New Delhi: On Monday, Congress president Rahul Gandhi made a significant election promise – the Nyuntam Aay Yojana or NYAY. If voted to power, he said, the Congress will ensure income of Rs 72,000 per annum for the poorest 20% of the country. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has termed this promise a “bluff”.
In West Bengal, the alleged seizure of two kg gold from the baggage of chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s kin has further soured relations between the Trinamool Congress and BJP.
A media poll has projected 24 seats out of 29 for the BJP in Madhya Pradesh and eight out of 11 for the Congress in Chhattisgarh.
How did the media report these stories? What took up a majority of TV channels’ primetime slots?
Hindi channels
Aaj Tak
The channel analysed the minimum income guarantee scheme.
The channel said after the Balakot airstrike, the “BJP gained edge in the discourse” and wondered if Gandhi. through his ‘poverty strike’, has managed to turn the tide.
The channel also quoted Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala saying that no decision has been taken as yet on an alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi.
Zee TV
Referring to Congress’s hashtag #NyayForIndia, the channel wondered if “Garibi hatao Congress kay liye sirf jumla hai? (Is poverty alleviation only a hollow slogan for the Congress?)”
In his monologue, anchor-editor Sudhir Chaudhary said votes are bought with rice and liquor in India and people are still duped using promises of free power and water. “Politicians want to buy votes by offering services and goods for free.”
Also read | #PollVault: Congress Pivots to Income Guarantee, Rattled BJP Calls NYAY ‘Deception’
Gandhi’s announcement, he said, showed that he has no concrete plans to remove poverty or give jobs. “Congress has no scheme to enable people to earn and work their way out of poverty.”
NDTV India
In its programme Chunaav India Ka, anchor Nidhi Kulpati said the “new scheme has definitely started a discussion on the poor”.
The channel discussed the possibility of implementing the NYAY scheme.
Senior economist Arun Kumar said it was clearly possible through more taxes on the affluent. “Wealth tax and estate duty have been ended in India. Warren Buffet too once commented tax on him was less and supported the idea of taxing the rich.”
With nine of the richest in India owning wealth equivalent to more than what is possessed by the poorest 50% of the population, the economist said there was clearly scope to do more.
Congress spokesperson Mohammad Ali Khan said the idea was clearly implementable and wondered if the government was with ‘justice (nyay)’ for the poor or not. In response, BJP’s Arti Mehra said Congress governments have always spoken about poverty alleviation but only looted the poor.
ABP News
The channel released the findings on an opinion poll, “Siyasat ka Sensex” for which it interviewed only journalists based in Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh.
As per the poll, in Madhya Pradesh, the BJP is set to win 24 of the 29 seats, with Congress winning the rest. In 2014, Congress had only won seats two seats – Guna and Chhindwara. It is ahead on three more this time – Gwalior, Damoh and Dhar.
Also read | The Time for a Minimum Income Guarantee in India Has Come
In Chhattisgarh, the Congress only won the Durg seat out of 11 in 2014. But this time, the poll said it would win eight with BJP only ahead in Ambikapur, Bilaspur and Rajnandgaon.
English channels
India Today TV
With the catchphrase “Garibi Hatao 2.0”, the channel ran a live opinion tracker in which about 60% of people termed the Congress announcement a “jumla”.
Anchor Rajdeep Sardesai said former finance minister P. Chidambaram has declared that the scheme was well possible within fiscal targets. The channel also ran a headline – “Minimum income push viable?”
On behalf of the BJP, spokesperson Amit Malviya said the scheme was a farce. “It requires Rs 3.6 lakh crore or 16.7% of government budget. This is shocking,” he said.
Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said “the fundamental difference between our promise and their `jumla’ is that we delivered within 10 days on our loan waiver schemes announced for Rajasthan, MP and Chattisgarh.” When Sardesai said “those schemes are under scanner”, Khera sheepishly noted that this was “a matter for a separate debate”.
Republic TV
The channel ran the hashtag #GaribiHataoSham. It also targeted the Congress through headlines like “Cong shows Rs 72,000 carrot”, “Indira in 1971, Rahul in 2019” and “48 years later what has changed?”
Anchor Arnab Goswami spoke about how “not everyone will get Rs 72,000” and the sum would vary. He showed a clip of Gandhi saying if elected, his government would be “topping up” the shortfall per month between the earning of a family and a maximum ceiling of Rs 12,000 per month.
Also read | ‘Rahul Gandhi’s Minimum Income Plan May Cost Rs 3.5 Lakh Crore’
Then in his trademark style, Goswami went after one of the participants. “Why are you shouting?” he yelled. The man replied, “But I haven’t even started speaking yet.”
Times Now
With the hashtag #AmethiJoltsCong, the channel talked about the revolt by Gandhi family loyalist Haji Haroon Rashid. A few days ago, Rashid accused the Congress of not doing anything for Muslims in the constituency and termed Gandhi an outsider.
“Key Gandhi aide leads revolts” and “Rahul without Muslim crutch” was how the channel saw the development. It said there are 2.5 lakh Muslim votes in Amethi and out of these 70% are of Haroon Rashid’s family. “Is that why Rahul is calculating if he needs another seat?” anchor Navika Kumar asked.
In “Gold haul face off”, the channel took up the tussle between TMC and BJP in West Bengal. The channel said TMC is “Sending feelers to Centre?” and wondered “Will BJP de-escalate or will it confront Mamta Banerjee”.