New Delhi: The ‘Maha mess’ as several channels called it, over the coronavirus in Maharashtra and, in particular, Rahul Gandhi’s comment Tuesday that Congress did not occupy the driver’s seat in the state’s government created a bit of a stir on prime time Tuesday night.
On channels like India TV, Times Now, News 18 India and ABP the politics of the pandemic in the state seemed far more interesting to TV anchors than the spread of the virus in the state which has the highest number of cases in the country.
News18 India anchor Amish Devgan asked, “Kya Uddhav Thackeray ki sarkar mein Congress ki koi haisiyat nahi hai?,” (Does the Congress not have a standing in Uddhav Thackeray’s government?).
He wondered whether the Congress ministers in the Maharashtra state cabinet were ‘katputlis’ (puppets).
Devgan then went on to ask a series of rhetorical questions, “Akhir kyun Rahul Gandhi ne kaha ki hum Uddhav sarkar mein faisala nahi le sakte? Ya phir yeh politics kuch aur hi bada khel hai, kya Rahul Gandhi Maharashtra mein corona se palla jhaad rahe hai aur saara theekra Uddhav sarkar par chodna chaha rahe hai,” (Why did Rahul Gandhi say that they can’t take a decision in Uddhav Thackeray’s government? Is this politics, is he trying to run away from taking responsibility and dumping it on Uddhav Thackeray’s government).
“Kya Maharashtra ke gathbandhan mein gaanth bandh chuki hai?” (Is the coalition in Maharashtra tied in knots?) he asked.
India TV spent much of the day telecasting visuals from Dharavi in Mumbai where crowds of people were seen lined up and waiting to be taken to the railway station.
Anchor Rajat Sharma described this as an ‘inhuman’ sight which he had never seen before.
India TV’s Saurav Sharma was visibly annoyed at Maharashtra government’s handling of the Covid-19 crisis. This was
“Rail mantri ne bataya ki pehle train maangte the toh passengers nahi pahuchte the, phir trains radd karni padti thi…ab achanak ek raat pehle 145 trains maangli,” (First, they asked for trains and then didn’t let the passengers reach… now they have suddenly asked for 145 trains overnight).
On Republic TV, Arnab Goswami was rather flattered with his own report on the ‘Maharashtra mess’. “Our report on the Maharashtra mess has been followed today by some prompt action,” he declared.
Goswami clarified, “No no no, the prompt action was not to fight Covid.”
He explained, “Their prompt action is that the Maharashtra Home Minister has publicly announced that he has decided to reopen a closed investigation against me and has gone on record to say that he has asked his top officers of the CID in Maharashtra to investigate me.” Too many FIRs to count, Mr Goswami?
Goswami complained, “This is open and clear political malafide, this state government cannot tolerate any criticism.” Doesn’t it sound familiar?
Aaj Tak’s Anjana Om Kashyap remained on the topic of Rahul Gandhi’s comments during a video media interaction yesterday, but was rather more colourful in her descriptions: “Lockdown 4.0 mein sirf trains, flights udni nahi shuru hui…Siyasi dukaane bhi khul gayi hai. (In Lockdown 4.0, Not just trains and flights but the shop of politics has also opened for business)
“Tabhi Rahul Gandhi ne jamm kar morcha sambhala Modi sarkar ke khilaaf. Unhone kaha lockdown fail ho gaya hai aapke ke paas koi plan B hai?” (That’s why Rahul Gandhi has launched a front against the Modi government. Gandhi said that this lockdown has failed and asked whether Modi had a Plan B).
Times Now’s Rahul Shivshankar brought some coronavirus numbers to the table, “A total of 1,45,000 Indians are affected by coronavirus. In the last 24 hours, 6,535 Indians have contracted this disease…The numbers are not alarming in the sense that the important parameters are still low. For example the death toll in the last 24 hours is 146 and since the day it (the virus) was diagnosed in India, is 4,167.”’
However, he did have some concerns, “There are other indicators which are a case for worry. Just about five states are contributing to this entire figure but there are some new states that are becoming cases of concern such as Assam, Chattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Bihar.”
On NDTV 24×7, Vishnu Som was in conversation with Thomas Friedman, a New York Times columnist. Friedman spoke about the cleavages that this pandemic brought into society — “Pandemics accelerate existing cleavages and one of the existing cleavages this pandemic has accelerated is between US and China.”
He didn’t mince his words when it came to US President Trump, “My view was that Donald Trump is not the American President that America deserves but he is the American President that China deserves.”
He also spoke about some mask woes, “One of the problems we are having in our country right now is the absence of a national leadership. The President won’t even be seen wearing a mask.”