As the agitating Punjab farm leaders rejected the Narendra Modi government’s offer and decided to resume their “Dilli Chalo” march on Wednesday to push for their various demands, the stage is set for a new round of showdown between the farmer protesters and the BJP dispensation on the eve of the Lok Sabha polls. The Opposition is looking to latch on to this row to boost the narrative of their poll campaign after having got a talking point on corruption in the wake of the Supreme Court’s judgment quashing the electoral bonds scheme. These stories dominated the Urdu dailies over the week, even as they tracked the continuing series of defections from the beleaguered Congress party. URDU TIMES Commenting on the state of affairs in the Congress, the Mumbai-based Urdu Times, in its editorial on February 18, says that at a time when Rahul Gandhi is engaged in leading his East-to-West Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra to create public awareness for the cause of justice, his party continues to lurch from crisis to crisis. “The Congress has been reeling from a wave of desertions, with one senior leader after another jumping ship to cross over to the BJP,” the editorial says. “So, Rahul Gandhi should first undertake a Congress Jodo campaign to fix the problems of his party. Otherwise, what will remain of his Yatra’s objective if his party unravels?" The edit also says that it is high time the Congress did some soul-searching as to why its veteran leaders are bent on leaving. Senior Maharashtra Congress leaders, including ex-CM Ashok Chavan, Baba Siddique and Milind Deora, recently quit the party. Now there is buzz about Kamal Nath poised to follow suit. “These are extraordinary developments. The grand old party is getting fragmented, falling apart. It is imperative to restitch it to save its existence,” the daily writes. “The exit of such senior leaders is a pointer to a deep malaise, which needs to be understood and stemmed. Doubtless Rahul Gandhi is an enthusiastic Congress worker but he does not have the qualities of a successful leader, or else he would have halted his Yatra and reached out to his disgruntled party leaders to stop them from leaving the party.” The editorial states that Rahul should reflect on why he has not been able to convert big crowds that throng his Yatra rallies into votes for his party. “PM Modi or the BJP do not have a magic wand to attract these Congress leaders to their camp. The BJP weans them away when they find a rift,” it says. “So Rahul should leave the Yatra and launch a campaign to unite his own party so that it can survive the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. Other Congress leaders should also introspect on the reasons for such defections rather than resorting to just taking potshots at the BJP.” ROZNAMA RASHTRIYA SAHARA Referring to the Punjab farmer unions’ “Dilli Chalo” agitation, the multi-edition Roznama Rashtriya Sahara, in its February 15 leader headlined “Doosri kisan tehreek (farm stir 2.0)”, says this marks farmers’ second major agitation in three years, and the two are interlinked. “Following the farmers’ 2020-21 movement against three farm laws, the BJP-ruled Centre had repealed them. The government has enacted many laws, but it has not taken up the farmers’ demand for a legal guarantee on MSP for all their crops,” the editorial says, adding that MSP on all 23 crops as per the Swaminathan Commission report’s formula would be an “insurance” for farmers and would protect them from incurring a loss on their produce. The protesting farmers are also pressing for debt waiver, among other demands. “But instead of fulfilling its pledges and accepting farmers’ demands, the government seems geared to block their peaceful march. It has used force against them on the Punjab-Haryana border,” the daily states. “The government does not appear to be ready to backtrack from its pro-capitalist policies. There is a disconnect between its words and its deeds. On the one hand, it has conferred the Bharat Ratna on Chaudhary Charan Singh and M S Swaminathan, and on the other, it is also clamping down on farmers protesting for their rights as per the principles of these farm icons.” The edit says the Modi government has adopted a “cynical approach” towards the agriculture sector, where it would like to see privatisation as indicated by its three controversial laws. “The government was eventually forced to roll back these laws. This time too, farmers seem all set to continue their stir until the fulfilment of their demands,” it adds. SIASAT Highlighting the Supreme Court’s judgment striking down the Modi government’s electoral bonds scheme of anonymous political funding, the Hyderabad-based Siasat, in its editorial on February 16, points out that the “historic verdict” held the scheme “violative” of the constitutional right to freedom of speech and expression and right to information. The unanimous verdict was given by a five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud. The daily writes that while introducing the scheme from 2018, the government had claimed that it would curb black money in political funding while keeping the identity of donor companies or individuals anonymous. “These were the features of the scheme that led to public misgivings, with many suspecting that the corporates donating huge money to the political parties would also like to influence their functioning or policies to extract benefits,” it says. The editorial notes that the apex court also ordered the SBI to submit the details of electoral bonds purchased since April 12, 2019, till date to the Election Commission, which was directed to publish all these information on its website by March 13. The top court has thus put an end to huge anonymous funding to the political players, even as the identity of such donors will also be revealed soon, the edit says. “This would also enable a closer scrutiny of various government policies in the context of the substantial funding of the ruling parties by certain corporate players.” However, all political donations could not be dismissed as murky, the daily says. “In India, there has been a tradition of even common people giving donations to parties they support. But the track record of corporates on this score has not remained above board as several of them have had a quid pro quo deals with incumbent parties,” it says, adding that to keep such funding anonymous was not in public interest as they undermined the cause of probity. “This also flew in the face of the government and parties’ own pitch for maintaining transparency in public life.”
