All mainstream newspapers feature Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s campaign speech in Delhi but look at it differently.
The other common story is the coronavirus epidemic but again, the focus is different with financial papers noting its economic fallout.
On PM Modi, TOI reports the PM’s remarks: the Shaheen Bagh protests “marked an effort to disrupt harmony by protesters who were using the tricolour and Constitution to mask their real intent.”
The focus in the coronavirus report is on its possible spread in the North — “Five of the evacuees brought back from Wuhan in China and kept at a quarantine centre in Manesar were shifted to Army’s Base Hospital in Delhi after they showed symptoms of cough and cold”
In interesting reports, it notes Tata’s “almost certain” bid for Air India and a Times Now poll that predicts “AAP to win 54-60 out of 70 seats, BJP may bag 10-14”.
In The Indian Express, the Modi-Shaheen Bagh headline and report is similar to TOI’s, but its coronavirus report goes south, with Kerala declaring a ‘state calamity’, after three confirmed cases emerged in the state. A must-read in the paper is rape-accused Chinmayanand getting bail: the paper quotes the Allahabad court judgment extensively — the “court called a matter of ‘quid pro quo’ and said the young woman’s conduct was ‘astonishing’, and that she tried to ‘blackmail him for ransom’”.
Hindustan Times leads with a four-page gift-wrap advertisement celebrating “print news” and its own publications even as the latest Indian Readership Survey found a decline in readers of the newspaper.
HT also dwells on the third coronavirus case in Kerala but has good news in a Budget report regarding “4 dozen” tax exemptions in the new system that include PPF, VRS. Note the report on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal telling two news channels, News 18 India and News 24, about his Hindu identity.
The Hindu leads with renowned lawyer Fali Nariman’s objection to “the manner in which the Supreme Court turned a review of the Sabarimala case into an opportunity to set up a nine-judge Bench and examine whether certain essential religious practices of various faiths…should be constitutionally protected’’. Like Express and HT, the paper reports on the coronavirus cases in Kerala with detailed numbers of people quarantined but `nCoV’ in its headline is unnecessarily misleading. For a fun read, there’s conmen trying to sell a hotel…
The Telegraph is in top form, its headline suggesting an acting award for PM Modi’s Shaheen Bagh comments. Page 1 is almost entirely devoted to BJP — MP Ananth Kumar Hegde’s remark on Mahatma Gandhi, and Paresh Verma speaking in Parliament after his ugly Shaheen Bagh comments. The “BJP, apparently, is unhappy and has showcaused him. Usually, the BJP remains silent over the controversial remarks of Hegde, a motormouth”, it writes.
The New Indian Express also carries the story on three con-men who tried to sell a star hotel in Chennai. Also, read its piece on “Financial history in one form”, which highlights the steady shift to a pre-filled tax return regime as filing tax returns is set to become a lot easier.
Crime works well for Mumbai Mirror which details the “2013 murder of builder Sunil Kumar Lohia”. The son accused the judge of bias as he was taking cognisance of “bits and parts of the evidence which show minimum involvement of the accused.” And National Institute of Design (NID) was in hot water for its “decision to invite activist and classical dancer Mallika Sarabhai, a vociferous critic of Narendra Modi from the time he was Gujarat’s chief minister, as chief guest for the event.”
Tribune’s report to read is the Enforcement Directorate’s order to attach the assets of a firm linked to the IPL team promoted by Shah Rukh Khan — this has already been widely reported. The front-page lead story is about PM Modi’s criticism of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Congress on the anti-CAA protests, which is flanked by an extensive report on how the issue of the CAA rocked Lok Sabha Monday. The interesting anchor report narrates the story of one Hindu migrant from Pakistan who had been denied citizenship despite her family being granted the certificates.
The Economic Times has good news: the manufacturing numbers are at an eight-year high because of “sharp rises in new business and products that gave employment a boost…’’. The figures are from a private agency, IHS Markit India
Another important report is Chinese automobile executives pulling out of the Auto Expo in Delhi over the coronavirus. And if political advertising is off the front pages, find out why in the anchor piece on digital advertising now the favorite platform of parties in Delhi’s elections.
LiveMint has an unusual lead: How fears over the National Register of Citizens (NRC) is stalling government data collection efforts in Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal. It’s also gung-ho over the increase in manufacturing.
Read the deep dive into how Indian companies’ efforts to raise funds have “hit a wall” because of the coronavirus pandemic. The other lead is based on an interview with Principal Economic Advisor Sanjeev Sanyal where he explains that government securities issued sometime this year will not have a cap on foreign investment. A small item on a big story: a 6.5 per cent drop in household savings — “the highest in at least eight years’’.