Congress’ fightback moment; Fed stokes fear; Adani’s bid to tame NDTV
Opinion Watch
Ghulam Nabi Azad’s no-holds-barred attack on Rahul Gandhi was most hypocritical. Congress’ fightback to Azad’s charges is equally juvenile.
Indeed, Azad was an entitled leader who had five terms in the Rajya Sabha only because of a coterie calling the shot in the party. He was hardly a mass leader that the Congress should cry to indulge in chest-beating.
Azad was the chieftain of one group among a few who constituted the ruling elite class who were the lackeys of the Gandhi family, beginning from Sanjay Gandhi.
For that matter, all the charges of Azad are bogus, hypocritical and saintly when feet are in grave.
The Hindu and Deccan Herald have come with the editorials on the election for the Congress chief, and the party’s response to the attack by Azad.
Azad is hogging the mainstream media spotlight on predictable terms, since his tirade suits the running narrative.
Both the dailies advised the Congress to hold the elections for the post of president in the most transparent manner.
Raju Srivastava would have laughed his heart out to the saintly talks of TH and DH, for their feign ignorance to the fact that none of the political parties have even basic internal democracy, and that presidents of such outfits are nominated and not elected.
Still, TH’s sagely words are “the best course for the party and the family is to facilitate an election process that is as fair as possible, and use it as an opportunity to open an honest conversation on revamping the party”.
TH does show a mirror to Azad by arguing that “the capture of the Congress party by a self-serving cabal had begun long before Mr. (Rahul) Gandhi came on the scene”.
DH also joins TH in calling the bluff of Azad by saying that “none of the words like ‘coterie’, ‘sycophants’, ‘remote control’ and ‘proxies’ that Azad used may be out of place about the party’s enclosed world at the top, although Azad, unsurprisingly, did not see or acknowledge that reality when he himself was part of that charmed circle, which he was for very long, and was enjoying its benefits”.
Yet, it may not be forgotten that Rahul Gandhi’s failure is a baggage that’s breaking the back of the Congress.
Fed stokes fear
The US Fed remains hawkish in its bid to tame the runaway inflation. The emerging markets, particularly India, are at a higher risks of rate hikes by the Fed that may pull out investments to the detriment of the growth prospects.
The Times of India (ToI), The Indian Express (IE) and The Economic Times (ET) have struck cautionary notes on the back of the global equity routs on Monday following the suggestions that there could be more rate hikes.
It may be noted that hawkish and dovish utterances of the US Fed wildly swing the equity markets worldwide, and the stance hasn’t been seen to be consistent.
ToI claims in its Edit that the US has entered recession amid shrinking outputs, while situations in Japan and Europe are gloomy.
The daily claims that the economy in the US may be in ‘jobful recession’ since hiring continues there.
IE warned of the risk of imported inflation for the country due to a weaker currency.
ET too noted that a loss of economic momentum is to be expected by higher credit costs and slowing exports. The daily warns that India is headed to a weak growth path.
The dailies are, however, too kind on the government, which had been caught napping while the global turn of events has rocked the growth prospects amid an absence of public and private investment expansion in the economy.
Adani’s bid to tame NDTV
The NDTV earned the image of anti-establishment media house by indulging in kick-boxing, wearing velvet gloves. This television hasn’t a story or a documentary that anyone would recall for having shaken any of the establishments, Narendra Modi-led BJP or Manmohan Singh-led UPA.
At best, the NDTV has been the television avatar of Babagiri, giving sermons and serving prosaic chest-beating, by significantly scaling down its editorial strength.
Yet, as is the saying ‘andhon mein kana raja (deaf rules the blind kingdom)’, the NDTV has been the only TV channel that is still wearing the façade of journalism, while its peers have fallen flat on the feet of the power of the day.
The Pioneer has commented on the bid of Adani to take over the NDTV by giving an account of the chronology of the share buy by Adani, which was previously indirectly held by Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance.
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