New Delhi: The Congress’s decisive victory in Karnataka and the eventual tussle between party leaders Siddaramaiah and D.K.Shivakumar for the chief minister’s post kept the Urdu media abuzz this week.
After defeating the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in this month’s Karnataka assembly elections, with a 135-of-224-seats victory, the Congress was faced with a power struggle between Siddaramaiah and its state unit chief Shivakumar.
Three prominent Urdu newspapers — Siasat, Roznama Rashtriya Sahara and Inquilab — closely followed developments following the Congress’s victory last Saturday.
The other news that the Urdu press covered in detail was the situation in Manipur, in the aftermath of this month’s violence between the state’s ethnic Kuki tribals and the non-tribal Meitei community. They also gave space to the US State Department’s 2022 Report on International Religious Freedom.
ThePrint brings a round-up of all that made headlines in the Urdu press this week.
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The battle for CM’s post in Karnataka
The developments in Karnataka covered front pages and the editorial space of Urdu newspapers for most of the week following last Saturday’s announcement of election results.
Soon after the Congress’s victory in the polls, former party president Rahul Gandhi said: “Karnataka mein nafrat ki bazaar bandh hui hain. Mohabbat ki dukaan khuli hain (The market of hate has shut in Karnataka. Shops of love have opened)”.
Addressing the media in Delhi, he said: “We were with the poor, we fought for their issues”.
Newspapers also covered the results of the local body elections in Uttar Pradesh, where the BJP won all 17 mayoral seats.
On 13 May — the day the counting of votes for Karnataka took place — Inquilab said in its editorial that it had now become clear to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and Bharatiya Janata Party’s national president J.P. Nadda that the issue of Hindutva does not always work everywhere, and even if it does, its success is limited. The paper also wondered if Hindutva ki dukaan (Hindutva’s shop) can run only in the north of India and not in the south.
In its editorial a day later, Siasat said it was for the first time in nine years that the Congress had fought elections in an organised fashion.
The Karnataka unit of the party, it said, had ironed out differences while its leaders put the party first and strived for success. This sets an example for other state units of the Congress to follow, it said, adding that the party also tried to understand the mood of the people of the state and tailored its promises accordingly.
The same day, Sahara said in its editorial that the Congress’s big win will help improve its stature in the opposition alliance and that it should not come as a surprise if it affects the political dynamics of the 2024 general elections.
Karnataka is called the gateway to the south, the editorial added, and this is a big win for the Congress and will help boost the morale of its rank and file. It also said that the BJP will not find it an easy defeat to swallow.
The newspapers also carried reports of a Rs 100 crore defamation suit filed against Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge in a court in Punjab’s Sangrur. The lawsuit was filed against the party’s comparison of the Hindutva outfit Bajrang Dal to the outlawed Islamist organisation, the Popular Front of India, in its manifesto for the Karnataka elections. The party had also reportedly said that it will ban the Bajrang Dal if voted to power.
Commenting on the power struggle within the Congress for the CM’s post, Siasat in an editorial on 16 May said the party was in a tight spot when it came to choosing between the two CM aspirants — D.K. Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah. The situation needs to be handled with political insight and wisdom, said the editiorial — whoever gets the chief minister’s position should be trusted completely and any possible resentment should be ended immediately.
On 19 May, all Urdu newspapers carried the report that Siddaramaiah had been chosen as the new Karnataka chief minister and that he would take oath on 20 May.
In an editorial the same day, Siasat cautioned the Congress against being too heady about its Karnataka victory. The paper reported it was not difficult to become too complacent and reverse all the gains that the party had made.
Instead, it said that the Congress should focus on the party’s internal crisis in Rajasthan, where two of its most senior leaders, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his former deputy Sachin Pilot, are currently at loggerheads. Special attention should be paid to this and the party should devise a strategy to help remove differences and build unity within the party unit, the editorial said.
On Manipur violence
The situation in Manipur in the aftermath of the 3 May violence between the Meiteis and the Kukis continued to get prominent coverage in all three Urdu newspapers.
On 17 May, the Supreme Court asked for a status report on security measures taken by the BJP-led Manipur government in the violence-affected areas of the state. A day later, Congress announced it was sending a fact-finding team to the state to “inquire” into the violence.
The papers also wrote of violence in other parts of the country — such as reported clashes between Hindus and Muslims in a village in Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar and tensions over a social media post in Shahjahanpur district, Uttar Pradesh.
On 14 May, communal clashes were reported in Shevgaon in Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar over a religious procession. Eight policemen were reportedly wounded in stone-pelting and vandalism in the village.
On 16 May, tensions were also reported in Tilhar town in Shahjahanpur district after a large number of people gathered outside a police station demanding the arrest of a man who allegedly shared a social media post on Prophet Muhammad. Papers reported that the accused was eventually arrested.
US report on religious freedom
On 16 May, the US State Department released its annual report on “international religious freedom” in which it has yet again expressed concerns regarding India. The report especially highlighted the “violence by law enforcement authorities against members of religious minorities” in the country.
The Indian government has said the report was based on “misinformation and flawed understanding”.
In an editorial published on 18 May, Siasat criticised the report, saying there was no scope of interference from either the US State Department or any other organisation in what it said was an “internal matter”. This, the editorial said, is something that every citizen of the country would agree upon.
At the same time, however, the Indian government needs to take steps to prevent the atmosphere in the country from vitiating any further, the editorial added.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)