New Delhi: From Rafale and Aatmanirbhar Bharat to Chinese expansionism in Tajikistan, there was no one topic that dominated prime time debates Sunday. However, television news remains obsessed with the Sushant Singh Rajput’s death — Republic Bharat’s Sucherita Kukreti claimed and then explained why India is calling anchor Arnab Goswami a “hero”, while Times Now‘s Swati Joshi discussed the veracity of WhatsApp messages, allegedly exchanged between Rajput and his rumoured partner Rhea Chakraborty, that have made their way into the public domain.
First to NewsX, where Vineet Malhotra discussed tensions between Tajikistan and China over the territory of the Pamir mountains. Malhotra questioned China’s territorial ambitions and asked if, being a Muslim-dominated state, Tajikistan would be particularly suspicious of China considering “they know how China treats its Muslims”.
Diplomat Deepak Vohra agreed, saying, “As you’ve rightly said, they know about the Kazakhs and Uyghurs.’’
On Zee News, Aditi Tyagi discussed the defence ministry’s ban on the import of 101 items in a push for PM Modi’s vision of an Aatmanirbhar Bharat.
“Just think, India makes missiles, but imports a number of guns from outside. The question that arises here is why such a huge lapse was happening?” asked Tyagi.
She then collared political analyst and Congress ideologue Tehseen Poonawalla and asked, “If the country becomes self-reliant, then what’s the problem and who has the problem?”
Poonawalla said that nobody has a problem with this. “PM Modi and the ruling government is expert in headline management and sadly, media channels and, journalists manage the PR and headlines, but don’t ask questions.”
“Rafale got 24-hour coverage but there is no transfer of technology in these. They will not be produced in India after some time,” Poonawalla said. “Is this Aatmanirhbar Bharat?”
Tyagi then clarified that she was referring to P. Chidambaram’s tweet. “P. Chidambaram was expecting a dhamaka… but only got whispers,” the anchor said, almost gleefully.
Meanwhile, Times Now stuck to the Sushant Singh Rajput case, specifically an article in Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamana that denounced the Bihar government’s “interference” in the case.
“What is shocking is on one hand there is this article…running this slanderous campaign. At the same time, Team Rhea [Chakraborty] releases a series of WhatsApp messages highlighting only those portions where one would get a sense that all was not well between Sushant Singh Rajput and his sister,” declared anchor Swati Joshi, clearly showing which side she supported.
BJP leader Shaina NC said, “Shiv Sena should answer as to why the Maha Vikas Aghadi [government] did not register a case for 55 days, which prompted the victim’s father to register an FIR in Bihar.”
The WhatsApp messages were also discussed on CNN-News18, where Maha Siddiqui asked if “the Maharashtra government and Mumbai Police were trying to cover up the case and therefore the Bihar government had to move ahead and send a team to Mumbai”.
G. Radhakrishnan, a Shiv Sena “supporter” as per the channel (although he is a Sena leader in Tamil Nadu), said, “Let me tell you very frankly, this case has been politicised to the maximum extent. Maharashtra Police has to investigate the case. What is the role of CBI in that? There cannot be two FIRs”.
Republic Bharat anchor Sucherita Kukreti started her show by saying, “Sushant Singh Rajput’s death isn’t a movie but a reality.” Okay, good to know.
“The Mumbai Police and Maharashtra government couldn’t expose even a single truth in this case,” Kukreti said. She then went on to list the number of “disclosures” made by the channel.
“In 55 days, Republic Bharat made 23 disclosures. We tried to connect each and every episode in the case which is why Sushant’s family is calling Arnab Goswami a hero instead of Mumbai Police,” Sucherita Kukreti said at the top of her voice.
“Sushant’s sister along with Arnab Goswami is continuing this mission for her brother and this is why even after 55 days, we are still asking who killed Sushant Singh Rajput. Is Disha Salian and his killer the same?” Kukreti demanded. This after Salian’s parents have clearly stated that their daughter died by suicide.
But on TV news, anything goes…
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