Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram was arrested on Wednesday night in a high-voltage sequence from his Delhi residence . Chidambaram was arrested by the CBI in connection with the INX Media case.
The dramatic chain of events started on Tuesday when Chidambaram went missing after his interim bail plea was rejected by the Delhi High Court. The CBI and the ED searched high and low for him, but to no avail. Late on Wednesday evening, the untraceable Chidambaram—flanked by Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Kapil Sibal—appeared at the Congress’s Delhi headquarters to make a statement to members of the press. The CBI rushed to the party office but he had already left. This culminated in officials scaling the wall of the ex-minister’s residence in Delhi to arrest him.
Expectedly, the arrest was front and centre for most news channels, with most of them showing live footage.
Republic TV, while using the fairly tame hashtag #ArrestChidambaram, announced: “After 24 hours of going into hiding, switching of his phones, making a six-minute appearance at the Congress party office … and now refuses to cooperate with the agencies. The nation cannot wait to see him arrested.”
As live, and often tumultuous, footage flashed on the screen, the breathless commentary noted: “Chidambaram has been arrested, after one hour and five minutes of trying to push back the agencies, locking himself up. Now you can see the entire police, our reporters running behind the car out there. We are going to chase him right till CBI headquarters.”
The anchor added: “This is the day to truly metaphorically to pop the champagne because Chidambaram has been arrested. This is the moment of redemption, this is what nation was truly waiting for.”
India Today had footage of Congress workers protesting during Chidambaram’s arrest alongside visuals of Salman Kurshid defending the ex-minister.
The anchor said: “This is a perception, Mr Chidambaram could have opened the door, invited them for a cup of tea. They want to arrest him, go with them. At the end of the day, perception is what is entirely playing over. The Congress party is now defending Mr Chidambaram, [the] CBI is seen to be over anxious in arresting him. It’s creating a pretty absurd situation, the kind of which we have not seen in this country for a very long time.”
NDTV India had a panel discussion just before the arrest, discussing the CBI’s eagerness to arrest Chidambaram and whether it was a way to “settle political scores”.
Later in the evening, as videos of the CBI team reaching Chidambaram’s residence appeared on screen, the panel discussed whether the arrest was “legal” or not.
Over on Times Now, documents related to the INX Media case were flashed along with the live footage from Chidambaram’s house. #ChidambaramWanted was the hashtag of the day, while Chidambaram was referred to as a “kingpin” in headlines such as “Dramatic Reappearance By ‘Kingpin'” and “‘Kingpin’ Talks Of ‘Fundamental Freedom'”.
In the print media, Chidambaram’s arrest occupied most front pages.
Indian Express‘s headline read: “P Chidambaram is arrested, appeal to court’s conscience”. A smaller article carried the Congress reaction, stating: “Assault on his rights, says Cong, reaches out to others in Opp”. It quoted the party as saying the “objective [of the arrest] was to humiliate him while playing to the gallery”.
Indian Express‘s editorial emphasised the need for due process: “It is important that the justice process proceeds lawfully and with utmost transparency, so that this case does not invite allegations of vendetta in a polarised political moment.”
The Times of India had Chidambaram’s arrest as its top story and included a timeline of how events unfolded, calling it “tumultuous scenes”.
Inside stories covered Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi’s support of the ex-minister and the BJP’s rejection of charges of “political vendetta”.
The Hindu‘s front page story on Chidambaram was headlined, “Chidambaram arrested in INX Media case after high drama”. Hindustan Times led with a variation of the same, its story adding: “Chidambaram and his lawyers may have played defence for the previous 24 hours but it was clear they were now playing offence.”
The Telegraph, of course, lost no opportunity in trying out something clever. Its headline read: “Heaven and earth moved & wall scaled to tackle a Pressing Crisis called PC”.
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