New Delhi: Although elections remained the flavour of the season in the Urdu press this week, the ongoing debate on a caste census got coverage in at least one editorial this week.
An editorial in Siasat on 6 November referred to Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s remarks on caste surveys at a public meeting last week. While campaigning in Chattisgarh on 3 November, Shah said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was not opposed to the idea of a caste census but that it would not do “politics of votes” on the issue.
The editorial said if what the home minister said is true, then the BJP should declare its intention to hold such a census at a national level. It also emphasised “the need for concrete action instead of mere verbal assurances”, saying the BJP should substantiate its claims by initiating caste censuses in the states it rules.
The newspapers also covered the Bihar assembly passing a bill to raise the state’s quota cap to 65 percent from 50 percent. If passed, this, in addition to the existing 10 percent Economically Backward Class (EWS) quota, will take the state’s total reservation to 75 percent.
Also reported was Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s controversial remarks on the role of women’s education in population control. In comments that have since been panned as derogatory, Nitish told the Bihar assembly on 8 November that “it’s the husband’s acts” that lead to more births. “However, with education, a woman knows how to restrain him…this is the reason the numbers (of births) are coming down,” the Bihar CM said. He has since apologised for his remarks.
Other topics that were covered in the papers were assembly elections and Delhi’s pollution levels.
Here’s a roundup of all the topics that made front-page news and headlines in the Urdu press this week.
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Communalism in election campaigns
Campaigning for elections in five states — Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Mizoram, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan — kept the Urdu press abuzz, with all three Urdu newspapers, Siasat, Roznama Rashtriya Sahara, and Inquilab, dedicating several of their editorials to the subject.
On 4 November, Siasat’s editorial suggested that surveys indicated potential defeats for the BJP and improved electoral performance for the Congress. This, in addition to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “diminishing popularity”, would pose a significant challenge to the BJP in the next year’s parliamentary election, the editorial said, adding that the party’s attempts to mimic others’ manifestos show its “duplicity and double standards”.
The newspaper’s 7 November editorial voiced concerns about provocative statements and allege attempts to spread communalism during these elections, particularly by the BJP’s candidates. The editorial was referring to a speech by Sandeep Dayma, a now-expelled leader of the BJP. In a speech in Rajasthan’s Tijara assembly constituency, Dayma said that a growing number of “mosques and gurdwaras in the area” would eventually become “an ulcer” and that they should be “uprooted”.
According to the Siasat editorial, despite many BJP leaders openly resorting to provocative and divisive statements, no concrete action has been taken against them. It also added that some leaders have moved on from targeting Muslims to attacking Sikhs.
In another editorial on 9 November, Siasat accused the BJP of being “discriminatory” against non-BJP states. The BJP, it claimed, is providing additional funding to the states it rules, with party leaders such as Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel even openly asking for votes on that basis.
It was referring to Patel’s remarks at a public meeting at Dhamnod in Madhra Pradesh’s Ratlam district earlier this week. At the meeting, Patel had reportedly said that the advantage of a ‘double-engine sarkar’ — a term BJP leaders commonly use to refer to the party being in government at both the central and state levels — is that the states under the party’s rule receive additional development funds.
This admission, according to the editorial, confirms the Opposition’s allegations of discrimination in fund allocation.
On 10 November — a day after the BJP expelled Dayma for his speech following backlash from Sikh leaders including former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh — Inquilab demanded legal action against him. The speech drew backlash, the editorial said, and merely expelling the leader isn’t sufficient.
On the same day, Sahara’s editorial said that the BJP, despite boasting about “transparent, impartial, and independent elections”, had strayed far from such ideals.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who previously disparaged freebies, was himself offering these at every election rally, it said.
“During a campaign in Chhattisgarh, PM Modi announced that his government would provide free meals to 80 crore people for the next five years. Although it’s not clear yet if his government will get another term in next year’s parliamentary elections, he seems to have already taken his victory as a foregone conclusion,” the editorial said.
In its editorial the same day, Siasat wrote about the shifting landscape of Telangana’s politics, where “party-switching and new alliances are currently underway”. According to the editorial, the BJP has strategically partnered with actor Pawan Kalyan’s Janasena Party — a crucial move, especially given the party’s “consistent support during critical moments”.
Environmental and ‘political’ pollution
Air pollution remained a hot topic, especially with Delhi’s Air Quality Index remaining in the ‘severe’ category all this week.
In an editorial on 7 November, Siasat urged the central government to take a leadership role in dealing with the problem. A meeting of all relevant states should be held and suggestions should be sought from them to deal with the problem, it said.
“Failing to do so will continue to impact public health, and also expose the governments claiming to strive for a healthier India by revealing their lack of concern for people’s well-being,” it said.
On 9 November, Sahara emphasised the need to identify the real cause of the rising pollution in Delhi and other major cities. The editorial stressed the importance of addressing two kinds of pollution — environmental and “political”, both of which “pose significant risks to our lives”.
“Despite the hazardous air quality affecting the entire country, the government’s indifferent attitude and political blame games persist, highlighting the urgent need for practical steps rather than mere rhetoric and accusations,” it said, adding that just as air pollution “is a great enemy of human lives, political pollution must be eradicated for the well-being of society”.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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