New Delhi: It was a busy week for the Urdu press, with the Assam government’s crackdown on child marriages, and the state of the Pakistan economy making front page news. But it was the Income Tax department’s survey at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) offices in Delhi and Mumbai, and the fallout of the Hindenburg report, that remained in focus.
Earlier this week, the I-T department conducted a survey at the BBC’s offices. Lasting 60 hours, the survey came on the back of a raging controversy over a documentary, ‘India: The Modi Question’, a two-part series about the riots that took place in Gujarat in 2002, during Narendra Modi’s tenure as chief minister. Following its release, the Modi government had blocked its streaming and sharing on social media.
The other issues that made headlines in the Urdu press were the return of bulldozers in Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur Dehat district, and the Congress party’s allegation that its leader Rahul Gandhi was denied permission to land at the Prayagraj airport.
ThePrint brings you a roundup of the news that kept the Urdu press buzzing this week.
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I-T survey at BBC
In its front-page report on 15 February, Inquilab said there had been income tax “raids” in offices across the country. The same day, Roznama Rashtriya Sahara reported that an I-T “survey” was being conducted in BBC’s Mumbai and Delhi offices.
Separate reports in the paper carried statements from the Editors’ Guild and opposition parties, who described the act as an assault on the free press.
In an editorial titled ‘Undeclared Emergency’, Sahara said that such action amounted to an assault not just on press freedom but on the constitutional democracy of India.
The editorial said that Mallikarjun Kharge, the Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha, is not wrong in saying that this is a state of undeclared Emergency.
The news remained on the front pages of three Urdu papers — Sahara, Siasat, and Inquilab — the next day too.
In its editorial the same day, Siasat wrote that a journalist who asks questions of the government is targeted in novel ways and is branded the Opposition’s mouthpiece, the same way, citizens who ask such questions are threatened.
Meanwhile, Inquilab’s 17 February editorial stated that thanks to the twin issues of the “raids” and the Hindenburg report on the Adani Group, India is making international headlines in the same year it is hosting the G20 Summit.
This was the time to better India’s image in front of other countries but just the opposite has happened, the editorial went on to say, adding that last year, India ranked a poor 150 in the Press Freedom Index.
Bulldozers at Kanpur Dehat
The demolition exercise at Kanpur Dehat also made the front pages.
On 15 February, all three newspapers reported that 39 people, including a sub-divisional magistrate, a lekhpal and a police station head, were booked after a woman and her daughter died of serious burns they suffered in a fire during an anti-encroachment exercise in a village in the district of Kanpur Dehat, Uttar Pradesh.
A report in Sahara said 32 unknown people have been booked in the case.
In an editorial the next day, Sahara stated that in the name of establishing the rule of law in Uttar Pradesh, the state government had crossed its limits.
The women failed to save their mud hut, the editorial said, but as they embraced death, the wombs of mothers across India burned.
But the state government doesn’t care about this, the report said, adding that it was busy patting itself on the back and applauding this unconstitutional act as law enforcement.
In its report on 16 February, Sahara said that the last rites of the mother-daughter were performed at Bithoor Ghat in Kanpur amid tight security. The front page also carried the statements of Congress leaders Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi condemning the incident as well as the Yogi government’s “bulldozer policy”.
Assam child marriages
Another issue that made the front page of the Urdu newspapers is the Assam government’s ongoing crackdown against child marriages.
On 16 February, Inquilab’s front page report said that the Gauhati High Court had pulled up the Himanta Biswa Sarma government for the crackdown.
An editorial in the newspaper the same day said that the policy clearly shows that the state government wants to scare the people of the state.
Adani-Hindenburg row
The fallout of a report by American short-seller Hindenburg Research continued to make headlines in Urdu papers.
In its report last month, Hindenburg accused the Adani Group of “brazen stock manipulation” and accounting fraud. The report led to billions of dollars of investor wealth being wiped out from the market and also led to overseas regulator launching investigations into the report.
On 14 February, Sahara reported the central government as having told the Supreme Court that it was “ready” for a probe on the matter and that it would submit names of a panel for the purpose to the court in a sealed envelope.
In its editorial the same day, Inquilab said that there’s no saying how diligently the allegations against the Adani Group will be investigated and whether the purpose of the probe is indeed to bring out the truth or just to silence opponents. However, justice is important to save the economy, the editorial added.
In its report on 15 February, Inquilab said a fresh petition had been filed in the Supreme Court seeking a probe into the Hindenburg report.
The next day, on 16 February, Sahara quoted Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh as asking for a joint probe by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
The same day, Inquilab reported that the Supreme Court had agreed to hear Congress leader Jaya Thakur’s plea for a probe.
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Congress coverage
The Congress party’s allegations that Rahul Gandhi was denied permission to land at Prayagraj’s Babat Airport received wide coverage in the Urdu newspapers.
On 15 February, Urdu newspapers reported that Rahul had to cancel his visit to Prayagraj after his plane, which had taken off from Wayanad in Kerala, was not allowed to land at Babatpur Airport. After this incident, the Congress claimed that the BJP was scared of it.
On 17 February, Sahara and Inquilab both reported that Rahul, who had been sent a notice by the Lok Sabha Secretariat for questioning the relationship between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Gautam Adani in Parliament, has sent his response. The papers reported that in his response, Rahul had said he stood by his statement and also that it was vital to protect the freedom of expression within the Parliament.
On 17 February, Siasat reported on a Congress press conference. At the press conference, the Congress had accused Modi of using a team of Israeli contractors who had allegedly meddled with elections around the world to manipulate polls.
This was a reference to a report by a consortium of international journalists, which claimed that the Israeli team, called ‘Team Jorge’, was behind fake social media campaigns in several countries, including India.
Pakistan’s economy
The state of Pakistan’s economy also made it to the front pages of the Urdu press.
In an editorial on 12 February, Siasat wrote that in a bid to get a loan from the International Monetary Fund, Pakistan’s government is willing to swallow the bitterest of pills, but the burden of such measures will trickle down to the people of the country. Therefore, efforts should be made to keep such adverse impacts to a minimum, the editorial said.
On 17 February, Siasat said in its report that petrol prices had touched 272 Pakistani rupees a litre while diesel stood at 280 Pakistani rupees a litre.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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