News18 asks why Kangana’s home & not Dawood’s, Cong called DMK’s ‘sub-junior partner’ on NewsX

A quick take on what prime time TV news talked about.

New Delhi: As actor Kangana Ranaut landed in Mumbai following the partial destruction of her office by the BMC and met the state governor, Sunday’s prime time anchors couldn’t resist the topic. Meanwhile, NewsX debated potential cracks within the Congress-DMK alliance.

First to Aaj Tak, where actor Nasir Abdullah said, “This demolition of property has been happening since the time of Balasaheb Thackeray. Shiv Sainiks respect women, which is why Kangana was not attacked physically; the party just destroyed her property.” This left anchor Anjana Om Kashyap as dumbfounded as we were.

BJP spokesperson Mamta Kale responded, “I am very hurt, this is very disrespectful. You should at least be mindful of your age before making such comments.”

News18 India, meanwhile, had its own angle to the demolition brouhaha: “Kangana ka ghar toda, Dawood ka kyun chhoda?” (Kangana’s house was broken, why was Dawood’s left untouched?) This comes on the heels of former Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis asking a similar question of current CM Uddhav Thackeray.

The BJP’s Sambit Patra noted, “Saamana (the Shiv Sena mouthpiece) said ‘Ukhaad denge‘ (We will destroy). We will see what really happens.” Attacking the Sena spokesperson, Patra also added, “You are a Dawood Ibrahim supporter. I demand an apology from you on your comments regarding Kangana.”

The Shiv Sena’s Raees Sheikh responded, “I don’t take people like Sambit Patra seriously. Kangana had done illegal construction in 2018 as well. Any such action will be punished. How can she compare Mumbai to PoK?”

Finally, anchor Amish Devgan said, “You should be attacking corona, not Kangana. There is nothing to gain there.” Talk about shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted.

Over on Republic TV, Arnab Goswami held a debate on exposing the “fake media” in the backdrop of Kangana Ranaut’s house being destroyed. He described fake media as those whose “knees shake when speaking truth to power”, which sides with who is “ruling in the state” and those who “prattle for women’s rights…all year long” but don’t come to the actor’s defence.

Sambit Patra had a busy evening, clearly. Appearing on this panel, he said, “Kangana Ranaut’s office was demolished and it’s the duty of any media to stand with the lone lady.” He also spoke about how Republic TV was hounded for “standing with truth”.

On the arrest of the channel’s reporter Anuj Kumar for allegedly trespassing on a farmhouse belonging to Uddhav Thackeray, the JD(S) national spokesperson Tanveer Ahmed said, “I think Anuj was doing his duty and shouldn’t have been arrested. But is the Kangana Ranaut issue that important?” Well, finally.

NewsX‘s Uday Pratap Singh gave us a break from the Kangana Ranaut spectacle, and debated possible fissures in the Congress-DMK alliance ahead of the Tamil Nadu assembly elections in 2021. This was in reference to Congress allegedly seeking the Deputy Chief Minister post and negotiations over contesting seats.

Political analyst and marketing strategist PKD Nambiar reminded viewers that “the big brother in Tamil Nadu is DMK” and that “Congress has no charismatic leadership” in the state. He also noted, “The BJP is on the rise in Tamil Nadu… Maybe the Modi effect has also travelled to Tamil Nadu and the people who are leaving DMK or the Congress are joining the BJP.”

BJP leader Vivek Reddy said, “People of Tamil Nadu are looking at alternatives beyond the Dravidian parties.” He also took a swipe at Congress by saying it’s not just a “junior” partner to DMK but a “sub-junior” partner that has become “ghastly reduced”.

Times Now‘s Madhavdas G held a debate on reports that CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, Swaraj India president Yogendra Yadav and others have been named in a supplementary chargesheet filed by the Delhi Police in a case related to the February riots in Northeast Delhi.

He said this will give the Opposition “a stick to beat the [Modi] government” with the upcoming parliamentary session.

When asked why Delhi Police is being selective in its investigation of the riots and hasn’t yet named BJP MP Kapil Mishra who raised “goli maaro” slogans, author Ratan Sharda said: “Did he go and bomb anybody?”

But political analyst Vivek Srivastava didn’t mince his words: “Kapil Mishra got away with everything because he is a BJP member.”

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