Front Page
Even though newspapers choose different leads this morning, they go with the same reports on their front pages – for the most part.
Also, all the newspapers feature a full page advertisement promoting Telengana’s ‘Kaleshwaram’ irrigation scheme.
For The Indian Express, the biggest news is ‘TDP melts down in Rajya Sabha, four of its six members cross over to the BJP’. It describes the party’s current state as being “swept out of power” in Andhra Pradesh and “handed a drubbing in the Lok Sabha elections”. The Rajya Sabha exits can only spell bad news, it says.
In ‘TDP jolted as 4 of 6 MPs in RS join BJP’, Times of India writes, “The defection hit an already weakened TDP” and that “the fallout of the massive defeats did not take long to manifest with the TDP MPs switching over to BJP within days of the new Lok Sabha meeting.”
Hindustan Times sings to the same tune, saying the defection is “a fresh setback to party chief N Chandrababu Naidu.”
In its ‘Explained’, the Express sounds ominous: “The defection…reflects a churn among regional outfits and alliances after the Lok Sabha elections, which was dominated by the BJP. The SP-BSP alliance has collapsed, the ruling Cong-JDS tie-up in Karnataka is in tatters and there is disquiet within the RJD in Bihar. This gives rise to the key question: Is there more to come?”
“Crisis is not new to the party” TOI quotes Naidu saying.
President’s address
HT leads with Presiden Kovind’s address to the joint houses of Parliament that “laid out” NDA’s “five-year agenda” its lead (‘Air, surgical strikes show India’s capability: Kovind’).
It writes that “cross-border terror and national security, issues such as women’s safety” are things this government is invested in improving.
Several newspapers note, in particular, that priority is “expanding the scope of the controversial national register of citizens” (HT).
TOI elaborates: “The President underlined illegal infiltration as a major threat to internal security, saying this leads to social imbalance and pressure on limited resources”, and adds, “the NRC will be implemented on a priority basis in areas affected by infiltration and the citizenship amendment bill, seeking to provide citizenship to persons fleeing faith based persecution, will be pursued in right earnest”.
The Hindu also leads with the President’s address with a different angle: Govind “asked MPs to seriously ponder over the proposal of simultaneous elections, terming it development-oriented”. The Express skips putting it on its front page
Sanjiv Bhatt
Also in the news is the life imprisonment sentence handed to “sacked” (TOI) and “dismissed” (Express) IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt. The judgement, given by a district and sessions court, relates to a “ a custodial death case that goes back 29 years to 1990.” (TOI). Bhatt was found “guilty of torturing and murdering a 40-year-old man.”
“He is already in Palanpur jail, under judicial custody since September last year, for allegedly framing a man in a drug seizure case” in 1996, informs the Express. The Hindu adds that Bhatt had “filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court in 2011 against the role of the then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the 2002 riots, was suspended from the Indian Police Service in 2011 and sacked by the Ministry of Home Affairs in August 2015 for ‘unauthorised absence’ from service and on other charges.”
Rahul Gandhi quitting and others
TOI is the only one to report Rahul Gandhi’s “firm” resolve to quit as the party president. Other papers don’t so much as give it much importance. “After weeks of anonymous claims, this was the first confirmation of his intent to quit as the AICC chief ever since he announced the decision at a closed-door meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) on May 25,” it writes.
Express makes ‘Commentary or BCCI-IPL roles: World Cup TV experts face choice’ its second lead. It writes that the BCCI’s ethics officer passed an order on “conflict-of-interest” which will force world cup experts to “choose between commentary assignments and their official positions with the board and IPL franchises.”
Opinion
HT: In ‘Can one nation one poll work?’ HT says that the logic behind PM’s push for simultaneous elections is “appealing”. “India has too many elections” and this distracts parties from governance, “forcing them (parties) to think of short-term political considerations”. It is expensive and it can also divide society as elections are often deeply polarising.
However, “the Indian Constitution, Indian democracy and the Indian federal scheme cannot be reduced to such a simplistic assessment”. Regular elections provide “democratic feedback’’— HT cites the three assembly elections last winter as the “turning point” for 2019’s Lok Sabha elections as it helped BJP realize it needed “a course correction”. What happens if a government at the Centre or state falls mid term, asks HT, in conclusion.
TOI: ‘Go Gender Neutral’ refers to the recent case of actor Karan Oberoi, accused of rape for falsely promising marriage. It says there is a strong case for “gender neutral laws”. The current law is often abused—NCRB figures show that approximately one fourth of rapes cases are based on false claims of marriage.
It says that following the Nirbhaya case in 2012, amendments were enacted to various aspect of the law to widen the definition of rape, and introduce the concept of “no consent” in judging rape cases. The latter has seen judges interpret no consent to include “reneging” on promises of marriage in rape cases. The Nirbhaya amendments were “knee jerk” reactions to cover up loopholes in policing – but some may need review now. A gender neutral law is advisable, it writes.
Prime Time
Prime Time on Thursday moved on from Bihar’s AES crisis as channels pursued different news.
Times Now: The focus on water crisis in Tamil Nadu and allegations that Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam and AIADMK were involved in a “loot” of water.
Advocate C Rajasekharan alleged that water was being distributed on a VVIP basis and politicians are getting it first. “They are sending water on a priority basis by violating all the norms.”
Activist Rahul Easwar claimed that the next world conflict would be fought on scarce natural resources: “The next world war will be for water”.
India Today: Anchor Rajdeep Sardesai also focussed on the parched condition of Chennai.
“Eighty per cent of the water that enters our household is discharged as waste water. We need to recycle waste water for non-potable purposes,” argued Dr Mahreen Matto, program manager, water management, CSE.
Environmentalist Himanshu Thakkar said, “Urban development in India is unfortunately happening on the deathbed of water resources. India urgently needs a national urban water policy.”
Republic: “#MegaBJP” was the topic here after four TDP Rajya Sabha MPs asked for a merger with the saffron party.
Jan Ki Baat Founder Pradeep Bhandari was critical of opposition parties: “The Opposition today even lacks the intent of fighting. Chandrababu Naidu is in London, Rahul Gandhi is busy on his phone.” He was referring to Rahul seen using his mobile phone during the President’s address, Thursday.
BJP leader and advocate Nupur Sharma said her party was open to all those who were eligible to join it.
Political analyst Subhransh Rai alleged that the BJP was two-faced – they promise a lot and do the exact opposite. He said, “On one side you are saying ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikaas, Sabka Vishwaas’ and on the other hand you are taking people who are corrupt”.
Aaj Tak: Anchor Chitra Tripathi discussed the idea of ‘new India’ and said that solely making big promises will not bring it to life.
Urmilesh, a journalist, said, “What is happening in Muzaffarpur is proof of the failure of the Ayushman Bharat scheme”.
Manojit Mandal, political analyst, said, “In 2014, we were promised that all black money will be brought back. What happened to that? All these politicians, irrespective of their parties, are mixed up with each other. Just bring back the black money, all our problems will be solved.”
Zee News: Anchor Sachin Arora looked at the triple talaq bill which might be tabled in the Parliament Friday.
Dr Zeenat Shaukat Ali, director general of Wisdom Foundation, said, “The Quran doesn’t say anything about triple talaq. It is only a sharia law. In Islam, divorce itself is a very bad thing – there must be a reconciliation period. This law must be punishable, it is punishable in Pakistan.”
Nupur Sharma of the BJP argued that triple talaq was against people’s right to equality. “It is one-sided. This practice has been banned in 21-22 countries.’’
Tiranga: Karan Thapar on ‘Up Front’ led a discussion on President Kovind’s speech.
Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, journalist, said the President’s speech was a reflection of the BJP’s manifesto – “…you will see that paragraph after paragraph has been rephrased with just a minor change in tonality. The manifesto had nothing on health and thus doesn’t reflect in the speech.”
Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, MP (TMC) said, “The speech was scripted well, but I don’t believe in any of it,” she said.
Tweet of the day
india's world cup squad now has a wicket-keeper, a back-up keeper, another back-up keeper, and another back-up keeper #cwc19
— Gaurav Kalra (@gauravkalra75) June 19, 2019
With inputs from Shailaja Bajpai, Taran Deol, and Harshit Mansukhani.