New Delhi: After days of just focusing on the US elections (which still awaiting results) and the Bihar polls, prime time debates Thursday night moved onto other topics.
On Mirror Now, the focus was on ‘love jihad’.
After Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that he will bring forth a law against ‘love jihad’ — the purported conversion of Hindu women by Muslim men — at least five BJP-ruled states are considering implementing an anti-conversion law, said anchor Tanvi Shukla.
BJP’s Vivek Reddy said, “Forceful conversions are a social menace in the country”.
Shukla immediately hit back: “It is interesting that people believe that women do not have the capability to make decisions for themselves — about who they want to love and the religion they want to follow.”
According to lawyer Desh Ratan Nigam, the existing laws are inadequate. “I believe the effort is to have one consolidated law. Incidents like Nikita’s murder in Ballabhgarh or Shalini Faisal’s killing in Kanpur is compelling BJP to bring about such laws.”
However, CPI(M)’s Fuad Halim passionately disagreed: “The issue itself is pathetic. The timing is vital as the central government has failed to contain the coronavirus pandemic, has performed miserably in terms of economy and rural unemployment has increased. This is just a distraction.”
On Times Now, anchor Madhavdas G. discussed ‘#IndiaVersusIslamistSupremacists’.
This was in the context of the Pakistani government handing over the management of Gurudwara Kartarpur Sahib to a non-Sikh body. The move was criticised by the Narendra Modi government, with the external affairs ministry noting that it exposed Pakistan PM Imran Khan’s “tall claims of protecting the rights of religious minorities”.
Madhavdas brought up Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu’s comments during the inauguration of the Kartarpur Gurudwara last year. Sidhu had then praised Khan for promoting peace between the two nations.
Political analyst Tehseen Poonawalla, however, went on a completely different tangent, “The Prime Minister does not have Sikhs in his SPG (Special Protection Group) security force.”
Islamic scholar Atiq Ur Rehman then said, “This outrage won’t change the attitude of a ‘satanic’ state called Pakistan,” adding that all minorities from Pakistan should be brought back.
Aaj Tak aired a “super exclusive” conversation with Home Minister Amit Shah, who is visiting West Bengal that is set to go to polls next year.
“What will be the politics in Bengal elections?” anchor Manogya Loiwal asked Shah.
“The atmosphere I have seen here tells me people want a change. I can see the anger among the citizens, they are angry with Mamata Banerjee. I can see they trust Modiji,” Shah said.
“Modiji has changed the scenario in Uttar Pradesh. Mamataji must specify what changes she has brought about in Bengal. Everywhere there is only deterioration,” he added.
And we’re back to Bihar polls with anchor Amish Devgan, on News18 India, focusing on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
“Rahul Gandhi has played a vote bank card in Bihar. He said that if the Mahagathbandhan government wins in Bihar, then it will open a new branch of the Aligarh Muslim University in Kishanganj. Gandhi also called the EVM (electronic voting machine), the Modi voting machine or MVM,” said Devgan.
“However, the BJP has hit out at him, saying that this is appeasement of a certain section and also claimed that the Congress was anti-Dalit,” he added.
BJP spokesperson Gautam Bhatia was rather convoluted in his attack on Gandhi — “Rahul Gandhi is like that student who makes accusations that there was cheating even before the results have been declared. He cried every time on EVMs. This AMU branch claim is a 2008 promise.”
NewsX discussed the much-awaited results of the extremely narrow race between US President Donald Trump and Democrat candidate Joe Biden. While Biden is leading in key states marginally, the Trump campaign has threatened to file lawsuits to stop the counting entirely.
Pradeep Kapur, Visiting Professor at the University of Maryland, said, “America is the oldest democracy in the world and it will permit all the officials to do their work in peace, despite a close race”
“There is no central commission in the US, like the Election Commission in India. But Biden is leading and making vague allegations may not work,” Kapur added.
On the possible difference in foreign policy under Biden, analyst Sree Iyer, said, “I don’t think the Democrats are going to be any less aggressive with China.”
would Bismee Taskin and Taran deol explain why Hindi news papers use the “lovejihad” and mention the religions/ names when such crimes are reported. But the english channels dont mention the same when they report ? i mean a genuine question about the logic behind this stand??