New Delhi: Prime time debates Tuesday night went from discussing the much-anticipated Covid-19 vaccines and the resignation of UK parliamentarian Lord Nazir Ahmed to Home Minister Amit Shah’s attack on the Gupkar alliance — an alliance of seven political parties in Jammu and Kashmir.
On Republic TV, the focus was on the “Gupkar gang” — a term used by both anchor Arnab Goswami and Home Minister Shah. In a series of tweets Tuesday, Shah attacked the alliance for asking foreign forces to intervene in J&K and pressing for the restoration of Article 370. He also attacked the Congress, which has reportedly entered into an agreement with the alliance for the upcoming District Development Council polls in the union territory.
Congress and the Gupkar Gang want to take J&K back to the era of terror and turmoil. They want to take away rights of Dalits, women and tribals that we have ensured by removing Article 370. This is why they’re being rejected by the people everywhere.
— Amit Shah (@AmitShah) November 17, 2020
On the Congress teaming up with the Gupkar alliance, Goswami said, “If these people — the Antonia Maino Congress — are teaming up with the Gupkar gang they should do so publicly.”
Defence expert Major General G.D. Bakshi (retd.) attacked the two major political families in J&K — the Abdullahs and the Muftis.
“There are two families in J&K that have suckered successive central governments in Delhi. They have milked them off crores of rupees sent for the poor people of J&K,” he said.
Congress youth leader Aabid Mir Magami was on the defensive and noted, “We are very clear, we are not part of the Gupkar Alliance.” But Goswami immediately replied, “You are lying.”
“When people lie on television, I love exposing them,” he added.
NewsX anchor Uday Pratap Singh discussed the resignation of Lord Nazir Ahmed, a UK parliamentarian from the House of Lords, who has been a vocal critic of Indian policies. Ahmed, who was born in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, was accused of exploiting his position to pursue sexual relations with vulnerable women who asked him for help.
Singh referred to Ahmed as “Pakistan’s lobbyist and an ISI stooge”.
“Although it is a huge win for India it is also a reality check for Boris Johnson and the United Kingdom government about the reality of these ISI stooges,” he said.
According to Singh, Ahmed was trying to “perpetrate lies before the world on Jammu and Kashmir.”
Canadian-Pakistani journalist Tarek Fatah said that Ahmed had entered the House of Lords “when there was a scandal of buying seats” and proceeded to “contaminate” the house by becoming the “official spokesperson of radical jihadi groups in Kashmir”.
Geopolitical expert Jitendra Ojha noted that Ahmed had been involved in several controversies. “This is not the only case. Nazir Ahmed has been involved with all kinds of criminal activities”.
Activist Amit Raina focused on his “anti-Semitic views” and said, “I’m surprised at how naïve the Britishers are.”
Mirror Now’s Tanvi Shukla discussed the “race for Covid-19 vaccine”.
“We are partnering on at least five of these vaccine trials — does that give us an added benefit if any of them actually reach the point where they can be used?” Shukla asked the panel.
Senior journalist Vikas Dandekar warned that many of the vaccines are on “fast-track plans”.
“Not to dampen the enthusiasm but I think the second wave of vaccines, which will be coming probably in the second half of next year, will be based on more robust information,” he said.
Dr Ram Vishwakarma, advisor at the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), noted that India does not have a partnership with Moderna or Pfizer, whose vaccine candidates recently showed more than 90 per cent efficiency against the virus.
However, he added that India had a contract with many other companies that work on vaccines and are “much more demanding as far as production is concerned”.
On NDTV India, Ravish Kumar focused on the starkly different treatment meted out to Republic TV’s Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami and 83-year-old activist-poet Varavara Rao by the judiciary. Goswami’s bail plea was fast-tracked by the Supreme Court and he got bail just a week after being detained. However, Rao’s relief plea that sought to admit him to a hospital because of his age and health problems, was deferred yet again by the Bombay High Court. Rao has been under detention since June 2018.
“The case of one journalist is taken up faster while the trials of other journalists and political activists take time. Should there be so much difference?” asked Kumar
“While one journalist’s personal liberty is not talked about at all, the liberties of the one perceived to be closed to the government is made an example of,” he said.
Highlighting the injustices in Rao’s case, legal scholar Faizan Mustafa said, “The High Court said that a medical report has to be submitted but a neurologist hasn’t seen him. And the report that was given (by the Maharashtra government) was incomplete. So the laws like NSA (National Security Act) and the UAPA (Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act) are anti-liberty and every government from across the political spectrum has used it to take away the freedoms of the people.”
These crooks and blackmailers should be kept in China style re-education camps set up for Uighiirs. Plus they will get accustomed to Chinese way if life !
Chach Nehru pamperred them and left cancer like disease for future Indians.