New Delhi: On prime time debates Sunday, the focus was on the Bihar assembly elections. The first phase of polling in the state is complete, and the second phase is scheduled for 3 November.
There were a series of ‘exclusive’ interviews aired across channels. Times Now and CNN News 18 interviewed Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar while Zee News‘ Sudhir Chaudhury spoke to BJP National President J.P. Nadda, who was confident that the mandate in the state would favour the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
Meanwhile, in true Republic TV style, anchor Arnab Goswami was preoccupied with ‘Lutyens media’ and their “conspiracy” against him and his channel.
Amid all this political mayhem, NDTV 24×7 chose to focus on the common man and featured the struggles of Indian artisans, who have been hit hard by both the pandemic and the GST (Goods and Services Tax).
Anchor Prannoy Roy revealed, “Can you imagine that our artisans get less money from their own products than the government gets from GST on their products?”
He continued, “There are middlemen and traders who make money off the sweat and blood of our artisans. This must change.”
Times Now’s Navika Kumar asked CM Nitish Kumar a question, after meandering here and there.
“I want to ask you, this election is different because it was conducted during the coronavirus pandemic. And lots of things have changed. Friends have changed, new friends have been introduced, old friends were left behind.”
“Opinion polls continue to predict that BJP and JD(U) will win a majority. But it won’t be a cakewalk, unlike earlier. What do you think?”
Nitish was quite composed and clear: “I must tell you that the situation is very good. Some people have the habit of spreading rumours during the time of election. They will keep talking, it doesn’t matter. NDA will form the government successfully, I have no doubts about that. People trust and have faith in the work we have done.”
On ABP News, anchor Rubika Liyaquat discussed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s four rallies in Bihar Sunday. In his speeches, the PM had said that there was a double engine government in Bihar, which was committed to the welfare of the state.
On the other side, he said, there were double ‘yuvraj’ (princes) who were fighting for the throne, targeting RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav and Congress’ Rahul Gandhi.
RJD spokesperson Mrityunjay Tiwari attacked PM Modi: “He does not speak about the ‘trouble’ in his ‘double engine government’. If he cared about the state, why was Bihar not given special status?”
Aaj Tak took a completely different route. Anchor Sayeed Ansari discussed Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s announcement that he would bring in a law against ‘love jihad’.
‘Love jihad’ is a term used for the alleged phenomenon of Muslim men inducing the conversion of Hindu women for the purpose of marriage.
Congress spokesperson Alka Lamba pointed out that the definition of love jihad is biased against Muslims.
“Allahabad High Court said that conversion just for the sake of marriage is invalid. But conversion to Hinduism is not being seen as a problem”, she said.
However, BJP leader Mohsin Raza, who is also UP’s minority affairs minister, defended the law. “Now nobody would be able to mislead innocent girls and take advantage, as we will bring this law to punish such people,” he said.
And finally, Arnab Goswami on Republic TV continued to discuss the alleged “conspiracy” against him — “For the past three weeks and three days, there has been a massive conspiracy at work. In this case, we are the victim, the observer as well as the advocate. A conspiracy to frame and fix Republic to appease certain lobbies.”
He added, “It has become evident to all of us that this was not just about a fake scam (referring to the TRP scam).”
He pointed fingers at the ‘Lutyens media’ and laid out the entire plan against him: “I have to share that my investigations have proven that this was a conspiracy that involved large sections of the Lutyens media. They conspired against us, sat in their newsrooms in Noida, they met in groups, they joined hands with political forces. They planned the whole thing out.”
