New Delhi: After four lockdowns, it is now time for ‘Unlock 1.0’. Aaj Tak and Republic caught up with the elusive Home Minister Amit Shah for interviews on this new unlock phase, while CNN News 18 spoke to Railways Minister Piyush Goyal. Coincidentally, the Modi government also completed one year in office.
And China continued to rule in Zee News and News 18 India, with the latter indulging in some ‘interesting’ war logic.
Home Minister Amit Shah, who has been mostly seen sitting behind the PM at video conferences, suddenly stepped forward into the limelight with interviews to Aaj Tak and Republic Bharat. Significantly, Shah still does not know how to wear a mask — or doesn’t believe in wearing it — as it could be seen dangling on his neck in both the interviews.
On Aaj Tak, he also struggled to pronounce ‘atmanirbhar Bharat’ for quite some time until Kashyap tutored him. During the interview, Shah was reasonableness itself, refusing to criticize individual chief ministers or states (read Maharashtra and West Bengal) despite Kashyap’s best efforts to provoke him.
On Republic Bharat, it was, as it is invariably for Goswami, the Congress. He asked Shah why he did not respond to Congress’ ‘fake news factory’ on migrant workers.
“Despite doing so much work, how did the narrative of a migrant crisis come into place?”, Goswami asked.
Shah threw some numbers at the audience to prove how the Modi government has been constantly working for the migrant workers. “We sent 41 lakh migrants home, these are some ‘Vakradrushta’ (people with complex vision) who only criticise the government. I do not have any remedy for them”.
While everyone was wondering where Union Railways Minister Piyush Goyal was when the ‘shramik trains’ had lost all sense of direction — CNN News 18 seemed to have found him.
In the exclusive interview, Goyal talked about the lockdown and the role of the railways in it.
“India has emerged one of the few countries that has handled it well. We are not letting go of any opportunity to prepare our nation for the long-term,” Goyal boasted to anchor Anand Narasimhan.
Asked how the railways will function in ‘Unlock 1.0’, Goyal said, “Shramik Specials will continue. Their demand has fallen drastically… By and large, we have arranged for as many trains as states asked.”
On Times Now’s ‘The News Hour’, anchor Athar Khan very eloquently described the Covid-19 epicentre in India — Mumbai.
“Mumbai has become a ticking bomb in Covid times but tales of apathy and negligence continue unabated,” he said in rather dramatic prose.
Oddly, after that the prime time debate itself was on China and the call to boycott Chinese products that has been trending on social media.
Political analyst Abhijit Iyer Mitra said, “In this particular case, India is now in the market for lower-end manufacturing companies that lead China.”
“I support a boycott as long it is smart and tactical,” he added.
Senior advocate Sanjay Hegde was in two minds: “Jingoism and defending borders is largely a matter of the government to take a call on. Can we help by boycotting everything Chinese?” he asked.
“The problem is, it is very difficult to disengage between what is Chinese and what’s Indian,” he added. Understand?
On News 18 India, Amish Devgan turned storyteller and low-key international relation analyst as he explained how, in his expert opinion, India has a 90 per cent chance of winning a war against China.
“When the battle of 1962 happened, China was a spiritual country and followed Buddhism. That is the reason they emerged victorious. Now China has become an atheist country and due to its one child policy, no one wants to die for the nation,” he said, with a straight face might we add.
He added that in India, sacrificing one’s life for the nation is glorious and we are still a spiritual nation.
Zee News returned to its infamous `tukde-tukde gang’, while discussing how some people in India glorify China, on #ChinaParPolitics. “Tukde tukde gang is now dependent on Pakistan and China”, claimed anchor Aditi Tyagi.
Her big question of the debate also included, “Have you ever heard Chinese politicians speaking against China?” It is a one-party nation, right Ms Tyagi?
On ABP News, anchor Rubika Liyaquat discussed the six big challenges in front of Modi 2.0 — which she termed as ‘Modi’s agnipariksha’ (fire-path).
“Corona crisis, migrant workers, the attack of locusts, cyclones and the Opposition — this is the real test for PM Modi”, she noted.
She asked the panelists from various opposition parties if this was the time to do petty politics.
Perhaps not, but RJD spokesperson Mritunjay Tiwari decided to indulge everyone with a poem nevertheless — “6 saal modi sarkar, sasta vikaas aur mahanga prachaar, nakli ahnkaar, tanashahi vyavahar…” (Six years of Modi government — cheap development and expensive advertisements, dummy pride and autocratic behaviour).