Front Page
Mainstream newspapers have different page 1 leads Tuesday. The Indian Express and The Hindu have the expansion of the Maharashtra cabinet, in which NCP’s Ajit Pawar was named deputy chief minister and Shiv Sena’s Aaditya Thackeray was also included in the council of ministers. Hindustan Times and The Times of India shiver on the coldest day in Delhi Monday with the maximum lowest temperature ever recorded. The other common story on the front pages is the appointment of outgoing Army chief General Bipin Rawat as the country’s first Chief of Defence Staff.
The pink papers lead with Huawei, the Chinese telecom giant, getting approval to participate in 5G trials in India. Express also carries the news on Page 1.
Maharashtra cabinet: Express’ headline highlights the family connection in the appointments with “Uddhav gets his son, Pawar his nephew in Maharashtra Cabinet” while Hindu focuses on Pawar: “Ajit Pawar returns as Deputy CM”. TOI reports that Aaditya’s induction in the cabinet makes the “Thackerays the first father-son duo to be part of the cabinet together in Maharashtra”.
On Pawar, Hindu writes that he “was earlier dubbed a ‘trojan horse’ for crossing over to the BJP side and effecting an overnight coup that barely lasted 80 hours”.
Delhi’s coldest day: TOI is rather poetic in its report and writes that after being “battered” by “over two weeks of unrelenting severe cold”, Delhi “got another weather shock on a bitterly bleak and foggy Monday when temperatures settled at just 9.4 degrees Celsius, making it the coldest day conditions ever experienced” since 1901. HT, adds that the thick fog was due to “four reasons — low wind speeds, low temperatures, high moisture, and pollution particles acting as a surface for condensation”.
Rawat as CDS: Express writes that General Rawat was appointed CDS, a day before his retirement. It adds that the post is “meant to enhance the quality of military advice to the political leadership through integration of service inputs”. HT notes that he will act as the “principal military adviser to the defence minister on all matters related to the tri-services”.
Huawei 5G trials: The Economic Times says that “the government has decided to allow all networks, including Huawei, to participate in 5G trials”. It adds that “this is the first time that India, caught in a diplomatic and economic tussle between the US and China, has taken an official stance on the matter”.
Business Standard writes that this provides a “breather” to the Chinese firm “which is battling security issues not just in India but worldwide”.
Others: Express reports that 372 people were “slapped” with property damage notices to recover damages following the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act. In the headline, it notes that “UP goes where no state has gone”.
In an exclusive report, Hindu writes that the Railways, which suffered Rs 80 crore in losses during the nationwide anti-CAA protests, will also recover the damages from those involved in the incident.
In some good news, TOI reports that India’s green cover increased by 5,188 km or 0.6 per cent, which is “an area the size of Goa and Delhi put together” in the past two years.
Opinion
The Times of India: Saudi Arabia’s decision to hold a foreign ministers’ meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) regarding Kashmir is a big blow to India’s foreign policy, writes TOI in its editorial titled “OIC’s Kashmir pitch”.
If the OIC revives the Kashmir issue, it will be a setback for India’s efforts of boosting security and economic ties with Saudi Arabia to counter Pakistan’s propaganda, writes TOI. Many foreign diplomats complain about not having been briefed about the CAA and claim that India is losing friends fast. TOI suggests the government must not lose the capital it has with foreign nations and realise that it needs both Islamic and Western nations by its side. It will only happen if India is committed to its secular and liberal values
The Hindu: The newly elected Hemant Soren government’s decision to drop all the charges against those involved in the Pathalgadi movement, is a nod to the voters who had registered their dissent with the previous regime, writes Hindu in “Challenge in Jharkhand”.
The Soren government now has a huge task to address the socio-economic concerns in the state. Hindu states that without an emphasis on rural and tribal welfare, Jharkhand will not attain its developmental goals. The government in Jharkhand can take lessons from Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh in using welfare models to improve development indices, it suggests. Bringing in a sustainable development model that benefits the people rather than being saddled by the resource curse should be the target for the new government, Hindu concludes.
Prime Time
Prime time news Monday debated an of issues. After Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s scooter ride to meet former IPS officer S.R. Darapuri’s family, both NDTV 24×7 and India Today debated the “UP showdown” between the Yogi government and Priyanka, with the latter alleging she was roughed up by UP Police.
Republic TV said “#CDSSpooksPak” after outgoing Army chief Bipin Rawat was made the first Chief of Defence Staff. Anchor Arnab Goswami said, “He (Rawat) will be single command centre in matters of warfare and nuclear weapons. All centralised now, something that makes Pakistan very nervous.”
While on Times Now, Athar Khan debated #CitizenshipSatyagraha after Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said he will not fill out the NPR form. Aaj Tak‘s Rohit Sardana said “Modi maidan mein” after the PM tweeted in support of the Citizenship Amendment Act.
And this might be difficult to believe but Times Now fact-checked five claims in favour of CAA and NRC in a video explainer by Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev– that was retweeted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailing it. It found most of his points wanting.
#HinduRashtraRow | Fact-check for Sadhguru. pic.twitter.com/cHQnKldh6v
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) December 30, 2019
CNN-News18: On`The Right Stand’, anchor Anand Narasimhan debated aggressively, whether the opposition was caught in spreading misinformation about CAA.
BJP’s Gopal Agarwal and Muslim Council of India President Tasleem Rahmani got into an argument with the former accusing Rahmani of spreading misinformation. He spoke about Home Minister Amit Shah’s invocation of the Nehru-Liaquat Pact and asked, “If it was the only argument why CAB has been enforced?”
Agarwal clarified that the Nehru-Liaquat Pact was one of the reasons why CAB was imposed. “It was the UPA, Congress and other leaders who promised safeguards for people persecuted in other countries,” he said. But they didn’t fulfil their promise, and “it is our government that is doing what is required”, said Agarwal.
RSS activist Desh Ratan Nigam said, “Anybody who has read the aims and objectives of this particular amendment would clearly know it is for religious persecution…”
India Today: Gaurav Sawant discussed the challenges that await General Bipin Rawat as India’s first Chief of Defence Staff.
Journalist Sandeep Unnithan pointed out three tasks that await the first CDS. Firstly, “integrate the three services”; secondly, “optimise defence spending”; and lastly, “reform the defence ministry”.
Defence expert P.S. Ahluwalia voiced concern over the lack of a single point military contact to “brief the political leadership”. “Now hopefully, with the CDS in place we will get the equipment to carry out what is expected of us during conflict situations,” he said.
Lt. General S.A. Hasnain (retd) said, “I think the first challenge before General Rawat would be confidence building.”
ABP News: After Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra targeted the Yogi Adityanath government over the alleged police violence in the state during anti-CAA protests, anchor Rubika Liyaquat asked whose anarchy it was— that of the UP Police or Priyanka?
Yogi government’s media advisor Mrityunjay Kumar defended the BJP in the state and said Priyanka is deliberately spreading lies. “We all know that the CAA is to grant citizenship and not revoke it,” said Kumar.
Congress’ Deepak Jha, “The state in which the CM openly says that ‘revenge’ would be taken, how do you expect the police to function normally then?”
BJP’s Rakesh Sinha hit back, “She falsely claimed that she was being ill-treated by the UP Police whereas she disobeyed the motor vehicle act by trying to escape on a bike.”
India TV: Anchor Saurav Sharma asked whether the opposition was planning a conspiracy against PM Modi over CAA.
BJP’s Sudhanshu Trivedi insisted that, “Everything happened constitutionally… The Citizenship Bill was introduced in the House, there were debates over it and then it was passed with a majority. But nobody had an issue when the same words ‘Hindu-Christian- Buddhist’ were used by the Manmohan Singh government and in Communist Party (Marxist)’s Kozhikode session.”
AIMIM’s Waris Pathan said the BJP government first fires the bullet and then checks where the target is. “It happened in case of demonetisation also… ‘Sabka saath, sabka vikas, sabka vishwas’ has failed.”
(With inputs from Qandeel Qazi)