Hindi
Amar Ujala focuses on the minorities in Pakistan. It says the stone pelting in Nankana Sahib Gurdwara last week and the killing of a Sikh youth in Peshawar Sunday is not just condemnable but also indicates the tenuous condition of minorities in Pakistan. The Pakistani government claims that the stone pelting was a result of a fight between two local groups near the gurdwara. However, in reality, tensions rose because of a Sikh girl’s abduction and subsequent forceful conversion and nikaah (marriage).
The murder in Peshawar of a Sikh youth, who was out for wedding shopping, shows that apart from lip service Pakistan is not serious about protecting the minorities. Justice will be served when the guilty in these two cases are punished.
Tuesday, 7 January
Dainik Jagran focuses on the violence in JNU and writes that the university is in the news for the wrong reasons once again. It writes that “vishwavidyalaya mein gundagardi” or hooliganism in the university should be condemned. Delhi Police needs to find the masked goons and also needs to uncover the people who were propping them. JNU has long been a Left bastion but now anarchic and intolerant thoughts are being encouraged in the garb of freedom of ideas. These parties are silent on those who did not allow registrations and were impediments to studies but as soon as masked goons entered campus they were quick to blame the government.
Amar Ujala talks of battleground Delhi where the elections have been announced. Even though Delhi is not a full state, it has immense importance in national politics and the symbolism of a victory in Delhi is huge. AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal had a massive mandate of 67 of 70 seats in 2015 and the party became a power to reckon with. However, in the 2019 General Elections, it lost to the BJP. Now Kejriwal is concentrating on the work done to come back to power in the state while BJP tried to win Delhi’s heart by regularising unauthorised colonies.
Wednesday, 8 January
Dainik Bhaskar says that BJP seems to have caught the same disease that Congress is afflicted with. It quotes Lord John Acton, a British Catholic historian — “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. The BJP has realised its mistake regarding the Citizenship Amendment Act after protests erupted across the country. As a result, it decided to go house-to-house to explain the act and their side of the story.
However, irresponsible statements coming from the BJP cadre are diluting the effort and this shows that the party is suffering from the same malaise as the Congress — unruly members.
Dainik Jagran criticises the fact that it takes a long time for justice to be delivered in India, referring to the death warrant issued by a Delhi court against the four convicts in the 16 December gangrape-murder case. The warrants were issued more than seven years after the incident took place. The lawyers of the accused say that they will challenge the order.
So, will the hanging happen on 22 January or will there be more legal maneuvering? The parents of the victim had to continue fighting for justice from 2012 and there is still no end to their travails. Furthermore, punishing the perpetrators will not end sexual violence, society needs to work towards a better community.
Thursday, 9 January
In light of the recent tensions between Iran and the US, Dainik Bhaskar writes that the question is not about the fear of war but about the degradation in human thinking. It reminds us of 1973 when then-US President Richard Nixon bragged that he could pick up the phone and some seven crore people can perish on his orders. Now, Trump tweets that the US has bought weapons worth 2 trillion dollars and if Iran shows false bravado, he wouldn’t hesitate to use them. His intemperate tweet brought the world to the brink of war. Such tweets are endangering civilisations that took years to build and we need to redefine human development so that no single person can threaten 700 crore people of the world.
Friday, 10 January
Dainik Jagran writes that the Supreme Court has done the right thing by saying that it will not take up petitions related to CAA till the violence abates. However, it doesn’t seem likely that those who involved in these violent protests will actually stop. The court must instead listen to all the petitions and clear the air about CAA so that no misinformation is spread about it. The intolerance of anti-CAA brigade might have made Supreme Court say that the country is passing through a difficult phase but it should also realise that some elements believe that it is not enough for a law to be constitutional.