Rajdeep Sardesai : "No Wild Allegations Against Gandhis, Please....."

In the post ‘Why is Indian media scared of Sonia Gandhi’ I referred to an incident in a public debate on the Lokpal bill conducted by Rahul Kanwal of Headlines Today:

“Nothing about the program struck me as being new or specific except when a man wearing a green T-shirt, who introduced himself as ‘IIT Kharagpur and MBA’, started shooting questions. It was all fine until he started raising some questions about Swiss banks or KGB money apparently in relation to Sonia Gandhi. Hmmmm! That’s where Kanwal abruptly cut him off. This got me wondering all over again”.

Something similar happened on CNN-IBN last night in a discussion on the Supreme Court order setting up an SIT. Vishwabandhu Gupta, a former IT commissioner, talking about black money and Swiss accounts started referring to ‘the visit of a 41 year old politician and his mother to Switzerland…..” (before the new agreement with the Swiss authorities on black money was recently finalised) when Rajdeep Sardesai immediately cut off him. Rajdeep firmly suggested that “wild allegations should not be made”! Oh yeah! Talking about the queen or her son and their visits to Switzerland is almost blasphemy. And the media bimbos don’t like “wild allegations”. More of this later.

First, Manish Tiwari, the Congress spokesperson was unusually subdued in the discussion on CNN-IBN. As usual he started by stating that he had not read the full SC order. Then he mentioned that it wasn't really an SIT but an expansion of the High Level Committee. Wow! The SC should be clearer for the likes of Manish Tiwari. Then when it came to the SIT ordered by the SC he brought up something connected with Ramjanma Bhoomi movement having collected 400 crores and transferred it abroad. This, Tiwari suggested, was according to reports in the past by V. Gupta himself. There is no denying that the BJP may be involved in as much black money transactions as the Congress or DMK which is what Tiwari was implying. Rajdeep maintained a studied silence on the commentary by Tiwari even though that was clearly a digression. 

So what exactly are the ‘wild allegations’ that Gupta wasn’t allowed to air by Rajdeep Sardesai? Well, Gupta was probably attempting to make a connection between the visit of Sonia and Rahul Gandhi to Switzerland and subsequent Indo-Swiss agreement that black money investigations will now relate to only prospective offences. In other words past records of black money hoarders will not be accessible to the Indian government. Isn’t that convenient? One can’t be sure but that is what Vishwabandhu Gupta was probably alluding to. And why is that scary for Rajdeep Sardesai? Why is that a wild allegation or a new allegation? There are enough number of sites that have already made these allegations. Even Subramanian Swamy is on record stating the Gandhis were in Switzerland to handle black money issues, although that can be a sarcastic and snide remark. So why exactly were the Gandhis in Switzerland?

In case Rajdeep Sardesai is unaware  there are many other sites that have made another startling connection in the coincidence between the Gandhis’ visit to Switzerland and another event. Yes, that’s the Bilderberg group meeting between June 9 and 12 at St. Moritz in Switzerland. The Bilderberg group is one of the most secretive group of elites who seem to set the world agenda on economy, politics and various other issues. Participating members in the past have been Bill Clinton, Tony Blair and many other prominent personalities. It has also been suggested that Richard Nixon opened up to China under pressure from the Bilderberg group. It’s not hard to find material about this group on the net and even videos on youtube. Well, all that may still be speculation. Still, would CNN-IBN or any other channel or newspaper mind telling Indians why the Gandhis were in Switzerland? No details need be furnished they could simply say it was a personal family holiday. But you won’t find even that in any media outlet. Such is the secretive and intriguing conduct of the Gandhis and their defence by media shops like CNN-IBN. Naturally, this leads to more speculation and rumours.

For the record the Supreme Court order setting up the SIT on black money makes stunning reading. It’s an order born out of extreme unhappiness and discomfort with the government’s inaction and unwillingness to act. The very first para of the SC order starts with a quote of Deep Throat’s famous advice to Bob Woodward : “Follow the money” (From Watergate’s ‘All the President’s men’) The SC didn’t mention that Deep Throat later on admonishes Woodward for sloppy work and almost letting Haldeman get away. Well, in the end Deep Throat does reveal to Woodward that the entire operation of spying, Watergate and scandals was masterminded by Haldeman. Bob Haldeman, incidentally, was the Chief of Staff at the White House under Nixon. The corruption of the systems started right from the White House in that event.The highest seat of power in the US.

Well, Rajdeep Sardesai, there is no reason to believe that all the scandals and scams that are now emerging in India do not have their source at the epicentre of the UPA power. There is every reason to believe, as does the Supreme Court, that all the Queen’s poodles are working vigorously to stall and drag the black money investigations.The Hassan Ali-Tapuriah stories seem a bit far-fetched and at best these guys maybe a front.

One has to wonder over and over again why the media is so scared about talking about allegations hurled at Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and even Sonia’s family members. They need not look in many directions to bring out these allegations – one man, Subramanian Swamy, has a whole dossier. The media channels have invited Swamy for debates on many issues but not once to discuss his allegations against the Gandhis.

The Supreme Court suggests “follow the money”! Who the hell will follow the mediacrooks who seem to protect the queen?

Also read: All The Queen’s Poodles

Shekhar Gupta's Summer Freeze

This afternoon I had posted sermons to the media and the UPA by Rajdeep Sardesai. A little later I was delighted to learn that the question I asked through my post ‘Why is Indian media scared of Sonia Gandhi?’ is a question a lot of people have been raising. Well, that’s because I ran into an article by Shekhar Gupta, Editor of Indian Express and Padma awardee. This one is nicely titled ‘The Summer Freeze’.

Overall the article fairly reflects the mood in the country and is as well written as can be expected from a journalist of Shekhar’s stature. Except that there are few jarring notes, almost bordering on delusional. One cannot help agreeing that appointments to major positions in important government bodies are held up due to the government’s summer siesta. Sensex and markets are battered. I wouldn’t really consider stock markets to be an indicator of anything more than economic concerns of a limited population. Besides, markets act more on sentiments than mere economic logic. Here’s an excerpt:

“The paralysis in the government is matched by the confusion in the Congress party. Its carefully scripted strategy of distancing itself from all government decisions except the most obviously populistic ones has now unravelled and backfired. While the government finally responded to this by suspending all decision-making on anything even remotely controversial, it is the party that is now getting the rap for all the scams, some real, some exaggerated and some……. You can blame the formidable whispering machine of the RSS for it, and maybe you are right, but the clamour over “hundreds of lakhs of crores of dollars” stashed away in foreign banks has a very strong undertone of Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origin’.

So you see, the temptation to drag in the RSS out of nowhere in an otherwise sensible article gives away the whole plot. It makes me wonder what the difference is between the Congress and Shekhar Gupta. Next, what does money stashed away in foreign banks got to do with Sonia’s foreign origin? It’s been reported there are many Indians who have stashed away money in foreign banks too. Even assuming that’s an RSS whisper campaign how do you explain Shekhar’s next para?

“The same whisper machine talks of her recent Europe visit as some smoking-gun evidence of a conspiracy to vacuum-clean India’s wealth. The more brazen, like Subramanian Swamy, say so in public: that Sonia and Rahul have gone to Switzerland to sort out their secret accounts, nervous that now their time is up. Over the past three weeks I have been stopped by ordinary people at airports, in shopping malls, at a petrol pump, in a spiritual ashram, at the national athletic games in Bangalore and so on with a question that seems to have become a clamour: why are you in the media so scared of the Gandhis? Why is no one exposing their humongous stash overseas?.... It is all bunkum, of course, and in any case the beauty of Swiss accounts is that nobody needs to go to Switzerland to do anything with them.”

P.G. Wodehouse in one of his novels talks about two train-engine drivers who jumped into the furnace of the engine to escape the oppressive summer heat. It sounds credible doesn’t it? So when Subramanian Swamy says the Gandhis went to Switzerland “to sort out their secret accounts” that sounds just as plausible, doesn’t it? Well for the benefit of Shekhar Gupta I must mention that the remark Swamy made can at best be described as ‘sarcasm’ and at worst a ‘snide’ remark. Ordinary people get it but surprisingly Shekhar Gupta doesn’t get it. So he even goes on to educate us that you don’t have to be in Switzerland to handle your accounts. Funny, lately you don’t have to go to your bank even in India to handle your account. What Shekhar doesn’t tell us is: how in the world does Swamy get to know all this? How does he know about Sonia Gandhi’s movements when all the media bimbos didn’t report it? There were some in the media who were even speculating if Jayalalithaa would meet Sonia in Delhi June 14 when Sonia was blissfully in Switzerland. And Subramanian Swamy is a maverick politician rather than a full-time media person. So at least it establishes one thing clearly – Swamy deals with facts while the Gandhis manage to hoodwink the media.

So all this money stashed in Switzerland etc. is “all bunkum” according to Shekhar Gupta. But that is not the only thing that makes Sonia Gandhi a very suspicious and intriguing character. Here is a write by Arun Shourie, one of India’s finest investigative journalists, (he was with the Indian Express too by the way). It’s titled Annexation Through Technicalities. Some excerpts:

“Sonia Gandhi, without having any known sources of income, has become the controller of one of the largest empires of property and patronage in Delhi. The Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Library and Museum…..It is situated in and controls real estate which, because of its historical importance, cannot even be valued. The institution runs entirely on grants from the Government of India. Sonia Gandhi has absolutely no qualification that could by any stretch of imagination entitle her to head the institution: has she secured even an elementary university degree, to say nothing of having done anything that would even suggest some specialization in subjects which the institution has been set up to study. But by mysterious technicalities she is today the head of this institution. So much so that she even decides which scholar may have access to papers…..

Real estate, only slightly less valuable, has been acquired on Raisina Road. The land was meant to house offices of the Congress. A large, ultra-modern building was built -- the finance being provided by another bunch of technical devices which remain a mystery. The building had but to get completed, and Sonia appropriated it for the other Foundation she completely controls -- the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation. The Congress(I) did not just oblige by keeping silent about the takeover of its building, in the very first budget its Government presented upon returning to power, it provided Rs 100 crores to this Foundation. The furore that give-away caused was so great that the largesse had to be canceled. No problem. Business house after business house, even public sector enterprises incurring huge losses, coughed up crores……The Foundation has performed two principal functions. The projection of Sonia Gandhi. And enticing an array of leaders, intellectuals, journalists etc. into nets of patronage and pelf.

But the audacity with which the land and building were usurped and funds raised for this Foundation falls into the second order of smalls when they are set alongside what has been done in regard to the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts…….This Centre was set up as a trust in 1987 by a resolution of the Cabinet. The Government of India gave Rs. 50 crores out of the Consolidated Fund of India as a corpus fund to this Centre. It transferred 23 acres of land along what is surely one of the costliest sites in the world -- Central Vista, the stretch that runs between Rashtrapati Bhavan and India Gate -- to this Trust. Furthermore, it granted another Rs. 84 crores for the Trust to construct its building….”

The whole article by Arun Shourie makes sorry reading for any Indian.

So Mr. Shekhar Gupta, you see it is not just the allegations of money stashed in foreign banks or payoffs by KGB. There are a whole load of other issues concerning Sonia Gandhi and her family which is not even being reported by the mainstream media, let alone conducting any serious debate on those matters. So the next time someone walks up to you and asks ‘Why Indian media is scared of Sonia Gandhi?’ don’t say “it’s all bunkum”!

The only bunkum around is a cowardly news media.

Rajdeep Sardesai Sermonises Media & UPA

If you go through Rajdeep Sardesai’s blog and if you are even casually observant, you will notice that his blog-posts are usually made on Fridays. That’s almost like Bollywood movies being released on Fridays. Rajdeep sort of neatly summarises the week that was or uses hindsight to say the things he should have said on his channel through the week. Mind you, his posts are well-intentioned, thoughtful and are fair. If one were to just read his blogs it would be difficult to believe this is a TV anchor. Let’s first go through some excerpts from his latest post ‘TVnews a zero sum game?’.

"In recent weeks, as the images of Baba Ramdev and Anna Hazare have played out relentlessly across television screens, the government has appeared to panic. Four cabinet ministers rushed to the airport to mollify the yoga guru. In Hazare's case, a fast at Jantar Mantar was enough to hasten the government into issuing a formal order appointing a Lokpal committee without any consultation process. In both instances, the government blames the media for forcing it to act in an unwise manner by giving disproportionate coverage to the street agitations…..It's not just the power elite, but also we in the news business who need to introspect. Why is that we cover a Hazare or a Ramdev with such intensity, but barely touch the story of an Irom Sharmila…."

If the government ever blames the media then the media should pat itself on its back. It's when they give out Padma awards to working journalists you know something's not right. Well? In this case this is a two-way back-slapping exercise. First, the media itself blew out of proportion the agitations because of the drama value attached to it. Two, in the case of Ramdev the media unleashed a vicious campaign to malign the yoga dealer. The pied piper here was CNN-IBN itself. (Read HERE and HERE). Time and again Rajdeep has stated the ‘media should introspect’. Does he really do that? No one stops them from covering Irom Sharmila or Medha Pathkar or that Swami who died fasting to protest mining along the Ganga. Fact remains the media is a clown that will go where the circus is. It is only natural. Didn’t Barkha Dutt already tell you that, Rajdeep? More importantly, the fasts by Anna Hazare and Ramdev were on corruption which concerned Indians across the nation while the other fasts were more on localised issues. Can’t tell the difference, Rajdeep? Still, the media could have covered those agitations too.

“….Perhaps, Dr Singh's image makers fear that the television lens will expose his limitations as a public speaker. Since he is a soft-spoken individual, the fear is that his voice will not be heard in the cacophony around him. Once again this is a misunderstanding of the media. Just as the camera captures the noisy, it also zooms in on sobriety and decency. At a time when the viewer seems to be tiring of the constant barrage of zero sum debates, the prime minister has an opportunity to set himself apart as a voice of reason and rationality….”

Rajdeep goes on to once again give a ‘clean’ certificate to the PM when he refers to his integrity as his calling card in his post. Now then, being soft-spoken or possessing a feeble voice may not be great attributes for a PM. However, is that the only reason why MMS is quiet? Why discount the possibility that MMS’s conscience is hurting, that he has to lie to defend all the corruption, that if he speaks his lack of conviction will be noticed, that if he speaks there will be more questions to be answered. That he has possibly lost moral courage. No? If voice were a strong guiding factor in public life I simply don’t understand how the Deputy Editor of CNN-IBN, Sagarika Ghose, continues to offend ears with her cacophony. She would probably be the exact opposite of MMS in this case.

Rajdeep then makes a sensational point about Rahul Gandhi. “As for Rahul, have we ever heard him express his views on matters of national importance?” Wow! So this is the guy whose views on national issues are not known. This is the guy whose public meetings are “choreographed” according to Rajdeep. And this is the guy that CNN-IBN chose to bestow the ‘Indian of the year’ award in 2009. Well, Rajdeep, how do you explain that? If this is your assessment of Rahul in 2011, did you know him better in 2009? And here is what you said back then, Rajdeep:

“Rahul Gandhi has been chosen CNN-IBN politician of the year over many of his more experienced colleagues and rivals because no one toured India the way he has in the past 60 months. Nobody has enunciated a vision of new India the way he has and none has understood the immediate need to bridge the city-country divide the way Rahul Gandhi has. His efforts show that hard work pays even in the uncertain world of politics.”

Well I suppose Rajdeep Sardesai understood the “new India” that Rahul Gandhi had enunciated then but now states he doesn’t know his views on matters of national importance. Will you now stop these sham awards, Rajdeep? And as for the blogs for you write every Friday I do appreciate them. I only wish you would put as much thoughtfulness in the conduct of CNN-IBN Monday through Friday and on weekends too.

PS: There are many who have also understood the manner in which Rahul Gandhi has enunciated his vision of a new India. These have been chronicled extensively through tweets under #Rahulfacts. This site, Chirpstory, has a complete collection for those who are yet to fully understand Rahul's enunciation of India. As for Rahul's achievements this website will tell you everything: www.rahulgandhiachievements.com (And no there is nothing wrong with your browser or net connection either)

Why Is Indian Media Scared Of Sonia Gandhi?

On June 15 Rahul Kanwal of Headlines Today conducted a public debate on the Lokpal bill. It was titled ‘Team Anna Vs Govt’. Not very appropriate since the supposed Govt. side had journalists Tavleen Singh and a noisy Shoma Chaudhary from Tehelka, and they surely don’t represent the government. It was the usual slugfest with the audience also involved in asking questions. Nothing about the program struck me as being new or specific except when a man wearing a green T-shirt, who introduced himself as ‘IIT Kharagpur and MBA’, started shooting questions. It was all fine until he started raising some questions about Swiss banks or KGB money apparently in relation to Sonia Gandhi. Hmmmm! That’s where Kanwal abruptly cut him off. This got me wondering all over again.

It seems that there are two topics that are taboo for our mainstream media – Islamic Terror and Sonia Gandhi. Behind all their claims of being free, fearless, impartial and unbiased our MSM really doesn’t want to talk about these two topics. In a previous post I have attempted to understand why the media is scared of the Religion of Peace. (Why ‘Liberal’ Media Is Scared of TheReligion Of Peace!) But surely, the MSMs complete silence on various issues and allegations concerning Sonia Gandhi is even more intriguing. NDTV, CNN-IBN, TimesNow, Headlines Today and their Hindi versions seem reluctant to even report items appearing in various other news sources. Amazing! Sonia Gandhi seems untouchable!

On June 13 when Baba Ramdev broke his fast Subramanian Swamy stated Sonia Gandhi was in Switzerland. Yet, on June 12 when she condemned the murder of journalist J.Dey the media made it appear she was making the statement as usual from Delhi. There wasn’t one mention of where she was making that statement from. That’s not all. Our all-knowing media reported that Jayalalithaa, who was in Delhi on June 14, would not be meeting Sonia Gandhi. Surprising! Given that Sonia Gandhi wasn’t even in Delhi at that time the media reports actually seem to be intended to cover up the fact that Sonia wasn’t even in India.

Journalist Rajinder Puri writes in the The Statesman:

“On Monday, Tamil Nadu chief minister Miss Jayalalithaa visited Delhi. She met her Delhi counterpart Mrs Sheila Dikshit. India’s biggest TV channel blared: “Will Jaya also meet Sonia?” Was the channel unprofessionally ignorant or was it colluding with the exercise to hide the furtive movements of Mrs Sonia Gandhi? Earlier on the same day, there was a statement issued by Mrs Gandhi deploring the murder of a prominent journalist in Mumbai. Was all this being done to create the illusion in the public mind that Mrs Gandhi was in India while she was not? This is not the first time that Mrs Gandhi has silently gone abroad in a manner best described as being furtive. Why the secrecy? What is the purpose of Mrs Gandhi’s undisclosed visits abroad?........ Congress leaders are frothing at the mouth demanding total transparency from members of civil society. Probes have been launched against some of them. Should not the government display equal transparency pertaining to India’s most powerful politician who is the chairperson of the ruling UPA coalition as well as the chairperson of the government’s NAC? They need to answer the following questions:

Did Mrs Gandhi travel abroad on an airline or by a private jet? If the latter, whose jet was it? What was the purpose of the foreign visit made by the Chairperson of the NAC and the UPA? What is the itinerary of the NAC Chairperson? Which countries and cities did she, or will she, visit?....” Puri goes on to also raise the issues of allegations by former KGB members having contributed funds to Sonia and family. These are not new allegations.

The allegations of corruptions and black money against Sonia Gandhi are far more serious than the ones being frequently discussed in the media. Subramanian Swamy has made allegations about her name, her birthplace, her educational qualifications, incorrect affidavit filed before the Election Commission, payments to her family by KGB and also about Rahul Gandhi. All this not only makes sorry reading but would make any politician or even an ordinary person jump. The mass media would jump at such stories. Yet our MSM has consistently maintained an eerie silence. Sonia Gandhi, of course, doesn’t talk to the nation or the media about these allegations or any other issue. S.Gurumurthy has written a detailed article in the Indian Express about Sonia Gandhi titled ‘Zero Tolerance, Secret Billions’.

Subramanian Swamy’s extensive speech on the allegations against Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi is also available on Youtube. (Just Google it) Are the Barkha Dutts, the Rajdeeps, the Sagarikas, the Rahul Kanwals, the Pankaj Pachauris and many more simply unaware about all these allegations? Is there something more sinister than appears to the whole story?

During October 2007 when Sonia Gandhi visited the UN an organisation released an ad against her listing all the allegations in a newspaper. A defamation case was filed by some supporters of the Congress. The case was dismissed. It is surprising that third parties file cases for defamation of Sonia Gandhi while she herself is unwilling to defend herself or comment on any of these allegations. (Read Congress Sues Subramanian Swamy For Defamation)

In just my previous post (Living next door to Alice) this is what I wrote in response to a flowery article by Barkha Dutt (and I consider it worth repeating):

“In management there is a principle that is often accepted as a starting point to analyse failure: “The bottleneck is always at the top”. Yes indeed, figuratively and literally. Extraordinary levels of corruption do not come to pass without the participation of top management. Remember Satyam? Remember Enron? Remember Bear Stearns? Remember AIG? Well, it is no different in the government too. That is where the media has been an absolute failure. Failure apart, their silence has been very much like that of a co-conspirator.…….The top management in the UPA has to be undoubtedly Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh. There are many allegations against her of having stashed away black money in Switzerland. There are allegations of Quattrochi (of Bofors) being let off. Subramanian Swamy has sought sanction to prosecute Sonia Gandhi. Do you find any of this in our mass media?”

In 1973 under pressure in the Watergate scandal, Richard Nixon famously told Editors ‘I am not a crook”! That’s top management for you! Nixon is the only President in US history to have resigned from office. Since then we have also had famous cases like Ferdinand & Imelda Marcos who fled to the US and Alberto Fujimori of Peru who fled to Japan. Seriously, by today’s standards Nixon’s crimes would seem far less significant. Politicians have surpassed him many times over.

There are those in the Congress, the UPA, the media and prominent celebrities in public often put forward the argument that if politicians are corrupt the people get to boot them out every five years. That ‘civil society’ movements of the recent kind destroy democracy. They now cite the DMK party being booted out of power in Tamil Nadu as example. This is the most disgusting and spurious argument one can ever hear on corruption. Being booted out of office is not punishment. Putting them in jails would be the right punishment.

There is no doubt there is a lot of pressure mounting on Sonia Gandhi. Swamy has even sought sanction to prosecute her. The MSM may fail it its job but the people won’t. The tag line to this blog still remains ‘Crooks and liars in the Indian media are the greatest danger to our democracy’!

Living Next Door To Alice

“A shoe-thrower; a swami who wants to raise a private army; a national debate over whether dancing is decorous and a government that went from supplication to abrupt scepticism all in the span of a week…… Oh yes, the circus has come to town. It has plenty of clowns, acrobatics, tight-rope walking, the juggling of balls, fire-eaters and indeed a few lions too. But what it's sorely missing is a Ring Master. It's stuff made for satire. Remember Alice's conversation with the Cheshire Cat? Lewis Caroll wrote in 19th century England, but in the Blunder-land that is today's India, his words would be just as apt. "What sort of people live about here?" Alice had asked the Cat. "In that direction," the Cat said, waving its right paw round, "lives a Hatter: and in that direction," waving the other paw, "lives a March Hare. Visit either you like: they're both mad…..but I don't want to go among mad people," Alice remarked. Oh, you can't help that," said the Cat:  "We're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad."

If you think I wrote all that, I’d be flattered. But I do not possess such writing flair. Do I even sound like a sweet-smelling, flowery-language, literary type to you? No, I didn’t write that. That was Barkha Dutt in her article  ‘The circus must end’.

Well if I were to write such crap the only Alice that would come to my mind would be from a song. But here is a line I would have used:  “We are all innocent in here…” from The Shawshank Redemption. Over the next few years you are likely to hear that line frequently from members inside the Tihar jail.

And then Barkha goes on to define civil society in LSE terms and even adds “And it has long been pointed out that it was the Congress that set the precedent of giving sweeping powers to voices outside of Parliament, with the creation of the National Advisory Council”. Oh yeah? I would like to know who pointed that out. I cannot recall one media shopkeeper even remotely discussing the NAC or pointing out that it consisted of ‘civil society’, and even some members of dubious background. The NAC coterie didn’t come up for discussion till the ‘civil society’ discussions started. And it’s not the regular media but stray bloggers, like yours truly, who raised the issue of the NAC. Some members from the NAC coterie have frequently appeared on EnditTV but no one has ever asked them about their legitimacy. Well, that is just some trivial detail that I wanted to point out to Barka Dutt.

Here is a quote from an article by M.V. Kamath (former chairman Prasar Bharati and ex-Journalist with the Times group) from March 2003. This is titled Prostitution of Journalism in India:

"The truly insidious thing about accepting bribes to carry news stories is that the reader doesn't know that he's being taken advantage of. When he reads that a newspaper regards a new car as being the best in its range, he has no reason to suspect that the paper has accepted money to make this judgement…….Proprietors who don't tell their readers that they take bribes to manufacture news stories are like thieves who pick your pocket...”

Send in the clowns!

Guess who said that! Well let me help you out. That was the famous Vir Sanghvi being quoted. I wonder where he is now. His statement is quite reflective of the double standard that pervades current journalistic practices. So when an ‘eminent’ media celebrity talks about ‘circus’, ‘ringmasters’ and even ‘lions’ all I can think of is “Send in the clowns” from the media. More than anyone else it is the media that has turned this into a circus by clowning around. For a start Barkha should understand that civil movements, public mobilisation and agitations are bound to be chaotic, disorganised and sometimes even unruly. They are not as well an organised force like the state machinery. One has to carefully read the words of some media celebrities these days (no, I wouldn’t dare call them journalists). Sanghvi’s statement I quoted is a classic example of sweet-smelling double-talk.

So where exactly did the media fail? The media failed in bringing out the truth and the underlying currents behind these agitations and movements. They failed in exposing the insincerity of the government in tackling corruption and black money. Time and time again when issues of corruption are discussed on TV channels the media has basically acted as a platform for the government defence. The fourth estate is supposed to be on the side of the people but instead they have delivered platforms for people like Digvijay Singh to spew venom on people and organisations.

In management there is a principle that is often accepted as a starting point to analyse failure: “The bottleneck is always at the top”. Yes indeed, figuratively and literally. Extraordinary levels of corruption do not come to pass without the participation of top management. Remember Satyam? Remember Enron? Remember Bear Stearns? Remember AIG? Well, it is no different in the government too. That is where the media has been an absolute failure. Failure apart, their silence has been very much like that of a co-conspirator.

The top management in the UPA has to be undoubtedly Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh. There are many allegations against her of having stashed away black money in Switzerland. There are allegations of Quattrochi (of Bofors) being let off. Subramanian Swamy has sought sanction to prosecute Sonia Gandhi. Do you find any of this in our mass media? Like Barkha Dutt all the journalists do is to wax eloquently using Lewis Caroll language to talk about imaginary circuses and issues. Sonia Gandhi is a person who has not responded to any allegations and never spoken to the nation about these issues. She speaks to rural electorate seeking votes. She speaks in places where no questions will be asked. That doesn’t mean the media cannot or should not ask those questions. Zero tolerance for corruption is as sweet as Indira Gandhi’s Garibi Hatao slogan. That zero-tolerance is probably for not tolerating those who run a crusade against corruption and black money and beat them up in the middle of the night. And all Barkha manages to do in her article is to swing from one swinging bar to another like a well-dressed up acrobat. Do you feel entertained?

I guarantee you. The day the media honestly raises questions about Sonia Gandhi, the UPA will have to bow down to demands on action against the corrupt and all the skeletons will start tumbling down. Barkha talks about the blunder-land that is India. Well, she lives close to the epicentre of that blunder-land and given that she lives next door to Alice, she might want to start doing some real journalistic work for a change and start asking real questions to and about the people at the top. Till then “we are all innocent in here…”!

CNN-IBN - 1100 Tons Of Mud, Hardly Any Truth

From the time Baba Ramdev announced his hunger strike program I had written  ‘CNN-IBN Inaugurates mud-slinging season’ on June 2. Since then, as predicted, some channels had launched a vicious attack on Ramdev on his trusts, his funds, his companies and so on. CNN-IBN being the leader of this pack. In contrast to the near pampering that Anna Hazare receives from these channels, Ramdev has been the subject of non-stop attacks about 1100 crores of assets, land grabbing, his assistant being a criminal with a fake passport. Anything goes.

These attacks were not just visible on CNN-IBN on TV but also on their website. Let’s try and understand each of these articles: (The likes/dislikes are figures at the end of each article posted on their website at the time of writing this)

Govt probes graft charges against Ramdev, aide – Meetu Jain, June 7 (Like 68/Dislike 74)

Acharya Balkrishna has been missing after the June 4 clash at Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi. Sources say the Government will probe the alleged fake passport Balkrishna holds. If the immigration department puts up a complaint, action will be taken against him…. Some of the details made available by government sources to CNN-IBN reveal a maze of companies that are run and maintained by Ramdev's key men…. “Balkrishna is a Nepalese citizen. He committed a crime there and came to India. He also has a Nepalese passport" said Congress General Secretary Digvijaya Singh.

If by now CNN-IBN hasn’t learned that Digvijay Singh is a gutter mouth who utters a lot of nonsense then I seriously have to question their journalistic intelligence. In any case, a lot of trash has been passed on in this article as gospel without really verifying any of its contents. Okay, so what government sources revealed to CNN-IBN the maze of companies? Is that a big secret? What are the names of the companies? If CNN-IBN already knew this why were they pestering Ramdev for details about these? This is bullshit being passed on in the name of journalism. Next. Balkrishna is Nepalese, is a criminal with a fake passport according to DS. What is CNN-IBN? A faithful dog of DS? Why does it repeat these foolish statements without any verification?

Here’s a report from Outlook:

“Following the controversy over Balkrishana's nationality, the records of the passport office here were examined and it has been found that his passport no. 245797 has been issued in 1997 showing him as resident of Haridwar, passport officer Sudhakar Rastogi said.The office used to issue passports to the residents of Uttaranchal before the new state came into being, he said. Rastogi said that passport is issued only after the report by LIU, police and CID. When the reports of these three agencies said that the applicant is Indian only then it was issued”.

Well, Rajdeep Sardesai did you publish that piece of information as follow up to the article under reference or did you report that on TV? Relaying statements of motivated politicians, known to spread lies without even the basic verification and presentation of facts is pretty close to peddling lies.

Ramdev's Rs 1100 cr empire under scanner – Meetu Jain, June 7 (Like 97/Dislike 124)

Far from verifying any of their statements in the previous article I referred to, CNN-IBN, nonchalantly repeats the same crap. Maybe an enthusiastic Meetu Jain doesn’t know how to fill pages. So here goes… a repeat..

"Balkrishna is a Nepalese citizen. He committed a crime there and came to India. He has three passports. They should be investigated. He is a thug," said Digvijay Singh……The government is hot on his trail, some of the details made available by government sources to CNN-IBN reveals a maze of companies that were run and maintained by Baba's key men..

Some new ones:

The health ministry says it will scrutinise the drug business of Baba Ramdev. "We will look at these issues once the dust settles," said Ghulam Nabi Azad….This is not the first brush with controversy for Ramdev. In January 2006 also charges of land grab had surfaced. CNN-IBN had then reported that Ramdev's Patanjali Peeth Yog had grabbed government land. Now the Roorkee SDM has confirmed a farm land grab of over 2.98 hectares. Asked about allegations of land grab against the Divya Yog trust in 2006, this is how Acharya Balkrishna reacted in January 2006….."Who are you to ask me? Who do you think you are. I won’t reply," he said.

Alright, this UPA has been in power since 2004 why is it only now that these charges are coming up? Is that not the job of CNN-IBN to ask? No, hang on, it has the exact quote of Balkrishna…. “who are you to ask me…” and so on. Do you have a record of that Rajdeep? Can you show us which newspaper or TV channel has a record of such a statement? Did you ask the SDM of Roorkee why he didn’t act if there was a case of land-grab? Why aren’t you seeking action against this government officer for dereliction of duty? Or why hasn’t he reported it to the appropriate authorities? Do you guys at CNN-IBN pass hearsay as news reports?

Ramdev charges for blessings: ex-followers – Arunoday Mukherjee – June9 (Like 86/Dislike 145)

Some of his former followers have alleged that Ramdev charges exorbitant amounts for simply making appearance…."He has received so much money and all of it has gone for his selfish requirements, nothing for the poor," alleges Kolkata industrialist Piyush Pandey, who was once a loyal follower of Ramdev….. If you want blessings from the Baba within close proximity, it will cost you Rs 10,000 to Rs 50,000. If you want him to distribute prasad at your home, be ready to pay somewhere between Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh…. The icing on the cake is that if you want him to stay at your house, you don't get rent, instead he will have to be paid anything from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 20 lakh. Moreover, to be a part of a shivir, the charge is Rs 1 crore…. To become a corporate member one has to pay Rs 11 lakh while the rate for becoming a founder member, patron member, life member and general member are Rs 5 lakh, Rs 2.5 lakh, Rs 1 lakh and Rs 11,000 respectively.

I can’t believe all this is some big news. So out of crores of followers Arunoday Mukherjee picks up a few followers or ex-followers who make these charges. Have these been verified? Is there any documentary evidence or solid proof of any kind? Okay, even assuming there won’t be any proof or these followers are speaking the truth, what exactly is new or disturbing to CNN-IBN about this? Are their reporters from Sweden or Iceland? Have they never been to Tirupati which has paid-for-lines, which sells ‘prasad laddus’ in black, have they never been to that Ajmer Darga where you get priority only if you hand out the bigger notes? Don’t spiritual speakers charge money? Does the Pope live in a hut or a mansion? Does his mansion look anything like what Jesus Christ would have lived in? So why single out this guy Ramdev for special treatment? What’s the motive? And in case Rajdeep Sardesai is really ignorant there are plenty of sites that report the manner in which our media is funded. Some of them even suggest that CNN-IBN is funded by Westboro Baptist Church. Should we believe all that? Can you explain the post I made about your group channel CNBC and all the allegations that are floating around? Your channel refers to the fund collection at Delhi. Did you see any coercion in that activity? So why should we believe that everything contained in this money collection part is not exaggeration as we know the media to indulge in?

Ramdev’s asset declaration just eyewash – June 9 (Like 63/Dislike 95)

The title of the article itself is filled with malice. Fact is, Ramdev was under no obligation whatsoever to declare his assets or funds or anything. That he did so needs to be appreciated. In case CNN-IBN wants to poke holes into his audited statements they should conduct their own investigation. As for business companies that Ramdev holds, what is wrong in being asked to get the information from the ROC? Are CNN-IBN and other media persons so lazy that they can’t get off their ass and even do that much? Have media people simply become ‘studio musicians’ who have to be breast-fed with every info they want? That too from the very person they are accusing of economic frauds? Rajdeep, ever heard of the Fifth Amendment in the US constitution? If the media and the government are making accusations against Ramdev it is their job to investigate and prove their accusations. It is not Ramdev’s job to incriminate himself. That’s the law assholes. And isn’t CNN-IBN the channel that says ‘Whatever it takes’? If so, do whatever it takes, investigate and prove Ramdev to be a criminal. That would be real journalism. Don’t beg and ask to be breast-fed  info from the one you’re accusing of economic crimes.

Ramdev ended his fast today. According to Subramanian Swamy both, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are right now in Switzerland to “handle their black money” as he puts it. How about that Rajdeep? There are unending allegations of black money against Sonia Gandhi, some with supposed documentary evidences from KGB and Swiss magazines. How come you haven’t asked asked a single question about that? Swamy, Jethmalani and many others have made serious charges of black money against Sonia Gandhi. Swamy has even sought permission to prosecute her. How come all that is not news on your channel? I wonder who CNN-IBN's daddy is really!

How come CNN-IBN is absolutely ignorant about all the allegations against Sonia Gandhi? If someone clamours about 1100 crores all the time, they should get some facts. 1100 tons of mud is hardly the answer!