New Delhi: Urdu newspapers hailed Congress leader and Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi’s return to Parliament this week, saying that the development has helped “restore faith in democracy”.
On Monday, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla reinstated Rahul’s membership to the House after the Supreme Court stayed his conviction in a 2019 defamation case.
In editorials, Urdu newspapers like Siasat and Inquilab said that many political observers were worried that the Congress leader’s membership would not be reinstated. “The political atmosphere (created by) Rahul’s return to Parliament has helped restore faith in democracy,” read a piece in Siasat.
Besides this, other developments in the monsoon session of Parliament — such as the passage of the controversial Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023 — also took up significant space on the front pages and editorial sections of the Urdu press. As did the debate on the ‘Motion of No-Confidence’ brought against the Narendra Modi government by the Opposition, the communal violence in Haryana, and the ethnic clashes in Manipur.
The newspapers also covered the progress of the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO’s) third lunar mission, Chandrayaan-3, which is now inching closer to the Moon. In a report on 10 August, Siasat carried ISRO’s statement that the spacecraft had carried out another orbit reduction manoeuvre and was even closer to the Moon.
Here’s a roundup of the news covered by the Urdu press this week.
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Rahul Gandhi
All three Urdu papers — Siasat, Inquilab, and Sahara — reported the news of the SC’s stay on Rahul Gandhi’s conviction in the ‘Modi surname’ defamation case, as well as his return to Parliament this week.
In its editorial on 8 August — a day after the Wayanad MP’s membership was reinstated — Inquilab said that Rahul’s return to Parliament should be welcomed by the government as well as Opposition. It was a good thing that Rahul’s membership was reinstated without further delay, the editorial went on to say, because many political observers had been worried that it wouldn’t happen during the monsoon session, adding that the it’s gratifying to see that the sceptics — including the newspaper — had been proved wrong.
In its editorial the same day, Siasat wrote about the role that Rahul could play in the Opposition’s Indian National Developmental Alliance, or INDIA. According to the editorial, the manner in which the burden of leadership of the Opposition has indirectly fallen on Rahul has given some hope to everyone. The obstacles created by the government or other political rivals in the fulfillment of these hopes are proving futile, the editorial said, adding that Rahul is getting support from the people of the country.
Parliament
Known informally as the Delhi Services bill, the proposed GNCTD law, which gives the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi — a central government appointee — the final say on Delhi’s civil services. The Opposition — including Delhi’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) — sees the bill as an attack on federalism.
In a 10 August editorial, Siasat said that through the Delhi Services bill, attempts were being made to strengthen the central government’s grip over the national capital — a “violation of the principles of federal governance”.
Some parties are supporting this move to protect their own interests and also out of fear of central investigation agencies, the editorial went on to claim. These parties, it said, need to understand that if another outfit is being targeted today, it could be them tomorrow.
All three newspapers also reported the debates in Parliament on the ‘Motion of No-Confidence’ that Congress MP and Deputy Leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi brought against the government in the House. They reported in great detail the debate on the motion, including Rahul Gandhi’s speech calling the Manipur ethnic clashes an attack on ‘Bharat Mata’, Home Minister Amit Shah’s response backing the state’s Biren Singh government and finally, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s attack on Congress.
Nuh and Manipur violence
All three newspapers reported the Haryana government’s decision to conduct a demolition drive in Nuh in the aftermath of last week’s communal violence. Taking suo motu cognizance of the drive in Nuh, the Punjab and Haryana High Court stayed the demolition drive on 6 August, wondering if it was an act of “ethnic cleansing”.
In its editorial on the demolition drive, Siasat observed that in India, there’s a trend to link politics and religion. With one assembly election or another being held every year, this trend of mixing religion and politics has caused the atmosphere in the country to deteriorate rapidly, it said.
On 8 August, all three newspapers reported Hindu mahapanchayats in Haryana calling for a ban on Muslim businesses.
An editorial in Sahara the same day questioned the Haryana government’s demolition drive in Nuh. Why, the editorial asked, was a decision taken to demolish people’s houses merely on the basis of allegations.
Can any government punish a person who’s merely suspected of a crime by treating them as guilty, the editorial asked.
Newspapers reported the Supreme Court’s decision to appoint committees for Manipur. On 8 August, the court said it was appointing former Mumbai Police Commissioner Dattatray Padsalgikar as the “overall monitor” of a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into allegations of sexual violence in Manipur. It also appointed a panel of former high court justices to oversee relief and rehabilitation in violence-hit Manipur.
On 9 August, Inquilab also reported the ruckus in the monsoon session of the Uttar Pradesh assembly after the state’s finance minister Suresh Khanna tabled a report on the 1980 Moradabad riots in which 83 people were killed and scores more were wounded.
An inquiry commission headed by retired high court judge M.P. Saxena had first submitted the report in November 1983.
When the report was presented in Parliament, the Samajwadi Party questioned the Yogi government’s motive behind bringing up a 40-year-old report. However, the latter responded by saying that it was bringing out the truth.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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