New Delhi: The Bihar caste survey dominated the Urdu press this week, with all three prominent newspapers — Inquilab, Roznama Rashtriya Sahara, and Siasat — hailing the move and weighing in on what they called the BJP’s “dilemma” over the exercise.
The survey, released by the Nitish Kumar government on 2 October, showed that Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs) make up 63 percent of the Bihar’s population, while upper castes comprise just 15.5 percent.
The exercise is expected to impact national politics. The INDIA bloc is already calling for a caste census at the national level, although the BJP is still reluctant.
A 3 October Siasat editorial stated that given the circumstances, an increase of 27 percent reservation for backward classes cannot now be ruled out. Most political parties in Bihar have welcomed the survey, it added.
The BJP, which has been opposing the exercise from the start, will find it difficult to deal with the problem both politically and socially, the editorial said.
But the caste survey wasn’t the only topic that took up significant space in the editorials and front pages of the Urdu press. The Delhi Police’s raids on media house NewsClick and the subsequent arrests under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) also drew condemnation from all three Urdu newspapers.
AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh’s arrest in the Delhi excise policy case was also covered extensively by the Urdu press.
Here’s a roundup of all that made it to the front pages and editorials of prominent Urdu newspapers:
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Caste survey
The Bihar caste survey that Bihar’s Development Commissioner Vivek Singh released Monday pegs the state’s total population at over 13 crore. EBCs, according to the survey, form the largest caste group at 36 percent, followed by OBCs at 27.13 percent.
Significantly, the Congress has promised to implement a similar caste survey in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh if they are voted to power. MP is one of five states that will see an assembly election later this year.
In an editorial on 2 October — hours before the caste census data was released — Sahara said that a movement had begun for OBCs to secure their rights in the form of reservation in Bihar. One after the other, political parties are giving the issue space on their agenda and once it becomes a national issue, it will be one that any new party will find hard to ignore, it stated in an editorial.
“When they (OBCs), take to the streets, political parties will automatically come under pressure and, like in the case of the women’s reservation bill, no one will dare protest,” it said.
The newspaper also referred to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s remark promising a caste survey in MP. Gandhi, the editorial said, is preparing a “political game plan” for OBCs in the state and, as a result, some parties could face problems in the upcoming assembly elections and next year’s parliamentary elections. But some parties could also benefit from this, the editorial added.
In its editorial on 3 October, Siasat explained the BJP’s “predicament”. The BJP, it said, has remained silent about the survey and hasn’t formally extended its support. But while the party can’t openly oppose it in Bihar, given the state of politics there, it cannot openly endorse it on the national level.
“In such a situation, what approach will the BJP adopt to deal with this situation?” the editorial asks.
In its editorial the same day, Inquilab called the caste survey Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s “masterstroke”, saying that the BJP will now have to change its strategy. “There is no doubt that the BJP has not rejected the caste census, but it has also not fully supported it because its politics has been to eliminate caste identity and bring everyone under the ambit of Hindutva.”
Sahara’s editorial, meanwhile, said that with the release of the caste survey, Nitish Kumar has put an end to the speculation about him. According to the editorial, there have been talks of whether Nitish, who’s had an on-again and off-again relationship with the BJP and its National Democratic Alliance (NDA) but is currently part of the Opposition INDIA bloc, will switch his allegiance yet again.
Newsclick and Sanjay Singh’s arrest
On 3 October, NewsClick editor Prabir Purkayastha and the website’s Human Resources (HR) head Amit Chakraborty were arrested under the UAPA. The arrests came on the back of a New York Times investigation that alleged that the news portal had received funding from a network that was pushing Chinese propaganda.
The arrests have drawn flak from opposition parties as well as journalists from across the country as being a crackdown on free press.
In its editorial on 4 October, Sahara wrote in its editorial that the Delhi Police action was clearly meant to “harass” journalists.
According to the editorial, the allegations on the basis of which law enforcement agencies are acting were made in “a foreign newspaper”. Integrity demands that the allegations are thoroughly investigated but the current government does not believe in principles of “honesty, truth and impartiality”, the editorial stated, adding that this was just one of the government’s moves to settle scores with its critics before the 2024 general elections.
On 5 October, Siasat’s editorial stated that while there can be “no compromise on terrorism”, this practice of accusing people of terrorist activities is wrong.
“If there are indeed links to terrorists, no matter who they are or how influential they are, action should be taken against them,” the editorial read. “But the current case is only an act against political opposition and is condemnable.”
On 5 October, Sahara and Inquilab reported that AAP MP Sanjay Singh had been arrested in connection with the Delhi liquor scam case.
Nanded hospital deaths
The deaths of 37 patients, including 18 newborns, at a Nanded hospital within a span of four days got significant coverage in the Urdu press. Other topics that got coverage was the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2023, which went to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman for their work on mRNA vaccines that helped save millions of lives during the pandemic.
On 5 October, Sahara dedicated its editorial to deaths linked to cough syrups manufactured in India. Earlier this week, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) declared a cough syrup and an anti-allergy syrup made by Gujarat-based Norris Medicines “toxic”. This came months after Indian-made cough syrups were linked to 141 children’s deaths worldwide.
In its editorial, Sahara wrote that the greed of Indian pharmaceutical companies has made them “murderers of humanity”.
“The country is embroiled in controversies and is being defamed,” the editorial stated. “There’s a need to take the strictest action against the greedy pharmaceutical companies and save humanity, which is writhing in the bloody grasp of profit. Otherwise, the dream of Vishwa Guru will not be fulfilled.”
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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