New Delhi: Prime time debate Wednesday was still reeling from the chaos in Mumbai Monday when thousands of migrants gathered at the Bandra railway station in a bid to go back home. Some news anchors were adamant about a conspiracy behind the chaos. Others discussed the logistics of India’s extended nationwide lockdown.
ABP News’ anchor Rubika Liyaquat brought a heartwarming story, “Corona lockdown ke beech ganga jamuna tehzeeb dikhi hai,” (Corona lockdown has witnessed harmony between Hindus and Muslims).
A group of Muslim youngsters in Bhopal carried a dead Hindu woman’s arthi, Liyaquat explained. “Ram ram satya hai ki goonj ke saath Muslim bhaiyo ne arthi ko kandha diya,” (They chanted Ram ram satya hai when they picked up her body for cremation) she said.
On Aaj Tak, anchor Shweta Singh said that while India is using the “vaccine of social distancing”, the episode in Bandra was worrying. Singh was sceptical and said, “Yeh bheed kahan se aa rahi thi? Koi uksa raha tha jiske baad aisa hua.” (Where did this crowd come from? Someone must have instigated this).
Singh also said that the worries of migrant workers are ‘justifiable’ but called for a probe if someone is disrupting India’s fight against coronavirus.
Zee News’ anchor Sudhir Chaudhary asserted that India’s second “vanvaas” has begun. Like Singh, Chaudhary was also looking to blame someone for the episode in Bandra, “Hamare desh ke kuch log iss yagy mein vighn dalna chahte hai” (some people in this country want to disrupt this progress).
Then, Chaudhary used a cricket analogy to explain the happenings in the country, “This is like a cricket match. While there is one team that wants India to win, there is another which wants our country to lose”.
Nidhi Razdan interviewed P. Sainath, founding editor of news portal People’s Archive of Rural India on NDTV 24×7. Razdan asked a question, which perhaps many are asking, “What I don’t understand is that when we have excess food grain in our godowns, why is it so difficult to get this food to people?”
Razdan’s question made Sainath smile and she called him out for it, “You’re smiling because you know the irony of this”.
Sainath explained himself, “I am smiling because this irony has been around for over 20 years now… It is incredible that even at this moment they aren’t making the announcement that we will distribute food to the people”.
“The next clanging and banging of pots will signal food riots not solidarity,” Sainath said in a striking assertion.
Times Now’s Navika Kumar seemed in awe of the government’s lockdown plan. Kumar noted that according to the new guidelines of the lockdown many sectors have opened up and “economic activity has begun”.
Kumar, however, could not refrain from pulling the Opposition into this. She asserted, “Despite the tough act that has been put up by the government and the state, why is Rahul Gandhi still finding fault with everything that is being done?”
This is perhaps a reference to his repeated tweets with warnings about the spread of coronavirus in the country.
Gaurav Sawant, on India Today, was also part of the Bandra conspiracy bandwagon. Although Sawant made it seem like he was the one puzzled by this — “Was this organic or organised?”
“Are people being instigated to assemble?”, he wondered out loud, “Two people have been taken into custody; a self-styled leader of the masses and a journalist.”
Arnab Goswami was back at it on Republic, He attacked Tablighi Jamaat chief Maulana Saad — “The man who has been evading agencies like a coward, uses the quarantine as an excuse but the breaking news this evening is that he has been booked for culpable homicide”.
He was, however, somewhat disappointed with the charge and added, “Unfortunately not amounting to murder”.
Goswami then declared, “Maulana Saad is responsible for the Markaz Covid Tsunami in India… This criminal will face the full might of the Indian law.”
What is this shit post supposed to do?
Don’t waste time doing nonsense things.