Front Page
Maharashtra’s political seesaw maintains its primacy on the front pages of mainstream newspapers Tuesday and was the main show on TV news too.
The clash between Delhi police and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students protesting against hostel fee hike is the other big story.
More bad news on the economic front: industrial output in September shrunk 4.3 per cent to its lowest in eight years and is the lead in the pink papers.
Maharashtra: It’s “Maha Mayhem” in Hindustan Times as “Sena’s bid falls through, Governor gives NCP a day” reports The Indian Express; The Times of India is more playful: “Maha musical chairs: Cong dithers, governor times out Sena, calls NCP”.
“In fast-paced political development” the Maharashtra governor invited the NCP to form government after “Shiv Sena failed to provide the letters of support from the Congress-NCP alliance”, reports Hindu. It adds that NCP president Sharad Pawar “called up Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray” late at night to “clear any misgivings”.
TOI is more dramatic and writes that the Shiv Sena suffered a “body blow” after efforts to “cobble” together a government “flopped”. Express, in an accompanying, writes that Congress “virtually dashed Shiv Sena’s hopes” of forming a government choosing “ideological compulsions over practical politics”.
JNU protests: The JNU protest saw approximately 500 students block the entrance to the All India Council for Technical Education.
“Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal was trapped inside the… campus for around three hours,” reports Express. TOI adds that the police used “barricades and water cannon to disperse the crowd and eventually got the minister out”.
The Hindu carries a photograph of the protest on its front page with the caption “JNU rocks Delhi” while HT reduces it to a box mention.
Industrial output fall: Economic Times’ headline sums it all up — “After Hazy Aug, Gloomy Sept: Factory Output Shrinks 4.3%”. Business Standard reports “Industrial output contracted by 4.3 per cent for the second-straight month in September, nosediving to an 8-year low”. “All components of industrial output — mining, manufacturing and electricity — fell during the month, pointing towards a sluggish economy,” writes Mint.
It quotes experts and adds that this may prompt the RBI to “go for another round of interest rate cuts in December”.
Express Exclusive: ED probes Abir Lavasa: Express reports that the ED “has begun an investigation under Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) against Abir Lavasa, son of Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa and the company in which he is a director for alleged violation of foreign exchange laws”. During the Lok Sabha elections, Ashok Lavasa had opposed the clean chit given to PM Modi and former BJP President Amit Shah on charges of violating the Model Code of Conduct on five occasions.
Opinion
The Times of India: Shiv Sena and BJP have “effectively divorced”, remarks TOI in “Uncharted Waters”. This “amounts to betrayal of their mandate”, claims TOI, adding that logistical issues of power-sharing should have been worked out before the elections. Sena’s attempt to align with UPA parties only to form a government is possibly a “bigger breach” than when JD(U) joined hands with UPA in 2015. Sena’s overtures offer to Congress-NCP give it a chance to rebuild themselves, recover lost ground in rural Maharashtra, and rebuild their party coffers, writes TOI.
The Indian Express: The way T.N. Seshan, former chief election commissioner who passed away Sunday, “transformed” the EC is a “lesson for those at the helm of watchdog institutions”, writes Express in “The Seshan Effect”. The EC was established to hold free and fair elections, but it wasn’t until 1990 when Seshan took charge that citizens and EC officials became aware of the “extraordinary powers that the Constitution vests in the institution”. “The EC was a different body after Seshan”, notes Express. His story is a “striking example” of how one person can transform an institution in a “complex society with multiple levers of power”.
Prime Time
Will they, won’t they?
The “Maha mess” played out across news channels throughout Monday as Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress dithered and delayed decisions.
NDTV 24×7 was hugely embarrassed after it declared that Congress had agreed to back the Shiv Sena, at about 6.30 pm — its reporter insisted that “in principle” his sources in NCP and Congress had confirmed this to him.
CNN News18 also declared, “Cong giving outside support Uddhav-Sonia Govt?” at 7pm. Times Now was more accurate: the “legal advice” with the governor was to not extend the deadline for Shiv Sena, said Navika Kumar.
And so it came to pass. At night, the governor asked NCP to explore government formation. “Picture abhi baaki hai”, said ABP News, a sentiment Rajdeep Sardesai echoed on India Today.
On Republic TV, Arnab Goswami’s yoga lessons from Baba Ramdev, Sunday, failed to calm his temper. On #SenaNowhere, he screamed at Congress for getting “cheap thrills” over this “travesty of justice”.
India Today: As #TumSenahoPayega trended on Twitter, anchor Rajdeep Sardesai asked “Is the Shiv Sena na ghar ka na ghat ka?” He also wondered if this would “…break the Congress?” How could Sonia Gandhi “dictate” terms to the Maharashtra MLAs when she had not even campaigned there during the assembly elections, he asked.
“What is the game of the Congress? Is it split wide open?” he asked Sanjay Jha.
Jha replied, “This is not some opportunistic gathering of political parties to keep the BJP out — you need a certain agreed common minimum programme.”
CNN News18: On the #TheRightStand, anchor Anand Narasimhan roundly scolded the Congress-NCP for wasting time till “7:31’’ when they could have stated their position in the afternoon.
BJP supporter and political analyst Zafar Sareshwala said, “We have seen Congress in Gujarat, they tried to become the B-Team of BJP… they are basically trying to become a Hindu party again.”
Narasimhan then delivered his verdict: “Uddhav Thackeray’s ego is so big that he will not call either the PMO or Amit Shah, but will instead call Sonia Gandhi!”
NDTV India: On “Prime Time”, Ravish Kumar tried to decode the Supreme Court’s Ayodhya verdict.
Kumar pointed out that the name of the author of the judgment had been withheld: “Were the judges afraid of revealing their identity?” he asked.
He also observed that BJP had rejected the Supreme Court’s Sabarimala verdict — then, Home Minister Amit Shah had not said as he did in this case, that everyone “should accept the court’s mandate”.
Kumar concluded that a political party’s appeal to not politicise an issue is also a part of its politics.
Dr Faizan Mustafa, the Vice-Chancellor of NALSAR, thought the verdict was based on justice, equity and good conscience, but an important principle was ignored. “One who seeks equity must come with clean hands, which was not the case here,” pointing to the demolition of Babri Masjid by Hindutva organisations.
India TV: Rajat Sharma, on “Aaj Ki Baat” discussed Maharashtra and JNU.
“The question is not of morality anymore, it has become all about power,” he said about Maharashtra. He said neither BJP nor Congress could speak of morality as they didn’t stand by their own principles.
“BJP made an alliance with JJP (Jananayak Janta Party) in Haryana while it fought the elections against the same party. Congress also did the same in Karnataka by making an alliance with JDS.”
On JNU, Sharma said the students were protesting peacefully and the government should have engaged with them better. “Proposing a 300 per cent hike doesn’t make any sense,” he added.