New Delhi: News channels were left playing catch up with Cyclone Ampan Thursday evening, after mostly ignoring it yesterday. Several prime time debates took place on the devastation caused by the cyclone in Odisha and West Bengal.
India TV finally took a break from Baba Ramdev and concentrated on how migrant workers are taking Covid-19 to their home states, while India Today decided to decipher Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s “rants”. Good luck.
Aaj Tak’s Sweta Singh updated her viewers on Prime Minister Modi’s proposed ‘aerial check-up’ on Kolkata, “Lockdown ke dauran agar hum dekhein toh pehli baar hoga jab PM Modi kisi dorien ke liye nikhle honge,” (It is the first time during the lockdown that PM Modi is visiting a city). Well, a trip was a long time due for our PM.
Singh continued, “Bengal mein kaafi tabahi rahi…Agar wahan ke airport ke tasveer dekhein toh wahan kisi talaab ki soorat nazar aayegi,” (There was a lot of destruction in Bengal…Looking at the pictures of the airport in Bengal, it was almost like a lake).
Zee News anchor Aman Chopra interviewed Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and asked about the “ghar wapsi” in the state.
“Pehle chatron ki ghar wapsi karayi, phir 2.5 lakh mazdooron ki ghar waapsi,” (You sent students back home and now over 2.5 lakh migrant workers) said Chopra.
Chouhan replied rather sagely,“Humare apne mazdoor hai, ek maansikta ban gayi hai ki ghar jaana hai. Sab apne ghar jaana chate hai… Desh ke mazdoor humare mazdoor hai. Bhed nahi kar sakte ki UP, Bihar ya Chattisgarh se hai,” (They are India’s migrant workers. Everyone wants to go home…We can’t discriminate, they all belong to India).
Rajat Sharma, on India TV, highlighted a ‘kadwa sachh’ (bitter truth). “Aaj baat karenge uss darr aur aashanka ki jo kayi din pehle se thi.”(We will talk about a fear and threat that plagues us for long). The threat was from migrant `carriers’ who were now increasing the threat of coronavirus spreading.
However, Sharma didn’t blame them, “Jin ki vajah se aaya unka koi kasoor nahi, woh toh shaayad jaante bhi nahi ki woh carrier hai,” (They are not to blame, they don’t even know that they are carriers).
NDTV 24×7 anchor Nidhi Razdan continued her string of interviews with prominent business owners.
This time she was in conversation with Aditya Ghosh, Board Member, Oyo. Razdan asked, “Obviously the airline industry has taken quite a hammering in the past few months, is this gradual comeback going to be enough to help the airlines come back on track?”
Ghosh replied, “Good news is that flights are coming back, not just for airlines but consumers and passengers who have been stuck at places for more than two months now. But is that going to be enough for all these airlines which have been grounded and are suffering financially?”
He answered his own question, “No it’s not. There is going to be considerable disappointment if this is not supported with some other kind of physical measures. I am not in favour of bailouts, but there needs to be some amount of relief in terms of airport charges, landing navigation charges, fuel taxes.”
India Today’s Gaurav Sawant was in an explanatory mood— “Let me tell you why Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan continues to rant. A large number of pro-Pakistan terrorists have been eliminated. The latest after Riyaz Naikoo was Junaid Sehrai.”
In a recent tweet, Khan had “warned” the international community that India will try and conduct a “false flag operation” to draw attention away from the “genocide” in Jammu and Kashmir.
I am reiterating again that a false flag operation is imminent from India in order to divert world attention away from its ongoing genocide in IOJK.
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) May 20, 2020
Sawant continued, “Hizbul Mujahideen has virtually been wiped out. Pakistan is worried, both LeT and JeM are facing international scrutiny. Imran Khan therefore continues to rant.”
On CNN News18, Marya Shakil was in conversation with S.N. Pradhan, Director General of the National Disaster Response Force, on the destruction caused by Cyclone Amphan in Bengal.
Shakil asked, “Kolkata was clearly the biggest city that came in the direct path of the cyclone. We have seen large scale devastation, by when do you think Kolkata would be brought back on track and what about the airport?”
Pradhan explained, “Offhand, I can say that in comparison between West Bengal and Odisha, there are two different scales at which the destruction has taken place. In terms of Odisha, it is probably a matter of a couple of days. In West Bengal, I would venture to say a few weeks.”
Introspection needed by the print.