Opinion The Urdu Press: Houston calling

The AIMIM daily, Etemad, on September 26 writes: “It should be a matter of great pride for any people that their prime minister is being praised worldwide, and is winning awards and accolades. But if all this is like a ‘film excerpt’, pre-planned and it is being projected that no one else before this got this kind of support then it is wrong.” It goes onto say: “There is no doubt that India is receiving praise internationally. But facts are also being suppressed about the downside of decisions like those on demonetisation, GST implementation and now Kashmir.” The editorial questions “why did Modi, who had gone to attend the UN General Assembly, feel the need to participate in this event and why did he lower corporate taxes before leaving? Did these corporate houses help organise Howdy Modi?”

Inquilab on September 26 focuses on Democratic Congressman Stephen Hoyer’s speech in Houston. It terms it as natural justice, the fact that Nehru and Gandhi were mentioned in the Modi-Trump show when they were least expected to be brought up. “In Modi’s presence, the Democratic Congressman spoke and praised Gandhi and Nehru”. The paper believes that Hoyer’s championing of democratic norms and human rights was an act of great courage. “Hoyer went ahead to cite these leaders and pay his tributes to those who made India democratic, secular and guarded its plural fabric,” the editorial adds.

System and society

Munsif on September 27 speaks of the “misuse” of power and investigative agencies. It does a systematic listing of what it sees as the system going after political opponents of the BJP. It speaks of the imprisonment of Karnataka Congress leader, DK Shiva Kumar and income tax notices to Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa’s wife, sister and son. On Lavasa, who was in favour of issuing notices to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah during the course of the 2019 general elections, the paper writes, “he will be targeted by Shah and Modi”. In a similar vein, it talks of Justice Akil Kureshi’s transfer. It says; “a worrisome phase is currently on in India”.

Inquilab’s editorial on September 27 is titled ‘Celebrations on the release of a murderer’. The comments are in the context of the main accused in the murder of UP cop Subodh Singh being granted bail by the Allahabad High Court. It writes: “If murderers are feted then the society will crumble. In a country where innocents don’t get justice, society is praising those who inflict pain and injustice. Those who are kind and humane are being looked at as suspects. If those speaking the truth are silenced and the media’s voice is stifled, people will start hating their rulers.” The paper rues that the Allahabad High Court’s decision to grant bail resulted in celebrations. It notes that “the main accused, Yogesh Raj, a Bajrang Dal leader was arrested with much difficulty. Police had hesitated to take action against him and acted only after being cornered by the media.”

Kashmir omissions

Etemad on September 30 marks 59 days of the shutdown in Kashmir and asks “if Kashmir is being projected as an internal issue, why is the government not taking the state’s people into confidence and restoring normal life there?” The editorial rues the lack of any credible proof about “normalcy”, assertions about which have been made by the Centre . It asks: “What is being hidden?” All those asking questions are sought to be isolated under the garb of national security and termed pro-Pakistan, the editorial notes. This has been done to Opposition leaders.” The editorial ends by asking: “The Home Minister is trying to convince people that a historical wrong committed by Nehru is being sought to be corrected. Is this the case or is the government making a historical error?”—Compiled by Seema Chishti