New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Ramesh Bidhuri’s “unparliamentary” language against Bahujan Samaj Party’s (BSP) Kunwar Danish Ali drew outrage from the Urdu press this week.
While addressing the Lok Sabha during the five-day special parliamentary session, Bidhuri used communal slurs against Ali, the MP from Uttar Pradesh’s Amroha. Although the words were later expunged, the opposition MPs have been demanding the suspension of the South Delhi MP.
Editorials in all three major Urdu newspapers — Siasat, Inquilab, and Roznama Rashtriya Sahara — panned the comments as condemnable.
On 26 September, Siasat described Bidhuri’s words as “extremely disgusting, criminal and showing a sick mentality”. The editorial said that the BJP had to face public anger and criticism and although it quietly expressed regret over Bidhuri’s language, an attempt is also being made to create an “atmosphere” against Danish Ali.
“Two BJP MPs have sent letters to the Speaker (Om Birla) demanding an investigation against Danish Ali,” it said, calling this an attempt to indirectly justify Bidhuri’s “dirty and obscene words”.
Apart from the Parliament row, the front pages and editorials of Urdu papers also gave significant space to the souring ties between India and Canada over the killing of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar and the intensifying poll campaign in Madhya Pradesh.
Here’s a roundup of all the news that made it to the front pages and editorials of Urdu newspapers this week.
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Ramesh versus Danish Ali
In its editorial on 24 September, Siasat said Bidhuri’s words were a matter of shame not only for the BJP but also for the country as a whole.
“This reflects his extremely degraded and condemnable thinking. This shows that the BJP has brought people with such mentality into Parliament. The remarks made are not only against Danish Ali but also show his (Bidhuri) contempt towards all Muslims,” it said.
On 24 September, Sahara editorial said that there is nothing surprising in either the “indecent, unparliamentary and derogatory words” used against Danish Ali or the tone in which they were used.
“This (situation) has not reached this point in a day. What should not be ignored is that it’s the same country where lynching accused were welcomed by a minister with garlands,” it said, referring to Union minister Jayant Sinha garlanding eight men convicted for lynching a Muslim man in Jharkhand, in 2018.
The editorial further said: “The case of acquittal of Bilkis Bano’s accused is still going on in the court, but it was unimaginable that such hate speech against Muslims could make its way to Parliament.”
On 27 September, Inquilab reported on its front page that Bidhuri was elected unopposed to the post of president of the Delhi State Kabaddi Association.
BJP, politics & MP polls
Political goings-on continued to keep the editorials of all three Urdu newspapers abuzz, especially in light of the upcoming assembly and general elections.
Five states — Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram, and Telangana — are due to hold assembly elections this year. The general election, meanwhile, will be held next year.
In an editorial on 23 September, Siasat focused on Janata Dal (Secular)’s tie-up with the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) for the general election.
The tie-up, announced earlier this week, came four months after the Congress swept into power in Karnataka with 135 seats. While the BJP managed to win 66 seats, the JD(S) was left with only 19 seats.
In its editorial, Siasat said that the tie-up between the BJP and the JD(S) was despite the fact that the two parties fought bitterly against each other in Karnataka.
Editorials specifically focused on the upcoming assembly election in Madhya Pradesh. On 27 September, Siasat wrote about the conundrum that Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was facing. The election is a challenge for the BJP, a party which is facing more problems each day, the editorial said. This is especially so since several disgruntled leaders are switching over to the Congress, it said, adding that this includes some leaders who had left to join the BJP with Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia in 2020.
Significantly, BJP leaders Pramod Tandon, Ramkishore Shukla, and Dinesh Malhar joined the Congress earlier this week. Tandon, a leader considered close to Scindia, was among the 22 MLAs who had switched over to the BJP in 2020.
In its 28 September editorial, Inquilab said Prime Minister Narendra Modi made no mention of Shivraj Chouhan’s welfare schemes such as the Ladli Behna Yojana 2023 while addressing a rally in the state. That the CM made no objection to what could be seen as a ‘ghor apmaan’ (grave insult) to a senior BJP leader like him could come as a surprise to some, the editorial said. But the truth is that Chouhan, who’s often referred to in the state as ‘mama’ (uncle), is powerless to do much about it because he is at the mercy of the party, Inquilab said.
In an editorial on 29 September, Sahara said the BJP is afraid that the Congress is trying to project itself as “a hardcore Hindutva” party. The BJP fears that this strategy could send it to the grave in the state, according to the editorial.
The BJP wants to protect its fortress in Madhya Pradesh, but its strategic capabilities appear to be on the decline, it said, adding that the party’s central leadership is imposing decisions on senior leaders in the state.
Urdu newspapers also reported the outrage that followed after the rape of a 12-year-old in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh. The girl had fallen unconscious after walking 8 km pleading for aid, but no one had come to her rescue.
India-Canada ties
The diplomatic row between India and Canada over the killing of Nijjar, the Khalistan Tiger Force chief and a designated terrorist in India, also made it to the Urdu press. All three Urdu newspapers gave coverage to the news that it was intelligence sharing among the Five Eyes partners — the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand — that prompted Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegation of Indian agents’ possible involvement in the killing.
The newspapers also covered the National Investigation Agency’s crackdown on “Khalistani separatists”, including confiscation of properties owned by Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, the outlawed spokesperson of the banned Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) in Punjab and Chandigarh.
On 28 September, Inquilab’s lead report was on the NIA raids at 53 locations across Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Delhi, and Chandigarh. This, according to the report, was a major crackdown on the “nexus between Khalistan militants, gangsters, and drug smugglers”.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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