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Sitharaman illness an ‘excuse’ — Urdu press says govt stalling inflation, GST debates in House

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

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New Delhi: As has often been the case in many past sessions of parliament, this monsoon session too got off to a bumpy start amid opposition protests, suspensions of opposition MPs and an unseemly war of words over India’s first tribal president, all duly recorded by the Urdu press.

Now sacked West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee and his ‘aide’, Arpita Mukherjee, also made it to the front pages, alongside Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi and the debate over the alleged misuse of central agencies by the Modi government.

ThePrint brings you the weekly wrap.

Protests in Parliament

With the new president, a fumbling opposition leader and belligerent opposition grouping, the rocky start to the parliament’s monsoon session made it to the front pages of Urdu newspapers every day of the week.

Siasat reported Friday that Union Minister Smriti Irani, who is currently also looking after the ministry of minority affairs as an additional charge, had told the Rajya Sabha while replying to a question that the Centre has no data on attacks against minorities. The lead headline adjacent to this report, quoting Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Twitter barbs directed at the prime minister, read: ‘Ask no questions, do not seek employment’.

Elsewhere though, it was Congress Lok Sabha leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury’s reported “slip of tongue” in referring to President Droupadi Murmu as “Rashtrapatni” that was making front page headlines.

Inquilab reported Friday that Congress and BJP were on the warpath over the issue. Along with the report, the newspaper carried photos of not only Chowdhury, but also Sonia Gandhi and Smriti Irani, a day after the two clashed in the well of the House.

The same day, Roznama Rashtriya Sahara carried an article on its front page that quoted Chowdhury as saying: “I will apologise to the president, not to these infidels.”

The paper also carried news about the suspension of three Rajya Sabha members from the Aam Aadmi Party on its front page. Both Sahara and Inquilab on 27 July reported in their lead stories that 19 opposition members of Parliament (MPs) had been suspended from the upper house for a week.

On 26 July, Inquilab carried on the front page a photo of the four Congress MPs who had been suspended for the rest of the session, alongside news about the disciplinary action against them.

In a front page story on 28 July, Sahara wrote that it is possible that Rajya Sabha may see a discussion on inflation next week.

In an editorial Friday, Inquilab, echoing the opposition demand in Parliament, asked why there has been no discussion so far on inflation and unemployment. The issues are of such grave public importance that there should have been a discussion as soon as the monsoon session started, the paper wrote, so that people could hear what the government has to say about them.

Taking on the government’s stand that the discussion is awaiting Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s return to the house after her brief illness, the paper argued that there have been multiple times in the past when other cabinet ministers have filled in for an absentee colleague, but never has it happened that the discussion itself hung fire.

In a 27 July editorial, Sahara too said that the government’s reference to Sitharaman’s illness is just a “lame excuse”, since there are also two ministers of state in the finance ministry. Instead of discussing burning issues like inflation, GST on food products and unemployment, the government, the paper said, had followed a pre-set agenda in suspending opposition MPs.


Also read: Sonia & Smriti fight it out as ‘Rashtrapatni’ row sparks big BJP-Congress blowout in House


Sonia’s questioning by ED

Sonia Gandhi’s questioning by the Enforcement Directorate in relation to the money laundering case linked to National Herald during the week, which made her party take to the streets in protest, occupied prime space in Urdu newspapers.

Alongside a photo of a masked Sonia and daughter Priyanka in a car on the way to the ED office, Sahara carried a front page article on 27 July that said that the Congress chief had submitted her statement to the investigating agency.

Inquilab reported about the Congress protest against Sonia’s questioning on its front page the same day. It also quoted the party as saying that “India has become a police state”. In an inset, the paper reported that the agency had interrogated Sonia for two hours.

Siasat also carried this news on the front page, with a photo of former Congress president Rahul Gandhi sitting on the road in protest.

In an editorial titled ‘Now Sonia Gandhi is the target’ published Friday, Siasat wrote that it is common knowledge that the momentum of central agencies being used to target opposition leaders has increased in recent months, with many regional parties also being thus targetted. After Rahul Gandhi, it is now Sonia who is being targetted, the paper wrote.

Referring to her run-in with Irani, the editorial said that there can be no rationale for sloganeering against Sonia for remarks that she did not make.

Probe against Partha

The travails of now-sacked West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee — who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on 23 July in connection with its investigation into alleged irregularities in a recruitment drive by the School Service Commission — got prominent coverage in the Urdu press.

Inquilab carried the news of his removal from the post of cabinet minister on the front page Friday.

On 28 July, the paper carried news on the front page about the recovery of cash from Chatterjee’s ‘aide’, Arpita Mukherjee’s, flat. In an editorial on the same day, the paper wrote that while it is difficult to assess the veracity of the allegations against Chatterjee, Bengal is not the only state where corruption happens. “ED should also look at states where it is not asked to look,” the paper wrote.

Supreme Court on Prevention of Money Laundering Act 

On Thursday, Inquilab, Siasat and Sahara reported on their front pages that the Supreme Court had rejected 241 petitions challenging the constitutional validity of certain provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 and upheld, among others, the powers given to the ED under the Act.

Sahara wrote in its report that in the 4,700 cases investigated under PMLA as yet, only 313 arrests have been made and 388 raids have been carried out.

On 27 July, Sahara wrote on its front page that the ED had reported filing of supplementary chargesheet against former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah in the alleged Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) money laundering case.

On the BJP

In an editorial published on 28 July, Siasat wrote that it seems to have become a trend for the BJP to form government in states through the back door — after losing assembly elections — by encouraging the defection of MLAs or other leaders. Having done it in three states already, it may now be targetting the Trinamool government in West Bengal, it wrote.

On the same day Sahara carried an article on its front page about tension in Karnataka after the killing of a BJP Morcha worker.

Meanwhile, in an editorial published on 27 July, Inquilab questioned whether the BJP was doing away with its “Congress Mukt Bharat” slogan, and referred to statements by some BJP leaders who had said things like former PM Nehru’s policy in the 1962 war may be wrong but his intention was not., Congress must survive for democracy and BJP doesn’t want to end Congress. The editorial wondered whether the BJP was having a change of heart with respect to the Congress.

On 26 July, Sahara wrote in an article that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had appealed to political parties to not take their opposition to any person or party to such an extent that it turns into opposition to the country. The PM had been speaking at a public function in Kanpur.

(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)


Also read: Opposition on their knees but BJP has troubles brewing within


 

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