New Delhi: Statements from Sushant Singh Rajput’s sisters, the India-China clash in Ladakh and the defence ministry and Indian Air Force’s attempt to ban Janhvi Kapoor-starrer Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl dominated prime time debates Wednesday.
First, NewsX, where anchor Vineet Malhotra spoke about the Ladakh stand-off in the context of the “legacy” of the 1962 India-China war. “20th October, 1962 — in fact I was not born but I still remember reading so much about it…what has been the predominant legacy of this war in terms of how India responded and what India learnt?”
Major General (Retd) D Katoch said the war “debilitated” India’s political and administrative leadership for some time but “those scars are over now”. He added: “The Chinaman holds no threat anymore. He’s any ordinary joker and he can be beaten.”
Lt. General (Retd) PJS Pannu concurred. “The 1962 war is no benchmark today,” he said. He also argued that Indian troops are “battle-hardened in mountains” whereas most of PLA is “motorised and mechanised”, with limited foot troops.
Zee News‘ Sudhir Chaudhary also referred to the 1962 war and the humiliation India felt in its aftermath, but stopped short of mentioning Jawaharlal Nehru’s name. Claiming that people would be proud of the country and armed forces, he mentioned the intervening night of 29 and 30 August, which is when the fresh clash between India and China reportedly took place near Pangong Tso in Ladakh.
He said that for a long time, many had feared China and deemed it a strong nation, but now, “the entire territory south of Pangong Lake is now in India’s control… This is the first time the Indian forces have reached this territory. This was the area which India lost in the 1962 war.”
CNN-News 18, though, chose to ignore all this. After reading out statements from late actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s three sisters in which they reportedly revealed knowing about his mental illness, anchor Marya Shakil asked her panel whether Rhea Chakraborty turned the late actor’s anxiety “into a case of depression”.
Lawyer Varun Singh pointed out: “These statements have been recorded in Marathi. The family objected to it and had serious apprehensions about what was recorded.” Then, he hit out at Shakil by saying, “You are relying upon a statement which has no authority in any court of law and you are maligning the family one after the other.”
Roshaan Garry, who claims to be a friend of Rajput, argued that he didn’t have anxiety. “Even a 10th grade child is anxious and depressed before taking a board exam,” he said.
Republic TV‘s Arnab Goswami took a break from Sushant Singh Rajput case (finally) to attack another aspect of Bollywood, in a debate on the new Netflix film, Gunjan Saxena, which, he said, “twisted facts”.
Produced by Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions, the film is a fictionalised version of the story of Gunjan Saxena, a female IAF officer who served in the Kargil war. It has been in the news since its release and on Wednesday, the Delhi High Court refused to stay the streaming of the movie.
Former Vice Chief of Air Staff PK Barbora hit out at the industry. “Films are nothing but commercial games to make money. I have served in IAF for over 40 years and it is very sad to see that for money, you will produce a movie which is not factual.”
BJP MP Shazia Ilmi chimed in: “Sexism is very serious. It is being used here in a context to malign the IAF.”
And on News18 India, anchor Amish Devgan’s topic of choice was “Rahul Gandhi ka Modi sarkar par vaar”. He asked, “Why does the country always seem ruined to the Congress?” he asked.
However, instead of letting a Congress spokesperson respond, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra replied. He thanked Devgan for the debate and insisted things were not grim and that people should smile. Patra said, “There are two matters at stake here. One the China issue and the second Rahul Gandhi’s tweet. Both are being ruined.” This was in reference to Gandhi’s tweet about how India is reeling under Modi-made disasters.
Mr. Gupta, Republic, Times Now and Zee are not a sold prestitute like Print, India Today, NDTV, News18 India, CNN news18.
Earlier news used to get printed and sold, but unfortunately now it’s first sold and then gets printed.
India and Indian wants such channels that support Indians and India;s point of view unlike Print which is pro-pakistan and pro-china. Not sure where your funding comes from but your leftists inclination and an agenda to break India into pieces (tukhde-tukhde) is coming out very clear as a cogent thread in many of the writings that your journalism supports. Publish this and a lot of folks would agree with this perception of yours. Jai Hind. I am not a BJP supporter but a undivided India supporter. So bring it on.