Monsoon replaces Anna in Mumbai media

The morning newspapers in Mumbai, like the entire city yesterday is dominated by the monsoon. All the major newspapers carry large pictures of flooded streets and are rain soaked people. The Times of India has also made a rain related story its lead, focusing on the death toll caused by land slides in the city. Besides the rains, The Times of India and T_he Hindustan Times_ have also given some play to the mercy petition that has been filed in the Madras high court by Ram Jethmalani on behalf of Rajiv Gandhi’s assassins. The drama at the Kochi airport when a Gulf airlines plane skidded off the runway has also found some mention. However the much anticipated sports bill that is due to be presented to cabinet this evening has only been reported by the Hindustan Times. [caption id=“attachment_71973” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Water logging has been reported from several places. Danish Siddiqui/Reuters”] [/caption] Anna Hazare and his team may have finally disappeared from the front pages, but are still prominently featured in the opinion pages. Now that the battle has been waged and won, this is evidently the time to step back and look at the movement from a more critical and objective vantage point. The Indian Express has carried a full page transcript of “Walk the talk”, which features a conversation between its editor Shekhar Gupta and Aruna Roy. They talk of Aruna Roy’s reservations against the Jan Lokpal bill, and the issues of corruption, parliamentary process and peoples representation. There is another smaller place by Abdul Khaliq, a former civil servant, which says that now that the euphoria is over, team Anna has to answer some hard questions. The Times of India also focuses on Team Anna and Parliament, saying that anti graft combat needs waging via parliament. Anna is only absent from The Hindustan Times, which has chosen to focus on Omar Abdullah’s amnesty announcement to stone pelters who were not involved in acts of arson, saying that it was a bold step and could help ease tensions in the state.