Prime time
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee exchanged their final blows in the campaign season, Thursday, and TV news relished the contest, giving both equal air time, although Banerjee’s walk show stole a march on Modi.
India Today’s Gaurav Sawant ran out of breath as he walked the extra kilometre to keep up with the swarm of TMC supporters and grab a soundbyte from Didi. “Great effort,’’ lauded the afternoon anchor.
Then it was all Pragya Thakur for her Godse the ‘deshbhakt’ remarks and several anchors targeted her.
Mirror Now: Anchor Faye D’Souza sounded incensed: Thakur’s remarks were an “affront to everything the country stands”, she said.
Editorial: To suggest that Godse is a subject of debate would be to desecrate the memory of Gandhi & to disrespect ideals of this country
I insist that the EC pass strict censures against #PragyaThakur. I insist that BJP withdraw her candidature.@fayedsouza pic.twitter.com/510YjWASBM
— Mirror Now (@MirrorNow) May 16, 2019
The BJP has distanced itself from Pragya’s remarks but not from her — PM Modi and BJP president Amit Shah are both silent on the issue. Other channels would debate the matter, she added, but there was no debate on this matter. “I insist the Election Commission pass strict censures (on Thakur), I insist the BJP withdraw this candidature…and distance itself from her”, said D’Souza.
NDTV: Ravish Kumar warned that people who call the murderers of political leaders ‘avatars’ should not be taken lightly. He said this was not the first time Nathuram Godse has been hailed as a martyr; another BJP leader Sakshi Maharaj had also said that Godse was a “nationalist”.
Times Now: Anchor Navika Kumar realized Faye D’Souza’s prophetic words: she discussed Pragya’s comments and her blaming the media for “twisting her comments”.
BJP spokesperson Amit Malviya was satisfied with Pragya’s apology: “BJP does not agree with what Sadhvi Pragya had to say.”
Political Analyst Tehseen Poonawalla said, “They (BJP) have taken terrorist into their party.”
India Today: Anchor Rahul Kanwal focused on Bengal: “Who vandalised Vidyasagar bust during Amit Shah’s rally?”
Senior journalist Subir Bhowmick commented, “People in Bengal are of the view that Vidyasagar statue was vandalised by the BJP brigade.”
CPM leader Brinda Karat, making a rare TV appearance, said, “BJP is the premier lie-manufacturing machine in the country. We have fought TMC for a better future of Bengal, not to exchange one poison for another poison. Both the parties are equally responsible for the vandalism, which is taking place in Bengal.”
Zee News: Zee interviewed Rahul Gandhi. Anchor Sudhir Chaudhary, a strong critic of Rahul and Congress sounded gracious: “From today, Zee News and Rahul Gandhi’s dialogue has also started.”
#ZeeNews पर जानिये राहुल गांधी के सच और झूठ वाली ताकत का राज़
@sudhirchaudhary pic.twitter.com/pkgD1fN8oI
— Zee News (@ZeeNews) May 16, 2019
Asked about his understanding of grassroots-level politics, Rahul replied, “It will be wrong to say that I have understood it totally. A person spends his whole life understanding politics. But, there is some experience I have had.”
Front page
Intense verbal duels between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee make the lead in most newspapers for the third consecutive day.
The only exception is The Hindu that prefers “Congress will not insist on Prime Minister’s post”.
The Indian Express’s headline says it all: “Mamata and Modi in no-holds-barred battle before guns fall silent in Bengal.”
Hindustan Times in “Bengal campaign ends, war of words continues,” writes Mamata and Modi “sustained their rancorous war of words until the last moment.” The Election Commission had Wednesday cut short campaigning in the state by a day saying the West Bengal government had failed to provide a level-playing field to all candidates.
The Times of India has another angle to the Bengal story: the PM was “locked in a blame game with Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee over the vandalisation of a bust of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar” in “Will build Vidyasagar statue: PM; Don’t want BJP alms: Didi.”
The Express writes Mamata “threatened to send him (PM Modi) to jail if it is proved that BJP workers, and not TMC workers as was claimed by Modi, vandalised the bust”.
The Telegraph picks on the PM’s in “Discovery of Mahatma”. It notes the PM took “nearly 40 hours to break his silence on the revered Bengal Renaissance figure whose bust was vandalised.”
“Such was the backlash that Modi, who rarely shows any sign of rethink once he decides on a political course, appears to have been compelled to try and make amends overnight at a time the last phase of polling is pending in Bengal”, it says.
Congress on PM post: Hindu’s lead says “The Congress is not averse to offering the post of Prime Minister to the leader of a regional party”.
TOI’s page 1 story adds, “Congress has begun its outreach to opposition parties, indicating that the Prime Minister’s post will not be a sticking point, even as Sonia Gandhi has personally got in touch with non-NDA leaders, suggesting there should be detailed discussions ahead of the May 23 results.”
Pragya Thakur
BJP’s Bhopal candidate Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur’s comments calling Nathuram Godse a “patriot” also gets front page billing in most newpapers.
TOI writes she “courted fresh controversy….leading to the Election Commission seeking a report from the Madhya Pradesh chief electoral officer”.
Express’s second lead report, says “BJP rushed to condemn her statement and asked her to tender a public apology”, after which she said the “BJP’s line is my line”.
In “Explained” Express writes Pragya’s comments have “left the BJP squirming…This has given the Opposition more ammunition to attack the BJP and its idea of nationalism”.
Other news
HT headlines the Trump administration’s move to put in place “a sweeping proposal to shift the country’s legal immigration system from one that is largely determined by family links to a points-based system that favours merit, professional skills and education, including proficiency in English”.
TOI accords this a small space on page 1, saying “For India, this could mean a significant transformation in the kind of people who can immigrate to the US: educated, English-speaking, skilled aspirants, with the ability to assimilate into American culture, will get preference.”
HT’s second lead is “ICICI probe widens, 24 loans from Kochhar era under lens”. It reports that the Enforcement Directorate “has expanded its probe” on ICICI Bank’s CEO Chanda Kochhar and the Videocon group, and is looking “into a total of 24 loans aggregating Rs 7,862 crore that were loaned “illegally and criminally” by the bank to the conglomerate when she was in charge between 2009 and 2018.”
Opinion
As the election campaign ends today, Business Standard draws ‘Lessons from 2019’.
It says “election fatigue” due to a “seven-phase election schedule” is evident in the “diminishing enthusiasm”— voter turnout in phase 6 was 63 per cent compared to 69.5 per cent for phase 1. The “big takeaway” from 2019, therefore, is the need to shorten the schedule.
It feels some schedules are “hard to justify” — Bihar and West Bengal with 40 and 42 seats, respectively, faced seven phases like Uttar Pradesh that has 80 seats.
The long schedule has allowed politicians to flout the moral code of conduct of no campaigning in the 48 hours before vote. In a 24×7 information environment, they are in campaign mode throughout and the level of “obnoxious rhetoric” has increased exponentially. “This coarsening of the public discourse” is the most “urgent lesson” for the Election Commission, writes BS.
In ‘Art of deal’, TOI looks at the US and Iran stand-off. Recent developments like the unilateral economic sanctions on Iran by US, its enhancement of its military presence in west Asia along with Saudi Arabia’s claim of attacks on its tankers and pipelines, present an “ominous” scenario.
This is “eerily reminiscent” of events before the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and US President Donald Trump seems to be on the verge of repeating his predecessors’ “mistakes”. However, with North Korea, Trump had demonstrated an ability to think out of the box. Iran is a far more “sophisticated country with an active civil and political society”, so he stands a better chance to resolve issues, writes TOI.
Tweet of the day
बापू का हत्यारा देशभक्त?
हे राम!
Distancing yourself from your candidate is not enough. Nationalistic luminaries of the BJP, have the guts to spell out your stand.
— Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) May 16, 2019
With inputs from Shailaja Bajpai.