New Delhi: Prime time Tuesday focused on the latest India-China standoff near Pangong Lake in eastern Ladakh. India Today called this “yet another provocation” from the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, while Mirror Now wondered if China was provoking India into a “military confrontation”. On Zee News, anchor Aman Chopra claimed that China is scared as it had issued “5 statements within 24 hours”. Times Now, however, found the Sushant Singh Rajput death investigation a more pressing issue.

First, India Today, where anchor Rahul Kanwal spoke of the Chinese “attempt to evict the Indian Army from the new positions on the South bank of Pangong Tso.”

The channel’s Shiv Aroor also brought in his expertise on this “absolutely incredible hostile action” and explained, “Chinese forces tried to apparently close in on Helmet Top and Kala Top, which had been occupied by Indian forces two nights before. This was an aggressive action after brigadier-level talks had begun.”

He added, “What I’m hearing from intelligence is that positions held by Indian forces were so dominant and advantageous that they spotted the Chinese movement. They had their floodlights and megaphones on to tell Chinese troops that they had been spotted so they had to stop in their tracks and move back.”

Mirror Now’s Afrida Rahman Ali said, “We are looking at a major tension in the Indo-China border — even as the country is grappling with the pandemic, there is fresh crisis at the border.”

She continued, “Is this another provocation from the Chinese side? Is China provoking India into a military confrontation?”

Aaj Tak took a rather more heavy-handed approach, warning China: “Cheen khabardar, Bharat hai poori tarah taiyyaar” (Beware China, India is fully ready). Anchor Anjana Kashyap on ‘Halla Bol’ said, “The situation at Kala Top is serious and Congress is asking where is PM Narendra Modi?”

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra, though, turned around and targeted, perhaps by force of habit, the opposition Congress party. He said since the Congress saw the Chinese graves on LAC, it has become more impatient. “First Congress should take care of its internal politics and establish diplomacy for choosing its president. Modi ji is there to handle China,” Patra declared.

Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate took on the Centre and said its diplomacy is failing in every aspect. “MEA’s minister Jaishankar ji himself said a few days ago that he does not have words to explain why China is not leaving India’s territory,” she stated.

On NDTV India, anchor Ravish Kumar spoke of the declining GDP growth and commented that even after the news of India’s growth contracting by a record 23.9 per cent in the first quarter of 2020-21, there has been no statement from the finance minister or the commerce minister.

Targeting the supporters of Modi government, Kumar quoted the lyrics of a 1966 film’s title song, “Dil ne phir yaad kiya, barf si lahar aayi hai”, and said, “The anguish of economic destruction is freezing like snow… the supporters will silently burn in the flame of devotion blinded by political ideology.”

Kumar also pointed out that despite India being the worst-hit nation economically among all the major GDPs, Chief Economic Advisor K Subramanian was comparing it to Britain’s GDP.

“When a kid failing in an exam needs to tell their parents about the results, they looks for other failed kids to give the excuse that the question paper was difficult,” he remarked.

Meanwhile, Times Now‘s Navika Kumar decided China and the economy were not important enough and remained focused on the Sushant Singh Rajput investigation. This time, she presented WhatsApp chats as ‘evidence’ that actor Rhea Chakraborty’s father, a medical doctor, was a drug user himself. She referred to private WhatsApp chats between Rhea’s brother Showik and his “drug supplier” in which Showik wrote that he wanted drugs for his father.

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