In Monday, as Leader of the Opposition, the first in a long while, Rahul Gandhi gave a speech which had the Lok Sabha laughing with him and the treasury benches squirming, with the BJP all riled up.
The speech got enormous traction on social media all day, it has got 5 lakh views on Gandhi’s Youtube channel.
Narendra Modi has not uploaded his Lok Sabha pronouncements to his Youtube channel. One short clip of Modi talking about former vice-president and fellow BJP member Venkaiah Naidu received 22000 views.
How did our legacy media cover this speech? Often, as is the norm, headlines do not represent the bulk of the copy which follows. For instance, the Times of India headline reads: Lok Sabha sees rare PM Modi vs Rahul Gandhi faceoff. The copy however is mainly about Gandhi’s speech. Since the actual “face-off” was a bit of a damp squib.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/lok-sabha-sees-rare-pm-modi-vs-rahul-gandhi-faceoff/articleshow/111403045.cms
This “report” from NDTV cleverly attempts to present happenings in Parliament from the BJP’s perspective, and further, is written to mislead the reader into thinking that the BJP and Modi had the upper hand. The reality of anyone who actually watched the proceedings was quite the opposite. Even TOI hints at that.
https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/pm-narendra-modi-rahul-gandhi-lok-sabha-bjp-rss-not-entire-hindu-community-rahul-gandhi-vs-pm-in-lok-sabha-6008976
The Hindustan Times also concentrated on the poor beleaguered BJP with this pathetic “point by point rebuttal”. I am unable to understand whether they actually believe their own drivel or were directed to write like this:
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/on-rahul-gandhis-hindus-agnipath-scheme-charges-bjps-point-by-point-rebuttal-101719878748437.html
The fact that the BJP misrepresented Rahul Gandhi’s speech – especially his remark about Hindus – has not been covered, rather shamefully.
Factcheckers have checked the misinformation in the BJP-led government’s “rebuttals” which makes the newspaper’s coverage even more embarrassing.
The Hindu provides more comprehensive coverage of Gandhi’s speech and the BJP’s reactions:
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/you-are-not-hindus-rahul-gandhis-dig-at-bjp-draws-protests-in-lok-sabha/article68355018.ece
India Today’s tawdry notion of being the “gold standard of journalism” apart, the following link is interesting because it gives the people of India an idea of how the BJP wants to limit how much the people of India are allowed to know. All the items “expunged” from Gandhi’s speech are important subjects for us to discuss. Whether India Today is aware of this or not, well. I’m not going there.
https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/rahul-gandhi-lok-sabha-speech-parts-expunged-from-parliamentary-records-2560992-2024-07-02?onetap=true
A more complete report of Gandhi’s speech comes from the digital non-legacy media, obviously:
https://thewire.in/politics/in-maiden-speech-as-lop-rahul-gandhi-tears-into-bjp-on-hate-politics-price-rise-and-neet
What I have not been able to find is another newsworthy event which happened in Parliament yesterday: that Prime Minister Modi was reduced to being just one more MP, one more politician in a Constitutional post. Not a non-biological divine being – both Gandhi and A Raja referred to this – and not the Teacher of the World. This was perhaps more significant that Gandhi’s speech. And the squirming of the worms in the media is directly related to this downsizing.
Mahua Moitra gave an extremely fiery no-holds-barred speech. Happily, the legacy media was happier with giving Moitra her due. Massive congratulations all around for such courage.
https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/hear-me-dariye-mat-mahua-moitra-tells-pm-narendra-modi-in-lok-sabha/cid/2030875
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videos/international/tmc-mp-mahua-moitra-bashes-bjp-in-fiery-lok-sabha-speech-paid-heavy-price-for-watch/videoshow/111410814.cms
Both Rahul Gandhi and Mahua Moitra emphasized the fact that they do not fear Modi and the BJP.
Judging from this coverage though, the Indian media though is still shivering and snivelling in its collective shoes. Uriah Heep has nothing on them.
Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and commentator. She writes on MxMIndia on Tuesdays and Fridays. Her views here are personal.