New Delhi: Prime Time Wednesday was divided between making fun of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s recent “political tourism” after he visited the riot-affected areas in Northeast Delhi and the widespread panic over the coronavirus outbreak.
After coronavirus cases in India rose to 29, Zee News’ anchor Sudhir Chaudhury promised his viewers that he would answer questions along the lines of, “Do Indians need to be worried about the outbreak and is India prepared to tackle the situation?”
Before beginning with his usual gyaan, Chaudhary said, “Vehem virus se bhi zyaada tezi se phelta hai. Khatarnak virus ka ilaaj mumkin hai, vehem ka nahi” (Misconceptions spread faster than a virus, a cure is possible for a dangerous virus not for misconceptions). Got it, Mr Chaudhary.
At Aaj Tak, anchor Anjana Om Kashyap resented what she called Rahul Gandhi’s “photo opportunity” visit to Northeast Delhi.
Deepak Kumar, political analyst, seemed to have taken this rather personally, “PM Modi and Amit Shah should have gone too… what has Rahul Gandhi done wrong by going?”
Times Now prime time debate featured Neha Joshi, BJP spokesperson dripping with sarcasm on Gandhi’s visit. Joshi said, “Rahul Gandhi is known to be touristy, and indulges in various kinds of tourism. Today, he decided to go to the riot-hit areas of Delhi after things started to get normal.”
She blamed him for the same things as Aaj Tak’s Kashyap, “All he wanted was a photo op.”
Republic anchor Arnab Goswami had a request for his favourite “Lutyens media”, which was to “stop glamorising riots”. This is in light of Goswami perceiving Lutyens media to be glorifying “gun wielding rioters like Shahrukh.”
Goswami wondered out loud, “Will these Lutyens media ever introspect?” One can just hope he does some of that too.
On India Today, anchor Gaurav Sawant asked G.V.L. Narasimha Rao, BJP spokesperson, why Home Minister Amit Shah hadn’t visited the riot-hit area in Delhi. To which Rao replied without answering the question, “The situation has been brought very much under control”.
Perhaps he preempted the counter-suggestion that Shah’s presence in Northeast Delhi may cause more harm than good, Rao added, “We didn’t want political representatives to create political dissonance.”
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