Front Page
‘We derive our strength from tolerance. We accept and respect our pluralism,‘ former President Pranab Mukherjee said at a valedictory function of future RSS pracharaks in Nagpur Thursday, where he was the chief guest. Every major daily runs a version of this headline. The Indian Express tells us that Mukherjee also described RSS founder Keshav Baliram Hedgewar as a “great son of Mother India” when he visited his birthplace, while Kumar Anshuman at ThePrint says that, with his speech, Mukherjee silenced Congress snipers, including his daughter Sharmistha Mukherjee, as he “gave the Hindu nationalists of RSS a lesson on nationalism”.
For reactions to the speech from the Congress, the BJP, and the CPI(M), read this report in The Indian Express.
Home minister Rajnath Singh spent Day One of his trip to J&K talking peace. He said the Centre was ready to hold talks with “right-minded people” in the state as well as with Pakistan. However, he added, Pakistan needed to stop terror activities on its soil, and should take India’s help if it couldn’t, The Hindu reports.
All’s well in the NDA family. Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Parkash Singh Badal, after his meeting with BJP president Amit Shah Thursday, said there was no discord between the allies and their partnership was “rock solid”. Hindustan Times reports that a six-member coordination committee to discuss electoral issues and future strategy was set up, while The Times of India tells us that the BJP and Shiv Sena, following the meeting between Shah and Uddhav Thackeray, decided to contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections together.
The Centre may bring in a law to regulate fee hikes by private schools. The Times of India informs us that the report comes soon after the UP government approved the ‘Ordinance for Self-financed Independent Schools (Regulation of Fees) Bill, 2018’ that restricts private schools from raising fees beyond 8 per cent.
Schools may also be told to drop grades and comparative comments like “slow, poor, and dull” from report cards of students between classes I and VIII. Hindustan Times says the government wants “to prevent under-performers from developing a sense of inferiority”.
PM Narendra Modi is set to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping Saturday on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Qingdao and take forward the implementation of decisions taken in Wuhan, The Times of India reports.
A day after five people were arrested for alleged Maoist links, Pune police Thursday began probing an email that allegedly suggested plans to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi in “another Rajiv Gandhi-type incident” by “targeting his roadshows”, The Indian Express reports.
India’s top 5 revenue-generating monuments were all built by Muslim rulers — the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort, Qutub Minar, Fatehpur Sikri and Red Fort. ThePrint’s Sanya Dhingra tells us that these five monuments together earned the government Rs 146.05 crore in 2017-18, according to Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) data.
Business Class
Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani won’t get a hike again this year, for the tenth time in a row. The richest Indian’s cost to company has been capped at Rs 15 crore, reports The Economic Times.
Meanwhile, the current operator of the Taj Mansingh hotel, Indian Hotels Company, was the sole bidder in the property’s auction, reports Business Standard.
News it’s just kinda cool to know
Over 75% of those waiting for green cards are Indians, reports The Times of India. Currently, the waiting period can be as long as 70 years.
The new new underpasses and flyovers in Gurugram came at a cost of 14,500 trees. So the district’s forest department decided to take action this pre-monsoon season by planting ten times as many saplings, Hindustan Times reports.
Virat Kohli, Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana will get the cricketers of the year award at BCCI’s annual gala, The Times of India reports.
Media Watch
Celebrity journalist Barkha Dutt says she is being threatened by a section of the ruling party. In a series of tweets, Dutt said she had been warned not to work on new TV projects. “Today I was told, a 45-minute meeting was held on how to stop me, smear me, malign me, tap me,” she said. Speaking to The Hindu, she said she decided to speak out “because I was told they will go after my family”.
Received chilling veiled threats and “messages” from powerful people in the Establishment today that my family and I are under surveillance – and that I will be smeared & maligned to stop me from starting any new projects. Was advised to get my house debugged. Is this my country?
— barkha dutt (@BDUTT) June 7, 2018
Point of View
With general elections just a few months away, the BJP is going the extra mile to prove that it is ready to be accommodative with allies vis-a-vis seats and power-sharing, The Hindu says in its editorial, “following its defeats in the recent byelections and the desertion by the Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh”.
The curfew in Shillong underlines the faultlines in the fragile social fabric of the northeast. The Indian Express writes in its editorial, “At the core of the tension is a social and political narrative that sees non-tribals as Dkhars, the Khasi word for foreigners. This, of course, is not limited to Shillong or Meghalaya, but extends to most of northeastern India.”
Has the BJP become the new Congress? Political scientist Christophe Jaffrelot thinks so. In his column in The Indian Express, he says that today’s opposition fears the BJP “hegemony and claims that democracy is in danger — as is evident from the erosion of key institutions (including Parliament, Election Commission, judiciary, and media) and the attacks on minorities by communal vigilante groups”.
How does one take care of the healthcare needs of a billion-plus population? Medanta Hospital chairman Naresh Trehan seeks to answer the question in his column in The Times Of India. “It is still largely bricks and mortar where people who are sick or acutely ill come to be treated. It was never designed to deal with the huge growth of chronic disease, which now represents well over 80% of all healthcare spend,” he writes.
What is the significance of AI in our lives? Former union minister Milind Deora, in The Economic Times, says the pace with which AI is permeating our lives can’t be wished away. He advocates the need for a stronger and comprehensive privacy and data protection law.
Prime Time
‘Not the speech, but the platform’
After former President Pranab Mukherjee quoted Nehru and Gandhi, and talked pluralism and tolerance, in his speech at the RSS event, CNN News 18’s Marya Shakil asked the Congress whether it would apologise to Mukherjee.
“Does this mean, all that he preached while he was a Congressman was wrong?” asked Congress’ Manish Tewari. Congress spokesperson Khushbu Sundar and journalist Vir Sanghvi both said was not about the speech but “the platform where he chose to give it”.
The RSS’ Raghav Awasthi insisted that the “RSS view of nationalism is not just about one religion”.
‘Vande Mataram, ladies and gentlemen’
On Republic TV, Arnab Goswami began his show by exclaiming, “What a news evening, ladies and gentlemen”, adding that nation came first for Pranab Mukherjee.
“It’s a historic, happy and healthy day for India,” Nayi Duniya chief editor Shahid Siddiqui said, referring to the RSS event addressed by Mukherjee, “It is a sangam of ideologies.”
Goswami pointed out that Mukherjee ended his speech by “proudly” saying Vande Mataram. He then went on to ask A.N. Shamseer of the CPI(M), “Will Sitaram Yechury say Vande Mataram or Bharat Mata Ki Jai?”
“By saying such words, has Pranab da become a Hindu fanatic?” asked Goswami rhetorically.
‘Display courage, fight elections’
On India Today TV, Rajdeep Sardesai questioned both the Congress’ “over-reaction” ahead of Pranab Mukherjee’s speech, and the absence of any mention to the ‘Hindu rashtra’ in RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s address.
Defending his party, Pawan Khera said that the Congress had a lot of democracy internally and people could speak without fear, “including Pranab da’s daughter”.
GVL Narasimha Rao of the BJP replied, “If there’s anybody who is feeling insecure, it is the Congress.”
Khera, interrupting Rao, said, “Rahul Gandhi fights and wins elections, Mohan Bhagwat doesn’t even have the courage to stand for elections.”
With inputs from Prateek Gupta and Ratnadeep Choudhary
RSS never publishsied its conclave ,congress unneccesarily draged former president into controversy and he clarified his integrity to his party and same breath he glorified the RSS leader as great son of india and his nationalist
Ideology .congress has to change its mindset against RSS.