New Delhi: Action by central investigative agencies in various parts of the country including Delhi, where the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided the National Herald newspaper’s office and sealed the premises of private firm Young Indian, occupied prime space in Urdu newspapers this week even as inflation remained a focus area.
Debates in Parliament on the inflation issue and the government’s reply met with some criticism, but India’s successes at the Commonwealth Games too got duly recorded.
ThePrint brings you a wrap of what made headlines in Urdu newspapers this week.
Action by central agencies
The ED’s raids in the premises of National Herald and Young Indian Pvt. Ltd. — which acquired the newspaper’s publisher in 2010, and in which Sonia and Rahul Gandhi are said to have majority stake — at Delhi’s Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg kept the focus sharply on central agencies and their alleged misuse, for much of the week. As did the National Investigative Agency’s (NIA’s) interrogation of a student of the Darul Uloom Deoband, an Islamic seminary in UP’s Saharanpur.
On Thursday, both Roznama Rashtriya Sahara and Inquilab carried lead stories on their front pages about the sealing of the Young Indian office, which had left the Congress seething. Inquilab also wrote that both the headquarters of the primary opposition party and the residence of its interim president Sonia Gandhi had been barricaded.
A day earlier, the lead story had been about the raids in the National Herald office, along with photos. The paper carried allegations by Congress leaders that like the British took action against freedom fighters, the central government too is trying to intimidate the opposition. The same day, Sahara wrote that the matter of the ED action had also been raised in the Rajya Sabha.
An editorial published in Inquilab Wednesday said that the conviction rate in ED cases was very poor, which — the newspaper claimed — meant that the agency may raid, but cannot defend its cases in court. The paper further claimed that going by past records, less than one in 100 people charged by ED are convicted in court.
A Friday story on the front page of Sahara said that Varsha Raut, wife of Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut, too had been summoned by the ED in the Patra Chawl redevelopment case.
On the same day, Siasat reported on the front page that Raut’s ED remand had been extended till 8 August. On Tuesday, Siasat had led with a story on Sanjay Raut being sent to ED remand.
In a seven-column flyer Monday, Inquilab reported that the NIA had conducted raids in several states in connection with an Islamic State module. The paper reported that Darul Uloom Deoband student Mohammed Farooq had been detained by the NIA and UP Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) on the basis of a suspicion. He had been interrogated for around eight hours before being released.
An editorial published Friday in Siasat stated that the government had chosen to speak the language of force and use “strong arm” tactics against those opposed to it, and has taken to calling its critics anti-national. Those who continue to criticise have the central agencies unleashed against them. In criticising his own government, BJP MP Varun Gandhi will not be getting a ministerial berth, but he is gaining the confidence of the people, the piece said.
Also read: National Herald — 80-yr journey of paper at centre of ED-Congress row started with freedom battle
Problem of inflation
In the lead story of its front page Friday, Siasat announced that the Congress would undertake countrywide agitations over inflation and GST. The paper quoted Rahul Gandhi as saying that he is not afraid of the prime minister and the truth cannot be suppressed.
On Tuesday, Siasat recorded on its front page that the Rajya Sabha would see a debate on inflation that day. Another front page story the same day was about a reply given by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament, in which she had said that despite precarious conditions in the country and abroad, India’s inflation rate had been controlled at seven per cent.
In an editorial published the same day, the paper accused the government of stalling a Parliament discussion on the matter of inflation and price rise, and then turning a blind eye to reality. But doing so, the paper wrote, will not change the reality that inflation has crossed all limits in the country.
In its front page lead story Tuesday, Inquilab said that the opposition has slammed the government in Lok Sabha on inflation. It also carried a photo on its front page of Trinamool Lok Sabha MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar nibbling on a raw brinjal to highlight the issue of rise in cooking fuel prices.
A Sahara editorial published Thursday said claimed that ministers and MPs of the incumbent political party have been telling opposition leaders that when 80 crore people are being fed for free by the government and the poorest households have been given bank accounts and electricity, what inflation were they talking about! However, the reality, the paper added, is that the country had never seen such inflation in the past 30-40 years.
SC on freebies
On Thursday, a report in Inquilab said that the Supreme Court had observed that promises of freebies made by political parties ahead of elections were a “serious economic issue”, and asked for suggestions on the composition of an expert body to examine and resolve the matter.
In an editorial published the same day, Siasat alleged that the BJP government at the Centre too tried to take advantage of benefits provided by it — such as free food — and yet objects to similar action by opposition party-led state governments and other parties.
It further said that politics in the matter of public welfare should be avoided and everyone should be encouraged to bring relief to people.
‘Operation Lotus’
Inquilab carried a front page report Wednesday about three Congress MLAs from Jharkhand who were detained and then arrested after allegedly being found with Rs 49 lakh. The paper claimed that the MLAs had accepted during a CID interrogation that they had been to Assam to meet a “big leader” in Guwahati.
It has been alleged that the BJP was trying to lure the MLAs to bring down the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-Congress-Rashtriya Janata Dal coalition government in the state.
Inquilab had carried a front page story Sunday about the Congress accusing the BJP of trying to topple the Jharkhand government. The paper added that while the Congress had suspended all three MLAs from the party, “BJP’s operation Lotus” had been exposed.
Commonwealth wins
India’s successes at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham consistently made it to the front pages of Urdu newspapers. Inquilab and Sahara wrote Tuesday that weightlifter Achintya Sheuli had given India its third gold medal in the Games this year. Sahara also highlighted that it was the sixth overall medal in the category.
A day before, the paper had written about Jeremy Lalrinnunga picking up a gold medal, also in weightlifting.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
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