It’s not just leading news channels that jumped down Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar’s throat on prime time for his “neech aadmi” comment about Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The print media joined in the eyeball-grabbing as well.

They included English dailies, The Times of India, The Hindu, Hindustan Times and The Indian Express among others as well as Gujarati dailies Sandesh, Gujarat Samachar and Divya Bhaskar among others— which have earlier avoided such temptations.

On December 7, self-described “freelance Congressi” Aiyar opened the can of worms when reacting to Modi’s allegations that the Nehru-Gandhis eclipsed Ambedkar and his feats.

Beginning December 8 and right to this day, all these papers have found time and space for the now-suspended Aiyar. How and why it still remains newsworthy is beyond us. Could it be because they couldn’t spot Prime Minister’s much-talked-about vikas in the state?

While The Times of India had a front-page story, “Aiyar calls Modi ‘neech’, suspended from Congress,” on December 8, it carried another story two days later titled: “Chaiwala to neech, how ‘diplomat’ Mani ended up scalded by own tongue” on its Dance of Democracy page. The scalding that TOI refers to in its December 10 story was also illustrated in the not-so-subtle caricature that accompanied its December 8 story.

Nevertheless, TOI carried a third story on December 11 with the headline, “Pak working with Cong to beat BJP in Guj polls: PM” referring to PM Modi’s allegations that Congress might be working in cahoots with elements in Pakistan.

The Indian Express, The Hindu and the Hindustan Times followed suit with all of them putting out at least one Aiyar story on their front page on December 8, December 9* and December 11. The Indian Express front-page story on Monday set the record straight by providing the context as it explained the origins of this petty political discourse and why it turned into a “personal battle” for Modi.

While the national dailies obsessing over Aiyar’s remarks made little sense, Gujarati dailies giving everyday coverage to a former-diplomat-turned-politician, who has little or no role in Gujarat politics, is stranger.

On December 8, the Ahmedabad edition of Sandesh carried a story on the front page on how Aiyar’s “apshabd” had angered Modi, following which it published another story on December 9 that quoted Aiyar stating: “If Congress suffers loss in Gujarat then I am ready to face punishment.” But that wasn’t all. Sandesh published a third story on its front page today, titled: “Why is Pakistan interfering in Gujarat election: Modi.” Most of these stories are based on comments from the BJP.

On December 8, the front-page story in the Ahmedabad edition of Gujarat Samachar was, “Modi is a man from lower caste: Mani Shankar,” while the December 9 story (page 2) was titled: “This time in the Vidhan Sabha elections, it’s a fight for casteism instead of vikas,” referring to Amit Shah’s response to Aiyar. The strap of the article asked whether Priyanka and Sonia Gandhi, who insulted PM Modi, will also be suspended like Aiyar? Subsequently, the paper carried another story on December 11 with Amit Shah’s quote as the headline: “To win elections Congress is bringing up points from 2002: Amit Shah.”

Similarly, Divya Bhaskar had at least one story on December 8 and December 11 quoting Modi in the headline.

Continuous Aiyar spin-offs in a state that has still one phase of voting to go on December 14, begs the question regarding the point of such stories. With their reach, newspapers have to own the responsibility of publishing fair reports, especially in an election-bound state. Here’s to hoping the editors are taking note.

*The Hindu published its December 9 story on page 8.