Front page
Mainstream newspapers Monday lead with the violence that erupted in Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia University between the police and those protesting against the new Citizenship Amendment Act Sunday. Images of burning buses are splashed across many top publications while The Indian Express features a photograph of female students trying to ward off the blows of policemen with lathis.
Most papers also carry Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s contentious remark during his Jharkhand poll campaign that the protesters could be identified by their clothes.
The failed Climate Change Conference in Madrid also makes it to the front pages of Hindustan Times and The Hindu.
Jamia protests: Hindu’s headline — “Violence hits Delhi over citizenship law” — gives no context to the violence but the report is accompanied by a photograph of a man running past a bus that was set ablaze during the protests. HT’s headline reads, “CAA fire now rages in Capital” and the report refers to the protests in Assam and other parts of the North East against the citizenship bill. The Times of India is more direct with this reference in its headline, “After NE & Bengal, It’s Delhi now”. In its strap it mentions that “buses [were] set ablaze & rocks hurled” in the area that became a “virtual warzone”.
Express chooses to identify the protesters as a ‘mob’ and carries in its headline, “CAB protests: Mob hits the street, police Jamia campus and students”. It reports that the police “lobbed teargas shells inside the campus, forced their way in, and allegedly dragged students out of the library and the mosque, and assaulted them”.
PM on anti-CAA protests: TOI reports that Prime Minister Modi blamed the Congress for the “vandalism and arson” that “began in Assam, Tripura and Meghalaya and later spread to West Bengal” during an election campaign in Jharkhand. In “PM: Who’s behind fires? Can make out by looking at clothes”, Express quotes the PM saying that “those ‘spreading the fire’ could be ‘identified by their clothes’”.
Climate talks: In “No deal as longest climate talks end”, Hindu reports that the “marathon international climate talks” at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP25) in Madrid ended Sunday with “major polluters resisting calls to ramp up efforts to keep global warming at bay” and negotiators also postponed “the regulation of global carbon markets until next year”.
“COP25 fails to make impact, rich polluters block changes”, writes HT and adds that the conference was defined as “disappointing” and “unfortunate” by delegates, even though “deliberations went into overtime of nearly 48 hours after the official November 13 deadline”. TOI gives the story a boxed mention
Others: Bangladesh’s foreign minister A.K. Abdul said that “his country has requested India to provide a list of Bangladesh nationals, if any, living illegally and added that ‘we will allow them (to return) as they have the right to enter their own country’”, reports TOI.
Express writes that “milk… seems to be pinching the pockets of consumers” now, as Amul and National Dairy Development Board-owned Mother Dairy hiked the MRP of their pouch milk variants by Rs. 2 per litre.
TOI also reports that “Delhi sees coldest start to December in over 2 decades” as the first half of December “has seen the coldest days for the period in 22 years”
Opinion
The Hindu: The protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act have abated in north-eastern states, but mistaking it for normalcy would be “dangerous”, writes Hindu.
The newspaper argues that the grievances of indigenous populations are genuine but attempting to resolve them by privileging one group over another is counterproductive. It adds that “applying a religious test” to such an exercise, as the CAA seeks to do, is “mindless and dangerous”. According to Hindu, “The CAA has wrecked the Assam Accord of 1985” and also highlighted BJP’s incapability of appreciating diversity.
It suggests that to undo the misadventure of CAA, the central government must show courage and hold back. The leadership must also demonstrate statesmanship
The Times of India: The CAA is jeopardising India’s foreign policy objectives, writes TOI. With Japanese PM Shinzo Abe postponing his visit to India and two Bangladeshi ministers cancelling their visit altogether, TOI writes that this is a “big-blow to India’s ‘Act-East’ policy”.
The newspaper mentions that several international bodies including the UN and US’s Commission on International Religious Freedom have condemned the Act as well. It argues that the Modi government rightly deserves the credit for strengthening India’s foreign relations, but the recent moves in Kashmir, NRC and now the CAA can risk that. It will be a “real tragedy” if the foreign investors and government are hesitant about India, writes TOI and suggests that the CAA is defeating the purpose of a strong and unified India and the government should roll it back.
Prime time
Prime time news primarily focussed on the violence in Jamia Millia Islamia University between the Delhi police and students after buses and cars were allegedly vandalised by protesters.
NDTV 24×7 went to Kalkaji Police Station where activist Harsh Mander said that there were 25 boys inside the police station, students of Jamia, who were completely “traumatised”.
ABP News reported Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s campaign speech in Jharkhand where he said that those who indulged in arson could be “identified by their clothes” and also accused the Congress of fanning the protests.
TimesNow: On the #NewsHour with Athar Khan, the debate on #CABRocksDelhi saw panelists questioning the actions of the Delhi Police and the students of Jamia Millia.
Political analyst Vishal V. Sharma said, “What is happening in Assam and the North East is a different issue, it is an issue of the indigenous population… but what is happening in Delhi and West Bengal, it is a completely different thing. Here we are witnessing the politics of appeasement, which is what I condemn.”
CPI leader D. Raja, who was part of the protests at the Delhi Police headquarters in ITO said, “The point here is Delhi Police resorted to such a brutal attack on students… injuring and arresting a large number of students. What was the need?”
Aaj Tak: Sunday’s violence was also discussed on #Khabardar with Chitra Tripathi.
BJP Delhi President Manoj Tiwari requested Aaj Tak to carry the videos that were flagged by the BJP and said, “Members of the Aam Aadmi Party clearly instigated people after which the violence took place… comments by both Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia are shameful.”
M.S. Randhawa, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Delhi Police) said, “The situation is currently under control… it was initially a peaceful protest which later turned violent due to anti-social elements, which burnt buses and broke people’s house windows… Delhi Police then used minimum force.”
NDTV India: NDTV’s Saurabh Shukla covered the protest in ITO.
Maliha, a student from Delhi University, remarked, “The issue is not limited to only JNU, Aligarh Muslim University or Jamia, it’s about everybody coming together and protesting against something wrong. What was the need for the Delhi Police to enter the library (at Jamia University) and beat up students?”
A Jamia alumni who was allegedly beaten up by the Delhi Police and had a fractured foot said, “The Delhi Police brutally attacked the students, who were all defenceless… they beat up girls, hurled abuses, entered the campus and even beat up the Imam in the masjid.”
CNN-News18:The #CitizenshipDebate with Sneha Mordani focussed on the three buses that were set ablaze in Delhi’s Sukhdev Vihar.
Mordani asked Commissioner of Police of Southern Range R.S. Krishnaiah, “Was there no anticipation or information that there could be some trouble in this particular area of Delhi? Look at the pictures we are seeing from Delhi today, I mean this is the national capital.”
To which Krishnaiah replied, “We have been telling locals not to create problems…. There were no problems with the students. Unless and until we identify the people behind this, I cannot tell you exactly at this stage.”