Front Page
All other news – including the much-anticipated Monday launch of Chandrayaan 2 that was not to be – takes a back seat this morning with Wimbledon and the cricket World Cup finals dominating front pages. All mainstream newspapers celebrate the enthralling finals with photographs of the victors: Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon and the English cricket team.
The Indian Express can’t resist a pun with its headine, “Tietanic”: “England win World Cup; Federer loses Longest Wimbledon Final.”
The Times of India describes the matches as “A Heartstopper & a Tied Super Over” and “two unbelievable epics for the ages”.
“Sports lovers were torn on Sunday evening” between watching the Wimbledon final and the cricket world cup final, writes TOI, as the “two spine tingling, nerve shredding matches were played out within 15km of each other.”
Express’s story praises England and New Zealand, saying “doctors should find out how Ben Stokes and the New Zealanders get such nerves of steel”.
Hindustan Times chooses “One final, Two champions” for its tennis story headline. Djokovic won his “fifth Wimbledon title on Sunday”, beating “eight time champion Roger Federer in a fifth-set tiebreaker after saving two match points”, it says.
The Hindu headlines its sports stories as Super Sunday with “England defeating New Zealand on boundary rate after scores were tied in the super over”, Novak Djokovic overcame “Swiss Roger Federer in the first ever fifth set tiebreaker at Wimbledon.”
Kartarpur corridor
Also making headlines is talks on the Kartarpur corridor. Express highlights: “India, Pak move closer on Kartarpur corridor”. Calling it a “major breakthrough”, it says India and Pakistan have “narrowed their differences” on the proposed Kartarpur corridor since the “two sides have agreed to allow visa free travel for Indian passport and Overseas Citizenship of India card holders on days of the week”.
Meanwhile, HT in ‘At Kartarpur talks, Pak agrees to bridge divide’ says Pakistan also agrees on fixing the number of pilgrims allowed daily “at 5000 as against the capacity of 700 that it had indicated earlier”.
For TOI it is ‘Pak bows, makes concessions on Katarpur Sahib pilgrimage’. The Pakistani delegation has confirmed “the ouster of pro-Khalistan leader Gopal Singh Chawla” and they also added that “the corridor would not be allowed for using anti-India activities, there will be no let up, we will keep a close watch”, reports TOI.
Hindu too gives a detailed account of ‘Visa-free year-long access for pilgrims to Kartarpur Sahib’. India also urged Pakistan to “allow Nagar Kirtan from Delhi” in October-November 2019 as part of the “celebrations to mark the birth of the first Sikh Guru”, it writes.
Navjot Singh Sidhu
Navjot Singh Sidhu’s resignation from Congress’s Punjab’s government finds front-page billing in HT, TOI, and The Hindu today. By resigning, HT declares that Sidhu “effectively closes the chapter in his protracted battle” with Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh. He refused to “take charge of the power and renewable energy portfolio” that he was assigned, leading to his resignation, it writes.
TOI adds that Sidhu’s resignation “puts an end to more than a month of suspense over his absence from office”.
He made his resignation letter addressed to Rahul Gandhi public by tweeting it out on Sunday.
Chandrayaan and Karnataka
Despite not taking off, Chandrayaan 2 finds itself on TOI’s front page flap and Express’s first page. TOI highlights that the ‘First space exploration mission of India (is) being led by women scientists’ but disappointingly uses the colour pink to announce it. Even more dissapointing is that it describes the two women at the helm of the mission – Vanitha Muthayya and Ritu Karidhal – in vague terms. The report says Muthayya “has excellent problem-solving skills and is good in managing teams” and Karidhal “had been involved in various mission operations.”
The Express focuses on the “historic” mission to the moon, rather than the women behind it.
Meanwhile the crumbling Karnataka assembly, which has found itself on front pages every day for the past one week, is nowhere to be found except in The Hindu, which writes, ‘Karnataka coalition in jitters as minister is back with rebels’.
“Congress MLA and Housing Minister N. Nagaraj flew to Mumbai to join the rebel camp, a day after the Congress had “convinced” him to stay back”, thus “leaving the fate of the government in balance.”
Opinion
In ‘Adapt to change,’ TOI emphasises the need to acknowledge that “India’s climatic pattern is changing,” and governance also needs to alter accordingly. The water crisis in Chennai and the floods in Assam are symptomatic of climate change, including increase in frequency and magnitude of rainfall; progressively warmer months and a steady rise in the sea level.
According to TOI, crises in both Chennai and Assam is because the government is “being blind to impending changes”. “Governance structures have to foreground the challenges associated with changing climatic patterns.” There is also a need to re-think growing of water-intensive crops where “agro-climatic conditions are not ideal.”
In ‘The Sangh’s advice to BJP’, HT argues that the current Narendra Modi-led BJP government has “consciously sought to cultivate the Dalit vote,” and has been extremely successful at it. Acting on advice by its parent organisation RSS, the BJP has made significant headway with the Dalit electorate as evidenced by its “202 million votes and 303 seats.”
HT contends that the government’s welfare schemes as well as bestowing leadership on the likes of Thawar Chand Gehlot proves its commitment. There are bound to be differences between the upper-caste elite of BJP and the emerging Dalit leaders and “how the party manages this will determine whether a substantial number of Dalits stay on or desert it.”
According to HT, the real challenge for BJP now is securing the minorities.
Prime Time
The World Cup finals at Lord’s cricket ground and Wimbledon’s centre court got some attention but India’s ambitious lunar assault had most channels – and their anchors—moonstruck Sunday evening. Little did they know that the launch would be deferred.
The Kargil war anniversary was another topic of conversation.
Aaj Tak: Defence anchor Chitra Tripathi discussed the only hot war between two nuclear neighbours India and Pakistan on the 20 th anniversary of the Kargil conflict.
Gaurav Sawant, editor at India Today, who covered the war said, “The victory that India attained in Kargil was one of bravery.”
Lieutenant Gen. AK Sivaj said, “The soldiers who were martyred during Kargil, were at a height of 18,000 ft. We beat Pakistan at a height where it is impossible to even have a fight…”
Zee News Hindi: As BJP is set to relaunch its ‘colony plan’ for Kashmiri Pandits after the J&K polls, the panel on #TalThokKe discusses whether ‘acche din’ are here for Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley after 30 years.
Anchor Aditi Tyagi pointed out that while India has developed to the point that it will be launching Chandrayaan 2, 30 years on, Kashmiri Pandits still cannot return home.
Ravindra Raina of the BJP blamed the situation in Kashmir on terrorism: “In the last 30 years, Kashmir has been filled with Pakistani terrorists. Kashmiri Pandits were forced to leave Kashmir…. 4-5 lakh Kashmiri Pandits left. Till tensions in Kashmir settle, we can’t send the Kashmiri Pandits back’’.
Sushil Pandit, co-founder of Roots in Kashmir, questioned the BJP: “In 2014, (Modi) ensured that sending Kashmiri Pandits home was in the BJP manifesto. But in 2017, when we filed an RTI, we got a quick reply that they have no (such) plans.’’
Times Now: Anchor Madhavdas led the discussion on a massive row that erupted after BJP welcomed a demand for a mandir on the premise of Aligarh Muslim University.
Saira Shah Halim, theatre personality and activist said, “It can prove to be an amazing Hindu-Muslim peace initiative..”
Zafar Sareshwala, former Chancellor Maulana Azad National University, said, “The people who have opposed this are absolutely ignorant of the Islamic ethos…. if I am running an institution then it’s my Islamic duty to provide people of other religions, a place of worship.”
“We are not here to spread the venom of hatred. I agree there’s a possibility that a mandir and mosque can reside (there),” said Shoaib Jamai, an Islamic scholar.
With inputs from Kairvy Grewal and Rachel John.