Boycott shouting matches held in the name of debate: Tejashwi Yadav
Patna, Mar 11: Patna, Mar 11: RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Monday urged opposition leaders to take a united stand against what he called a "campaign of distortion" by pro-BJP news channels, and he was backed by his father Lalu Prasad who gave the call - "boycott Modi media".
While they didn't name any particular channel, the BJP hit back accusing Yadav of "sitting in the lap of the Congress which is famous for its blatant use of the media".
The leader of the opposition in the Bihar Assembly shared on his official Twitter handle a letter dated March 8, copies of which were addressed to Congress president Rahul Gandhi, BSP supremo Mayawati, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
In the strongly-worded letter, Yadav alleged, "A spectacle is produced every evening with the sole aim of denigrating all the opposition parties. It is an open secret that a powerful section of the television media is deeply vested in the electoral fortunes of the BJP".
Lalu Prasad, who heads the RJD and is in Ranchi now serving sentences in fodder scam cases, retweeted the post on his own twitter handle, operated by his close aides, with the hashtag #Boycott_Modi_Media.
The BJP reacted with indignation, accusing the RJD heir apparent of "sitting in the lap" of the Congress notwithstanding alleged indifference of Gandhi to his plank of social justice and reminding him of throttling of the media during the Emergency.
The former deputy chief minister said, "If it was a case of subtle siding with the party in power, the spokespersons of various opposition parties would have expected to counter the tilt in rational debates held in news channel studios."
Many news channels "have not only given up pretence of impartiality... but have gone ahead to spout vitriolic hate in Indian society and incite violence", he said.
Without naming any media outlet or personality, Yadav alleged that many senior and well-respected journalists have been warning about the "near-total breakdown of the ethics of journalism in these corporate house-funded news channels".
He claimed that the news channels have been seized fully by fascist tendencies and that no rational debate is possible at these studios.
"We appeal to all political parties in the opposition and conscientious voices of the Indian public sphere not to participate in the shouting matches held in the name of debate by these channels and anchors and to refuse to be complicit in their campaign of distortion and deceit.
"Conspicuous absence of voices from opposition shall not allow them to continue with their pre-scripted debates and discussions," the RJD heir apparent added.
He urged the opposition parties and people to take a "united and collective call" on this.
Reacting to Yadav's initiative, BJP state spokesman Nikhil Anand advised him not to sermonise sitting in the lap of the Congress which is "famous for its blatant use of media".
"Your echo on social justice has never got any support from @RahulGandhi. Remember Congress is hard core anti-Mandal, anti-Dalit and anti-OBC," he said.
"Why don't you remember those days when public broadcasters were called Indira Darshan and Rajiv Darshan. Hope you are well aware of the media ban during Emergency. @RJDforIndia and @CongressforIndia must not force media to be their mouthpiece," Anand said in another tweet.
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FIDE Women's World Cup final: Humpy draws with Divya in first game
Batumi (Georgia), Jul 26 (PTI): Young Indian International Master Divya Deshmukh held her nerves to hold stalwart Koneru Humpy to a draw in game 1 of the FIDE Women's World Cup final, with both players having their share of opportunities to take the lead here on Saturday.
The draw with black means Humpy, the two-time World Rapid champion, holds a slight edge going in the second and final game under the classical chess rules in the two-game mini-match, and should the deadlock continue, games of shorter duration will be played to determine the winner.
Humpy employed the Queen's gambit accepted as black and it turned out to be a pretty fascinating game right out of the opening as Divya, 19, came up with a piece sacrifice early to deny the black king the right to castle.
Humpy was the first to err and, according to computers, Divya had things under control on the 14th move. However in her bid to recover the extra material, the Nagpur girl, who has secured a place in the Candidates tournament with her sterling performance here, missed a promising continuation.
What followed the exchange of all minor pieces and the ensuing queen and rook endgame gave enough counter play to both players. The game was eventually drawn after Humpy sacrificed her rook to force perpetual checks.
"The game saw an extremely sharp battle with the game ending in a draw in 41 moves. On move 7, Divya made her aggressive intentions clear by offering another pawn,
which looked like home preparation. Humpy made a practical decision of refraining from taking the pawn and a balanced position was reached by move 10 by white," said Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay, an Arjuna awardee and the first Indian to get a chess Grandmaster norm.
"However, instead of developing the undeveloped Knight, Humpy retreated the centralised Knight on move 10, giving huge positional advantage to Divya. Divya could have gained huge positional advantage on the 12th move by moving a rook. However, she chose to play for King side attack by sacrificing a piece instead.
"Humpy, too, erred at this stage and instead of moving the King to Queen side, moved it to the King side. Divya, on move 14, could have obtained a crushing attack by threatening a mate by developing her Queen. Instead she chose to exchange a pair of Bishops first, which enabled Humpy to defend her King by returning the piece," said Thipsay.
"Players thus reached a balanced Queen and two Rooks ending. Divya continued to play ambitiously and tried to attack Humpy’s King but the latter defended accurately and the game was drawn in 41 moves by perpetual check," he added.
In the play-off for the third place, Chinese players Zhongyi Tan, the former women's world champion and top seed Lei Tingjie also decided to split points out of a Queen’s gambit declined game.
The opening raised visions of a close contest between the two but having been knocked out of title race in the previous round, none of them wanted to take any huge risk. It was still a middle game when the players shook hands.
With the top two positions sealed for the Indians, the berth to the next Candidates is also assigned, while the player finishing third will also get an entry to the premier event scheduled for 2026.
Results: Divya Deshmukh (Ind) drew with Koneru Humpy (Ind); Zhongyi Tan (Chn) drew with Tingjie Lei (Chn).
