New Delhi: The Supreme Court’s decision to hear a petition questioning the validity of the 2016 demonetisation and the 1991 Places of Worship Act, and its split decision on the Karnataka hijab row kept Urdu papers busy this week.
On 12 October, the Supreme Court asked the central government to spell out its stand on petitions challenging the Places of Worship (Special Provisions Act) 1991 — a law that prohibits conversion of a place of worship and says that their character should be maintained as they were on 15 August 1947.
On 13 October, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a petition on the validity of the Modi government’s 2016 decision to invalidate India’s high-value banknotes of Rs 500 and 1,000. The same day, a division bench of Justices Hemant Gupta and Sudhanshu Dhulia, delivered a split verdict in the Karnataka hijab row — which means that the case will now have to be heard by a bigger bench.
While Urdu newspapers carried reactions by different politicians, editorials said that wearing the hijab was a fundamental right and it was now up to the petitioners to convince the higher bench of this.
Apart from the various cases in the Supreme Court, Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh’s death on 10 October also received wide coverage in Urdu papers, as did the row over the Shiv Sena’s symbol.
ThePrint brings you a weekly round-up from the Urdu press.
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Hijab ‘democratic right of a woman’
On 14 October, Siasat, Inquilab, and Roznama Rashtriya Sahara took the Supreme Court’s split judgment in the Karnataka hijab row as their front page lead.
In its lead headline that day, Inquilab wrote that the Supreme Court’s decision didn’t come because of a difference of opinion among judges.
The paper also published the reactions of several politicians and organisations — including a statement by All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen’s chief Asaduddin Owaisi, who accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of having raked up the issue unnecessarily.
Both Inquilab and Sahara also carried the reaction of Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind president Maulana Arshad Madani. The papers quoted Madani as having called hijab a fundamental right and saying that after the judgment, his expectations from the Supreme Court have risen.
Inquilab also carried Karnataka Education Minister B.C Nagesh’s reaction to the verdict. In his statement, Nagesh said that women from around the world were protesting the hijab and that he expected better from the Supreme Court.
Siasat carried a separate report on its front page on Justice Dhulia’s decision to set aside the Karnataka government’s decision to ban hijab in pre-university colleges. In its report, the newspaper also said that the Indian Constitution was a document of trust.
The newspaper also carried the reaction of All India Muslim Personal Law Board general secretary Maulana Khalid Saifullah Rahmani welcoming Dhulia’s opinion.
In its reaction on the same day, Siasat wrote that the issue could now be referred to a larger bench and that it was now up to the petitioners in the case — among them the girls who were barred from entering a government pre-university college in Udupi in January — to convince the court.
The decision, and the Karnataka government’s subsequent ban, was a violation of fundamental rights and it was only through effective representation that a certain verdict from the court can be sought, the editorial said.
In its editorial, Sahara said that hijab was protected as a fundamental right under the Indian Constitution and that it was the democratic right of a woman — something that Justice Dhulia also mentioned in his verdict.
The editorial further said that the Constitution guarantees individual rights and religious freedom, and that the hijab falls under this category. Therefore, it added, society cannot interfere with it, nor can courts impose their will.
Mulayam Singh’s death
On 11 October, all three Urdu newspapers carried reports on former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav’s death as their front page lead. The papers also reported Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had announced three days of state mourning.
In its report, Inquilab wrote that a wave of sorrow had swept Uttar Pradesh. It also carried the reactions of several prominent politicians and leaders, such as President Droupadi Murmu, Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and interim Congress leader Sonia Gandhi.
Remembering Yadav’s legacy, Sahara said in its editorial that such leaders aren’t born every day.
On 12 October, all three papers carried reports of Yadav’s funeral on their front pages. Inquilab reported that a sea of people had gathered at the Mela Ground in his ancestral village of Saifai to pay their last respects, and that there was no space “even for a foot”. It took more than an hour to cover the distance of 500 metres between the leader’s ancestral home and the Mela Ground, the report said.
In its editorial the same day, Inquilab said that the national political scene had lost a leader who was connected with the land and who stood for equality and the well-being of backward classes and minorities.
The editorial also said that despite being elected to Parliament and the Uttar Pradesh assembly several times, and holding the post of not only the state’s chief minister but also having served as India’s defence minister, Mulayam stayed connected with people.
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Petitions on demonetisation and Places of Worship Act
On 13 October, all three newspapers reported that the Supreme Court asked the Modi government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to respond to a petition challenging the validity of demonetisation in 2016.
In a report on its front page on 13 October, Siasat wrote that the Supreme Court said that while it was well aware of its limits on judicial review of government policies, it must still examine if due process was followed.
On the same day, Inquilab and Sahara reported on their front pages that the Supreme Court had asked the central government to file its response to petitions challenging the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991.
The newspaper reported that Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind also filed its petition countering the ones challenging the 1991 Act. In its petition, the Jamiat, one of India’s largest Muslim organsiations, said that if the petition challenging the 1991 law is entertained, it could open the doors to an influx of cases against mosques across the country.
The Shiv Sena squabble
The ongoing battle over the Shiv Sena’s bow and arrow symbol and the Election Commission of India’s eventual freeze on the symbol also jostled for space on the front pages of all three newspapers.
In its editorial on 10 October, Sahara said Uddhav Thackeray, son of Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray and the former chief minister of Maharashtra, had lost much in just five months. At stake, the paper said, is the election symbol, which the Election Commission had frozen following a dispute between Thackeray and Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s factions.
If Uddhav is unable to keep the symbol, the party could be taken away from him, the editorial said, adding that the Thackeray family would have never imagined they would have to see this day.
On 11 October, Inquilab reported that days after it had frozen Sena’s ‘bow and arrow’ symbol, the Election Commission had allotted Sena Uddhav and his faction the symbol of the flaming torch.
For context, the Election Commission had also allocated the name Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) to his party.
On 13 October, an Inquilab piece raised questions on why Shinde’s faction would even need an election symbol. The faction is ruling Maharashtra together with the BJP, the editorial said, adding that it’s even backing the BJP candidate (Murji Patel) for the Andheri East assembly segment next month. Since the group isn’t even participating in the election, why would it need a symbol, the editorial asked.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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