New Delhi: Much of the news cycle on prime time Monday focussed on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reply to the Motion of Thanks on the President’s address, where he gave a new meaning to the acronym FDI and even came up with the word ‘andolanjeevis’.
Also making it to the prime time debates was Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh’s statement that a probe would be conducted into tweets by celebrities who had tweeted almost identical messages on the Ministry of External Affairs’ statement regarding pop star Rihanna’s message in support for protesting farmers.
On Mirror Now, National Congress Party leader Clyde Crasto explained that neither singer Lata Mangeshkar nor former cricketer Sachin Tendulkar would be investigated – the probe would be conducted to verify/check if anyone tweeted under any pressure from the BJP.
Meanwhile, down south, Sasikala got a rousing welcome as she entered Chennai.
As the former aide of J. Jayalalitha arrived in Chennai, she was welcomed by a massive crowd. Tamil Nadu goes to polls later this year and what Sasikala’s return could mean for the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) is on everyone’s minds.
Anchor Shiv Aroor spoke about “Sasikala’s Homecoming“ and asked C. Rajshekaran, founder of Voice of TN — “Would you dismiss these crowds as fake crowds?”
Rajshekaran did not dismiss them: “You will not get paid crowds behaving like this. Just see the euphoria and the reaction! This is definitely not a paid crowd.”
Aroor, not satisfied with the answer, asked, “Could it not be just curiosity?”
He then turned to AIADMK spokesperson, V.A. Pugazhendi, and asked if the party was worried that Sasikala had come back to “a hero’s welcome”.
He replied, calmly, “We are not worried about Sasikala’s return”, and insisted that those who had gathered to welcome Sasikala were paid crowds.
On ‘Reality Check’, NDTV 24×7 anchor Sreenivasan Jain discussed PM Modi’s speech in the Rajya Sabha and the forthcoming assembly elections in West Bengal with Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’Brien. Jain told him, “You do many of the tactics you accuse the BJP of.”
O’Brien did comment on this, directly, but said that PM Modi didn’t answer any of the questions raised in the Budget session of Parliament — “Instead, he was giving us collegian acronyms for FDI”. O’Brien asserted that even the TMC could give collegian acronyms for FDI — “We can also say FDI is for Farmers Dying in India, but this is not a time for clever acronyms.”
Asked if the TMC was deliberately blocking the BJP’s rath yatras in West Bengal, O’Brien responded, “I am telling, N.O – no. N.O – no. Why would we block anything?” Then, referring to BJP leaders in West Bengal as the “tourist gang”, O’Brien claimed that, “The more the tourist gang comes, the more our vote share will go up”.
On Zee TV, anchor Sudhir Chaudhary proclaimed that ‘kal yug’ is here. ‘Ek zamaane mein kaha jaata tha aisa kal yug aayega jiski koi kalpana bhi nahi kar sakta, aur wo kal yug aa gaya hai,’ (the ‘kal yug’ that was unimaginable has arrived). What had prompted this dramatic announcement?
Chaudhary was upset with the Congress for the inquiry into ‘nationalistic’ tweets by two Bharat Ratnas — Lata Mangeshkar and Sachin Tendulkar. “Desh bhakti waale tweets gunah hain? (are patriotic tweets criminal now?)”. Chaudhary said that those professing their love for the nation aren’t given awards any longer but are slammed with an investigation — proof that the ‘kalyug’ is here.
In contrast, Republic Bharat‘s Sucherita Kulkreti was in a celebratory mood on her show ‘Mahabharata’, as she declared that Modi had won over all his opponents by taking on ‘aandolanjeevis‘.
“Tonight we’re asking if these andolanjeevis should shut shop for good,’’ Kulkreti said. Images of Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and Swaraj Abhiyan’s Yogendra Yadav flashed across the screen. “The way PM Modi has defended the farm laws today in Parliament, it’s pretty clear that the government will not back down,” declared a confident Republic Bharat.