New Delhi: From its verdict on demonetisation to its stay on the eviction of 4,000-odd families in Uttarakhand’s Haldwani, the Supreme Court remained the flavour of the week in the Urdu press.
But while apex court’s verdicts kept papers busy for much of the week, the Bharat Jodo Yatra, which is slowly inching towards its final destination, also remained in focus in all three Urdu papers.
The yatra will end in Srinagar in the second half of January.
ThePrint brings you a roundup of what’s making headlines in the Urdu press this week.
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Haldwani eviction
The Supreme Court’s decision to stay the eviction order of some 50,000 Haldwani residents received front-page coverage in all the papers — Roznama Rashtriya Sahara, Siasat, and Inquilab.
In the run-up to the SC judgement, the Urdu press captured the apprehensions surrounding the demolition drive. On 5 January, Siasat reported the preparations for demolishing 4,000 houses on its front page.
On 6 January, Sahara’s front page headline read ‘Government bulldozers will not roll in Haldwani’. This comes after the Supreme Court stayed the Uttarakhand High Court’s 20 December ruling that ordered the eviction of 4,000 families from land which the Indian Railways claims as its own.
Sahara’s report said 4,000 families heaved “a sigh of relief” after the apex court ruled that “50,000 people could not be rendered homeless overnight”.
The court’s statement also made it to Siasat’s headline that day.
In an editorial the same day, Inquilab wrote that if Indian Railways needs the land for some project, it should be vacated, but only after following due process.
Residents should be taken into confidence and promised rehabilitation but until that’s done, they should not be pelted with notice after notice or threatened in any way, the editorial said.
It also added that since encroachment of this nature couldn’t have happened without the complicity of government officials, action should be taken first against them.
Bharat Jodo Yatra
Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra was back on the roads after a brief break.
On 2 January, Inquilab quoted Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader Sanjay Raut as saying that the face of national politics could change under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi.
While writing his weekly column in Shiv Sena (UBT)’s mouthpiece Saamana, Raut referred to Rahul’s “new avatar” and said if the Congress leader continued this, he could well become the opposition’s prime ministerial candidate for the 2024 general election.
On 4 January, the flyer story in Inquilab announced that the yatra had entered Uttar Pradesh from Delhi. It also quoted Priyanka Gandhi, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh, as saying “even Adani and Ambani could not buy Rahul Gandhi”.
The statement also received front-page coverage in Siasat.
In a small inset, the paper also reported that former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah and former Research and Analysis Wing chief A.S. Dulat had also taken part in the yatra.
In its editorial on 4 January, Siasat wrote that given the importance of Uttar Pradesh in national politics, the Congress needs to be proactive in thwarting the BJP’s plans to disrupt the yatra and at the same time be mindful of the mood of various social groups in the state.
On its front page on 5 January, Siasat reported that the Bharat Jodo Yatra received support from Acharya Satyendra Das, the chief priest of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.
The paper reported Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust general secretary Champat Rai’s statement that it was commendable that a “young man” was walking in this winter for the good of the nation. The report said that the yatra was getting the support of holy men too, referring to Satyendra Das’ statement.
Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra is a trust set up by the Modi government in 2020 to oversee the construction and management of the Ram Temple.
On 6 January, Sahara’s front page quoted Rahul as saying that the opposition was not being allowed to speak in Parliament. He made the remark at Shamli, Uttar Pradesh, during the yatra.
The same day, Sahara reported that after Sonia Gandhi was hospitalised, Rahul returned to Delhi to meet her at the end of the day’s march on 5 January.
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Assembly elections
On 5 January, Sahara editorial said that the fate of several parties — such as the BJP in Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh, Congress in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, and the Bharat Rashtra Samithi in Telangana — will be at stake in assembly elections this year.
Tripura, Meghalaya, Nagaland, and Mizoram are the other states that will vote this year.
Sahara‘s editorial said that this will be an opportunity for political parties in these states — especially Meghalaya’s ruling National People’s Party, the only national party in the Northeast region — to strengthen their hold.
Preparations for assembly elections will be a rehearsal for the next year’s Lok Sabha elections, it said, adding that as soon as the series of assembly elections end, political parties will jump into the fray for the 2024 parliamentary elections.
Demonetisation
The Supreme Court’s 4:1 verdict upholding the Modi government’s 2016 decision to scrap Rs 500 and 1,000 banknotes was widely reported in all three Urdu papers.
On 3 January, Urdu newspapers wrote on their front pages that the central government got a clean chit from the Supreme Court over its decision.
While newspapers reported that a Constitution Bench had upheld the government’s decision, they also prominently carried Justice B.V. Nagarathna’s dissenting judgement. In her minority ruling, the SC judge said that it was clear from the records submitted by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) that it didn’t take the decision independently but was abiding by the central government’s wishes.
In its editorial the same day, Sahara wrote that now that the five-member bench of the top court has given its verdict upholding demonetisation, the question was whether the debates on the pros and cons of the decision will also similarly come to an end.
It’s difficult to give a definitive answer to that question, the editorial said. But the SC verdict means that if the 2016 decision does come up during this year’s assembly elections or the next year’s General Elections, it will not adversely affect the ruling BJP, it added.
National security
On 4 January, Inquilab reported Defence Minister Rajnath Singh as saying that while India wanted to have friendly relations with its neighbors and maintain them in the future, this won’t be done at the cost of national security.
The newspaper also carried a story on Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar’s interview with ZIB2, a podcast on Austria’s national broadcaster ORF. In his interview, Jaishankar, who has often called Pakistan an epicentre of terror, said he could use harsher words for the neighbouring country. “Considering what’s happening with us, I think epicenter is a very diplomatic word,” he asserted.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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