New Delhi: Prime time Monday was centred on actor-turned-politician Khushbu Sundar who switched from the Congress to the BJP ahead of the Tamil Nadu polls. NewsX focused on Pakistan’s alleged attempts at lobbying to wriggle its way out of the FATF grey list. And of course, major Bollywood producers filing a lawsuit against two news channels and some of their anchors, was also noted.
Republic TV‘s Arnab Goswami avoided talking about the lawsuit he and his channel have been slapped with, and held an exclusive interview with Khushbu Sundar. He opened his segment saying, “All the young leaders have deserted the sinking ship called the Vadra Congress that is being steered by Rahul and Priyanka popularly referred to nowadays as Bunty-Babli combination.”
Sundar said she had drafted her letter back in February and that the party was plagued by organisational and functioning issues. She accused the Congress of sexism and added: “They cannot accept a woman giving them orders. They cannot accept a woman speaking better than them. They cannot accept a woman far more intelligent than them.”
India Today‘s Rajdeep Sardesai debated Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s announcement of schemes, including LTV cash vouchers, ahead of the festive season in an attempt to revive the “shrinking” economy.
“Thank god that the government has come out of its slumber and admitted that consumer demand is at all-time low,” said Congress spokesperson Gourav Vallabh.
Sardesai asked if the government’s announcements are merely an example of “tinkering around” and “too little…too late”. To this, BJP MP Syed Zafar Islam replied, “We never said that it is enough. We said we will keep on monitoring the situation and continue to take measures to boost demand.”
On NewsX, Vineet Malhotra discussed Pakistan’s decision to hire US-based lobbying firms in an alleged attempt to appease Washington, D.C. and get out of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list. This comes as FATF’s plenary and sub-groups meeting near.
When Malhotra asked if Washington would take the bait to this “PR stunt”, political analyst Sumit Peer it was a “desperate” Pakistan’s way of trying to wriggle out of FATF and in return, it could help the US withdraw troops from Afghanistan in a peaceful manner.
Later on, Lt Gen (R) Pannu said the Americans would be foolish to think they can get out of Afghanistan on the assurance of Pakistan.
Over on Zee News, Sudhir Chaudhary dismissed Bollywood’s sudden show of unity against certain news channels by saying, “Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones at others”.
“What Bollywood did today has never happened in 70 years,” he said, adding, “They have asked certain anchors to not use derogatory language while reporting about Bollywood, but it is a different thing that these people use the same language in their own films and have never raised objections.” Huh?
And News Nation anchor Deepak Chaurasia’s question of the hour was if former J&K Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah is a traitor. Chaurasia was referring to a statement by Abdullah in which he had said that Article 370 will be restored in Kashmir with the help of China.
Defence analyst G.D. Bakshi called Abdullah’s comment ridiculous and asked, “if this is not the definition of sedition, then what is?”
BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma reminded the other panelists and viewers of the possibility of slapping UAPA on Abdullah for a second time, and mounted an attack on the Congress alongside. “How are Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and other leaders different from Abdullah, [when they] go to eat chowmein with the Chinese High Commission when Doklam is happening?” She was referring to some photos of Rahul Gandhi meeting the Chinese ambassador during the Doklam situation.