New Delhi: The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is “manipulating Hindu sentiments” over the 22 January consecration of the idol at Ayodhya’s Ram temple, an editorial in Siasat — one of India’s prominent Urdu newspapers — said this week.
In this editorial on 11 January, Siasat said that the BJP is doing so by suggesting that those opposition leaders who are not attending the ceremony could “suffer a loss”. Thus, the BJP is using this to make “political threats” against the Opposition, it said.
The Congress had announced earlier this week that its leaders Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury would not be attending the ceremony despite having invitations. The Communist Party of India (Marxist), meanwhile, announced that none of its leaders would attend the event.
The BJP has called these decisions “anti-Ram”.
“The trust (Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra) established for the construction of the Ram Temple on the directions of the Supreme Court needs to handle this matter responsibly,” the editorial said, adding that no one, “not even the ruling party”, should get away with “exploiting religious matters for political gain, especially in the case of temples”.
But this wasn’t the only topic that got wide coverage this week. The Supreme Court’s decision to set aside the Gujarat government’s remission of 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano gang rape case was also featured prominently, with editorials welcoming the decision and calling it “justice”.
Other prominent issues include the fracas over some Maldivian ministers’ comments insulting India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as well as the goings-on in the opposition INDIA bloc camp in the runup to the general election this year.
Here’s a wrap-up of all the news that made front-page headlines and editorials in the Urdu press this week.
Also Read: ‘For BJP, Ram temple is more about political gain than religious sentiments,’ says Urdu press
Bilkis Bano case
On 8 January, a division bench of Justices B.V. Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan called the Gujarat government’s August 2022 decision to remit the sentences of 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano gang rape “an abuse of its discretionary power”. In the excoriating ruling, the court said that the government appeared to act “in tandem” with the convicts.
The court also faulted its own May 2022 order to allow the state government to decide on the convicts’ remission applications, even calling it “strange”.
All three prominent Urdu newspapers — Inquilab, Siasat, and Roznama Rashtriya Sahara — saw the court’s decision to set aside the remission as a positive development.
Welcoming the ruling, an editorial in Inquilab on 10 January said the decision would “enhance the judiciary’s prestige”. “In a democratic country, the judiciary doesn’t determine who is guilty and who is seeking justice. Instead, it looks at what the offence is and what the appropriate punishment should be,” the editorial said. “While in recent years, several court decisions have left legal experts and members of civil society dissatisfied, there have also been some decisions that have elevated the court’s prestige. The Supreme Court’s decision to set aside the remission granted in the Bilkis Bano case and send the convicts back behind bars is one such decision.”
In its editorial on 9 January, Inquilab explained why, in its opinion, people should read the complete ruling. The case, it said, sends out a message of how even an ordinary person like Bilkis could offer courage and solace to the other victims of the Gujarat riots in their own legal battles.
“After the accused were released, she must have felt that she had returned to a time when justice seemed impossible for her,” the editorial said. “When the sentences of the culprits were reduced and they were released, Bilkis must have felt that the justice she had got (when the case was tried in Maharashtra) had been snatched away from her… but now that the Supreme Court has reinstated the sentences, she says she feels like a mountain has been lifted off her chest.”
Bilkis, the editorial said, has admitted that the force of the thousands of people who stood behind her was the reason for her courage. All such acts of courage and duty should be noted and praised, the editorial said.
In its editorial on 9 January, Sahara simultaneously addressed two issues — the diplomatic row with the Maldives and the Bilkis Bano case. It was natural, given the prevailing circumstances in India, to wonder if the country is changing, the editorial said. But the Supreme Court ruling has once again reaffirmed faith in the judiciary.
The Supreme Court had made it clear that it was the government of Maharashtra —where the trial had taken place — and not the Gujarat government that should have made the decision, the editorial said.
“The court mentioned (in its ruling) that the Gujarat government had no authority to offer any leniency when it comes to the punishment (in this case). The country’s highest court has rejected the release of 11 convicts and has instructed them to surrender within two weeks,” it said. “The Supreme Court’s decision offers some hope. (Senior advocate) Indira Jaising has called the ruling ‘historic’. This decision will give confidence that those who commit crimes without thinking will be caught by the law and help reaffirm the faith that this country has laws and a judiciary that is not under the control of politicians.”
In its editorial on 9 January, Siasat said that state governments and political parties must refrain from misusing laws for their own benefit and to “free criminals”.
“In this, officials with a communal mindset and who played a part (in remitting the convicts’ sentences) to please their political masters without assessing the seriousness of the Bilkis Bano case are equally responsible,” it said. “As far as the Gujarat government is concerned, it should accept its mistake and apologise to Bilkis Bano.”
INDIA bloc
On 12 January, Inquilab wrote about how the smaller parties in the INDIA bloc woud benefit from the Congress’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, which begins in Manipur on 14 January. That the Congress is willing to accommodate regional parties’ seat-sharing demands in the upcoming election speaks of the party’s commitment to the alliance, it said, adding that the party was once unbending and wasn’t given to making sacrifices but now appears to have changed.
Siasat also spoke about seat-sharing in the INDIA alliance in its 10 January editorial, dwelling particularly on the Congress’s dilemma in the states with strong regional parties. According to this piece, the Congress will find it difficult to arrive at a seat-sharing consensus in states such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, and West Bengal.
Except for Jharkhand, where the Congress has a significant presence, the party is bound to face the challenge of contending with strong regional parties, it said. Even in states like Bihar, where the party is part of the ruling mahaghatbandhan alliance with the Janata Dal (United) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), it’s a smaller and weaker partner, it said.
Given such a situation, the Congress should focus its energies on states like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Chhattisgarh, where it can directly confront the BJP.
In its editorial on 8 January, Sahara said that with the general election drawing near, opposition leaders are increasingly facing investigations by federal agencies like the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Allegations of corruption and money laundering against such leaders are tarnishing their public image, with the consequence that it could cost them the election, the editorial said.
In its editorial on 6 January, Siasat wrote about the possible political impact of the Congress’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra. The editorial said that the Congress shouldn’t be relying solely on this yatra. Instead, the party should show “enthusiasm” at the regional level, especially in states where it still has a strong presence, such as Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, and Maharashtra.
“It’s essential to formulate a comprehensive strategy for these states to ensure that the BJP keeps a minimal number of seats while the Congress gets maximum success. Every leader needs to actively participate in this endeavour,” it said.
Maldives
Comments by three Maldivian ministers attacking India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi caused some outrage on social media last weekend and led to the Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu suspending the ministers.
In its editorial on 9 January, Sahara wrote that ever since Muizzu was elected president of the Maldives in October, the country’s stance had changed from ‘India First’ to ‘India Out’ — referring to a campaign against Indian influence in the country that Muizzu rode to victory in the presidential polls.
Muizzu, the editorial went on to say, would have been expected to visit India immediately after his election but instead went to Turkey.
“Is it just a coincidence that his ministers made such statements about Modi five days before he went to China,” the editorial asked, referring to Muizzu’s state visit to China last week, where he signed a number of bilateral agreements.
“The Maldives will not be able to withstand this row because it’s a tourist-based economy and most of the tourists come from India,” it concluded.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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