Rajat Sharma calls Mumbai Covid capital and India Today on ‘teething problem’ in flights

A quick take on what prime time TV news talked about.

Medical staff at a Covid-19 facility in Mumbai (Representational image) | PTI File photo

New Delhi: Prime time Monday saw India TV lament the loss of ‘raunak’ (jubilance) on Eid, Aaj Tak was preoccupied with China and CNN News 18 gave some dire warning about the relaxation of lockdown restrictions.

But in general, from Times Now to Republic TV and NDTV, the focus was on Maharashtra, which has the highest number of coronavirus cases in India. Two things worried them: The stand-off between Railways Minister Piyush Goyal and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray where the bone of contention was trains for migrants.

The other was a body bag lying next to patients at a Mumbai hospital: “Unimaginable apathy in Mumbai,’’ declared Rahul Shiv Shankar on Times Now.

Most news channels also spent most of the day at airports across the country checking out the procedures and the experience of passengers. Reporters from several channels including CNN News 18 and India Today took to the skies onboard flights to give viewers a feel of what it was like to be in the air.

India Today’s Rajdeep Sardesai was concerned about the delay in flights Monday. “One of the concerns in the last 24 hours is the number of flights that got cancelled at the last moment. More than 80 in Mumbai, over 25 in Bangalore, few in Delhi as well. Passengers were left in a lurch and not informed till the very end,” he said, asking if it was a “teething problems”.

Ajay Singh, Spicejet Chairman and MD, gave the convenient answer, “I think these are teething troubles. In the case of Mumbai, what happened was that late last evening the state decided that they were going to accept only 25 flights. Now, the rule was that we were going to get about 1/3rd of the flights going in each of the airports, that’s what we had planned for. But when Bombay decided that they only wanted 25 flights all put together, that led to cancellations.”

In the evening, India TV’s Rajat Sharma asked, “Eid ki raunak kyu gayab thi? Sirf hamare mulk mein nahi par har jagah” (Why were the celebrations muted? Not just in our nation but everywhere else).

Well, the answer is of course coronavirus. However, Sharma thought India was not badly placed on that front: “Agar duniya se compare karein toh Bharat behtar position mein hai, safe hai.” (If we compare India to other countries, then India is in a better position).

However, he attributed India’s troubles to rising cases in Maharashtra, “Agar Maharashtra mein itne cases na hote toh India mein cases ki sankhya kam hoti,” (If Maharashtra didn’t have as many cases, India wouldn’t have high cases in total). He explained that every fifth coronavirus patient was from Mumbai — “the coronavirus capital”.

On Zee News, the pandemic was nowhere in sight as anchor Aditi Tyagi, instead, targeted Zakir Naik, an Indian Islamic televangelist and preacher.

Tyagi claimed, “Toh Islamic updeshak Zakir Naik ko lagatar deshon se funding mil rahi hai. Yeh fund Pakistan se Bharat mein nafrat phela raha hai,” (Zakir Naik is getting funding from Pakistan to fuel hatred against India).

Tyagi said this was not uncovered by the channel — “Yeh hum nahi, yeh intelligence agencies keh rahi hai..Pakistan, Turkey or Qatar jaise deshon ke saath gathbadan bana liya hai, Zakir gang duniya mein Hinduphobia phela raha hai. Aur Hinduphobia ke Naik ban na chahte hai Zakir,” (We are not saying this, it’s the intelligence agencies…Pakistan, Turkey and Qatar are spreading Hinduphobia and Zakir is leading this propaganda).

Aaj Tak’s Chitra Tripathi shared her insights into China’s ‘fitrat’ (nature), “America China ko lagatar coronavirus ka dosh thehra raha hai. Darasal China ki fitrat aisi hai ki shak swabhavit ho jata hai,” (America is constantly blaming China for coronavirus, it is easy to accuse China because they can be doubted on their nature).

Tripathi explained, “Ab dekhiye jab saari duniya corona ko kaabu karne mein lagataar juti hui hai toh aise mein Bharat ke saath bhi China chaalbaazi kar raha hai. Ussi ke chalte Ladakh mein LoC ke kareeb Bharat aur China ke beech tana tani hui,” (Now look, while the world is trying to contain coronavirus, China is preparing to attack India in Ladakh).

Anchor Shreya Dhoundial gave harsh reminders about the relaxation of lockdown restrictions on CNN News 18 — “As states in India relax lockdown restrictions and businesses reopen, there is a worry of a second wave.”

She added, “We want to show you just how much a damage one sick person can do in this fight. A hair stylist in America exposed 84 customers and 7 co-workers to coronavirus. A second stylist has now tested positive and has exposed 56 customers to the virus.”

On Times Now, Navika Kumar accused the Andhra Pradesh government of targeting the Hindu faith.

“Coronavirus is becoming a ruse for some to target the Hindu faith. Just days after leader Prithvi Raj Chauhan promoted the idea of appropriating gold from all religious bodies like temples, the Andhra Pradesh government is eyeing the assets of one of the richest temple trusts in the world,” she said.

She was in fact referring to the Tirupati Temple board’s decision to auction off 23 immovable properties in Andhra Pradesh to raise money for efforts against the coronavirus pandemic. However, after stiff opposition, the auction was suspended.

She questioned, “Are Hindus children of a lesser god? Why the double standards for Hindus?”

How did we get here, again?