Opinion
Most commentary, Friday, concerns Jet Airways being “Grounded” (Express) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) fielding Sadhvi Pragya from Bhopal. Newspapers are severe on the latter.
In ‘Setting the wrong precedent’, Hindustan Times calls the nomination an “unhealthy precedent”. Pragya is the “main accused” in the 2008 Malegaon blast case. Even though “none of the charges have been proven”, BJP should have avoided her candidature. “Imagine”, HT asks, the reaction if National Conference (NC) in Jammu and Kashmir or Trinamool Congress in Bengal nominated a “person out on bail on terror charges”. Pragya will “polarise” the MP electorate — “Then this, is perhaps what BJP hopes to achieve”.
Economic Times in ‘BJP, Drop Pragya in Bhopal, Keep Moving’, says the choice “sends out the worst possible message” for the party that claimed “good governance and inclusive growth”. Pragya’s nomination can be “perceived” only as “a show of active support for a terror accused”. When the PM has stated that “terror is terror” irrespective of its identity, to nominate a terror accused makes BJP’s stand on terrorism appear as “a lot of eyewash”, ET writes.
Front Page
Jet Airways and the second phase of polling dominate headlines Friday. On the latter, papers disagree — The Indian Express’s doesn’t even report it on page 1 save for a box item that says “67.84% turnout”.
The Hindu simply reports a “67% turn out”, The Times of India claims at 68%, “turnout dips slightly in second phase of polling”. Hindustan Times says “Another 95 seats sealed ….”
“The highest turnout of 78% was reported from Puducherry, followed by Manipur with 77.86%”, claims The Hindu, but TOI’s figures reverse this: Manipur recorded 78.5%, and Puducherry 78.1% — so which is it?
Jet Airways
Meanwhile, photographs of Jet Airways staff in tears are front page news — TOI and Express carry a photo of the same woman. HT’s headline reflects the tragic situation: “As employees cry for help, lenders hope to save Jet”.
“The aviation regulator said on Thursday that it would ask Jet Airways for a ‘concrete and credible plan’ to restart its operations, a day after the cash-strapped airline suspended all domestic and international flights,” it writes.
In “AI, SpiceJet line up to take Jet’s slots, lease its planes”, TOI writes that the situation “has come as a boon for other airlines. The suspension of its flights has not only freed up slots at the completely choked Mumbai and Delhi airports, but also opened up an opportunity for rival airlines to take Jet’s idle aircraft on lease”, it adds.
Express says, “Air India hires from Jet, offers special fares, plans to lease 5 aircraft”.
“Air India has almost completed hiring 150 cabin crew members from Jet Airways for its international operations on Boeing 777 and Boeing 787,” it reports.
The Hindu ignores Jet’s woes for page 1.
Pragya Thakur
For the second successive day, “Sadhvi” Pragya Thakur gets top billing in Express. “Bar Sadhvi from polls, trial still on: Malegaon blast victim’s father to court.” The Hindu puts it on its front page, too – interestingly, it refuses to identify her as ‘Sadhvi’. Both newspapers say the complainant’s plea is that Pragya was on bail for medical reasons but is seen “participating in various programmes”.
“Nisar Ahmed Sayyed Bilal, 59, father of Sayyed Azhar Nisar Ahmed, who died in the blast on September 29, 2008, said on Thursday, ‘Pragya should be restricted from contesting in the parliamentary election as she is facing trial for a terrorist act and a petition challenging her bail is pending before the Supreme Court,’” Hindu reports.
HT suggests that “RSS pushed BJP to field Pragya Thakur”. “The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) writ ran large in the selection of Malegaon blast-accused Pragya Thakur,” it writes, citing “people with direct knowledge of the matter”. “‘Sadhvi Pragya’s victory will wash away the stain of saffron terror,’ a senior RSS functionary said on condition of anonymity,” adds HT.
LoC
The front pages also report “Cross-LoC trade suspended after ‘misuse by arms, drugs smugglers’” (Hindu). “The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Thursday suspended the cross-Line of Control (LoC) trade in Jammu and Kashmir, citing “funnelling of illegal weapons, narcotics and fake currency” as reasons.”
Express writes, “More Symbolic” above its headline, “Citing terror, India Puts Loc Trade on hold” diminishing the move’s significance. “Amid poll season, the suspension of cross LoC trade is being projected as a muscular and aggressive way to further corner Pakistan. But with the average trade volume around Rs 500 crore per year, the move will have only a marginal impact economically,” it explains.
Prime Time
The second phase of polling, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s possible electoral debut, and interviews with leading politicians are the highlights of Thursday’s prime time viewing.
India Today: Anchor Rajdeep Sardesai discussed voter turnout: did phase 1 and phase 2 indicate any trend?
They suggest “a close contest” between BJP and the Opposition, said psephologist Sanjeev Kumar. Earlier, a “national narrative” seemed dominant but “this is not happening… (there is) a contest on the ground”.
Should BJP and Congress be worried, asked Sardesai. They ought to be “recounting their numbers”, suggested Kumar.
CNN News 18: Anchor Bhupendra Chaubey discussed a possible “federal front” government of regional parties.
Satish Prakash, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supporter, claimed the next government would be “non-NDA, non-UPA”.
Trinamool Congress’s Garga Chatterjee agreed. “A fake ‘bipolarity’ had been constructed which ignored the fact that 50 per cent of votes didn’t go to large parties. Now smaller and regional parties would ‘dictate what India will be’,” he said.
However, journalist Subir Bhowmick had reservations about the “30+” club of regional parties — they couldn’t reach the magic figure of 272 Lok Sabha seats on their own. He likened elections to cricket: it is like a Test match, and you need one “centurion”, he said.
News X asked, “Should Priyanka Gandhi stand from Varanasi against PM Modi?”
Journalist Pankaj Vohra advised against it. It would be a “mega fight”, “all optics” but beyond “making headlines”, it would make little difference on the ground, he said.
Raghavan Balashankar, another journalist, said Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had challenged Modi in 2014 and “could not do much”. Such was Modi’s political capital that Priyanka’s entry would make no difference.
G.V.L. Shastri, academic, disagreed. Priyanka had no choice but to challenge Modi. Congress had to take the “risk” to sustain a viable party unit in UP.
Aaj Tak: Anchor Sweta Singh interviewed BJP’s Amit Shah and asked him if there was a Modi wave in 2019.
“Of course there is Modi wave.” He dismissed the challenge of Opposition parties: the people, he claimed, had already decided to vote for Modi.
When asked about the impact of ‘Mahagatbandhan’ in Uttar Pradesh, Shah replied BJP had swept aside the SP-Congress alliance in the UP assembly elections and would repeat its 2014 performance when it won 71 seats.
On UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s communal comments, Shah replied that in his 45 minute speech, this one line had been made into a controversy.
CNN News 18: Anchor Rahul Joshi spoke to West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee. When Joshi asked Banerjee why Modi had changed his “chaiwala” poll pitch to that of “chowkidar”, she replied, “You can’t heat up the same tea twice, it turns poisonous. That’s why he’s turned chowkidar.”
#MamataToNews18 | Why did @narendramodi change his chaiwala poll pitch? You can't heat up the same tea twice, it turns poisonous. That's why he's turned chowkidar: @MamataOfficial tells @18RahulJoshi, Editor-in-Chief, Network18 #ElectionsWithNews18 pic.twitter.com/dmRqUVA2qp
— CNNNews18 (@CNNnews18) April 18, 2019
She added, “We want a chowkidar who really works for the country, who we respect, a loyal patriot. Modi spent 4.5 years of his five-year term abroad, ignoring the nation.”
Tweet of the day
When you are done tweeting for your mother you can tell her I’m more than happy to debate my 3 years with Vajpayee Sahib v/s her 4 years with Modi ji but I’d rather do that directly with her & not with her understudy. https://t.co/vCZo7mwOpa
— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) April 18, 2019
With inputs from Shailaja Bajpai.
I member the election of imidiate post imergency elections. That time Shri George Fernandez was arrested with same type fake charges in bomb blast. That time too pro congress press was reacted on Fernandez nomination field from jail.
Modi says she is a saint. This is time for all Indians to think over about whole sociology political philosophical contours