New Delhi: The hot topic on many channels’ prime time segment Monday was the Indian Express exclusive report that suggests that China may be employing hybrid warfare using non-military measures to gain an edge over India. Several other channels discussed the use of UAPA in arresting activist and former JNU student leader Umar Khalid for his alleged role in the Delhi riots of February 2020.
On NDTV 24X7‘s, ‘Reality Check’, Sreenivasan Jain debated the investigation into the Delhi riots case and whether it was a “probe or a vendetta”.
Jain turned to Swaraj India president Yogendra Yadav, who has also been named by the Delhi Police, and said, “You’ve now been in public life for many years, to find that you’re named in a chargesheet as a precursor to stronger action.”
Yadav replied, “Precursor is the real word here because as the police has said and correctly so that as of now it amounts to nothing. It is only part of a disclosure statement and any one who has done crime reporting would know that these disclosure statements are fabricated by the police.”
Jain then posed a question to political analyst Geeta Bhat on a Delhi court’s comment that the police probe appeared “targeted only towards one end”, as well as other courts’ remarks that the cops failed to produce any direct evidence attributable to the accused.
“These are the courts saying this and no one else,” said Jain. “Given the fact that the Delhi Police reports to the Home Minister of the country Amit Shah, isn’t this now just becoming embarrassing?”
To which Bhatt replied, “Vasuji this is sub judice. And there are FIRs that have been filed earlier…at this time, being conclusive about anything is something none of us should do.”
On Times Now, Padmaja Joshi debated the same topic, but evidently took a different view, saying, “The thing is allegations about this being a dictatorship, about fascism being at play, about abhivyakti ki azaadi (freedom of expression) being under attack, they come easy. Unfortunately sometimes, the facts are very very inconvenient to these claims.”
BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma also gave her opinion on the subject: “The fact of the matter is that Umar Khalid is a repeat offender. He was the one who came out with a pamphlet which called the Hon’ble Supreme Court a judicial killer.” She went to explain how he was also named in the Bhima Koregaon arrests as well as when his name cropped up in an letter detailing an alleged plan to assassinate the Prime Minister.
“Is China slated to become James Bond?” asked Zee News anchor Aman Chopra, steering clear of the riots. The channel also pointed out that its editor-in-chief Sudhir Chaudhary was included among those 10,000 whose data is being monitored by a Chinese company.
“Pakistan was already afraid of Zee News, now China has also got scared after Zee News’ ‘Made In India’ campaign”, claimed Chopra, while asking the viewers to tweet using hashtag #ZeeSeDaraChina (China got scared by Zee News). If you say so.
BJP spokesperson Prem Shukla claimed that the government was aware of China’s intentions. “That is why we banned many Chinese apps in the first place,” he said.
Foreign affairs specialist Robinder Sachdev commented that this information warfare by China is far more dangerous than the warfare on land.
India TV‘s Rajat Sharma explained how hybrid war uses non-military tools to influence a country’s politics and people’s ideology.
“This hybrid war is not limited to India, China has prepared a global database, which is used by Chinese intelligence for operations,” he claimed. He also said that around 24 lakh “important people” are a target of this hybrid warfare by China.
ABP News, though, still can’t stop talking about Kangana Ranaut. Anchors Shobhna Yadav and Adarsh Jha asked when the tussle between the actor and the Shiv Sena would end. Odd, considering news channels won’t let it end.
Shiv Sena leader Kishor Tiwari claimed that there is no doubt Ranaut has the BJP’s support at the national level, and the party is playing politics through her.