New Delhi: On Republic Day eve, news channels were all business as usual. News Nation’s Deepak Chaurasia discussed “Babur’s wrongs” and lashed out on Indian “seculars” while News18 India’s Amish Devgan questioned whether the Republic Day tractor rally would be peaceful. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s quarrel with ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogans found space on multiple prime time debates but NDTV 24×7 chose to focus on India’s economy with former RBI governor, Raghuram Rajan.
After farmers heckled Congress leader Ravneet Singh Bittu at the Singhu border after being told to ‘Go Back’, Amish Devgan wondered if the farmers’ tractor rally would pass off without incident.
Bharat Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikiat said, “If someone will not back down after repeated requests then such a reaction might erupt.” Tikait indicated that what happened was not right but that it was important to see who instigated the crowd.
Suddhanshu Trivedi, BJP spokesperson replied: “No one can take farmers back now because no one can control them, it (the protest) is spreading like wildfire”. Trivedi alleged that the protest is politicised and out of hand after many political leaders (who had earlier supported contract farming) joined protests at Mumbai’s Azad Maidan Monday.
Meanwhile Times Now anchor Rahul Shivshankar discussed the ‘Jai Shri Ram’ chants that had greeted Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s 125th birth anniversary.
TMC spokesperson Prof. Omprakash Mishra said, “One of the BJP leaders has admitted that chanting was done not to greet but to ridicule Mamata Banerjee, who is a devout Hindu. BJP is trying to project her in a lie.”
Author Anand Ranganathan, took an opposing view — “‘Jai Shri Ram’ has been a traditional greeting for centuries. Mamata Banerjee has not read the Constitution properly. We are plural.” Ranganathan claimed that if ‘Jai Shri Ram’ is being politicised it is because of Mamata Banerjee herself.
Waris Pathan, national spokesperson, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen had a different proposition: “BJP and the TMC, both are playing politics of polarisation and appeasement. BJP is trying to appease the majority and TMC is trying to appease the minority.”
In the same vein, Mirror Now covered the drama surrounding poll-bound West Bengal. “Are religious icons now the fulcrum of Bengal politics?” asked anchor Tanvi Shukla.
“The BJP is definitely not stopping at a slogan — when it comes into the state, if it succeeds, it is definitely going to do something about actual development instead of taking money and misappropriating (funds),” claimed senior journalist Gautam Mukherjee.
Defending the ruling TMC, another senior journalist, Shikha Mukerjee noted, “Mamata Banerjee is making a political statement and that statement included a protest against the chanting of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ at a venue, which only distracted from the event and diverted attention from Netaji.”
Political analyst Dr Riju Dutta agreed: “What was the need to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ at a function where the prime minister and chief minister have left their politics behind and are sharing the stage to honour the legacy of a patriot?”
On NDTV 24×7, anchor Sreenivasan Jain shifted focus to the economy and the forthcoming budget with former RBI governor and professor of Finance at the University of Chicago, Raghuram Rajan.
Referring to the downturn in the Indian economy last year, Rajan said, “Unemployment is now 18 million plus, relative to the pre-pandemic period. So, there are people who are hurting.”
“The first focus of government spending should be to prevent a second wave, to make the vaccination rolled out quickly,” he added.
He also said fudging data is an issue in the country. “We put out numbers and nobody believes them, because we have been fudging them for so long.”
Circling back to Mamata, anchor Deepak Chaurasia on News Nation was his usual combative self: “Why is the secular brigade worried over Ram Ram?”.
“Whether it is Ayodhya or West Bengal, the attempt is everywhere to weigh chants of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ in politics. Those wearing secular masks are now trying to attach ‘Jai Shri Ram’ to communalism. Mamata Banerjee got so angry that she refused to give her speech at Netaji’s event,” Chaurasia said with all guns blazing at “Didi”.
“The question, here, is why get angry when Ram’s name is taken?’’ he asked.
With inputs from Bismee Taskin