From the Urdu Press: ‘World must ensure US-Iran talks Round 2 for peace’; ‘Mamata under siege from BJP, agencies’

The irony is, the daily writes, that the US and Israel have repeatedly hit Iran’s nuclear units among many other facilities. “But they don’t believe that their attacks have proved successful. Trump claimed that the US has fulfilled all its military objectives. The US is still using the nuclear issue to pressure Iran and undermine the dialogue,” it states. The talks should now focus on resuming maritime trade through the Strait, restoring peace and security in West Asia, and lifting sanctions on Iran, the edit says. “Amid fresh tensions in the region, the global community should step up to enable fresh US-Iran negotiations for resolution of their problems. War cannot be a solution for any geopolitical disputes. The world must rise to uphold the cause of peace.”

Urdu Times 

Noting that in the current round of the Assembly elections in four states and one Union Territory, the Bengal polls are politically the most crucial, the Mumbai-based Urdu Times, in its April 14 leader, says that national political discourse is dominated by the Bengal elections as the BJP has gone all out to wrest the state from the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC). “Mamata has been alleging that the entire system has been operating to help the BJP clinch the polls, with the Election Commission (EC) and central agencies like the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and National Investigation Agency (NIA) being accused of doing a hatchet job for the BJP,” the editorial says. “The NIA has issued notices to 43 TMC activists (in a 2024 case of violence in Nandigram) summoning them to its office on April 17. The NIA has arrested two Congress leaders in Malda (in connection with the recent gherao of judicial officers by locals protesting against the deletion of voter names),” it states.

The daily says that Mamata has been leaving no stone unturned in her bid to counter the BJP’s challenge, but the latter’s poll game plan appears to be formidable. “Mamata still enjoys popularity among the masses but Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah have mounted an aggressive campaign,” it notes. The TMC has charged that some Hindutva outfits have been trying for months to create polarisation in the state in order to give the BJP an advantage, the edit says. “Bengal is not going to be a cakewalk for the BJP like Bihar, UP and Maharashtra. Mamata has been standing up like a wall to the central dispensation — she knows how to turn the tables on the BJP.”

Munsif 

Calling the Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM’s decision to break up its alliance with TMC rebel Humayun Kabir for the Bengal polls as a “prudent move”, the Hyderabad-based Munsif, in its April 11 editorial, points out that the AIMIM’s action came after a sting video of Kabir, shared by the TMC, went viral in which he purportedly talks about an alleged deal with the BJP to split the Muslim votes and oust Mamata Banerjee from power. Kabir, who was suspended by the TMC for going ahead with his plans to build a Babri Masjid-like mosque in Murshidabad, has rejected the video as “fake”. The point remains, says the edit, that the Bengal election has turned into a battle of prestige for the BJP, which is going all out to win it this time.

The daily states that the EC’s SIR of electoral rolls has seen a deletion of over 89 lakh voters, or 11.62% of its pre-SIR electorate, which include over 27 lakh electors who have been struck off the voter lists out of 60 lakh names, which were marked for adjudication over “logical discrepancies”. “Are all these people bogus voters or infiltrators? The EC has not been able to answer this core question so far. Mamata has maintained that most of the excluded voters are Muslims (and Matuas). Such a large number of people have been disenfranchised with the EC stripping them of the key right to vote.”

With the EC having frozen the rolls for the April 23 and April 29 Bengal polls, 27 lakh deleted voters will not be able to exercise their franchise, the editorial says. While they may appeal against their deletions before the tribunals as per the Supreme Court’s order, the tribunals have not become functional so far, it notes. “Who will give justice to such a large number of voters who would lose their basic right to vote in the upcoming elections. Their right may be restored in future, but it must be a continuous, enduring right,” the edit says. “While the SIR comes under the EC’s mandate, it must not turn into an anti-people process. A large chunk of deleted voters belong to the Muslim community. Against this backdrop, the Bengal election is no longer a contest just to elect a government – it has also become a test for saving democracy now.”