Urdu press condemns Muzaffarnagar slapping incident — ‘school mein nafrat ka bazar’

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: Manisha Yadav | ThePrint

New Delhi: Last week’s slapping incident in a Muzaffarnagar school got prominent coverage in the Urdu press, with editorials condemning it as being a result of the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government’s “anti-Muslim activities”. 

A video of a teacher egging on her students to take turns to slap a Muslim boy at a private school in Muzaffarnagar went viral last week, drawing nationwide condemnation. The teacher, who is purportedly heard making communal remarks in the video, has since been booked in the case.

In an editorial on 27 August titled ‘School mein nafrat ka bazar’ (market of hate in the school), Inquilab raised several questions about the investigation ordered into the incident. The editorial also wondered when the teacher will be arrested, since efforts were made to inquire into the incident immediately after the video came to light. 

“The government that runs bulldozers on suspicion should immediately file charges against the headmistress whose video has surfaced as evidence,” the editorial said. It was referring to the allegation that Yogi Adityanath government frequently faces — that it uses bulldozers as a means to dispense justice, especially in cases of riots.

Other topics that were covered prominently include the upcoming G20 Summit in India, the two-day ‘INDIA’ opposition alliance meeting in Mumbai, and the ongoing Supreme Court hearings on the now-abrogated Article 370.  

Here’s a round-up of all the news that made frontpage headlines and editorials in the Urdu press this week. 

School slapping incident

The Muzaffarnagar incident was prominently covered in all three Urdu newspapers — Siasat, Roznama and Inquilab. According to reports, the teacher had asked students to slap the boy — also a student in her class — as “punishment” for not having learnt his multiplication tables. 

The teacher, Tripta Tyagi, ran the school owned by her husband Ravindra Tyagi.

In an editorial on 27 August, Siasat said that the Adityanath government is “known throughout the country for its anti-Muslim activities”. In fact, the CM also doesn’t miss a chance to target Muslims through his provocative speeches, it said, adding that the Muzaffarnagar incident could be a result of this thinking.

“This radical act is not just against a Muslim boy but against the interests of the country,” the editorial said.

In an editorial 28 August, Sahara said the teacher had called it a “minor” incident but it wasn’t and that strict action should be taken against teachers with this kind of “hate” agenda and against schools that refuse to act in such cases. 

Gas prices and INDIA alliance

The two-day meeting of the Opposition’s INDIA alliance in Mumbai on 31 August and 1 September received prominent coverage in the Urdu press. Newspapers also covered the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Union government’s decision to slash prices of LPG cylinders by Rs 200.

In its editorial on 30 August, Siasat mocked the central government’s move that has come when key assembly elections are just around the corner. Slashing the prices at a time when food prices were on the rise was like “giving people bus tickets but making their wallets disappear”, the editorial said, attributing the decision to rival Congress party’s promise of offering gas cylinders at Rs 500 in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh.

Newspapers also covered Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi’s remarks on the latest controversy surrounding the Adani Group. 

According to the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) — a global network of investigative journalists with staff on six continents — millions of dollars were funnelled into public stocks of the Adani Group via shell companies. 

Addressing a press conference on the sidelines of the Opposition meeting in Mumbai, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi renewed demands for a parliamentary probe and questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s silence over it. He had previously made the demand in January, when a report by New York-based investment firm Hindenburg Research had accused the company of “brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud”. 

The Adani Group has denied any wrongdoing.

Jammu & Kashmir and Article 370

Newspapers also prominently covered ongoing hearings in the Supreme Court against the central government’s August 2019 decision to abrogate Article 370, a provision that accorded special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

In its editorial on 30 August, Sahara said it is now incumbent upon the Modi-led  government to answer several key questions, including why it’s taking so long to make Jammu and Kashmir a state again and when elections will be held there. 

“The security and survival of democracy depends on elections,” the editorial said. 

G20 Summit

The ongoing preparations for the G20 Summit in Delhi from 8 to 10 September also took up significant space on front pages.

In an editorial on 29 August, Sahara called Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to not join the summit “a wise step”.

Putin had announced last week that he would not attend the summit but would instead send his foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov. The announcement comes as Russia continues to be engaged in a conflict with Ukraine.

Describing Indo-Russian ties as “reliable”, the Sahara editorial said that Putin’s decision to skip the summit himself shouldn’t be seen as a change in the relationship, but as an acknowledgment that both countries are aware of the world’s predicament at this stage.

Inquilab’s editorial on 30 August dealt with the expansion of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) grouping to a larger collective involving Saudi Arabia, Iran, Ethiopia, the United Arab Emirates, Argentina and Egypt. 

According to the editorial, the expansion had created “new and powerful possibilities”. The extended union, it said, will represent 21 per cent of the world’s population and contain $4 trillion in foreign exchange. 

(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)