New Delhi: Prime time debates Wednesday were still reeling from the outcomes of the Bihar assembly election and the bypolls in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka. And then there was the return of the conquering `hero’.
Republic TV and Republic Bharat spent the entire evening in carpet coverage of Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami’s release from jail, his journey into Mumbai from Taloja jail, hailing everyone along the way. Goswami had been arrested in a 2018 case of alleged suicide abetment on 4 November and got a bail order from the Supreme Court Wednesday afternoon. He then arrived in the Republic newsroom to an ecstatic welcome – and then addressed them—and the nation—in a hyperbolic performance which surpassed all previous performances.
Things were calmer at Mirror Now where anchor Tanvi Shukla continued with the conversation about the Bihar election results and how it has “strengthened the BJP”.
“This sets the stage for the next set of state elections, the crucial Bengal elections. There’s also elections in Assam and Tamil Nadu,” said Shukla.
Political analyst and RSS thinker Desh Ratan Nigam praised the BJP’s “micromanagement strategy of elections”.
Shukla told Congress spokesperson Anshul Avijit “your strike rate is the worst” after the latter’s party secured just 19 out of 243 seats in Bihar.
Avijit replied, “What you don’t see is the qualitative dimension of the number of seats you’ve got — the degree of difficulty in finding some very contentious and highly difficult seats.”
Later, the channel’s managing editor Vinay Tewari said the election “now signifies the end of the NDA. There is no NDA, it’s really just the BJP”.
The BJP’s dominance was the topic of discussion on India Today, as well. Rahul Kanwal discussed the next assembly elections in West Bengal with a banner headline that read: “BJP TOASTS WINNING SPREE.”
When Kanwal compared PM Modi’s ability to be in constant “campaign mode” to Congress’ lack thereof, Congress spokesperson Rohan Gupta said, “At the end of the day, you can’t negate the work done by Mahagathbandhan workers…We came very close and all the exit polls said we were winning.”
BJP Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Dasgupta said the BJP’s ability to reach out to the “silent voters” like the youth and women will “resonate in Bengal”.
Former JD(U) MP Pavan Varma said, “I am completely taken aback by the void that could oppose him [PM Modi]. We don’t have a narrative or a credible face that can take on the current stature that the Prime Minister has acquired.”
News18 India’s Amish Devgan was in conversation with BJP leader Jyotiraditya Scindia. Several of Scindia’s loyalists, who followed him from the Congress to the BJP, were re-elected in the MP bypolls.
Devgan said, “Aapne jo kaha woh kar ke dikha diya. MP mein BJP ki sarkar dhamaake ke saath banwake dikhadi,” (You did what you had said you would do. You have brought the BJP government in MP with a bang).
To which, Scindia had a rehearsed response, “This is the nation’s victory. If anyone is to be credited for this victory, its PM Modi, J.P. Nadda and Amit Shah.”
“Jo vikaas aur pragriti ka sandesh humne diya MP ki janata ko, ussi ka nateeja aaj aaya hai, (This is the outcome of all the messages for progress we sent out to the people of MP)” he added.
Aaj Tak’s Anjana Om Kashyap was concerned about the ‘silent voters’ PM Modi had talked about in his first speech after Bihar polls.
Kashyap said, “I will be presenting some numbers in line of the silent voters PM Modi talked about. According to data from phases, the first phase saw more votes from males. But, after that females started voting more. In the third phase as well, women voted more.”
She analysed, “The second and third phase are the ones where NDA performed well.”
Kashyap asked, “Was it due to the silent voters that some people couldn’t understand what the outcome would be?”
NewsX’s Rishabh Gulati was also preoccupied with Modi and the BJP.
He asked, “What has the BJP managed to achieve other than retain a state in which it was already ruling?”
The Sunday Guardian editor Joyeeta Basu wondered if the “BJP has replaced Congress as the party of governance”, adding that it has also shown growth.
Senior journalist Satish K Singh said that the Bihar polls were a “referendum” for the BJP on the government’s handling of Covid-19, China and economy. “It was not just a state or by election,” he said.
Political analyst Vishal Mishra remarked, “It is the politics of performance that BJP has established in this country.”
Meanwhile, on News Nation, Delhi BJP’s Manoj Tiwari was too busy singing.
It all started with anchor Deepak Chaurasia coercing Tiwari, “Manoj Tiwari ji diwali aane wali hai, shubhkamnaye ho jaaye darshako ko aapki taraf se?…Diwali ka sandesh Manoj Tiwari ke style mein.” (Diwali is around the corner, why don’t you wish the viewers in your style?)
Tiwari tried to distract things by complimenting Chaurasia’s gamcha but soon gave up and started singing.