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Journalism of Courage
As Congress leader Rahul Gandhi keeps his guns trained on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Adani row, accusing him of allegedly fuelling the Adani Group’s meteoric rise, the Urdu dailies have continued to provide its saturation coverage, spotlighting the speeches made by Rahul and PM Modi in Parliament.
Some of the Urdu dailies also highlighted mass arrests in Assam in the Himanta Biswa Sarma government’s continuing crackdown on child marriage, which has sparked panic and set off protests by women and children across the state. Pointing out that child marriage is not a mere law enforcement issue, the dailies have expressed concern that most of the men being arrested, who are their families’ breadwinners, belong to the minority community.
INQUILAB
Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reply to the debate on the motion of thanks on the President’s address to Parliament, which came after senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi flagged the Adani Group’s stunning rise on Modi’s watch, the New Delhi edition of Inquilab, in its editorial on February 10, writes that the PM did not answer the concerns raised by the Opposition, especially Rahul, over this raging row. Everyone was waiting for the PM’s response on questions related to the Adani affair, but in vain, the daily says. “On the contrary, PM Modi, in his trademark combative manner, made a stinging attack on the Opposition, especially the Congress governments, for their failings. This would have been understandable in any other context and setting or in the time of elections, but the questions were raised by Rahul and other Opposition leaders in Parliament and so the people of the country have a right to know their answers.”
Noting that certain remarks made by Rahul were expunged by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, the daily states this could be argued that it was then not incumbent on the PM to give his response. Such an argument would however just be a technicality, it says. “Rahul’s entire speech has already been in public domain and, therefore, it warranted a response from the PM on moral ground if not required on technicality.”
The editorial points out that the release of the US-based investor research firm Hindenburg Research’s report last month, which accused the Gautam Adani-led conglomerate of “brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud”, led to a meltdown in the Adani Group’s stocks. In his speech, Rahul highlighted Adani’s rise from 609th rank in the world’s richest persons’ list in 2014 to third rank, attributing it to the Modi government’s alleged patronage. “The citizens of the country have questions on these matters and are not getting answers,” the edit says.
The daily notes that the Opposition parties closed their ranks within and outside Parliament while demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) into allegations against Adani, although they had some “tactical differences”.
Some Opposition parties decided to boycott the debate on motion of thanks, while others chose to raise the Adani issue during the discussion in the House, it says. “This augurs well for the Opposition’s unity ahead of the 2023 Assembly elections and the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.”
ROZNAMA RASHTRIYA SAHARA
In its editorial on February 10, the multi-edition Roznama Rashtriya Sahara writes that the BJP government in Assam has now undertaken a massive statewide crackdown against child marriage, arresting more than 2,500 men just in a few days and setting up temporary jails in camps or even a stadium to accommodate them. At the behest of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, the state police has prepared a list with thousands of names against whom this drive will continue. There has been widespread panic across the state due to such police raids, which are also being conducted during the night, the editorial states. “Those being arrested in this drive are poor, daily wagers and sole breadwinners of their families. A majority of them belong to the Muslim community…Following their arrests, their family members, including women, children and elderly persons, have held protests outside police stations, but to no avail.”
The daily notes that CM Sarma has asserted that he will uphold the law against child marriage and will not spare any accused and that the drive will continue till the 2026 Assembly polls. A question is, why did the BJP government not implement the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, so far despite being in power since 2016, it asks. “The point is that under the guise of implementing the law the Sarma government has been targeting Muslims, pushing many minority families to the brink. It has already done so earlier, whether in the name of clearing encroached lands or by cracking down on madrasas in the state.”
The editorial highlights that Assam has been lagging behind on multiple parameters of human development and women empowerment. About 80 per cent of Assam’s women were found to be mostly unemployed, with only 17 per cent women having jobs in non-agricultural occupations. Only 30 per cent of the state’s population completed secondary education, with a significant percentage of people in the 20-49 age group having never been to school. The state has high maternal mortality rate (MMR) and infant mortality rate (IMR).
The daily says child marriage is wrong and that there is a law to prevent it. “But the Sarma government’s draconian approach is not the solution as child marriage is not a law-and-order issue. This problem is rooted in social, economic and societal factors, which is born out of poverty, illiteracy and lack of awareness. It could be tackled through their mitigation as well as reforms and development. The government however does not seem to be interested in any solution as it just wants to sharpen the divide in society along communal lines,” it adds.
URDU TIMES
Commenting on the crisis gripping the Congress’s Maharashtra unit, the Mumbai-based Urdu Times, in its editorial on February 8, says that while Rahul Gandhi has been making attempts to corner the Modi government, his colleagues are bent on undermining the party due to their internecine strife. The daily writes that the cracks within the Maharashtra Congress again surfaced recently when Balasaheb Thorat resigned as the Congress Legislature Party leader citing differences with state unit chief Nana Patole. Thorat also shot off a letter to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, stating that it was impossible for him to work with Patole. The edit notes that the Thorat-Patole conflict flared up after the party denied ticket in the Nashik graduates constituency MLC election to Satyajit Tambe, Thorat’s nephew, and instead gave it to his father Sudhir Tambe, who preferred Satyajit’s candidature. Eventually, Satyajit contested as an Independent and won the election, with Patole suspending Tambes from the party.
“Thorat is a senior Congress leader, who has steered the state party unit amid various crises. In 2019, he also played a key role in the formation of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government. The Congress needs Thorat,” the daily states. The Congress will have to take some tough steps to deal with such internal feuds, it says. “This is a test of Kharge’s leadership. The faction-riven Maharashtra Congress mirrors party units in states like Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka, among others. Kharge has his task cut out to put the Congress house in order.”
