Several remarks of the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister have made it to the Urdu press. Delhi and Kolkata based daily, Akhbar-e-Mashriq on January 8 has an edit, ‘Mayawati ki baasi kadhi mein ubaal.’ The edit terms Mayawati’s recent attacks on the Congress as “oot pataang ki baatein” (meaningless talk). The paper believes that “after the UP victory, she has given a tough time to the Congress in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. Mayawati is enraged that the Congress is trying to rehabilitate itself in UP.”

National Herald’s Qaumi Awaz on January 10 writes that “whenever she has faced a crisis, Mayawati has taken shelter with the Congress. But whenever she battles the

Congress electorally, she gives be-dhanga and bhonda (unbecoming and ugly) statements which nobody who believes in democracy would ever take seriously.”

Delhi’s Jadeed Khabar of January 12 writes, “Mayawati controls the entire administrative set up of UP, and if she herself publicly declares the threat to her life, it can be imagined how unsafe the common people in the state must be feeling.”

However, Delhi’s Sahafat on January 10 says, “she should be provided with all the necessary safety in view of the situation in the sub-continent. Even the SPG act must be amended if it is necessary to do so.”

It’s not cricket

Hyderabad-based Rahnuma e Deccan on January 9 while tracing the history of aggression on the cricket field blames England and Australia for beginning this trend. It has also condemned the Australian cricket team’s recent behaviour. But it has said that “India should not leave the series and return. They should win the last two tests and level the series.” The paper says there should be pressure on the ICC to ‘annul’ the Sydney test.

... contd.