‘Protesting youth were educated & jobless’ — Urdu press links Parliament breach to unemployment

ThePrint’s round-up of how the Urdu media covered various news events through the week, and the editorial positions some of them took.

Illustration: Ramandeep Kaur | ThePrint

New Delhi: The developments in the ongoing Winter Session of Parliament dominated this week’s news, with the Urdu press slamming the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government for “evading opposition questions” in Parliament. 

Last week’s security breach in Parliament led to uproar this week, with as many as 146 MPs from the opposition — 100 from the Lok Sabha alone — being suspended over their protests. The Opposition has been demanding a statement from the Minister of Home Affairs, Amit Shah, on the security breach.  

In its editorial on 21 December, Roznama Rashtriya Sahara — one of India’s three prominent Urdu newspapers — blamed the breach on unemployment levels in the country. The Modi government, it said, has failed to tackle the problem of educated unemployment.

Other prominent developments covered by the Urdu press included political parties’ preparations for the upcoming general elections, as well as the court hearings in two prominent temple-mosque disputes — the Gyanvapi mosque-Kashi Vishwanath temple case and the Shahi Eidgah-Krishna Janmabhoomi case.

Here’s a rundown of all the news that made the front pages and editorials of the Urdu press this week.

Winter Session and parliamentary disruptions

Editorials in all three prominent Urdu newspapers — Sahara, Siasat, and Inquilab —have been critical of the Narendra Modi government’s handling of opposition protests.   

In its editorial on 19 December, Inquilab argued that the Modi government evades accountability. As an example, the editorial cites the opposition’s demand for a statement from the prime minister on this year’s ethnic violence in Manipur. The editorial said that despite repeated calls during the Monsoon Session in July and August, Modi never responded. 

“The situation in Manipur remains far from normal,” the editorial said. “(With regard to the suspensions now), the Opposition could consider mass resignation, but it won’t yield any results because bills will be passed in their absence, rendering the entire democratic exercise futile. While the current Lok Sabha’s tenure is lengthy, every moment matters.”

In an editorial the same day, Siasat criticised the BJP government by saying that the entire incident of suspending opposition MPs is a “deviation from the democratic and parliamentary duties they’re entrusted with”. 

“The action of suspending (opposition) members from both Houses suggests that questioning the government is not welcome. In a democracy, it’s the government’s responsibility to answer questions from the opposition and the public. They are accountable to the people, and the opposition’s parliamentary members are representatives elected by the public,” the editorial said.

It appears that the BJP, which ran the 2014 parliamentary race with the slogan ‘Congress-mukt (free) Bharat’, now wants to ensure an ‘Opposition-mukt Bharat’, it said.   “Opposition parties in several states of the country have been targeted under the guise of opposing the Congress,” the editorial said, adding that the aim was to “erase their existence”.

Sahara’s 21 December editorial linked the breach of Parliament’s security to the “frustration due to joblessness and rising prices”. 

“Investigations revealed that the protesting youths were highly educated and jobless, with no criminal background or affiliations. The government’s response of sidelining elected representatives instead of addressing these concerns seems odd, because, even while condemning disruptions, it also dismisses unemployment-related frustrations,” the editorial said. 

Siasat’s editorial on 22 December said that the current dispensation has made it a habit to suspend opposition members from the House and evade their questions. 

“This situation has now reached its peak. As the government nears the end of its second term and with the parliamentary elections approaching, political disagreements are intensifying,” it said. But manipulating, even disregarding, democratic principles is a “distressing trend”, the editorial said, adding that people of the country “expect the government, the Opposition, and all stakeholders to fulfill their expectations and meet the aspirations of the citizens”.

General elections

The newspapers also reported developments in both the BJP-led NDA and Opposition in the runup to elections, with editorials viewing the BJP’s appointments of chief ministers as a move in preparation for the next year’s parliamentary elections.    

In its editorial on 17 December, Siasat said the BJP’s strategic chief ministerial picks in the states of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan indicated its early preparation for upcoming elections. 

After winning elections in all three states this month, the BJP picked Vishnu Deo Sai, a tribal leader, Mohan Yadav, an OBC, and Bhajanlal Sharma, a Brahmin, as CM in Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.      

“This move emphasises the BJP’s focus on caste-based equations and is aimed at tapping into previously inaccessible segments — particularly targeting 10-15 percent of Muslim votes. This situation raises concerns for opposition parties,” the editorial said, urging the opposition to up its electoral game. 

Siasat’s editorial on 20 December focused on next year’s parliamentary elections and the INDIA bloc. It noted that the first three meetings of the alliance were successful, “creating a conducive environment that attracted the public’s attention”. 

Its 18 December editorial, meanwhile, criticised the media for focussing on the recent assembly election results in five states while allegedly ignoring other issues plaguing the country and “diverting attention to debates that create divisive environments”. “Contentious topics breed discord, widen gaps among different societal groups, and unfortunately mask the real problems by creating artificial narratives,” the editorial said. 

The election results in the five assembly polls held last month may have caused some fear and apprehension in the alliance but there’s still time to “address all the issues”. 

“It’s crucial to empathetically understand each other’s concerns and make efforts to resolve them by transcending political arrogance,” it said. “It’s essential to foster fraternity while relinquishing political egos, particularly as several parties in this coalition have conflicting interests at the state and central levels. There could also be political compulsions for these parties, necessitating a flexible approach while keeping this in mind.”

(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)