New Delhi: Unsurprisingly, two names dominated prime time Thursday — Kamala Harris and Sushant Singh Rajput. Meanwhile, NewsX discussed the race for a Covid vaccine and Zee News called the Bengaluru riots ‘designer danga’. And on Aaj Tak, anchor Rohit Sardana wondered if terrorists are planning something big in Kashmir around Independence Day.
First up, India Today’s Rajdeep Sardesai, who spoke to Neil Makhija, the executive director of leading Indian-American political advocacy group IMPACT, about the Democrats’ newly chosen candidate for vice-president, Kamala Harris. Sardesai asked Makhija, who will also be contributing to Harris’ campaign, “What sets Kamala Harris apart? What is so special about her?”
“She has been a trailblazer for all of us who are interested in government and civic life…she has been deeply committed to the community… What Kamala is showing the world, as well as our community and the African American community and women is that no door is closed,” he replied.
On NDTV India, Ravish Kumar poked fun at how the possibility of a partially Indian-origin vice president in the US so thrills those who cannot tolerate Italian-origin Sonia Gandhi being in power despite spending most of her life in India and being an Indian citizen. “When people of Indian origin win elections in the US, Canada, Britain and other foreign countries, we applaud them. But do we try to applaud the fair electoral and political system as well as voters of these countries that allowed them to win?” Touché.
After that pleasant interlude in the US, it’s back to regular programming, namely, ‘investigating’ Sushant Singh Rajput’s death. On News 18 India, Amish Devgan raised questions about Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut’s statement in which he said that if the family wants justice, they should not speak for some time.
Times Now‘s Padmaja Joshi hosted a panel on the Mumbai Police’s handling of the case.
BJP spokesperson Rajeev Pandey was disappointed with the force: “Whatever is happening in Maharashtra from Sharad Pawar to Parth Pawar to Sanjay Raut, they have destroyed the ‘moral’ of Mumbai Police.”
Joshi then pronounced her verdict: “…you have Mr. Pawar say Parth Pawar is immature, you have Ketan Vaidya say Sanjay Raut is doing his own thing…if this is the way such a serious and sensitive matter is being handled, then I don’t know what to say about the party that is running an entire state.”
Megha Sharma of NewsX avoided the more salacious topics and focused on the rising number of Covid-19 cases in India and the possibility of a vaccine some time soon. Sharma spoke about India’s efforts to develop a vaccine after Russia announced one, and asked political analyst Sumit Peer, “How soon now will the Covid-19 vaccine touch Indian shores?”
Peer said it was great news that Russia had announced the vaccine but also said, “Within 30-50 days from now we should have our own vaccines out.”
Meanwhile, Zee News anchor Aman Chopra termed the Bengaluru riots a “designer danga”.
The BJP’s indefatigable Sambit Patra said there is a need to differentiate between “Allah ka Islam” and “Mullah ka Islam”, adding that Islamic fundamentalism needs to end.
Political analyst Ifra Jan added that the rioters should be punished, but questioned the claims that the incident was planned. “Unlike the Delhi riots, there is no proof — no WhatsApp groups or call records that can prove that the riots were planned beforehand.”
