The big talking points of this episode of News Today are Rekha Gupta taking charge as the ninth Chief Minister of Delhi and the rising ragging cases in Kerala.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Good evening, hello and welcome. You're with the news today. This is your primetime destination,
00:05news, newsmakers, talking points and importantly, news without the noise. News as it's meant to be.
00:12Among our top stories, Rekha Gupta has taken oath as the new Delhi Chief Minister. Can we now say
00:18the BJP is the dominant party number one across the country as it wins elections after elections?
00:25Does the opposition have any part to recovery? Also, as ragging cases mount across Kerala,
00:34we'll raise a national question. How does one put an end once and for all to the ragging that takes
00:40place on our campuses? This is the news without the noise, the news with knowledge. Let's bring
00:45you the nine headlines at nine tonight. The new BJP government in Delhi takes oath and hits the
00:53ground running. Chief Minister Rekha Gupta chairs her first cabinet meeting with six ministers.
01:00Decision taken on portfolio distribution. There is a Yamuna Aarti that marks the start
01:07of the new government's tenure. US President Donald Trump alleges US aid used $21 million
01:16to interfere in India's elections. Modi government plans a probe. Congress calls for a white paper.
01:23After the Ranbir Allahabadiya Rao Center asks OTT platforms to follow age-based content
01:32classification, direction comes after the Supreme Court comes down heavily on the postcaster
01:37for a crass sexual joke. Days after outrage over a KIT student's suicide over alleged harassment
01:48and mental torture, Orissa police arrest five more over the alleged attack on the protesting students.
01:56Tamil Nadu Chief Minister hits out at the center over the new education policy against. Talent
02:02says the union government is using fund release to coerce states,
02:06says Tamil Nadu will not accept the new education policy.
02:10Day after Lokayu clean chit to Karnataka, Chief Minister Siddharth Ammaiyya
02:20in illegal land allotment case, Deputy Chief Minister Shiv Kumar slams BJP and JDS,
02:25says Muda conspiracy can't go on forever.
02:32Manipur Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla ultimatum
02:36Manipur Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla ultimatum
02:39says surrender looted illegally held weapons within seven days or face strict action.
02:48And Donald Trump blasts Ukraine President Zelensky amidst negotiations over an end to the war,
02:55calls him a dictator without elections. Ukraine hits back, bans Trump's truth social across the
03:00nation. And Hamas releases bodies of four Israeli hostages, including a nine-month-old
03:07and a four-year-old coffins displayed in Khan Yunus as the bodies are handed over.
03:17But first tonight, the big story that's coming in from the national capital.
03:21A new government has finally taken shape in Delhi 10 days after the elections. Let's take a look
03:29first at the fast-moving developments today. The Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta and six
03:35cabinet ministers, including Parvesh Verma who defeated Arvind Kejriwal and Maninder Singh Sirsa
03:42took oath at the iconic Ramlila Maidan. The ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Narendra
03:46Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah as well. A mega show of strength also at the Delhi
03:53government swearing in ceremony. Top NDA leaders like Andhra Pradesh's Chandrababu Naidu, Deputy
03:58Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan and several BJP chief ministers were also on stage during the oath
04:05taking ceremony. Right after the oath setting ceremony, Rekha Sharma hit the ground running,
04:12took charge as chief minister. She has vowed to give rupees 2,500 to poor women of Delhi from
04:18March 8 as per the manifesto. The Rekha Sharma cabinet later performed Yamuna Aarti at Vasudev
04:26Ghat in Delhi. They asserted that cleaning Yamuna river is the top priority of the BJP government
04:31in Delhi. After seeking the blessings of Ma Yamuna, chief minister also chaired her first cabinet
04:37meeting. Earlier, she had promised to expose alleged corruption under AAP tenure and asserted
04:42that CAG reports would be tabled in the first session of the Delhi assembly.
04:47Meanwhile, we are getting a look at the new cabinet of the Delhi chief minister,
04:58Rekha Gupta. Chief minister will also handle finance, planning, general women and child
05:04development services, revenue, land and building, vigilance and any other department not allocated
05:10to other ministers. So, she gets all the big portfolios. Parvez Sahib Singh Verma gets PWD,
05:15Water and Legislative Affairs. Water, a key ministry now in Delhi. Kapil Mishra, contentious
05:21figure, gets Law and Justice, Labour, Employment, Art and Culture, Language, Tourism. Ashish Sood
05:28gets Home, Power, Urban Development, Education, Higher Education, Training and Technical Education.
05:34Anindya Singh Sirsa gets Food and Supplies, Forest and Environment Industries.
05:40Ravinder Singh gets Social Welfare, SC and ST Welfare and Cooperative. So, the new ministry
05:45is in shape. And Shreya Chatterjee now joined me. Shreya, the government seemingly wants to
05:52send out a message, they mean business. It was interesting they did the Yamuna Aarti also. Yamuna
05:57pollution was one of the issues during the elections. But what's the sense you're getting
06:01from this government that's been chosen? Is Rekha Gupta simply the face of the government,
06:08or is she really the woman in charge? Will she be someone as a first time MLA
06:13who will be looking over our shoulders? What's the sense you're picking up?
06:19Whereas if we have to give at least some days to give a sense of the understanding,
06:23because clearly whether it's just a posturing of sending out a woman chief minister,
06:28because for all this while, despite being power in multiple states, BJP did not have a woman
06:32chief minister in the helm. So clearly, whether or not that's just a messaging, it will be in some
06:36days we'll realize. But as of now, as I talk, Rekha Gupta, along with her cabinet ministers,
06:41have arrived for the cabinet briefing. And she will be in short time say what was decided in
06:47the first cabinet meeting. The expectations are on the lines of the rolling out of Ayushman Bharat
06:51as well as 2500 rupees for woman. So in a short while, I mean, barely a minute or two, we will
06:58get to know from them what was the decision taken in the first cabinet meeting.
07:02Okay, we'll wait to see what decisions are taken. But joining me now is someone who knows a thing
07:07or two about this government. Harish Khurana is one of the newly elected MLA secretary Delhi BJP.
07:12Remember, he's the son of Madan Lal Khurana was the first chief minister of Delhi way back in
07:171993. Good to have you Harish on the show. You're smiling at the moment. Give us a sense. What is
07:24the what is the top priority according to you of this government? Because we've been hearing
07:28different reports, some saying this government will go after Arvind Kejriwal will continue to
07:33sort of put out CAG reports alleging corruption. Others are saying no, we will do Yamuna pollution.
07:39What is the the main issue that your government is going to tackle on priority?
07:45Thank you Rajivji for having me on the show. And today is a historic day when second time BJP
07:54chief minister of women is taking oath. And our agenda is absolutely that we will have a agenda
08:01of Vikas agenda of development. And whatever the promises we have made, whatever the guarantees
08:07Modi ji has given to the public of Delhi, it will be fulfilled as revertum as it is.
08:14No, so you're saying for example, the guarantee for women to get rupees 2500 by the 8th of March
08:20International Women's Day, it is going to cost you 11,000 crores according to some estimates,
08:26you're going ahead with it? We are going ahead with it and not even this. First, I think
08:32another 15-20 minutes you'll get to know what decision has been made by the cabinet. But what
08:38I believe Ayushman Bharat Yojana, which has not been implemented in Delhi, it will be implemented
08:44soon. And I think in next few minutes, you'll get to know about the Ayushman Bharat. And then we
08:52have agenda of like cleaning of Yamuna, which has already been started right now. It's been done.
08:59People like us, MLAs like us, many of the MLAs have started their work on the ground of cleaning
09:04of sewage desilting. We already started that. And mass, I mean, the sewage big trunk or sewage
09:12trunks will be tendered, will be floated soon. And I think before this rainy season, the problem
09:18of this drainage will be getting sorted out for sure. And our, all the ministers and the chief
09:25will do a development work from today only. You're saying you're hitting the ground running
09:30from today. You know, there are AAP leaders who are saying that the BJP is going to benefit now
09:38from an LG who's on the same side as them. They claim that Mr. Kejriwal wanted to bring many of
09:44the development projects that you now speak about, whether Yamuna, cleaning up the Yamuna, whether
09:49sewage, cleanage, and he, they were, they insist that the LG was a roadblock. Are you now confident
09:57that that phase is over? Now you all will work in perfect synchronization. I think the only problem
10:04with Arvind Kejriwal was this. We should understand that we should run according to what
10:12the constitution says. And you are covering Delhi since ages right now. We have seen Madanlal
10:18Khuranaji, Sahab Singh Vermaji and Sushmaji in the era when they were the chief minister and
10:23having a central government in the center. We were having no problem at that time also.
10:28Shirajji was a 15 year chief minister, but six years there, the government of BJP was there in
10:34the center. So this kind of, you know, clashes were not there. We should, we understand that
10:40there might be problems with, with some issues, but that doesn't mean you, you always blame a
10:46left-wing government of letting not to work. The thing is, the intention of Arvind Kejriwal
10:52government was not to work. Primarily, I mean, they were only allegating either Haryana,
10:57they were allegating central government, they were allegating some other ones.
11:01It's interesting. It's interesting. You're saying that even you just now said Ayushman Bharat to be
11:06implemented, the chief minister's first major decision announced Ayushman Bharat Yojana to be
11:12implemented in the national capital. So you're spot on Harish, you knew exactly what was the
11:18announcement to be made. But it comes to the question, Harish Khurana, is, is Rekha Gupta
11:25really the woman in charge? Or is she as the opposition alleges, simply a first time MLA
11:30who will do whatever she's told by the center. Is this a strong chief minister or is this a
11:36chief minister who's simply there to do Delhi high command, the BJP high command's bidding?
11:41Rajdeep, I know Rekha Gupta since I was in college. I was his one year senior to her
11:47and I have seen her struggle during campus days. She was being secretary first during Alka Lama
11:53when she, she was president. And she, later on, she become a president for, for, for Doosu that
11:59time. I know her since then. She has struggled. She knows what the ground of Delhi wants. I mean,
12:05she has the, she knows what the pulse of Delhi wants. I think she knows what she wants to do it
12:12and double engine government, like central government, we have Narendra Modi ji and
12:17Delhi, we have Rekha Gupta ji's government will do a perfectly a double.
12:22Will this double engine, for example, be able to do anything about air pollution?
12:29Or indeed water pollution? Will you be able to, these are images of the Yamuna
12:34Aarti going on. Will you actually be able to clean up the Yamuna? Arvind Kejriwala promised to do it,
12:39didn't do it. Will you, are you willing to commit yourself that within the next two years,
12:43Yamuna will be clean? We have already promises made to the people of Delhi, like for cleaning
12:50of Yamuna in two, two and a half years, you'll have a very good riverfront on that. Just like
12:57what we have in Gujarat, you're going to see that kind of same Yamuna over here, only that is for
13:03sure. Not even us, prime minister has given a promise. I mean, prime minister's guarantee,
13:08we know all that, whatever the guarantee, he makes it. So you're giving us a guarantee,
13:13you're saying it's a Modi ki guarantee, the cleaning up of the Yamuna. There is also the
13:18question, Harish, which is more contentious. A lot of BJP leaders today were asked that they,
13:23about what will you do on the CAG reports on the previous government? They're saying,
13:28we will table them and we will prosecute Arvind Kejriwala. Is that also part of the agenda
13:33to take on Arvind Kejriwala? We will not do any vendetta politics. Whatever the constitution
13:39will say, we'll do it. And I mean, as we all know, CAG report has to be tabled on the floor
13:45of the house in the Vidhan Sabha. Unfortunately, Arvind Kejriwala didn't do it because of the
13:50intention of whatever intention he has, he might be doing much better. But as far as BJP
13:56is concerned, BJP will do all the work which is constitutionally allowed. And I think
14:02tabling of CAG report in the first session only will be done.
14:06Okay. Let's leave it there, Harish Khurana. I wish you well in your new pose. Every time I see you,
14:11I'm reminded of your late father, Madanlal Khurana. I knew him well. Ever smiling Madanlal
14:16Khurana, ever smiling Harish Khurana. Thank you very much, Harish Khurana, newly elected MLA,
14:21for joining us. Team Rekha Gupta, we are saying, it's been suggested, is in action. But let's now
14:28look at the wider picture. And the wider picture simply is that as a result of what has happened in
14:34Delhi, the map of the country in the last nine months is slowly but surely changing, the BJP
14:42becoming more and more dominant. India's power map, ever since Narendra Modi came to power,
14:48take a look at how the power map is changing. If you see in 2014, the BJP was largely confined
14:55to the north and the west of the country. There were large parts of the country, including the
15:00popular state of Uttar Pradesh, which was not controlled by the BJP at the time. How has that
15:06changed? Come to 2016, you can see the BJP by 2017 really slowly expanding. And now, as much as 79%
15:16of the land mass of the country is saffron by 2017. That big victory in Uttar Pradesh making a
15:23major dent, but also in the northeast, the BJP striking in Assam and parts of the northeast.
15:29Now, take a look at as we move towards the last few years, how is this power map changing?
15:37From 2017, let's turn to the latest numbers. After the elections, how the map keeps changing.
15:47The BJP, remember, returns in 2019 to power at the center, but it slowly starts losing out
15:54in certain other parts of the state. In Maharashtra, for example, the Shiv Sena,
15:59NCP, Congress, former government, Karnataka is switching to the BJP. So, the BJP now has
16:07a base in the south. And slowly but surely, the BJP appears to be growing. But in December 2020,
16:16the BJP finds itself suddenly on the back foot. 2018 actually finds itself on the back foot
16:21because the Congress did well in Rajasthan, in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. By 2020,
16:28the BJP is back in control. It topples Kamal Nath and takes over Madhya Pradesh,
16:36then takes back Maharashtra crucially by splitting the Shiv Sena. Therefore,
16:41now you suddenly have both the opposition and the BJP by 2022 occupying equal land mass.
16:47By 2023, the BJP is back in the entire North India, barring Punjab and Himachal Pradesh.
16:54Now, in 2024, the BJP is fully dominant once again after a minor setback, some would say,
17:01in Lok Sabha. Retains Haryana, retains Maharashtra. And it appears by February of 2025,
17:08as we stand today, the BJP is in power in 16 states on its own, five with its allies,
17:16and clearly 70 percent of the land area and 69 percent of the country's population is now under
17:25NDA rule. That's how India's power map has changed. Let me leave you the big questions,
17:31therefore. Can we now safely say that the BJP is India's dominant party number one again?
17:37Was the 2024 Lok Sabha simply an aberration or does the opposition have a path to recovery?
17:43Joining me now, Sandeep Shastri, Vice President, NIT Education Trust and Political Scientist.
17:50Praveen Chakravarty is Chairman, All India Professional Congress and Data Analytics
17:56Department. And Rajat Sethi is Political Commentator. To each of you, I want a short,
18:01crisp answer to my question. Can we now safely say that 2024 Sandeep Shastri was an aberration
18:08and the BJP is India's party number one by some distance?
18:15Good evening, Rajdeep. I think broadly, I would agree with what you said, but I would
18:20prefer to not to use the word aberration. 2024 Lok Sabha was a setback for the BJP,
18:28but the BJP's went to the drawing board, redefined its strategy when it came to the
18:35state assembly elections and has bounced back. The 2024 elections provided a
18:42diversity dividend to political parties and as somebody who is a fiscal expert, you would know
18:48a dividend needs to be encashed and what the BJP has done is it has encashed that dividend in
18:56Haryana, in Maharashtra and now in Delhi. The capacity to be able to bounce back has strongly
19:03been there, whereas the India Alliance in general and the Congress in particular has not really
19:11taken the learnings of 2024 forward. There has been an element of complacency in them
19:17and that produces the type of results we have had after the Lok Sabha election.
19:22You know, Praveen Chakraborty, when I showed that power map, BJP now controls nearly 80%
19:28of the land area, 70% of the population is under NDA rule. BJP and its allies, 16 states
19:36are now BJP controlled five by its allies. That's 21 out of 28. Has the opposition clearly now found
19:43itself on the back foot after Lok Sabha 2024 and is now struggling in a way even to occupy the
19:50space that one thought it would get? First thing, I think the first thing that would strike
19:57anybody when they look at that visual that you showed of India's map from 2014 onwards
20:05is how dynamic it is. So, for all the punditry that we do in, you know, television studios and by
20:13academic political scientists, if there is one lesson that that visual shows is it's extremely
20:20dynamic. 2019 December, it was suddenly all blue. 2024, it's suddenly all orange. So,
20:29I think we have to be humble. We have to first acknowledge that this can change at any given
20:36point in time. And so, that's the biggest lesson. So, there's nothing that is cast in stone.
20:43And, you know, as you yourself said, just 2024 May, there was a different rhetoric narrative
20:50and now there's a different narrative. Having said that, what I do want to point out is,
20:56and I say this with full responsibility as a member, an office bearer of India's oldest
21:03and principal opposition party, the Haryana and the Maharashtra election outcomes are not
21:10accepted by us. We have serious doubts about those two states. And so far, and then if you
21:18add Jharkhand, which actually went to us, you know, the map can be very, very, very different.
21:24And I'm saying, you're making a very, you're claiming that the Congress party principal
21:29opposition is not accepting the Haryana-Maharashtra results. Now, that of course has its own connotation,
21:34but I want to focus at the moment on the numbers as they stand. Rajat Sethi, you heard what Praveen
21:39Chakraborty says. He says this is a dynamic situation. Look at how the map of India has
21:43changed over the last 10 years. There was a brief period where the opposition was making a comeback
21:49in 2018-19. Again, there seemed to be a period in 2022, they were making a comeback. Nothing is cut
21:54in stone. How do you respond to that? Is it dynamic or do you believe the BJP is firmly
21:59established as dominant party number one? Well, Rajdeep ji, what we just heard was an
22:07absolute desperate attempt to paint something silver and call it a silver lining. Nothing more
22:12than that. While your graphics were showing some sway of blue and saffron here and there,
22:21but you missed one important point that throughout these 10 years, the central government
22:26has been of Prime Minister Modi. So there is one layer of saffron, which is pan India.
22:32All through these 10 years, while there can be a few states changing hands between one party or
22:38the other, I don't see any silver lining of the Congress party anywhere. And one of the biggest
22:43symptomatic aspects of why I don't see silver lining is post June 2024. There were very important
22:52elections that the Congress party from the narrative that they were trying to peddle
22:56had a definitive edge. And what happened with that edge? Look at how they squandered the
23:02opportunity. I'm not even getting into the infighting that goes on as a stark feature
23:08of the principal opposition party. And you know, you saw that the entire circus that was playing
23:15out in Haryana state, three leaders talking in three different directions, state in charge saying
23:20the other leader doesn't talk to me. Why is even that spilling out? You don't have a mechanism to
23:25enforce discipline in the organization. That is principally because your core leader, the center
23:30of gravity of your party is so wobbly. That is the reason. And then look at Maharashtra Rajdeep ji.
23:35What happened in Maharashtra? Maharashtra is a, is an even more starker example,
23:40primarily because Congress party was not even seen there in the state of Maharashtra at all.
23:45They were missing from the campaign season because they felt that it is their God ordained right
23:51that they have one Lok Sabha in the state of Maharashtra. They can carry on with it and
23:55they will naturally win the win people's sentiment. What BJP does is it lives by the day.
24:01It changes like any, unlike any big organization, it has that agility to change its strategy on a
24:07daily basis. Something that all parties lack and lack at a level where it has become a corrosion
24:14of these parties. You want to respond again, Praveen, to what you just heard from Rajat.
24:19What he seems to be suggesting is that while there is a fluidity in the map of states over
24:24the last 10 years, the BJP has shown resilience at the center and also the ability to win
24:31seemingly unwinnable states where there is some element of anti-incumbency.
24:35Haryana is a good example of that more recently and also the ability to fight and capture states
24:42that they've lost in the past, Delhi being the latest example. Therefore, the BJP has become a
24:47machine that is willing to cause correct while the Congress carries on in its merry old way,
24:53complacent and dare one say, according to its critics, moth-eaten.
24:59First, I think it's an, I mean, it's a fact that nobody can dispute, which is that the BJP
25:05is in power at the center for the last 10 years and now into the 11th year running. And I accept
25:12that and I acknowledge that. That's a fact. I think where I kind of differ is all this
25:20punditry about, you know, how, reasons for what led to the victory and what led to the laws and
25:27all these post electoral analysis and all that. It's, I mean, it's honestly quite nonsensical.
25:33It's the same party. It's the same leadership. It's the same organization that actually did
25:38reasonably well in the looks of our elections. Okay. So, and fine, whatever happened in the
25:43subsequent state elections, like I said, we can have differing views on it. So I think,
25:47I think we have to be a little careful about, you know, drawing out, making all these grand
25:52proclamations about organizing. I admit, I acknowledge that perhaps, perhaps the BJP is
26:00a little bit more nimble, a little bit more aggressive. A little bit more or pretty much so.
26:09I mean, let's be honest now, little bit more, or it is much more agile, much more nimble,
26:14much more willing to cause correct. And that's what we've seen happen in the last nine months,
26:18post 2024. Yeah. So they are, I mean, like I said, I mean, I have no hesitation in admitting
26:25that they are more nimble and could, could we do with a little bit more, you know, speed at which
26:31we change and we reform as a Congress party. Yes, absolutely. I don't, I'm not going to deny that
26:36at all, but all I'm saying is, come on, let's not, I mean, let us have some humility before
26:43we start making these grand proclamations about leader and organization and infighting and this
26:48and that. I mean, I mean, it's all easy for someone outside to sit and say all this.
26:52It's the same. It's exactly the same party in the organization that did well six months ago.
26:56So I think, yes, should we change and change fast and change rapidly, change radically? Absolutely.
27:04Okay. I'll be the first to admit that. Okay. That's, that's a, that's a candid admission,
27:07but Sandeep Shastri was 2024. Therefore, as some are calling it an aberration, is that a fair way
27:14to look at it or Indian elections are dynamic. We should treat every election distinct to the other.
27:20Yes, the BJP did well in Delhi and many will say it was not a level playing field in Delhi.
27:26And that argument is being made in other states as well. How do you see it?
27:31Rajdeep, as Praveenji said in his opening comments, politics and elections are dynamic in
27:38nature and accepting that argument he makes, I think that dynamism of politics as reflected in
27:45voter choices is seen in 2024 Lok Sabha and elections after that. And I repeat the point
27:52I made Rajdeep, the setbacks of 2024, both for the ruling and the opposition, the ruling party
28:01has been able to go back to the drawing board and bring corrections. You saw that in their campaign
28:07style. You saw that in the localized nature of their campaign. You saw that in the backseat that
28:14the central leadership took, at least in the way it was portrayed in Haryana and Maharashtra, may
28:21not be in Delhi. But then on the other hand, you do not see the same level of intensity of change
28:28in the opposition. You see that coming up. Yes, the dynamism that Praveen spoke about becomes
28:33a reality. And finally, Rajdeep, you are somebody who is adept at sports. Do you really have a level
28:41playing field anywhere? Is any level, is any playing field level?
28:47No, you would think that mature democracies do push a level playing field. We cannot say that,
28:57you know, the United States, Republicans and Democrats, for example, seem to have broadly
29:02a level playing field. You know, Rajat, that's a contentious viewpoint level playing field.
29:06But when I look at that India's power map, the one area where the BJP perhaps hasn't grown
29:12is South India, except for Andhra Pradesh, where it's in partnership with the TDP. Is that the
29:17next big, now having won Delhi and defeated up that had previously defeated the BJP twice,
29:24is conquering the South, in your view, and possibly Bengal next year, the next big challenge?
29:29Well, I think BJP and the BJP leadership don't see it as, you know, one chapter after the other
29:35chapter of a book. There are parallel exercises that are happening with or without an election.
29:41It's not an Ashwamedh Yajna going from one state to the other.
29:47No, there are separate Ashwamedh in every single state. They are running around. The problem is
29:53that, you know, we pick signals when the election comes. We tend to drop that signal,
29:58even if it is coming in absence of an active election in that state. So, I mean, is there
30:04no churning within, say, the state of Rajasthan? Certainly is. I mean, they are constantly evaluating
30:10if the leadership is doing good or not, and collecting feedback and the party leadership
30:14is pretty adept at incorporating those feedbacks and ensuring that the leadership of that state
30:19is made aware of it. And that goes on and on. I mean, it's the same story in Telangana. Now,
30:25Telangana, they have removed BRS as the principal opposition party. Now, BJP is eyeing at the
30:31anti-incumbency, which is very fast developing against the Congress party over there.
30:34Is the aim total domination? Is the aim of all of this total domination?
30:40I mean, nobody crafts a sentence like that in politics, Rajdeepji. You are aware of it. You've
30:45covered politics for so many years. Nobody looks at, okay, I'm going to dominate. It is about how
30:51do you want to perpetuate a message that you stand for certain values that you stand for,
30:56which are in sharp contrast with your opposition. What BJP, which remains a very, very grounded
31:03party around certain set of ideals, you might like it or dislike it, that separate matter.
31:08But it is a machine whose singular aim is that we need to dominate. And we need to
31:15go after those set of ideas and go around the country to spread it as much as we can.
31:21Dominance or not dominance is just a by-product, which we analysts tend to use. We say that this
31:26is a Modi consensus era. There is no doubt about it. There is no silver lining for opposition.
31:33Opposition leaders, their personality have been cut to size fairly. There have been leaders here
31:40and there who still are matching up, but not to the gigantic machine and the edifice that
31:44the BJP is bringing to the table. Okay, final word from you, Praveen Chakraborty, as I see
31:48these visuals that are playing again and again, all these chief ministers lined up, Mr. Modi,
31:52there is this larger than life figure. Rajat Sethi says this is the age of the Modi consensus.
31:59Are we in the same period as Indira Gandhi was in the 1970s? This towering figure,
32:04there is Indira only, now there is Modi only. Are we entering that phase? Is the opposition
32:08conscious of that? According to Rajat, there is no silver lining for the opposition.
32:14Now, let me just give you facts and data and statistics. Since we're talking about 2024
32:20Lok Sabha election and elections subsequent to that. In the states that went to polls after
32:252024 Lok Sabha, I looked at the numbers. There are about, in these states, the Congress party
32:30got about two crore people to vote for them in the Lok Sabha, in exactly these states.
32:35Now, I leave out Delhi because there was an alliance. In the subsequent state elections,
32:41roughly, roughly about two crore people continue to vote for the Congress party in these states.
32:46I can give, I can go, in Maharashtra alone, there are nearly 50 seats, 50 seats where
32:54that the Mahavikasagadi won in the Lok Sabha, retained exactly the same number of votes in the
33:00Vidhan Sabha, but lost. So, when you say people's choices, people's choices are the same. This is
33:07the number of people that vote. So, the number of people that voted for the Mahavikasagadi in 50
33:13seats, nearly 50 seats were exactly the same in Vidhan Sabha. But the BJP vote has grown.
33:19Your vote has remained static, the BJP vote has grown. That is the point. How is it? So,
33:24first of all, then we admit that there is no big shift, no big internal rivalry, no big or leaders
33:29being cut to size, all of these things, right? Exactly the same number of people voted. That's
33:33number one. Number two, when they've grown, how has it grown? Why is it that we find suddenly,
33:39in these 50 seats on average, 20,000 more votes go to the BJP alliance, Mahayati alliance,
33:45and there are 20,000 extra votes put. How is there such a tight correlation between the two?
33:49So, I think, I think we have, like, that's why I keep saying, let us not come up with some grand
33:54proclamation. When we look at people's, people's choices reflected as a vote, the number of votes,
34:012 crore in these states during the Lok Sabha, 2 crore in the state elections after the Lok Sabha.
34:08We will wait and see how that plays out. And you still deny the election.
34:11And you still deny the outcome of the election. After tom-tomming for the past two minutes on
34:16the number of voters that have gone up or down, I don't care, but you still deny it.
34:21That's another debate which we will have. They claim that there are question marks over these
34:28voter rolls. Let's leave it there. We, you know, we have made a commitment to our viewers. We don't
34:32want crosstalk. We will try and ensure that every panelist gets equal time. That's going to be our
34:38aim. And we want to get intelligent panelists who speak with data, with facts on their fingertips,
34:44and give the viewers more knowledge than noise. I appreciate my guests joining us on our talking
34:50point tonight. Let me turn from there to our other talking point tonight, because days after
34:55the shocking death of a Kerala college student, a new shocker, this time from a campus in Kerala
35:02University in Thiruvananthapuram, a student was beaten and made to drink water in which seniors
35:08spit. The state is seeing a troubling increase in incidents of ragging. A chorus is growing for the
35:14government to act. We have a law in place. Why does ragging continue? Take a look.
35:33Three incidents of ragging and campus violence in two weeks jolt Kerala.
35:39The latest incident is from Karevattam campus of Kerala University in Thiruvananthapuram.
35:46A student filed a police complaint on Tuesday, alleging assault by seniors
35:50in the SFI unit room. Seven senior students were suspended.
36:09The incident comes close to the heels of brutal ragging at the government nursing
36:21college in Kottayam. A video of the incident that emerged shocked the conscience of the society.
36:29It showed a junior student tied to a cord being pierced with a compass and being subjected to
36:35abuse. Five students were arrested in the case. In another incident in Kannur, a class 11 student
36:46was admitted to hospital after allegedly being assaulted by seniors. The victim claimed that
36:52he was attacked for not respecting the seniors. What is troubling is the increasing incidents of
36:58ragging in the state. A year ago, Kerala was shaken by the suicide of J.S. Siddharthan,
37:06a student at the Vet and Animal Sciences University following ragging. The incident
37:12had sparked statewide debate on ragging in educational institutions. The CBI that took
37:18over the investigation has submitted a charge sheet in the case. Siddharthan family is still
37:23waiting for justice.
37:53We are planning to form a state-level anti-ragging cell for prevention of ragging activities in
38:22campuses. Now we have only a three-tier system.
38:26There is an anti-ragging cell at the college level, university level and UGC level in Kerala.
38:31The state government has decided to start an anti-ragging cell at the state level to put an
38:35end to ragging. But the question is, how much effective will this new system be when there
38:40have been similar ragging cells at various levels already existing in the state?
38:45It's a serious issue of ragging that needs to be tackled now. Suicides,
38:54deaths linked to ragging 2012-2023, 78 cases in all. Maharashtra, among the leading states,
39:02unfortunate, 10. UP, 7. Tamil Nadu, 7. Telangana, 6. Andhra Pradesh, 5. MP, 4. Our sources,
39:09an RTI that was given to the University Grants Commission.
39:13Ragging complaints have also increased. UP at the highest, 1,202. Madhya Pradesh was next with
39:20795. West Bengal had 728. Orissa, 517. Bihar, 476. Maharashtra, 393. What is clear is despite
39:31a Supreme Court order making it very clear that ragging was a serious crime 15 years ago,
39:36it continues. On the campus, the latest instances in Kerala. I'm joined by T.P. Srinivasan,
39:42former vice chairman and executive head of the Kerala State Higher Education Council,
39:46with the rank of vice chancellor. He's been a distinguished bureaucrat as well,
39:50diplomat as well. Jithin Chawla, student and career counselor, the director,
39:54Center for Career Development. Let me come to you, Mr. Srinivasan. Kerala finds itself India's
39:59most literate state in the eye of a storm with these ragging cases. What does that tell us about
40:04what's happening on our campuses? It's a terrible shame. It is not the first time that these things
40:13are happening. We have politicized the education system so much that all these are politicized
40:23and one group is attacking the other. It's not just ragging. So you're linking it to student
40:27politics, sir? Ragging is absolutely because it is not ragging. It is just trying to put somebody
40:37down or create a situation where they can beat up someone. And of course, ragging is a respectable
40:43name given because it is presumed that children, you know, in the early stages of their college
40:49indulge in this. But this is not ragging. And every college has an anti-ragging group.
40:55But they are not effective at all because these are done in the quietness or the darkness of the
41:00universities or hostels. And by the time it is reported, police comes, etc., it has become
41:06totally ineffective. Laws are there. But I have seen that this is very widespread in Kerala.
41:13Is there no fear of the law, sir? Is there no fear, Mr. Srinivasan, of the law?
41:17Well, it is law-breaking that is the problem because police is inactive. Police is selective.
41:29If the police finds that somebody they favor or somebody, some party which commits this,
41:34the police just takes their looks at the other way. And therefore, there is this discrimination
41:39between one group and the other. And I don't think it is ragging. It is basically political
41:45violence which is raging in Kerala. Not a day passes without violence in the university.
41:51You are making a very important point. You are saying, Mr. Srinivasan, this is not
41:57ragging as much as political violence in a state like Kerala, heavily politicized campuses.
42:03But Jitin Chawla is a student and career counselor. While Kerala seems to, as Mr. Srinivasan
42:10points out, lines between ragging and political violence getting blurred, there are still other
42:15parts of the country are putting out the details. Suicides, deaths continue to be linked to ragging
42:21in other parts of the country. Is it that students believe they can get away with it? They are not
42:26aware of the regulations or they are aware of the regulations and feel no fear to go ahead and rag
42:31some juniors almost to the condition where some of them attempt suicide?
42:36So it's like this that 40% students experience some form of ragging and only 8.6% report.
42:44This is a report published by Hindu sometime back. So it is so prevalent that there has been what I
42:51would call as normalization of ragging. People feel that it's absolutely fine. It's a tradition.
42:57I mean, so when, you know, when students are joining in, so they'll be told that this is
43:01the way it happens. And typically it becomes much more somehow in case of medical student,
43:06which is so surprising. They are the people who are supposed to be ultimately doctors and they'll
43:11be more patient, but the medical students report more ragging followed by the engineering student,
43:16followed by regular colleges. And what do the college authorities tell you, Jiten?
43:22When you raise these issues, what do college authorities say?
43:26So all the authorities will always say, Hey, we have a complete anti-ragging cell.
43:31We are doing this. We are doing that, but they only wake up when something happened.
43:36Aman Kachru's case happened in 2009 and his father, then, I mean, he, we put it up very
43:42strongly and he fought a big battle to have the culprits punished. And finally it was 2009.
43:47But again, I mean, it keeps on rising year after year. It is so shameful. I mean, the university
43:54and today, a lot of universities are run by private people. I would say, of course, the
44:00government also runs a large numbers. UGC has an anti-ragging cell. UGC would make comments, but
44:08there was no formal training. Ideally, if I'm like, there are VC conferences, which happen,
44:14but their ragging is not spoken about. Their digital transformation is being spoken about.
44:18But ragging is a malice, which has really gotten to the system. It is very shameful.
44:23And for a student who's, in fact, I have parents who come to me and say,
44:26I would not send my child to such and such state because we feel the child is not safe.
44:31And they're happy to send children to outside India. Like at my office, we have
44:34teams which help students choose India and abroad. And a lot of parents would say, hey,
44:39if it is Delhi, like near my eyes, I can watch, then it's fine. Otherwise I'll send my child
44:45outside. I'll send my child to London. Not everyone, of course, can send their children
44:50to London. The truth of the matter is, you said ragging is normalized. Mr. Srinivasan,
44:55you know, you've served in different posts before you had a, you know, you worked with
45:00higher education. It is very worrying that, as I said, a state as highly literate as Kerala
45:06also is unable to make a distinction between what is brazen political violence and ragging,
45:12which is extremely unfortunate. What's the solution? Do you see a solution out there,
45:17Mr. Srinivasan?
45:22Yes, it is very difficult when police take sides. That is the issue. And authorities are generally
45:30in denial. I did some studies when I was vice chairman of the Higher Education Council.
45:36Every vice chancellor or education is to tell me that there is no such serious issue in their
45:41institutions. And when something seriously happens, a student is killed or something,
45:47they'll immediately say that this is a political issue. So, anti-ragging is part of our
45:55responsibility in the state Higher Education Council. So, we have been monitoring this.
46:01And therefore, there is no such rule that can change the situation.
46:05But you're saying that what you need is university authorities need to be more
46:09sensitized. Higher education authorities across the board need to be more sensitized. Am I correct?
46:16And penalized for violations. Absolutely. And this is the same story about
46:22abuse of women. This also is, they deny. I did a study and submitted a report.
46:29And as the vice chancellor, they all said in my university, this does not happen.
46:33That's all that they say. So, you're saying much of it is hidden.
46:37Right. So, you're saying university authorities need to wake up, smell the coffee, accept that
46:43these are problems and they need to sensitize themselves and indeed the entire student
46:48community. This needs to become a campaign. And that's really the only way. Students cannot be
46:55allowed to get away now in today's India. But let me stress. Yes. Right. Right, sir.
47:02Mr. Srinivasan. And I also stress that the government should make sure that
47:06Yeah. Yeah, go ahead. Finish up, sir. Government should make sure.
47:09No, I was just saying that make sure that the police is not partial in these cases.
47:17Right. The role of the police also.
47:19Those children who are in favor of their.
47:21Sure. The role of the police also under scrutiny. T.P. Srinivasan.
47:25And that is very necessary.
47:26And Jitin Chawla, appreciate you joining me here on the news today. We'll continue to track these
47:31stories from across the country. Power lifter has died after a barbell fell on her neck.
47:37Seventeen-year-old Yashthika Acharya tragically passed away when a 270 kg barbell fell on her
47:43neck while she was practicing at a gym in Rajasthan's Bikaner district. The power lifter
47:48was immediately rushed to the hospital where doctors declared her dead. Visuals that you're
47:53seeing on your screens may be disturbing. They show her gym trainer spotting her but failing
47:57to protect her when the barbell falls. Is this a case of negligence? What can be done given that
48:03there is such a big gym culture and fitness culture now across the country? How do you
48:08ensure complete safety in gyms? Joining me now, Satyajit Chaurasia joins me. He's a fitness coach.
48:15Satyajit, should I see this incident that has happened in Bikaner as a pure accident
48:19or negligence? What can a gym trainer do? What are the do's and don'ts?
48:28Absolutely. I think this is an accident. You just mentioned the weight was too heavy like
48:38260 or 270 kilos. Nobody can control after that weight is lifted from the rack.
48:46So should the gym trainer have ensured it or is it the responsibility of the power lifter?
48:57No, see they are like professional power lifters. They are doing this sport for years.
49:04But when the lift is so heavy weight and then if your body is not in that condition,
49:14I mean to say that particular day, that girl must not be her 100 percent.
49:20So the responsibility is of the power lifter. You're not putting the blame on the fitness coach.
49:28No, no, no. See, the fitness coach knows the danger. It's a very dangerous thing. When the
49:36bar is on, nobody can protect that person who is lifting it. And if the girl is not ready to
49:48lift that much, so she must be practicing with that weight. But particularly at that time,
49:54she was not able to take that weight and the trainer can't help when the weight is on the rack.
50:01Are there certain do's and don'ts, certain things that you must be very conscious of when you're
50:09lifting these heavy weights? If I were to ask you one, two, three, three things that you must
50:13be careful about, what would they be? Yeah. So when you are lifting so heavy,
50:21there has to be three people. If some accident is happening, one people can't handle that weight.
50:26So those two people can at least take that weight and make the person who is doing a safe way,
50:35you know. Three people has to be there. So one, you need more people. Second? Okay. And
50:41of second, see the girl who was lifting, she was doing her practice, right? But if she was not
50:57feeling up to mark and how the trainer will come to know. So you have to feel a hundred percent.
51:04You have to be completely a hundred percent when you're lifting heavy weights. You have to feel
51:08a hundred percent, a hundred percent. And number three, should you be going,
51:12should you be careful not to over strain the body?
51:18Of course, of course, you have to take the safety measures. Safety is first, like the belt. You have
51:25to take care of your lower back, your posture and everything. You have to be very alert. The trainer
51:30has to be very alert, even the girl who's lifting so much. So safety is first. The gear has to be,
51:37of course, without the belt, you can't lift so heavy. So this was an accident and a very bad
51:43luck what happened. Okay. Let's leave it there. An unfortunate accident. Hopefully, the lessons
51:51have been learned. You'd be very conscious if you're a power lifter. I appreciate Mr. Chaurasia,
51:55you joining me. Good news. India has beaten Bangladesh by six wickets to open their
52:01champions trophy campaign. Shubman Gill scoring a hundred. We'll have more details, of course,
52:07on that later in our shows. But I want to leave you tonight with an India Today fact check,
52:11something that we've made part of our 9pm news now, which recently found that some unscrupulous
52:17elements were taking photographs of women taking the holy dip and selling them online. After this
52:23was reported by our fact check team, the UP police has cracked the whip. I leave you with that story
52:29that's had an impact. You stay well, stay safe. Good night. Shubratri. Jai Hind. Namaskar.
53:00are actually old and not from Prayagraj. However, they are being shared as visuals of the Great
53:05Festival. We found two telegram channels offering access to private groups containing secretly
53:10recorded videos of women bathing and changing clothes. The charge for accessing these channels
53:15ranges from 1,999 rupees to 3,000 rupees. After India Today investigation, the Uttar Pradesh
53:21police said it has registered cases against two social media accounts for allegedly posting and
53:26objectionable videos of women pilgrims bathing at the Mahakumbh.
53:29This fact check on viral fake news is done by India Today's team AFA.
53:33This is AI Sana signing off.