Prime Time
The commotion in the Lok Sabha over Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury’s comment — former prime minister Indira Gandhi was “maa Ganga” while PM Modi was “gandi naali” — was in focus on prime time Monday.
Republic TV: On #GandiNaaliAbuse, anchor Arnab Goswami said, “The abuse would never help them (Congress) win elections neither would it help them (win) appreciation.”
ANI editor Smita Prakash recollected how “Chowkidaar Chor hai” was used to abuse the PM during the elections but now the abuses are “against the Prime Minister of the country”.
Political commentator Asif Bhamla pointed out that BJP alone emerged victorious from these kinds of insults: “…every time Congress has made these statements, BJP has been at an advantage”.
NDTV 24×7: Anchor Nidhi Razdan looked at the state of the Opposition: BSP’s Mayawati has broken with SP’s Akhilesh Yadav, a month after the elections, while Congress is clueless about its leadership. Is the Opposition collapsing?
Journalist Saba Naqvi observed that Mayawati was also practicing dynastic politics: “She has also announced her brother and nephew will be playing an important role. She has found a family too”.
Journalist Swati Chaturvedi agreed that the Opposition had “imploded”. She wondered why they had not rushed to Bihar after the AES outbreak killed over 125 children. “Clearly, the government is to blame, but we have no one to hold them accountable,” she added. “Rahul Gandhi has no succession plan and continues to sulk.”
Mani Shankar Aiyar, former Union minister and Congress leader, gave a lame explanation: “We have suffered an unexpected setback in the last election. We then went into another unanticipated phase”.
Tiranga TV: Anchor Barkha Dutt brought up Tabrez Ansari’s lynching by a mob in Jharkhand and the US Religious Freedom Report that found India wanting.
“One of our great badges of honour is our diversity… We get so thin-skinned about the US report on religious freedom, what about the lynchings happening in our own country?” asked Dutt.
Former diplomat Vivek Katju said, “I don’t take the Americans report seriously. It has been my experience that most people in the world accept that India is a tolerant society.”
Sadia Dehlvi, columnist, thought otherwise: “Ultimately you judge a nation by the way it treats its minorities and women. Muslim and minority fears need to be put to rest.”
Academician Geeta Bhatt felt that there should be justice for all “with no appeasement”.
Zee TV also looked at the lynching Tabrez Ansari.
Condemning the incident, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra called it “a shameful act”.
AIMIM’s Waris Pathan claimed that the PM’s call for “Sabka saath, sabka vikas and sabka vishwas” had turned out to be “empty for our community”.
Aaj Tak: Anchor Rohit Sardana turned to Kashmir where the Governor Satyapal Malik said that Hurriyat was willing to hold talks with the government. This led to claims that the BJP had suddenly gone soft on Kashmir.
BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra denied that BJP had changed its stance: “We want that conditions normalize in J&K but our Governor’s statement is being misinterpreted that BJP wants to talk.
Backing the Hurriyat, political expert Iftikhar Misgar said, “Guns will not lead to a conclusion of the J&K issue. Communication is the best solution”.
Front Page
Once again, mainstream newspapers go their different ways for their leads.
The Hindu makes “Mayawati snubs SP, says will go it alone in polls” its lead. Others give it second or lower billing.
It says the BSP will “revert to its old strategy” of competing elections on its own. “Her declaration has shut the door on the possibility of renewal of the alliance with the SP”, it writes, saying she “reverted to her old criticism”.
Hindustan Times is brutal, saying the party “attempted” to “pose a tough challenge to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in this summer’s Lok Sabha elections”. Among other things, “Mayawati complained that the SP failed to transfer its voter base to BSP candidates in the general elections”, it reports.
Quoting sources, The Indian Express writes that after Mayawati’s declaration, “Akhilesh had asked the party to get ready to fight the assembly bypolls on its own”.
The Times of India gives the news column space on page 1, saying the two parties have “formally parted ways” but are “paving the way for a multi-cornered contest in the forthcoming bypolls as well as the 2022 assembly polls in UP”.
“Akhilesh is “deeply hurt” with the decision to break the alliance but he will maintain a strategic silence and continue to respect Mayawati,” it found.
Parliament, cabinet: “Cabinet moves to strengthen anti-terrorism law, agency” is the lead in TOI. It writes that “individual terrorists” like Masood Azhar and Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed, are “to be included in the schedule of ‘banned’ entities” under the UAPA law.
It writes that the move will “add heft to India’s request to other nations” to blacklist such “terrorists”.
Meanwhile, “Old acrimony on show in new in Parliament session” (HT) says “Sparks flew”, with the ruling NDA and Opposition warring over the latter “praising” Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“The debate got ugly” when Congress’s floor leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury “made certain remarks” about the PM — bad enough for them to be “expunged by the Chair”. Other Opposition members from the TMC “kept up the combative tone”.
HT’s own verdict on the all too familiar debacle is a tired one: “The tone and substance of the debate at this early stage in the life of the 17th Lok Sabha indicated that politics would continue to be severely polarised, and that parties are already looking at future elections with an eye on key social constituencies.”
Balakot, Jharkhand, others: HT also publishes an exclusive interview with two pilots involved in the Balakot strikes, who claim it was “all over in 90 seconds”.
“…the mission was carried out with such secrecy that not even close family members of the assault team knew about the developments”, writes HT. “The first pilot said that senior IAF officials did not change their daily routines to avoid letting anyone catch a hint of the attack,” it adds.
Finally, HT asks the burning question: “Did the weapons do the needful?” “Of course, they hit. We had the bull’s eye,” it writes, quoting one of the pilots.
The Hindu and the Express give prominence to the Jharkhand lynching on their front pages. The Express finds that the police recorded a statement from the victim, Tabrez Ansari, for an alleged theft he had take part in “but without a single line on the assault that was recorded by the attackers”.
Hindu reports that “Six persons have been arrested” after the lynching “triggered a nationwide outrage”. It says he was 24 years old, the Express says he was 22.
TOI gives it column space, HT doesn’t find space for it on page 1. They report the Supreme Court’s demands to the Bihar government on Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) deaths on their front page flaps.
Opinion
Hindustan Times: In “India and the US must aim to stabilise the trade ties”, says HT highlights the “ever-increasing points of friction” in trade relations between India and the US. Its comments come in the wake of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s impending visit to New Delhi.
India shares an otherwise “sturdy relationship” with the US especially in defence and the US adoption of the term “Indo-Pacific” highlights their alignment on the rise of China.
HT states that breakdown of trust between the two countries is the major reason for trade disputes, coupled with India’s reluctance to keep up with international trade trends. It suggests a “long-term framework agreement on trade and investment policies that would help stabilise the economic relationship”.
Times of India: In “Yesterday, once more: Mayawati faces tough challenges but resorting to a discredited playbook won’t help”, TOI blames the BSP supremo’s “uninspiring and out of sync” leadership for the party’s recent election losses.
The unraveling of the SP-BSP alliance is indicative of a larger problem that the BSP faces — the unprecedented rise of the BJP in UP. Since 2017 assembly elections, where BSP won only 19 seats despite contesting all 403, BJP has only grown in strength.
According to a survey, “while BSP remains popular with its core social base, it is struggling to persuade a wider cross-section of voters”, including Dalits. Mayawati is part of the problem and her recent move of appointing her brother and nephew to prominent posts in the party is a move in the wrong direction.
The Hindu: “Devoid of principle: on TDP crisis” raises “troubling questions” that surround the recent defection of four TDP Rajya Sabha MPs to the BJP. The defection has reduced the TDP to a much “lower legislative profile” with only two members in the Rajya Sabha.
Some of the defectors are under investigation by the CBI, ED and income tax officials over suspicious financial transactions. Thus, the defection could be “aimed at currying favour” with the ruling government. For a party with “zero tolerance for corruption”, accepting these MPs does not reflect well on it, especially if it was just to inch closer to the majority mark in the Rajya Sabha.
With inputs from Rachel John, Harishit Mansukhani, Taran Deol, and Triya Gulati.
Hahahahhahahaha.. 😂 Your sold out people are now following Arnab to get some fame.. 😂 😂
After all it is magic of EVM and illetrates in congress.