New Delhi: The war of words between the Congress and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over Rahul Gandhi’s speech in Cambridge was on the front pages of the Urdu press all week.
During his visit to the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom earlier this week, Gandhi had claimed that democracy in India was under attack by the ruling dispensation. His speech drew much condemnation, with both BJP spokespersons and Union ministers such as Kiren Rijiju accusing the Congress leader of giving India a “bad name” abroad.
Other events that made the news this week include former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia’s rearrest in the alleged excise scam; the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) raids on the residence of former Bihar chief ministers Lalu Prasad Yadav and Rabri Devi; and Pakistani police descending on former prime minister Imran Khan’s residence to arrest him in connection with the Toshakhana case.
ThePrint brings you a weekly roundup from the Urdu press.
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Rahul Gandhi and Cambridge speech row
In his speech at Cambridge on 4 March — titled ‘Learning to Listen in the 21st Century’ — Gandhi claimed that the Narendra Modi dispensation had eroded India’s democratic values, undermined its constitutional institutions, put many opposition leaders under surveillance, stifled protests and dissenting voices, and attacked minorities and the press.
The speech prompted many in the ruling establishment, such as Union ministers Rijiju and Anurag Thakur, to accuse him of “maligning India on foreign soil”.
On 6 March, Sahara reported another salvo by Gandhi during a conversation with the Indian Journalists’ Association in London. The Congress leader said it wasn’t the fault of the country but of the prime minister, and claimed that those who question him or his government are attacked.
In an editorial the same day, Siasat accused the BJP of having adopted double standards when it comes to speeches by Indian leaders abroad. There have been several instances, the editorial said, of Prime Minister Narendra Modi giving speeches and statements that it perhaps didn’t behove him to make.
For instance, the editorial said, the prime minister had been quoted saying on foreign soil that there had been no development in India in the past seven decades — practically denying all the progress made in that time.
Another instance, said the editorial, was when the prime minister visited Japan just after demonetisation and made some comments that drew criticism back home. This was referring to the PM’s address to the Indian diaspora in Japan in November 2016.
It went on to say that while a country is represented by every citizen, a prime minister who represents the people has the greatest responsibility.
On 8 March, Inquilab’s front page carried news of the verbal spat between the Congress and the BJP after Rahul Gandhi’s speeches in London.
The news report said the BJP had accused Gandhi of insulting India’s democracy abroad. According to the report, while Gandhi had said that India’s “weak democracy” was its own problem and it was up to the people of the country to find a solution, the BJP’s Ravi Shankar Prasad called his statements a “lie” and a “distortion of facts”.
On 8 March, both Siasat and Inquilab reported Gandhi as saying that one couldn’t expect India to have a good relationship with Pakistan while the neighbour continued to “promote terrorism in India”.
In its editorial on 10 March, Inquilab said while it was a matter of principle that one shouldn’t make an issue of the domestic politics of one’s own country on foreign soil, it’s important to have a broader perspective on the matter. The internet, the editorial said, has ensured that anything happening in one corner of this global village of ours becomes common knowledge in the other.
Moreover, the editorial said, India’s image abroad had already taken a hit, especially because of the growing instances of communal violence, inflammatory comments and speeches made by leaders such as former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma, and the growing “bulldozer Raj”. The BJP leaders who are outraged over Gandhi’s speeches must begin to think about this too, the editorial said.
Manish Sisodia’s arrest
The aftermath of the arrest of former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia continued to make page-one news in the Urdu papers.
On 6 March, Sahara reported that nine opposition leaders, including Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, had written to Modi saying that Sisodia’s arrest showed that India had turned into a dictatorship.
“The blatant misuse of central agencies against the members of the opposition appears to suggest that we have transitioned from being a democracy to an autocracy,” read the letter, which included signatories such as West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav.
On 7 March, Siasat reported that Sisodia had been sent to judicial custody for 15 days. A day later, the paper reported that the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is investigating charges of corruption against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader, had questioned him in Tihar Jail, where he’s currently lodged after being arrested by the CBI in February.
The report also quoted Kejriwal, whose cabinet Sisodia belonged to, as having accused the Modi government of punishing people “who are working for the poor”.
A separate report in the paper said that AAP leaders Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj had been sworn into the Kejriwal cabinet in place of Sisodia and former health minister Satyender Jain, who was arrested last May on money laundering charges.
On 10 March, Sahara’s lead report said that Sisodia, already in jail, had now also been arrested by the ED and would be produced in court.
Trouble for Lalu
The CBI’s raids on the residence of former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and his wife Rabri Devi in connection with the alleged land-for-jobs scam also made front-page headlines in all three Urdu papers.
The raids, which continued Friday, are in connection with allegations that Yadav, as Union minister for railways, had given people employment in the railways in return for land.
On 7 March, Inquilab, Siasat, and Sahara reported the raids on their front pages.
In its report, Inquilab said that the raid at Rabri Devi’s official residence had been conducted after Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav — Lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi’s son and a leader of the Rashtriya Janata Dal — had already left.
In its report, Sahara carried Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi’s allegation that the raids were the BJP’s attempt at suppressing opposition voices.
The same day, Inquilab also reported that the CBI would interrogate Lalu Prasad.
On 8 March, Siasat and Sahara carried a report that the Yadav family had been questioned in the case. The report said that after knocking at Rabri Devi’s residence in Bihar, the CBI had gone on to their MP daughter Misa Bharti’s house in Delhi.
Sahara’s headline for the report said “CBI interrogated Lalu Yadav for three hours”.
Imran Khan and Toshakhana case
Former Pakistani prime minister and his troubles involving the alleged Toshakhana scam made front-page news in Urdu newspapers.
Khan has been accused of buying expensive gifts given to him in an official capacity at a discount from the state depositary, or the Toshakhana, and selling them for a profit when he was prime minister.
On 6 March, Sahara reported that the Islamabad Police had reached Khan’s residence in Lahore’s Zaman Park area to arrest him. A day later, Siasat reported that Khan, a former cricketer-turned-politician, had leapt into his neighbour’s house to escape arrest.
The same day, Sahara reported that a sessions court in Islamabad had turned down a petition asking for the suspension of Khan’s arrest warrant, thus paving the way for his arrest.
Holi and communal troubles
The communal violence in Meerut ahead of Holi made front-page news on 6 March. The violence, according to Siasat, erupted after an altercation over the collection of donations for the festival and left six people wounded. The paper also reported that police had been deployed in large numbers after the incident.
The same day, Sahara reported that the All India Hindu Mahasabha had issued a call to play Holi in Mathura’s Shahi Idgah, a disputed site. According to the report, this call came after a meeting.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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