Opinion Telescope: It happened in Kasganj

First, Kasganj where violence killed one person. This demanded sensitivity because what began as a patriotic flag march and Republic Day commemoration, appears to have ended as Hindu-Muslim stand-off. “Azam (Khan) makes it communal”, announced Republic on Wednesday baldly, suffering from acute amnesia since BJP MP Vinay Katiyar had broadcast his communal views on all channels including Republic the day before. To say nothing of the widely telecast sound bites of Union minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti on anti-nationals who don’t like “tiranga yatras”.

Times Now had a video grab of police reportedly finding a cache of arms in the home of Salim Javed, the man who allegedly killed Chandan in the violence on January 26. “Why was he keeping illegal weapons?” asked the anchor, “(are we) not allowed to ask if it was pre-planned?” Of course you are allowed to ask but we know that your asking is often tantamount to insinuation and accusation. In a “sensational twist” (note, Times Now calls the twist “sensational”), it also found that Javed was (may be) linked to the Samajwadi Party.

One video grab deserves another. So India Today had footage where some people on the tiranga yatra were shouting provocative slogans. Are we allowed to ask if that was pre-planned?

On NDTV 24×7, the anchor asked Rakesh Sinha (identified as an RSS ideologue) if the ABVP was part of the motorbike-led tiranga yatra, to which he promptly replied, “There were Muslims there”. Alright, but was the ABVP part of it? Muslims were there, he repeated, repeatedly.

If you wanted to make any sense of the incident, you were better off watching India TV and Rajat Sharma. On Monday, he described the sequence of events leading up to the violence, had Chandan’s family on air, and then warned against believing social media mischief-making messages that had photoshopped “Pakistan Zindabad” voice-overs superimposed on the meeting held by Muslims. On Tuesday, he said the BJP must rein in people like Katiyar and Jyoti. On a more positive and conciliatory note, he featured one Akram, who was injured in the violence and recounted how he had been rescued by some tiranga yatra Hindus.

By the way, CNN News 18 produced the police FIRs in Kasganj and found no mention of Pakistan slogans in them. So where does that leave the case? Where it should be: At the level of investigation.

Hindi news channels’ coverage has been far more sober and balanced than that of English news channels. Also, they seem willing to question the government in power: On Tuesday, News State examined the pollution levels in Banaras, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency, and found the BJP wanting; Samay allowed the Congress spokesperson to have his complete say criticising the BJP government.

The Vivo IPL auction’s biggest catch was Anil Kumble — in the Star Sports studio. He was an expert commentator on the players’ and team combination, alongside “Dino” Jones and anchor Mayanti Langer. Now isn’t she as pleasant as a warm winter’s day? This is Star Sports’ IPL debut and they have gone that extra metre: Analysis so in-depth, you yearned to return to the surface, interviews at the auction with team owners, managers, coaches tele-talks with auctioned players with the ubiquitous (news) question: How does it feel, or words to that effect.

And guess who sat between judges Karan Johar and Rohit Shetty as chief guest on India’s Next Superstars (Star Plus)? If you guess Kangana Ranaut you’re cheating — you watched Sunday’s episode. Yes, the actress who accused the director of “nepotism” in Bollywood, graced the sets of the reality show and hugged Johar — a la Narendra Modi?

Also, guess who showed the film Veer Savarkar and who premiered Partition: 1947 on Republic Day? Your options are Star Gold and DD National.