From the Urdu Press: ‘INDIA should carry Delhi rally unity to electoral battle’, ‘Sitharaman poll cop-out raises questions’

The daily notes that the spotlight was on the wives of jailed Delhi Chief Minister and AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal and jailed ex-Jharkhand CM and JMM leader Hemant Soren, Sunita Kejriwal and Kalpana Soren, at the rally. “The reality is that democracy is in peril in the country, which must be saved. The country’s most fundamental principle – unity in diversity – is being subverted. Those with divergent views and thoughts are targeted,with all attempts being mounted to impose homogeneous politics and ideology on the people,” the editorial says. “Any dissent against the government is dubbed a crime. Various agencies swing into action against anyone standing in opposition to the government, with the sycophant media joining in to whip up sentiments maligning them. They are then slapped with cases and sent to jail. Once political differences were respected, today these have been dragged down to the level of personal enmity.”

The daily called the participation of the TMC’s Derek O’Brien in the rally as significant, given that the Mamata Banerjee-led party is fighting the Lok Sabha polls solo in West Bengal. “This underlined that although there might be differences between the Opposition parties, they are united in the larger cause of democracy. And this is the heart of the matter — that it is imperative for every responsible party and right-thinking citizen to rise to protect democracy,” it states.

The INDIA alliance should display similar unity of purpose in the electoral battlefield, the edit says. “If they wage a struggle relentlessly, and with determination, against the politics of intimidation and fear with the objective to liberate democracy, success cannot remain elusive for long.”

INQUILAB

Referring to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s remarks regarding why she opted out of the Lok Sabha elections, the New Delhi edition of Inquilab, in its leader on March 31, notes that her reason was that she “did not have the kind of money required to contest a Lok Sabha election”. “Sitharaman also flagged another reason for her decision to decline her party’s offer: winnability criteria relating to the community and religion,” the editorial notes.

“Sitharaman’s statement sparks several questions,” the daily writes. “First, while the cost of fighting elections in India is staggering, what proposals has she made so far to check it, given that she has been holding a top position in Narendra Modi government for several years? Second, from what sources have the funds reached those who are happily contesting the polls?”

The second part of the FM’s statement raises other questions, the editorial says. “Her comment on the winnability issue is also true. But why has she been silent over the use of religion in politics until now? And, what has she done against the play of caste factor in public life?” it asks, adding that Sitharaman has been in the Union Cabinet as a Rajya Sabha member, and made a cop-out when her party asked her to take a plunge into electoral politics.

“In the poll fray, Sitharaman might have been asked tough questions by her rivals: Why is there so much poverty in the country, and if this was not the case, why was the government distributing free ration to 80 crore people? Also, questions regarding unemployment, price rise etc,” the daily states. “Some of these questions have been regularly asked by noted economist Parakala Prabhakar, who is Sitharaman’s husband. Prabhakar has been a fierce critic of the Modi government’s policies,” the editorial says.

“Her decision to steer clear of the polls may also hurt Sitharaman’s ministerial prospects if the Modi-led BJP returns to power after winning the polls,” the edit adds.

URDU TIMES

Commenting on the death of mafia don-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari in Uttar Pradesh’s Banda prison, the Mumbai-based Urdu Times, in an editorial on March 30, notes that Mukhtar had multiple identities. “At over six feet, Mukhtar was known as a gangster and a ‘Robin Hood’, who belonged to a freedom fighters’ family.” His paternal grandfather Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari was a prominent freedom fighter who had also been the president of the Indian National Congress before Independence, while his maternal grandfather, Brigadier Mohammad Usman, was martyred in action during the Indo-Pak war in 1948 and was awarded the Maha Vir Chakra, the editorial notes. After Partition, Pakistan’s founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah had invited Brigadier Usman to join the Army of his country, but he declined.

The daily says, “Mukhtar Ansari’s image among the common people of east UP districts like Ghazipur and Mau was more of a Robin Hood than a gangster, especially among the poor and the weak and the oppressed. This is borne out by many stories.” He had been a popular face in the region, which explained his win for five consecutive times from the Mau Sadar constituency since 1996, three of which he clinched while in jail.

The death of any inmate in police custody or in jail raises questions about law and order, which have heightened in the case of Mukhtar’s death as he had apprised the courts that he was being administered “slow poison” in prison, the editorial states, noting that the authorities had attributed his death to cardiac arrest. With foul play being alleged in Mukhtar’s death by his family members, the truth must come out in the case, the edit says, pointing out that UP’s another gangster-politician Atiq Ahmad, along with his brother Ashraf, were gunned down by assailants while being escorted by police in Prayagraj last year.