനി വളരാൻ അനുവദിച്ചു കൂട ..!!!
.#KannanthanamSleepChallenge pic.twitter.com/5uCUF2ydf1
— Cv. (@Cv_____in) August 22, 2018
റോഡിൽ കിടന്നു ഉറങ്ങുവാൻ തീരുമാനിച്ചു. #KannanthanamSleepChallenge
Statutory warning: Any resemblance for this post to actual persons, living, dead or dumb or actual events is purely coincidental. pic.twitter.com/8jAjmuArOC
— Chalu Union (@ChaluUnion) August 21, 2018
Meanwhile, Imran Khan, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, extended his support for victims of Kerala’s recent floods. With Pakistan having accepted aid from India after the 2005 earthquake, perhaps it’s time for India to return the compliment?
On behalf of the people of Pakistan, we send our prayers and best wishes to those who have been devastated by the floods in Kerala, India. We stand ready to provide any humanitarian assistance that may be needed.
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) August 23, 2018
Anil Ambani’s ‘cease-and-desist’ notice to journalists causes furore: Journalists have slammed the notice asking them to ‘cease and desist’ from reporting on allegations of irregularities in the Rafale deal, which involves a sub-contract between the French firm and a new Anil Ambani venture, and questioned the bid to silence media in a democracy.
The Editors Guild recently issued a statement decrying the "cease and desist" notice served by Relience Defence to some newspapers in an effort to block coverage of an important defence deal. Many more media houses & journos have since received the notices. Unprecedented!
— M K Venu (@mkvenu1) August 23, 2018
Have received a legal 'Cease & Desist' notice on #RafaleDeal from @reliancegroup on my mail .
Mr. Anil Ambani, Once again you have got it wrong , my name is pradyot not pradyut . Can you please get something right for once in your life ? pic.twitter.com/abBrszcoDi
— Pradyot_Tripura (@PradyotManikya) August 21, 2018
Top court discusses ‘perpetual reservation’ in promotion: The Supreme Court is discussing the legality and desirability of caste-based reservation in promotion, The Times of India reports. A group of eminent lawyers, including additional solicitor general Tushar Mehta and Indira Jaising, had called for the reconsideration of the Nagaraj judgment of 2006 that required governments to follow strict conditions to provide promotion to individuals belonging to the SC/ST communities.
A bench headed by CJI Dipak Misra stated, “Entry-level reservation in employment on the basis of backwardness is no problem. But what is worrying us is the accelerated promotion to all SC/ST employees without looking into their status of employment. Suppose a person by virtue of reservation gets into IAS and becomes secretary through reservation in promotion. Can a very senior bureaucrat’s grandson and great-grandson be treated as backward for promotion in employment, and that too in perpetuity?”
The ‘politician-media nexus’ in Andhra & Telangana: In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, a number of media entrepreneurs known to be close to local politicians, Telangana CM K. Chandrashekar Rao and actor-turned-politician Pawan Kalyan, are taking over media channels, just months before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, The Times of India reports.
Real estate tycoon Rameshwara Rao, known to share a close relationship with Rao, is one of the bidders for the biggest Telugu news channel, TV9, which is up for sale. Another news outlet, 99TV, is owned by a company promoted by a member of Kalyan’s Jana Sena Party. Meanwhile, Sakshi TV is owned by Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy’s family, and the owners of ABN ABN Andhra Jyothy are believed to be close to Andhra CM Chandrababu Naidu.
News it’s just kinda to know
A ‘hybrid human’ from back in time: The 90,000-year-old fossil of a 13-year-old girl found in 2012 reportedly shows that her parents were two different human subspecies. While her mother was a Neanderthal, her father was a Denisovan, Sandhya Ramesh reports for ThePrint.
While on the topic of evolution, scientists from the University of Kent have discovered that evolution might favour laziness. According to a study, higher metabolic rates are a predictor of extinction likelihood. What the study also suggests is that, in the long term, sluggishness could help prolong the existence of a particular species.
Business Class
WhatsApp, a recent entrant in the money-transfer market, feels Google and other payment services are getting an unfair advantage over it in India, reports The Economic Times. It is thus looking at full-scale launch in other countries, the report added.
ICICI Bank chairman G.C. Chaturvedi said any call on the fate of MD & CEO Chanda Kochhar will be taken on the basis of the Justice B.N. Srikrishna report, which is likely in two and a half months, reports Business Standard. “The former Supreme Court judge is heading the panel… probing the allegations of quid pro quo by Kochhar in sanctioning of a loan by ICICI Bank,” the report adds.
Point of View
Satya Pal Malik was recently appointed as the governor of Jammu & Kashmir. The Indian Express writes in its editorial, “The death toll on Eid is symbolic of the enormous challenges Satya Pal Malik faces as he takes over as the new governor of Jammu & Kashmir.”
The Supreme Court has asked district courts to examine the grievances of devotees regarding the upkeep of shrines. The Times of India writes in its editorial, “Judges getting entangled in the nitty-gritties of temple, mosque or church administration looks like judiciary stepping into the domain of the executive, when it is not clear that even the executive should get involved in such matters.”
What could be the strategy of the BJP for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls? Political commentator Parsa Venkateshwar Rao Jr writes in a column in The Times of India, “BJP needs an ‘enemy’ to fight, and there is no one on the scene except the decimated and dilapidated Congress. The other parties are too small and too regional for BJP, which takes pride in being a national party, to fight against.”
The question being debated on many platforms is: Should or shouldn’t India accept the UAE’s help for Kerala? Former diplomat T.P. Sreenivasan writes in a column in The Hindu, “No one will think India is any more powerful if it turns away foreign assistance for flood-hit Kerala.”
Prime time
Times Now held a debate on Rahul Gandhi’s IS analogy and remarks on joblessness. In the hour-long discussion, the issue of joblessness and questions of insurgency were sidelined by communal harangues, with editor-in-chief Rahul Shivshankar asking if the Congress president was “insulting Muslims in India”. He said Gandhi was “absolving bigoted cow vigilantes, and playing into the IS ideology”.
While the BJP accused the Congress president of “trying to justify terrorism”, Tanveer Ahmed of Congress ally Janata Dal (Secular) said Muslims had faced unemployment for long, and equating joblessness to terrorism was wrong. Senior journalist Saba Naqvi said she was unsure if Gandhi knew what he was saying.
#2019MandirCard became the discussion point for Republic TV: Arnab Goswami criticised the opposition for indulging in “temple politics”.
Samajwadi party chief Akhilesh Yadav announced that he will construct a huge Vishnu Temple in Etawah, Uttar Pradesh, if brought back to power, after UP deputy chief minister Keshav Maurya said the Centre may pass a legislation to build the Ram temple in Ayodhya.
According to Goswami, Yadav’s announcement speaks to the “mahagathbandhan hypocrisy” — while they oppose the Ram Mandir, they want a “Vishnu city”.
Sambit Patra of the BJP said, “All these ‘icchadhari Shiv bhakts‘ won’t see the ‘Brahma’ of 2019 because whatever they do is just for the vote bank.”
BSP supporter Devashish Jarariya, however, claimed that the opposition did not need a temple to win as it had already proven itself with three victories in UP bypolls.
(With inputs from Simrin Sirur)