Front Page
Mainstream papers carry different leads Monday: the EU Parliament’s resolutions against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) is the most prominent common story across front pages. Hindustan Times leads with an exclusive economic story about the government falling back on unspent funds, days before the upcoming Budget (“Govt eyes unspent funds to tread fiscal tightrope”). The Times of India features Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s `Mann ki Baat’ statement— “Violence has never resolved any issue, solidarity key: PM”. The Hindu’s choice of lead is “India showcases A-SAT missile prowess” while The Indian Express remains alarmed at the coronavirus outbreak — “New Delhi on alert, looks at ‘travel options’ for Indians in virus zone”.
Republic Day: All newspapers carried photographs of Republic Day celebrations but oddly, TOI’s picture is of Shaheen Bagh, Hindu features weaponry and HT the actual India Gate parade New Delhi Sunday while Express alone features President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and chief guest, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro at the.
TOI notes, “Away from Rajpath, Shaheen Bagh celebrates the Republic”. The report adds that “the trio of Shaheen bagh dadis unfurled the tricolour”.
‘Mann ki Baat’: This year’s first episode of PM Modi’s radio programme Mann ki Baat was the lead story in TOI. The report noted that Modi called for a “new India where fair and just solutions can be found to long festering issues”. Express, too, features the story on the front page with a similar headline (“PM appeal: Violence not the answer, solidarity key to resolving issues”). The report adds, he asked those indulging in violence to “return to the mainstream”. HT and Hindu bury this story inside.
Coronavirus outbreak: Express reports that India is “examining all options, including through consultations with the Chinese authorities, to provide relief to Indians, mostly students, stranded in Wuhan”. An accompanying report, “Indian students watch and wait in Wuhan — Not a soul in sight”, highlights how Wuhan is under lockdown and transport restrictions have been implemented.
HT notes, “China says 2,000 infected as studies sound virus alarm”, while TOI writes, “Americans may get to leave Wuhan, hope rises for Indians”.
EU on CAA: Express writes, “Five resolutions in EU Parliament slam CAA: Dangerous & divisive”. The report adds, “from centre-right to far-left, five key groupings have moved resolutions that slam the CAA”. Hindu notes, “EU Parliament set to vote on Kashmir, CAA” and adds that “six resolutions will be taken up for discussion this week”. HT mirrors Hindu, adding that the law has been criticised for “its negative consequences for internal stability and potential for creating a ‘statelessness crisis’.” Meanwhile, TOI writes, “Rethink move against CAA, India tells EU”.
Others: Second lead in Express, “HRD flags graft in key scheme: Handwritten cab bills for Rs 1.2 cr”, the report states that the PM has been informed about “alleged corruption by an ex-joint secretary in the implementation of the Rashtriya Uchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA)”.
On the government looking towards unspent funds from the previous year to help their “fiscal maths”, HT writes, “Ministries have been asked to not spend more than 15% of the budget estimate in Jan and Feb, and 10% in March with some exemptions”.
HT is also the only paper that reports the untimely death of basketball legend Kobe Bryant in a helicopter crash in Los Angeles on their front page.
Opinion
The Hindu: The decision to transfer the Bhima Koregaon case to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) by the home ministry is an “unwarranted interference in the police powers of the State”, writes Hindu. In its editorial titled “Dubious Decision”, the daily predicts that the attempt is to prevent the new Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government in Maharashtra to probe further into the matter that happened during BJP’s regime.
Earlier, the BJP government in Maharashtra had opposed a court-monitored independent probe and had expressed no inclination to hand over the case to NIA. It writes that the union government now cannot “turn around and claim that it is a fit case for an NIA probe”. It notes that the central government’s intervention is a ploy to perpetuate the ‘urban-naxal’ narrative.
Hindustan Times: The political discourse in Delhi, ahead of the assembly election, is increasingly tilting towards divisive national issues and the BJP is largely responsible for this, writes HT.
In “Delhi Polls: Avoid divisive rhetoric”, it writes that the Aam Aadmi Party initially weaved its poll campaign around issues of health and education while the BJP planned its campaign on attacking CM Arvind Kejriwal. However, in the aftermath of the anti-CAA protests, AAP eventually backed the protesters in Shaheen Bagh, which could also be an attempt to win the support of Muslims, HT explains.
The BJP, on the other hand, picked up on this and has been trying to make these elections a test to decide who is anti-national. HT suggests that all candidates and campaigners should be advised to refrain from introducing a communal angle in Delhi elections.
Prime Time
On India’s 71st Republic Day, prime time news Sunday was dominated by grand shows of India’s diversity and the armed forces’ valour. NDTV 24×7 featured actor Varun Dhawan dining with the Indian Air Force in its show `Jai Jawan’. India Today went to see Jammu and Kashmir ‘celebrating’ Republic Day with apparent ‘patriotic fervour’.
ABP News’ Republic day’s “chhupe hue hero” (hidden heroes) segment spoke to the family of Padma Shri awardee Abdul Jabbar, the activist who fought for more than five lakh victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy. Aaj Tak’s ‘Jai Hind’ with Chitra Tripathi featured the anchor wearing a saffron dupatta, speaking to visitors at the Atari-Wagah border assembled for Republic Day celebrations.
Republic: In an exclusive interaction with anchor Arnab Goswami, singer and Padma Shri awardee Adnan Sami said, “I almost fell off my chair when I heard that I was conferred with this award”.
Goswami declared that, “The good or bad thing about you (Sami) is that you have a galaxy of trolls following you on anything that you do”. He explained that the trolls claimed that Sami’s father was a Pakistan Air Force pilot and “have made it personal”.
Sami felt the need to clarify and said, “I am telling you this on record, when I was born he (his father) was already out of service. I never saw him in uniform.”
Times Now: Anchor Athar Khan brought some hard-hitting ‘breaking news’ from London. Khan reveals, “An anti-India rally was held on Republic Day at the Indian High Commission in UK”. He adds that pro-Pakistan slogans were also raised.
Khan asked whether the protestors were citizens of Pakistan. Times Now‘s London correspondent said they were from Pakistan. Khan added his expert opinion and said, “As expected, anti-India slogans were raised” by the protesters.
India TV: “Desh ke khilaaf logo ko bharkane wala” (the one manipulating people against the nation) Sharjeel Imam has gone “missing”, said India TV’s anchor. She added that he is “scene se laapata” (missing from the scene) and has gone underground, while those protesting in Shaheen Bagh say Imam has no connection with the protesters. With visuals of a map, she highlighted that from New Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar to Assam, different police forces are looking for him and confidently asserted that the law’s “lambe haath” (long arms), will surely find him. She said that another member of the ‘tukde tukde’gang — Umar Khalid, was seen at the flag hoisting ceremony at Shaheen Bagh.
Zee News: Anchor Aditi Tyagi said that while India was celebrating Republic Day, her news might “shock” viewers. In West Bengal’s city of Howrah, police allegedly stopped a ‘Bharat mata puja’, she said.
After a pause she repeated slowly, “Bharat mata ki puja me rok laga di gayi hain” (Mother India’s worship was stopped). She explained that on 23 January, on ‘Netaji’ Subhash Chandra Bose’s birthday, BJP workers were stopped by the police from selling images of ‘Bharat Mata’, and hence they decided to hold a puja on 26 January and were stopped again.
The channel flashed visuals of men crowding around a garlanded, gold framed image of ‘Bharat Mata’ holding a tricolour flag, attempting to feed the image ladoos, putting agarbattis around her, while chanting Jai Shri Ram.