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Thursday, March 28, 2024
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Times Now questions AAP’s Tahir Hussain & a heartwarming tale on ABP News amidst riots

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

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New Delhi: Prime time debates Thursday remained focused on the riots in Northeast Delhi. India Today discussed Justice Muralidhar’s transfer from the Delhi High Court just a day after his scathing attack on the Delhi Police for their lack of action during the communal riots.

On ‘To The Point’, anchor Preeti Choudhary asked former attorney general Soli Sorabjee if the transfer was punitive.

Sorabjee firmly said the manner in which the transfer played out was “definitely objectionable”. “What was the hurry?”, he asked, pointing out that transferring Justice Muralidhar in the midst of an important trial raised doubts about the “intention of the government” and the “independence of judiciary”.

 Aaj Tak and Times Now focused on all the chatter surrounding the FIR against AAP leader Tahir Hussain, who has been accused of inciting violence and responsibility for the death of IB officer Ankit Sharma, after stones and petrol bombs were found on the roof of his factory.

‘Dangal’ with Rohit Sardana on Aaj Tak, asked — “When will Tahir be arrested?”

AAP’s Deepak Bajpai assured the anchor that his party had a zero-tolerance approach to such crimes and that a guilty party member would be given “double punishment”.

Bajpai also pointed out that Hussain had not been arrested yet because he made three calls to the police complaining about rioters entering his house. He confirmed that the calls were on the record.

On NDTV’ 24x7s ‘Left, Right, Centre”, AAP leader Atishi told anchor Nidhi Razdan the same thing — guilty party members will be given “double punishment”. Did they compare notes?

But she also stated that the BJP needed to answer questions about why the police had taken no action in the first place.

Razdan asked if there was a larger issue of “institutional decay” that citizens need to worry about, even in the judiciary, considering the slow reaction of courts to restrictions in Kashmir and to the riots in Delhi.

In an exclusive conversation with Times Now, AAP leader Tahir Hussain spoke with anchor Madhavdas. “If you have not done anything, why haven’t you appealed to people? Why are you running?”, asked Das.

Hussain, with a trembling voice, said that he was scared for his life because of the allegations on social media. He explained that he was terrified he would be killed, but added that he was willing to cooperate with police every step of the way as he, too, was very upset about Sharma’s death.

Arnab Goswami did something out of the ordinary on the Republic, at least briefly. He criticised Kapil Mishra’s three-day ultimatum to the police to clear protests. “It was illegal to try to override cops,” he said, adding that Mishra had “no right” to provoke people that way.

But then he got to his real “fundamental question” — “What would commentary look like if Tahir Hussain would have been replaced by Kapil Mishra in that “riot factory”? He asked how people would react if it was Hussain who demanded streets be cleaned out, while Mishra’s house was used as the riot epicenter.

Political commentator Sundar Balakrishnan offered an answer Goswami did not like — “I’ll tell you what would have happened, channels like yours would blacked him out”, elaborating that the news about Mishra would not be carried in the first place. Goswami dismissed him outright, calling his answer “silly squirrel-like arguments”.

Zee News’ ‘Taal Thok Ke’ ran a special segment called “Dilli dangon ka mastermind kaun?” (Who was the mastermind behind Delhi riots?)

Anchor Sachin Arora asked his panel who the “scriptwriter” behind the Delhi riots really was, as the BJP was claiming the riots were pre-planned.

BJP’s K.K. Sharma defended his party’s accusation and said that in Congress’ Ramlila maidan rally, acting President Sonia Gandhi had asked people to choose a side, and even former president Rahul Gandhi had asked crowds to resort to the streets. He claimed that this was proof enough and right after those speeches the Jamia protests began, buses were burnt in Jaffrabad and Seelampur, and Shaheen Bagh protest was borr

Arora bluntly cut in and said that all he was hearing from Sharma was that as the apparent “script” of the riots was being written, the BJP and the police sat back and did nothing.

The most heartfelt positive moment on television yesterday occurred on ABP News. We’re still recovering from the surprise.

Anchor Rubika Liyaquat spoke to two men in Delhi’s Chandbagh area — one Hindu and one Muslim — who had been friends for 20 years.

They told her how distraught they were because their shops had been burned down, but their homes were fine as the violence only occurred on the main road, not in the inside lanes of their peaceful colony, where they lived side by side. But they also highlighted how they were going around meeting people and telling them the story of their friendship to give them hope.

Yeh hindustan ko dekhna bahut zaroori hain” (It is important to see this India), said Liyaquat.

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