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HomePlugged InPrimeTimeSweta Singh’s ‘jaankaari ki vaccine’ on Aaj Tak, Times Now admires Yogi's...

Sweta Singh’s ‘jaankaari ki vaccine’ on Aaj Tak, Times Now admires Yogi’s commitment

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

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New Delhi: Prime time news was divided Tuesday night — there was praise and criticism in equal measure.

Aaj Tak slammed the Mumbai Police for their inaction in the Palghar lynching case while ABP News was angry at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for critiquing the Modi government while his own party’s youth leaders were reportedly cooking up a storm of their own.

Times Now’s Rahul Shivshankar lauded Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for his self-sacrifice by not attending his father’s funeral to honour the lockdown, while on CNN IBN, Anand Narasimhan tried to build morale and asked everyone to maintain discipline to avoid a ‘lockdown 3.0’.

On Aaj Tak’s ‘Khabardar with Sweta Singh’, the anchor offered viewers “jaankaari ki vaccine” (vaccine of knowledge). She said that everyone must see the shocking visuals of the Palghar lynching in which a crowd of almost 200 people descended upon two “defenceless” sadhus.

“Hatiyadi bhid ke samne, police nishkriya nazar aayi,” she exclaimed. (The police was passive in front of the militant crowd). Why were the defenceless sadhus mobbed and killed, why did the police fail to save them, where were sadhus going in the lockdown, how did a crowd of 200 people assemble during the lockdown, she asked in a flurry of rhetorical questions.

“Looking at the images of the violence from 16 April will spoil your mood, but  do not ignore them,” she warned.

On Zee News, ‘Taal Taal Thok Ke’ host Aditi Tyagi was concerned with an entirely different matter. In a segment called #CongiFakeNewsPolitics, she contrasted Rahul Gandhi’s criticism of the government’s move to make hand sanitisers with rice while the poor are starving, with news of Youth Congress workers caught allegedly “smuggling” liquor.

“Corona kaal mein Congress ka afwaah wala dharam kyun?,” (In the time of corona, why is Congress indulging in rumors?) Tyagi asked her panelists.

Congress supporter and political analyst Tehseen Poonawala was given precisely 30 seconds to respond. He said that as far as he knew, the Congress worker in question was serving a notice of defamation and an investigation would be soon underway. “But my concern is that all essential items needed at the time of this pandemic, why is the government not removing GST on them?,” he asked, trying to steer the conversation in a different direction.

Noting the presence of ANI chief Smita Prakash on the panel, he quoted ANI and said that on 12 February, Gandhi said that coronavirus can become a big issue, and today we find ourselves in this mess. “We should take Rahulji seriously, not take his warnings as jokes,” he began but a loud buzzer interrupted him informing him that his time was up.

On ABP News’ ‘Samvidhan ki shapath’, anchor Romana Isar Khan’s big question was ‘Why has the Rajasthan Govt stopped using rapid testing kits?’. Noting that India has now crossed 18,000 Covid-19 cases, she reminded viewers of WHO’s famous words — “test, test, test”.

India has issued lockdown and has conducted many tests, including rapid antibody tests. However, she noted, some states like Bengal complained of spoiled tests while Rajasthan has stopped testing altogether.

“Is there politics happening over tests?,” she asked. She called Rajasthan’s move a “knee jerk reaction”, as it only started rapid tests on 17 April, and were already stopping on 21 April. She questioned what this “jaldbazi” (rush) was for. Rajasthan reportedly stopped testing because rapid test kits were found to be faulty and ICMR has also stopped them.

On CNN IBN, anchor Anand Narasimhan confronted a difficult question — are we looking at a further extension? He said that government sources say lockdown 3.0 is unlikely as of now.

However, it all depends on you, me and all of our discipline to beat this disease, he said with animated gestures and a wide smile. According to government sources, intra-city travel would be fine, but inter-city and long distance travel by air and trains would still be an issue post lockdown.

“Let’s gear ourselves up to a new normal — gloves, sanitise, masks, maintain social distance and physical distance, and then get back into it,” he said.

‘Doesn’t Yogi Adityanath’s decision to skip his father’s last rites during the Corona pandemic speak volumes about his commitment to fighting the outbreak in his State?,” asked Times Now’s Rahul Shivshankar on ‘India Upfront’.

In a serious tone, the anchor talked about “some fellow Indians” who in the last few weeks violated social distancing norms — “VVIPs, or those who think they are entitled to do what they want”. However, he said, the UP Chief “held up a mirror up to these entitled people”, elaborating on how Adityanath had set an example by absenting himself at his own father’s funeral.

“He has put tapasya to the nation, putting welfare of the nation above all else, even great personal loss.”

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1 COMMENT

  1. Wish they covered the murder of inspector Subodh kumar Singh with the same passion as this and asked the right questions to the UP government. BnD media for you.

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