Front Page
Today’s newspapers herald the fourth phase of elections. The Times of India says it’s “NDA’s Big Test Today In Regions It Swept In 2014”. The Hindu’s lead writes, “This is a critical phase for the ruling BJP and its allies as it had swept 56 of these seats in 2014, leaving just two for the Congress and the rest for other Opposition parties”. Hindustan Times reminds us of the numbers: “128 million get their say today”.
And for the third successive day, the Bennett Coleman group celebrates its top post in the Indian Readership Survey. Today’s Economic Times anchor slyly invokes the US President name in `ET Trumps all business dailies combined’’ which says that at 3.7 million readers it is `ahead by more than half of the combined readership of four other pink papers.
Sri Lanka: The other big reports of the day relate to terror attacks in Sri Lanka, last week, across the board.
Each newspaper has a different angle. For The Indian Express, it’s that “Muslims residents raised first alert about terror safe house raided by Lankan army”. It emphasises that “it was a group of local Muslim youngsters that first raised the alarm about the terrorist safe house” — the army raided the terror safe house and killed 15 people, including Zahran Hashim, the suspected “mastermind” behind the attacks.
Hindu adds that “a woman and a four-year-old child, rescued from a safe house stormed in the search operation on Saturday, have been identified as the wife and daughter of Hashim”.
HT observes that “Sri Lanka’s churches remained shut on Sunday, forcing Christians to say prayers of grief in private over the Easter Sunday suicide attacks” (“Churches shut, Lanka crackdown continues”).
TOI looks closer to home in “NIA raids Kerala homes, looks for links with Lanka bombers”. It writes that the National Investigation Agency “carried out searches at the houses of three suspects linked to an Islamic State-inspired module comprising over a dozen people from Kasargod in Kerala who had left India in 2016 to join IS in Nangarhar, Afghanistan”.
Express gives that column space on page 1 — the raid was being undertaken “on suspicion of youths there being in touch with an Islamic State recruiter”. Strangely, The Hindu gives it fourth or so billing, saying the raid is “part of the international probe into the Easter Day suicide bombings in Sri Lanka”.
However, the dailies don’t agree on number of suspects targeted: TOI says the NIA raided three suspects, Hindu “at least four people”.
China-Pak-India: While meeting Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan, Chinese President Xi Jinping “expressed hope…that India and Pakistan can meet each other halfway and promote stabilisation and improvement of their ties”, reports the Express, the only one to give this page 1 coverage.
“As Pakistan faces global scrutiny over terrorism, China remains its only benefactor. PM Imran’s visit is aimed at ensuring China’s continued support, even as India turns up the heat on Pakistan to take tangible action against terror bases on its soil,” it writes in ‘Explained’.
Opinion
The Times of India and Hindustan Times comment on the importance of the fourth phase of polling, today, while Express leads with “Beijing’s Outreach” in its Belt and Road global connectivity project.
Express sees a “subtle shift” in China’s attitude from “take-it-or-leave-it” to a more “conciliatory tone” after widespread criticism, including from India, that BRI was China’s attempt to increase its geopolitical influence while inducing a “debt trap” and violating international norms, among other problems.
Now, President Xi talks of “partnership” and “people-centred and sustainable development” in consonance with national and international regulatory frameworks. New Delhi, which stayed out of BRI for the second year, must “take a fresh look” at BRI and the “new dynamics” as 37 countries have signed up. Express urges a new engagement with Beijing — “a case by case approach” may help construct a practical approach, it concludes.
TOI in “Fortress Breach” says phase 4 of the polling challenges BJP in areas where it had “performed exceedingly well in 2014” when it won 56 or the 71 seats up for grabs. Now it must ensure “anti-incumbency does not take a toll”, especially in Maharashtra where the first mover advantage was lost in multi-phased polling, urban and farmer distress and Raj Thackeray’s popularity which “could become a turning point” in the polls.
The contest in Rajasthan, a border state, will test the Bharatiya Janata Party’s “Balakot” narrative; Madhya Pradesh has seen a Congress “revival”, too. TOI says in a “waveless” election, caste consolidation and reverse consolidation have gained currency in the Hindu heartland — thus, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is playing the caste card “aggressively” in Uttar Pradesh.
Prime Time
As always, Sunday was dominated by interviews across channels.
ABP News: Anchor Dibang held a midair conversation with Akhilesh Yadav, Samajwadi Party president along with Ajit Singh, president of Rashtriya Lok Dal.
On the question of nationalism, Yadav said PM Modi had created insecurity regarding Pakistan to win votes instead of equipping the armed forces properly.
The road to Delhi leads through UP, commented Dibang to which Yadav replied, the “gathbandhan” — Bahujan Samaj Party-Samajwadi Party-Rashtriya Lok Dal — would be the one to stop BJP in its tracks. “The country wants a new pradhan mantri,” he added.
Would this PM be from UP? Pat came Akhilesh’s reply: “PM can be from anywhere in India but we would be very happy if the PM is from UP. I am not in the race to be PM,” he claimed.
Dibang quoted PM Modi’s remark about the “ghungroo” brigade of leaders from parties with 35-odd seats, waiting to be PM. “The opposition has many leaders capable of becoming PM,” Ajit Singh said, while BJP has only one.
On the opposition’s prime ministerial candidate, Singh said that would be decided after the results as there were many “gathbandhans” opposing BJP across the country. While Akhilesh asserted that BJP would win only “single digit” seats in UP, Singh said UP would finish the BJP in Delhi.
NDTV India: Vijender Singh, former boxing champion and current Congress candidate for South Delhi, told anchor Nagma that Aam Aadmi Party’s much touted performance in Delhi in education and infrastructure was untrue.
What measures would he take if he won and became sports minister? He would concentrate on his constituency and basic issues such as unemployment, he said. “I told (Sheila Dikshit ji) we should make no false promises.”
Why did he join Congress? Rahul Gandhi’s “soch” and the way he conducted himself attracted him, replied Singh. Asked about PM Modi’s famed “energy”, Singh nodded and said, “No doubt, no doubt”.
Times Now: Anchor Athar Khan asked whether Congress leader Digvijaya Singh had become a “chunavi Hindu”. Singh is contesting from Bhopal against BJP’s Sadhvi Pragya Thakur.
Political analyst Asif Bhamla commented, “Today, proving Hindu is just a narrative for elections — focus should be on the real issues.”
“People know who started the theory of Hindu terrorism,” interrupted BJP’s R.P. Singh.
Another political analyst M.R. Venkatesh pointed out, “Digvijaya Singh is capable of better performance but is caught in an identity crisis.”
Republic TV: Anchor Arnab Goswami discussed what he saw as a “Modi Wave” in the 2019 elections after the success of his Varanasi roadshow.
Political commentator Yatin Oza called “Modi Wave” a hype created by the BJP IT cell. He said, “BJP media cell is a factory of lies.”
Lawyer Hitesh Jain retorted, “Their hatred of Modi is so high that they attack the Army, they questioned the surgical strikes.”
Madhuresh Kumar, convenor of National Alliance of People’s Movements, posed a counter question, “Who is the real tukde-tukde gang? It’s the BJP leaders from PM Modi, Amit Shah down to Sadhvi Pragya. They are against minorities, against India’s secular tradition.”
#ModiWaveElection | Who is the real tukde-tukde gang? It's the BJP leaders from PM Modi, Amit Shah down to Sadhvi Pragya. They are against minorities, against India's secular tradition: Madhuresh Kumar- National Convenor, NAPM pic.twitter.com/C9DLtw1dLm
— Republic (@republic) April 28, 2019
Tweet of the day
Sir I think आप भोपाल की #BJP प्रत्याशी #PragyaThakur की बात कर रहें हैं! ??????????? सही कहा – जो देश की ना हो सकी, जिसने आतंकवादी हमले द्वारा देश तोड़ने की कोशिश की.. वो भला भोपाल की या संसद की क्या होगी!!!!! जय हिंद! ???????? https://t.co/D9ORoma5Rt
— Swara Bhasker (@ReallySwara) April 28, 2019