New Delhi: Congress president Rahul Gandhi referred to an old murder case while attacking BJP president Amit Shah during a rally at Jabalpur on Tuesday.
He was quoted as saying, “Murder accused BJP President Amit Shah….waah! Kya shaan hai (Wow, what majesty)… Have you heard Jay Shah’s name? He is a magician, he made Rs 50,000 into Rs 80 crore in 3 months.”
This drew a strong response from the BJP. Amit Shah called the charge “politically motivated”.
Opposition leaders reiterated their demand for verify at least 50% of polled votes with the VVPAT slips. They also declared their intention to file a review petition in the Supreme Court.
English channels
NDTV 24X7
The channel looked at the voting in the first three phases and what remains of the Lok Sabha elections now. “Polling over in 303 out of 542 seats” and “Voting ends in half of India”, its headlines read. Anchor Nidhi Razdan also looked at the prospects of various parties. “Is it a tough one to predict?” she asked about the polls.
Senior Trinamool Congress leader Chandan Mitra said, “BJP believes the charisma of the PM is going very far even if there are discordant notes from the ground with farmers, traders and youth suffering from distress.” He insisted that “BJP is fighting a defensive battle – the election is very finely balanced at this point in time.”
Journalist Smita Prakash said: “BJP’s approach is to attack – they are going for door-to-door campaigning and working at the booth level as per its ‘mera booth sabse mazboot’ (my booth is strongest) approach.” She said the party is also playing on the issue of “asmita” or pride and making deep inroads in states like West Bengal, Odisha, Karnataka and Kerala.
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Abhishek Manu Singhvi of the Congress said, “this election has two narrative – one has been built around the defence strikes, communal discourse and divisive comments while the other is centred around distress in many sectors and among shopkeepers, farmers, medium and small enterprises.”
He insisted that “there is a huge silent wave of anger on the second narrative”.
Asked about Rahul Gandhi being pulled up by the Supreme Court for his “Chowkidar chor hai” jibe, Singhvi, who represented the Congress leader in court said, “MCC violations are in 10:1 ratio in case of Modi-BJP and the rest.” He accused Modi of also taking out a procession soon after he voted in Gujarat.
Times Now
With #RahulFakeFacts the channel projected the Congress president as “Serial offender Rahul”. It used headlines like “SC slaps contempt case against Rahul” and “Rahul not doing ‘nyay’ to facts” to set the tone.
The channel also looked at Rahul’s attack on Shah through headlines like “Murder accused yet full of pride” and “His son Jay Shah is also a magician”.
During the discussion, the channel discussed the case against Shah. Lawyer Shehzad Poonawala defended him saying attempts were made by civil rights activist Harsh Mander, who was represented by Congress leader Kapil Sibal, and former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt to fix the BJP president, but they did not succeed.
Senior journalist John Dayal reasoned that this was because the “CBI and other agencies worked for those in power”. He accused these agencies of doing “hatchet jobs” for the ruling government over the past year.
Republic TV
In its “Varanasi Special Broadcast”, the channel took up the speculation around Priyanka Gandhi fighting from the constituency opposite Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Anchor Arnab Goswami insisted that this talk about the party taking a call has become a “mazaak ka mudda” (matter of ridicule). “This is the biggest joke of Varanasi – they believe that people are fools to believe that the (Congress) party is any different from the (Gandhi) family.”
Chartered accountant turned political commentator M.R. Venkatesh termed the Congress a “private limited company of brother-sister” and held that “Priyanka can herself decide to fight if she wants to.”
Another participant questioned if the BJP was any different since all the decisions there are taken by the Modi-Shah duo.
India Today TV
The channel reported on the opposition parties urging the Election Commission to tally at least 50% of the polled votes with VVPAT slips. Anchor Rajdeep Sardesai said this is the “first time the EC finds itself under daily attack for not being a neutral umpire – clearly, it has not done enough to remove the charge of being non-partisan”.
He also demanded that the Opposition should back its claim of EVM manipulation. “How come no one attacked EC in December when Congress won in three states?” he asked.
The channel also ran headlines to show how Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu has been at the forefront of the opposition’s demand for more checks on EVMs.
“CM – Can EVMs be remotely controlled”, “Naidu: Why is EC avoiding this” and “Naidu – World uses ballot papers” were the headlines which spoke about his views.
Hindi channels
NDTV India
Anchor Ravish Kumar took up the issue of former Pune police commissioner Meeran Borwankar writing a letter in support of slain Mumbai Anti-Terrorist Squad officer Hemant Karkare in view of Sadhvi Pragya Thakur’s allegation of torture against him.
He spoke to Borwankar, who was also one of the signatories to a letter written by senior retired IPS officers in support of Karkare.
The lady officer described Karkare as a man who possessed “great clarity in his thinking”. She said he left a good private sector job to join the police. “He was impeccable, hardworking and it is difficult to find an officer like him”.
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Asked how many people believe he was a martyr alright but the charge of torture was something different, Borwankar replied: “He is not there to defend himself now. But why were these allegations not levelled then – there was also an enquiry into this.”
On the accusation that he was a party to the creation of a false narrative of Hindu terror, the lady officer said: “Karkare was such a professional and rational man …. I met him so many times when this investigation was on…. he did not have the personality that he would implicate someone.”
The channel also showed how other former IPS officers have written articles in favour of Karkare. It showed former Director General of Police Prakash Singh say: “Hemant is a martyr.” He questioned Thakur’s statement that she killed him with his “shraap” (curse) by asking, “If you could kill him with your curse, why did you not kill the terrorists with it?”
Zee News
The channel looked at the trend of lower voter turnout in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls with a headline, “Kahan hain bharat kay jagrook voters” (Where are India’s aware voters?)
In the “DNA test of lowering interest of voters in elections”, anchor Sudhir Chaudhary recalled BJP’s sterling performance in the Hindi heartland in the 2014 polls and how it would have to work hard to repeat it.
The channel also took a look at the Sri Lankan serial blasts and showed images of a suspected suicide bomber as he walked into the St. Sebastian Church in Negombo before triggering the explosives.
Chaudhary analysed the mind of suicide bombers on his own, without referring to any psychologist or psychiatrist. He also cautioned that what has happened in Sri Lanka could happen elsewhere too.
ABP News
With #BJPKaGadar, the channel evaluated the party’s increasing penchant for featuring celebrities in elections. It noted that actor Sunny Deol has joined the party and been made its candidate from Gurdaspur.
It noted that: “Sunil Jakhar is MP from a seat right now”. The channel also noted that it remains to be seen how many votes Deol will be able to draw due to his film career”.
Aaj Tak
Aaj Tak too spoke about the new “Three stars in BJP”. The channel noted that Punjabi folk and Sufi singer Hans Raj Hans, who has been fielded from North West Delhi seat, had contested from Jalandhar on Shiromani Akali Dal ticket in 2006. Later, in 2016 he joined the Congress.
The channel said another star face of BJP is cricketer Gautam Gambhir who has been given the East Delhi ticket by the party. Finally, it said actor Sunny Deol is the party’s face from Gurdaspur.
“BJP ki chunavi taqat main juday teen star” (Three stars join BJP’s election might), it said, adding that “parties want to encash the individual popularity of these stars”. But it also cautioned that “these stars often end up as flop performers in Parliament”.