New Delhi: Prime time debates Sunday ran the gamut from Bihar’s floods and Rajasthan’s political games to Pakistan’s rising debt trap. And on Aaj Tak’s ‘Halla Bol’, anchor Chitra Tripathi demanded to know the identity of the ‘gangs of Bollywood’ spreading rumours against Oscar-winning musician AR Rahman.
First to Republic TV, where Arnab Goswami’s hashtag #DestroyAllLobbies was not just in the context of apparent “Pakistani links of Bollywood” but also lobbies in the media and news industry, Supreme Court (a reference to activist Prashant Bhushan’s contempt case) — even lobbies among NGOs.
BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra gladly agreed with the premise: “As far as these lobbies are concerned, they create a circle of influence. They kill merit and they kill nationalism. We have to destroy them.” He then talked about “distorians” who twist history, to which Goswami quickly added, “Romila Thapar doesn’t know Indian history, that’s not everyone’s fault.” Really?
Zee News anchor Sachin Arora wanted to expose the dual nature of the Congress. “Why is the Congress government in Rajasthan adamant on calling an assembly session, while in Madhya Pradesh the same party was against it?” he asked.
BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain used the opportunity to give the Ashok Gehlot government a tongue-lashing. “They are saying they are trying to fight Covid? Is this how it is done? The MLAs are eating various delicacies in the hotel, watching Mughal-e-Azam, disrespecting the rules of social distancing. The country will never forgive them.”
Rajasthan Congress spokesperson Gajendra Singh Sankhla said the situations in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan were different and couldn’t be compared. “Jyotiraditya Scindia left the Congress party in March 2018 soon before the lockdown was announced. Today the unlock is in progress”, he said. Hope that was clear to everyone?
Over on India Today, Shiv Aroor manned a fiery debate on Congress leader Ajay Maken saying the party doesn’t expect justice from the judiciary on the disqualification of the Sachin Pilot-led camp of Congress rebels.
Congress spokesperson Amee Yajnik maintained that Maken was talking more about possible “delays” in the verdict and not attacking the judiciary per se. But others on the panel weren’t quite convinced. Supreme Court lawyer Chetanya Singh said, “It is a very irresponsible statement for a political party to make about one of the most strong pillars of our democracy.”
NDTV India‘s Naghma Sahar went elsewhere and spoke to RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav about Bihar’s Covid and flood double whammy. “The on-ground situation is getting worse with each passing day,” claimed Tejashwi while pointing out that Bihar CM Nitish Kumar has not been on an inspection round for over 130 days. “He is only worried about the elections. Bihar is going to become a global hotspot soon,” Yadav warned.
“But RJD also ruled for 15 years. If the health system is in shambles, your party is also responsible for it,” countered Sahar, to which Yadav said, “If we could not do things properly, we were punished by the people and were voted out of power. But the Nitish Kumar government is in power for the past 15 years. What have they done?” Someone tell him pehle tum-pehle tum is fine for a song, not for actual governance.
NewsX‘s Devika Chopra went across the border, metaphorically, and discussed Pakistan’s “dubious” foreign lending based on reports that the country took more than $13 billion in foreign loans in the previous fiscal year.
Chopra wondered if China would take advantage of the situation. “Are we looking at China perhaps buying off the whole of Gilgit-Baltistan…just so they can support Pakistan economically?”
Retired diplomat Bhaswati Mukherjee saw merit in the argument: “Under Imran Khan, Pakistan has lost more and more sovereignty to China.The debt trap which Pakistan was already in has worsened because of Imran’s inability to reign in the Army…and he has fallen very neatly in the Chinese arms.”
