Front Page
This morning Hindustan Times and The Times of India are literally in a flap about the “world’s biggest election” (HT) — their page 1 flaps are devoted to the first phase of polls, or in TOI’s dramatic words, “The battle begins for India’s heart and soul”.
Both newspapers look at “what’s at stake” as 18 states vote. The big question: Will BJP retain its 2014 vote share?
However, two other big stories dominate the headlines: the Supreme Court’s rejection of the Centre’s plea to keep certain Rafale documents a “secret”, and the Election Commission’s ban on the release of the biopic, PM Narendra Modi till after voting.
The Hindu, whose chairman N. Ram broke a series of stories on the Rafale deal based on those documents, is positively triumphant: “In unanimous support for freedom of the press in a democracy, the Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed the government’s plea to declare the Rafale jets’ purchase documents a secret.”
The Indian Express calls it “a setback for the Centre”, TOI a “shot in the arm for the opposition” while HT writes that, “the court seemed to suggest that public interest outweighs all else and that, even if the documents aren’t in the public domain, it might have asked to see them”.
In ‘Explained’, Express says “the decks have been cleared for hearing petitions seeking a review of the Supreme Court’s December 2018 order” on Rafale.
Biopic stopped
Meanwhile, the EC stopped the release of Vivek Oberoi starrer PM Narendra Modi, along with two other films, “citing complaints that these films could influence the elections”, writes HT.
The film was due to release today, on the first day of voting.
The Hindu says, “It was alleged these films diminished or advanced the electoral prospects of a candidate or a party in the garb of creative freedom…”
The Express adds that “web series will be hit too” referring to “Modi: Journey of a common man” streaming on Eros Now. And Business Standard reports EC has put NaMo TV “under watch” too.
Imran Khan for Modi
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s ‘endorsement’ of BJP has given the opposition plenty of fodder to “target” the government, says Express.
TOI writes, “Congress and other opposition parties immediately jumped upon the remark to allege a nexus between Pakistan and Modi.”
Express paraphrases Khan, who apparently said that “if Congress leads the next government it may be too scared to seek a settlement with Pakistan over Kashmir, fearing backlash from the right”.
Jallianwala Bagh
Also making news today, by a slim margin in most newspapers, is UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s expression of ‘regret’ at the Jallianwala Bagh massacre of 13 April, 1919. HT says she “made do with a reiteration of the UK government’s “deep regret” for the carnage she called a “shameful scar” on British Indian history”.
“…but she stopped short of a formal apology,” note Express and TOI.
Opinion
The Supreme Court verdict on Rafale is welcomed by all newspapers.
HT in “A welcome boost for transparency”, says it is a “setback to the government” but “unequivocally a welcome one” and it’s now clear that the Officials Secrets Act (OSA) “cannot be invoked” in matters involving “public money”.
The government’s logic of “invoking secrecy and the bogey of national interest” was “befuddling” when the documents it objected to were already in the public domain via the media.
In “A resounding vote for press freedom”, The Economic Times calls the verdict “an endorsement of the rights of a free press” which removes the “threat” of OSA being used against news organisations “that publish material covered by the OSA”. This is “a notable victory for democracy” and the free press.
In “Rafale rebuff”, The Hindu says SC’s decision is “a firm and necessary rebuff” to the Centre’s attempts to “prevent judicial examination” of documents “and to de-legitimise all investigative journalism on the subject”. It adds that the “admissibility” of the documents (published by The Hindu), “underscores the principle that it is public interest, and not the content of a document alone, that will decide whether disclosure is needed or not”.
Prime Time
From the Supreme Court’s Rafale judgment to EC’s banning the Modi biopic, there was plenty to discuss on prime time.
Times Now’s Rahul Shivshankar asked if the government had invoked the OSA to “shield” information it wanted to hide.
BJP leader Tom Vadakkan said the attorney general had simply “done his duty” pointing out that the leaked information came under OSA. Janata Dal (United) spokesperson Pavan Verma felt SC verdict was a “setback for the government”, while academic Sudheendra Kulkarni said it was “a big victory for investigative journalism”. Lawyer Aryama Sundaram was emphatic: it clearly established the Right to Information (RTI) over OSA.
On CNN News 18, former CIC, Yashvardhan Azad hailed the verdict as “pathbreaking” but said it was “unfortunate” the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG)’s report had not examined the details of the Rafale deal. “Why was government (trying) to hide?”
On NDTV India, the topic was Pakistan PM Imran Khan’s endorsement of Modi for PM. Former diplomat G. Parthasarthy wondered if Khan sensed Modi was returning and had endorsed Modi because he was worried.
Journalist Manoj Joshi emphasised that Khan was in “the pocket” of the Pakistani Army — it was in the latter’s interest to have Modi as PM as it strengthened its position in Pakistan.
Hindi channel MHOne News debated BJP’s promise to remove Article 370 regarding Jammu & Kashmir. Raman Malik, BJP, said J&K wanted “vikas” and opening up. “Why can’t a (Kashmiri) child become a CEO?”
PDP leader Mohammad Amar said his government had considerably helped development in J&K but the people would “go against” the rest of India if Article 370 was nullified.
“J&K is part of India — don’t the people want development?” asked anchor Pooja Sinha.
Times Now anchor Navika Kumar wondered if BJP has suffered a “double blow” as a notice was issued to NaMo TV, and Modi’s biopic was stalled by EC.
Lawyer Hitesh Jain insisted, “This movie is not violative of the model code of conduct.”
Author Zainab Sikander felt the timing of the release “was suspect”.
On CNN News 18, actor Pallavi Joshi acidly commented that since elections were held every day in India, no political film could ever be made.
Vivek Agnihotri, director of the forthcoming The Tashkent Files on the “mysterious” death of Lal Bahadur Shastri, said the former PM’s grandson liked his film but had been “coerced” by the “top family” to criticise it.
Lawyer Sanjay Hegde tore into the EC: if men like T.N. Seshan and J.M. Lyndgoh had been heading EC, “no one would have dreamt of” trying to release the film. EC is the “ultimate umpire” during elections, he added, and this time it has “shown some teeth” — otherwise, it is a “cage for pussycats”.
Tweet of the day
Republic's two topics of discussion today seem to be:
– Muslim Vote Call
– Bollywood 2019 Campaign
Essentially, they couldn't spin the biggest news items of the day so they just… ignored it. Bold move.
— Meghnad 🔗 (@Memeghnad) April 10, 2019
With inputs from Shailaja Bajpai.