Rahul Gandhi - 'Cometh The Hour, Cometh The Loser'

I have often compared Rahul Gandhi to Sarah Palin. During the 2008 US election campaign, out of the blue, a curious third-grader asked VP candidate Palin: “What does a Vice President do?”. Predictably, Palin didn’t know and gave a funnily inaccurate reply. One by one the skeletons of Palin’s ignorance on various issues started tumbling out. She backed it up by silly statements too. Sample this one: “We believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard working very patriotic, um, very, um, pro-America areas of this great nation. This is where we find the kindness and the goodness and the courage of everyday Americans…..”. So, just like Palin discovered two Americas, Rahul Gandhi discovered two Indias. He stated: "There exists two Indias -- one in towns and cities with highrise buildings, computers, cars and modern gadgets, and the other in rural areas still underdeveloped for lack of facilities and opportunities.." So I am naturally tempted to wonder if RG derives some secret inspiration from Palin. The major difference between these two people being that Palin was a relative unknown whereas RG comes from the ‘dynasty’.I also wonder if any college kid ever asked RG what exactly a PM does. It would be interesting to hear his answers.

The media had generously crafted RG as the next PM of India. Poll after questionable poll showed he was way ahead in popularity as the choice for PM. India Today and CNN-IBN, in particular, repeated these polls. And crediting him with revival of Congress in UP, CNN-IBN even bestowed upon him the title ‘Indian of the year’. It wasn’t the fawning media’s support that RG lacked. What comes about repeatedly is that it’s his own lack of vision and skills. In the face of a severe crisis with the Anna fast RG rushed off to Pune to console the farmer families who were victims of police firing. While his thought and sentiment would have been genuine there wasn’t one word to condemn the indiscriminate police firing. Quite understandable, his own party was involved in that crime. Next came his disconnected speech in Parliament on August 26. When a crisis begged for solution RG was propounding theories. That speech was like lecturing people severely hit by drought on the technology and long-term benefits of rain-harvesting. Wrong speech, wrong time. I even doubt if RG wrote it himself.

The media was desperately hoping that RG will finally wave that elusive ‘magic wand’ that the PM often refers to and bring the crisis to an end. Instead, he turned the old saying “Cometh the hour…” on its head. It was now “Cometh the hour, cometh the loser”. RG didn’t deliver anything except a phrase which the media played out over the next two days. He termed his own speech a ‘game-changer’. Tavleen Singh wrote: “This was his second chance to lead. Instead, he read out a speech so filled with banalities it could have been written by a political science professor. Whispers of ‘Pappu fail ho gaya,’ filtered out of the chambers of Parliament afterwards but the truth is that Rahul could not have done better.”

These are not particularly good times for Rahul Gandhi. His mother is down with illness and civil society activists are up against the Congress on corruption. His Congress cheerleaders were just the other day suggesting he was ready to become PM. His sycophant, Digvijay Singh, was the most vocal among them. His cheerleaders in the media were supporting that belief. If not publicly at least privately many in the Congress may now be acknowledging RG is not PM material. Many in the public already know that. The media never reported the slogans being chanted against RG and others outside Tihar jail during Anna’s detention. The media never posed serious questions to or about him. The media refused to analyse the man properly. And just like the third-grader’s question to Palin, the most probing questions to RG came from university students. But what the media and politicians may not reveal eventually comes out through social networks and that latest enemy of politicians called Wikileaks.

A Wikileaks cable credits noted journalist and Gandhi family friend Saeed Naqvi thus: “Naqvi claimed that it is increasingly common knowledge that Rahul suffers from ""personality problems"" of an emotional or psychological nature that are severe enough to prevent him from functioning as PM.” Psychological problems, really? A few weeks back I wrote the post titled ‘Rahul & Digvijay - The Narcissist& The Sycophant’. A dynastic heir is always tempted to have darbaris and sycophants surround him. This is the problem with RG. He needs to have people around him that will tell him a few blunt truths. His speech writers seem to further remove him from the truths and context of situations. These are the bad choices that RG makes that renders him unfit for bigger leadership roles, like that of a PM.

In other reports from Wikileaks the headlines read “Rahul proposed NREGS for Afghanistan, Assam model for Palestine”. Nobody seems to have had the wisdom to warn RG that NREGA is failing in India and currently the govt itself is considering closure of the scheme. And Palestine? Well seriously, if RG can advise on Palestine I can any day give a 3 hour lecture on the mating habits of insects.

And we now have a term that describes his coterie well – ‘Rahul Brigade’. You can usually find them sitting next to him. The Scindias and the Prasadas. This snippet from the Sunday Guardian makes an interesting observation: “Rahul brigade wanted TV muzzled… Ambika Soni came under attack from the Rahul brigade for failing to muzzle the television channels that were reporting on Anna Hazare's fast. When some of Rahul's associates asked Soni why she was letting the TV channels have a field day supporting the Anna movement, she told them that she could not do anything as they were independent. Soni was under pressure to speak to the owners of the TV channels. Soni is also in the firing line of AICC leaders for allowing three pro-BJP TV journalists join the Accreditation Committee. Deepak Chaurasia, Navika Kumar and Bhupendra Chaubey are known for their proximity to the BJP. Navika Kumar is supposedly close to P. Chidambaram as well, on whose recommendation she is said to have been taken on the panel.” 

Well, well that brings the media to a full circle. For years now the servantile media that has carefully crafted RG’s image as a ‘youth icon’ now had to be forced to move elsewhere to cover some ‘real’ events. The crowds were unstoppable and the drama impossible not to cover. As much as RG needs to learn, media outlets like NDTV, CNN-IBN and their partners also need to learn that even electronic sycophancy will not help to cover up the truth. The Congress tried everything, even getting someone like Imam Bukhari to announce muslims are against the Anna movement. They even tried the anti-dalit card. Nothing worked. Regardless of the merits of the movement the Congress proved rudderless and leaderless.

It’s not over yet. Post the agitation the Congress is now on a witch-hunt. Privilege and IT notices have been served to Team Anna members. ED is making vague statements against Ramdev. And RG’s mentor Digvijay is on the loose again making communal and foolish statements. This is one more chance for RG. He can step up even now and put a stop to the witch hunt and set the national debate on a different course. But will he? Does he have what it takes? He once again has the chance to show he can be a statesman. Will he? I seriously doubt, because I haven’t seen anything of a leader or statesman in him.

Even as this is being written, his cronies have made an extra-ordinary statement. “The Anna Hazare movement is not really against corruption. It is not even against the Congress. It is aimed at undermining Rahul Gandhi’s growing youth base, a Congress party office-bearer has alleged.” as reported by DNA newspaper. There maybe two Indias but there is only one Rahul Gandhi. He epitomises the new idiom I thought I’d never hear – Cometh the hour, cometh the loser..”

Dirty Govt, Dirty Media

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's decision to set up a group to deal with issues concerning the accountability and regulation of media has raised the Opposition's hackles, says a report from TOI. The govt wants to control the media, the internet, tap phones. All dangerous signs. Govt wants media to be also brought under Lokpal. The govt seems obviously rattled by the excessive media coverage of the Anna Hazare drama which more or less painted the govt as villain. But that’s the nature of the beast. The news media has long been indulging in excessive and tasteless broadcasting and for a change had to be forced to be on the side of a popular movement. In all the other times most news media outlets have been spokespersons for the Congress and the govt. Do the media need regulation and accountability? Definitely yes, but govt may not be the right body for it.

The media will find it extremely difficult to pull itself out of the paid news syndrome. If normal competition, normal business practices were to be adhered to then some media outlets would have to quickly wind up. In fact, some of them like NDTV should have wound up long back. What does it say when there is a blog titled ‘Don’t trust the Indian media’? Some statistics reported from that blog by FirstPost support the loss of credibility of mainstream media:

“…… newspapers are ranked higher than other media in terms of credible news with people trusting newspapers more than any other medium: 38 percent of the Indians polled trusted radio and television, while 40 percent trusted news in newspapers. Over the past two years, trust in television news dropped sharply from 61 percent to 36 percent, that of business magazines has gone down from 72 percent to 47 percent, and that of newspapers has gone down from 61 percent to 40 percent. Trust in the media in India as a whole declined by 7 percent (from 65 percent in 2009 to 58 percent in 2010)…The trend continues; trust in media has further declined from 58 percent in 2010 to 50 percent in the 2011 Edelman study.” That seems absolutely believable.

Channels like NDTV, CNN-IBN and their Hindi versions have become extremely bad examples of going over the top to set agendas that are biased in favour of a political party. The bias is not even subtle anymore. A report in Moneylife about NDTV would make one wonder at the miraculous manner in which the company manages to stay afloat:

“NDTV got listed in 2004 and is trading below its listed price after seven years. It has given a negative return of 19% compounded in the past five years and a total shareholder return (TSR) of negative 66% for the same period. Its viewership claims, like those of all TV channels, are impossible to verify. Its credibility is at a nadir (after the recent phone-tapping controversy) and its finances are in a mess. NDTV has rarely made money from operations. For the past few years, its consolidated operations have been making cash losses and it has been running on money made by selling loss-making subsidiaries to strategic investors…… Indeed, every few months, the financially-beleaguered NDTV manages to get ‘strategic’ investors with deep pockets and top-flight private equity investors to step in and pick up big chunks of its equity at fancy valuations.”

There’s a recent revelation about Bill Gates’ Foundation having donated over $800,000 to NDTV to promote awareness on maternal health. Reporting on maternal health or creating documentaries on various issues would be regular business for a news channel. Even if money was to support such efforts, normal sponsorship methods are available. Having received such a huge donation from Bill Gates can one expect NDTV to ever report any adverse report about the foundation or Microsoft? This is also true for business channels and business journals. They are unlikely to ever report misdeeds or wrong-doings of the very business houses that they depend on financially. News channels are nothing more than PR outlets for select Bollywood companies or fashion and mostly for the govt. I wonder where in the world you would find shows like ‘saas, bahu, beti’ on news channels except Starnews, AajTak and the like. And all the national debates are with usual suspects – the few 30 odd people you will find any day or night on every other channel. The media never thought it could be manipulated so thoroughly by Team Anna.

The Press Council of India is a statutory body created for the very reason why govt seeks accountability but has left the regulation to the press itself. There is a newer National Broadcaster’s Association dealing with TV channels. The problem with both these bodies is that they are largely toothless. The PCI actually softened their report on paid news a year back. If you check out the names on the board of directors of the NBA they belong to the very gang that is accused of the offences. Hardly any newspaper or TV channel has an Ombudsman to talk about. However, the Govt’s fear and desire to control media is another unwanted evil. Except for giant media organisations like the TOI almost all other media outlets depend heavily on govt spending on advertising and campaigns and therefore are already under some govt influence.

There is certainly one thing that PM Manmohan Singh can do. He can stop accepting sham awards like ‘Indian of the year’ from channels like NDTV. He can also call for an all-party meet to have a moral policy that politicians do not accept awards from media houses during their active political life. The govt should also not dish out awards to media personalities during their active career unless there is really a very exceptional case. The govt has lost as much credibility as the media has. The Lokpal movement is not just one of grievance redress but one that seeks bodies like CBI, CVC etc. to be autonomous and out of govt control. Why, then, should anyone desire govt intervention in any form in the media? The Lokpal is also a redress system and not one of oversight. The media needs an oversight body.

The problem lies in media houses being regular business units just as any other business unit now and still enjoying extraordinary privileges. It definitely needs a watchdog but certainly not one that involves govt or people from the media themselves. The watchdog has to be an independent and autonomous body with adequate powers. Both PCI and NBA or toothless bodies by the very people who are offenders. In the current scenario both, the govt and the media, are dirty. They are incapable of being a watchdog for the other. However, an independent agency as watchdog for the media is inevitable.

Also recommend: CNN-IBN-Barber Shop &   TV-Popups: Fraudulent Invasion of Privacy

Internet Rattles Communal Digvijay

Politics is probably one domain where non-performance can be rewarded with promotions. The distance between Bhopal, capital of MP, and Indore, the main commercial city of MP is just about 190Kms. In the ten years that he was CM of MP, Digivijay Singh, couldn’t get even a decent two-lane road between these two most important cities of MP built. This was a stage post-reforms when infrastructure had become a top priority in most parts of the country. The journey between the two cities then used to take anything from 6 to 7 hours. In neighbouring Gujarat you could cover the distance in 3 hours flat. I do not know the current status of that highway but the former CM of MP is now on the national stage for Congress charged with the task of invoking the fear of RSS and other Hindu organisations under the garb of ‘Saffron Terror’. Pushed out of the limelight by the Anna Hazare campaign DS finally comes with a blog equating corruption to Communalism. This time instead of rabble rousing in the TV media  he has written a post on the Times website: Communalism is as dangerous as corruption. This time the rant is against the Internet warriors or should I say, Internet Hindus. So let’s try and understand his latest rant (quotes in blue). (Thanks to @KittuKrithika who sent in the feed)

If you were expecting him to be discussing both corruption and communalism in his article then you’re going to be disappointed. The word corruption appears only twice in the whole post. Corruption appears once in the title and then again in a repetition of the title towards the end. Such is the deception of the whole piece. Understandable, because not once in many years has DS ever spoken about the rampant corruption in and by the party he belongs to.

The internet technology has now gathered momentum and now made the virtual world, at times more powerful and overpowering than the real one. Obviously, politicians in India so far used to the cut and thrust and real world politics in India also can't ignore the opinion manipulating possibilities of the tools of virtual media. Read carefully what he says – “manipulating possibilities”! Millions of people on the net are out to manipulate opinion? That many views and opinions are circulated on the net are not really his problem it appears. The problem is that there is now alternative media for millions who have found their voice which is usually never heard in the mainstream. There is a mild admission that politicians have probably not managed to manipulate this virtual media as they have been able to do with the paid and servantile mainstream media. If indeed any media holds “manipulating” potential as DS states then the politicians would be the first one to use it to great effect. Unfortunately, he has yet to come to terms with the greater independence of the net.

An empowered middle class enjoying the fruits of economic liberalization has become extremely politically conscious which I feel is quite a healthy sign . But this new found political articulation is sometimes ill-tempered and in several cases extremely partisan and crosses the limits of decent public discourse. There are many great writers on the net. Many are far superior to our regular mainstream journalists. Where ill-temper is concerned there is little chance anyone on earth can use language more foul than some of our politicians. And what is wrong with being partisan? As a Congress member DS is not exactly the greatest symbol of bi-partisan discourse, is he? In all fairness the ones on the internet are actually far more bi-partisan and if there are extreme and unfair views or campaigns the internet users criticise those heavily too. DS may not believe how well self-regulated internet is.

I say this from personal experience. As, I have lately been on the receiving end of the abusive hate mail whenever I have expressed my forthright views on Right Wing Terror. In such situations, the articulate middle class has its right to dissent against the views of politicians, but should be tolerant enough to listen to the views that they may not agree to without being abusive. Forthright views are quite different from malicious campaigns. Calling a protester a ‘thug’ or calling a chief minister ‘maut ka saudagar’ are not exactly forthright views presented in a civil manner. Come to think of it, our politicians have moved a privilege motion against Kiran Bedi and Om Puri for mimicking them and ridiculing them. Even if the duo’s acts were in bad taste they weren’t half as vulgar as the language or actions that politicians employ. Yet, they cannot stomach such minor ridicule.

I have always felt fanatic religious or ethnic fundamentalism is the root cause of global terror. Irrespective of the religion they may profess, the perpetrators of this ideology of fanatic fundamentalism breed hatred and appropriate a self -righteous authority to impose their beliefs on others and then unleash violence against the non-believers. History is full of such examples. This is like Moses talking. It is anybody’s guess which religious groups have sought to impose their beliefs on others through swords and terrorism.

India is a country of tolerance……We can't allow the idea of "Vasudev Kutumbhakam" so closely identified with our history and our culture to be snatched away by these rabid fanatic fundamentalists whether they are Muslims or Hindus. Simply amazing! This is the first time I’ve heard DS using a Hindu phrase to recollect our history. I'd have thought he would have invoked 'Osamaji'! It is simply a tragic realisation for us Indians that we have gone a step too far beyond tolerance. We have gone to the extreme of tolerating the intolerant. That is the cause of so much churning in our society. Imagine, which democracy will tolerate a party that has institutionalised corruption and managed to alienate the majority community for most of the last 65 years. Which democracy will tolerate a foreigner holding the power strings? Which democracy will have PMs being imposed on them rather than through elections?

I have faced the ire equally of both rabid fanatic Hindus and Muslims when I went to Azamgarh and when I went to Barak Valley in Assam. They are the faces of the same coin. They feed on each other in a mutually sustainable way. Some times when I see that within minutes of my statement, even in some remote corner of the country against right wing terror, there is a flood of abusive comments against me. I have doubts on their authenticity. Are they sponsored? Have the perpetrators of hate and terror been able to organize themselves through cells/ groups that run these ‘virtual campaigns' through assumed identities to brow beat any one into silence who dares to expose their acts of violence? Really sweetheart? If I were the TOI I would have asked DS to put up 10 mails/letters from Hindu and Muslim people to support this frivolous statement. If there are any mails it would largely be from Hindus who have been targeted over and over again through DS’s foul comments. When DS stepped up after the 13/7 Mumbai blast and indicated Saffron hand in the blasts cannot be ruled out despite the govt’s position not to speculate, what was the authenticity or reason for such statements? What is the authenticity that dead men had spoken to DS? Sometimes it’s better to ask silly questions to one self rather than throwing them out in the open to unknown commoners.

But I would urge upon all those who believe in universal brotherhood who believe in liberal modern secular India to react with the same zeal against these communal fascists who through wireless technology …..To me communalism is as dangerous as corruption. We don’t have to look too far as we have in our neighborhood the example of almost a failed state of Pakistan….Let us get together and not allow the fascist communal fanatics to capture the mind and thoughts of the people of this great country through the use of the 'virtual world '. First, corruption is within your house DS! And that would be easier to confront than any other problem. Second, the more often you use the term ‘communal fascists’ for some net users it betrays your thorough lack of understanding of the power of the net or wireless technology. The net has all kinds, including the likes of DS. There are communalists, fascists, Nazis, islamists, mujahideens and believe me, even Congress fanatics.

The internet is not the greatest threat to this country. The greatest threat is pretty much the current state of Congress which is thoroughly soaked in corruption, nepotism, and communalism (Remember wikileaks?) Maybe DS should also read the article ‘Communal games of secular Congress’. No wonder the internet has rattled the mainstream media and now it has rattled saffron baiter Digivijay Singh himself. I thought I’d never see this day. Celebrate!

The Media Is Never With People...

Mass media biased towards Anna Hazare's cause say experts according to an article in DNA on Sunday, August 28. Bhaskar Rao of Centre for Media Studiesadds in the same article: "By its very nature, television is a very biased medium. Whenever a big issue or a campaign like this crops up, news channels try to be on top of it. This is the trend that prevails everywhere," …But unfortunately in the Anna Hazare case, I think TV channels have overdone it…The main issue here is corruption, which is the elephant, but the media has given extensive publicity to "the elephant riders, which is Anna Hazare and his team". There was a lone voice of support for news television channels from noted journalist and Editor and Managing Director of Pioneer newspaper Chandan Mitra, who feels it was not the case.

Everything in the lines from DNA that I’ve quoted could be true. Except that the article misses certain points about the media. Let’s take Chandan Mitra. Apart from being the MD of The Pioneer, he is also BJP member of the RS. That’s double a privilege. The Pioneer is a journal that had many writers severely criticising the Anna movement. One even called it “spreading canards..” Truth is, the Anna campaign made an unwritten proposition to the media – ‘You are with us or against us’. Given that terrible choice there was only one way for the media to jump – the people way. TimesNow took the lead and the rest just had to follow. And follow they did with the best attempt to draft the worst camouflaged tarnishing of the campaign. They pulled out Mahesh Bhatt, Nandita Rao, Aruna Roy, Harsh Mander, Nandan Nilekani and many more that they could lay their hands on. All these worthies did their best to tarnish Anna’s campaign and hold the govt line that all this was against the constitution. Constitution! It’s a word you’d have heard more in the last ten days than ever before in the last 3 decades. Suddenly, constitution was the final line of defence for everyone against Anna’s campaign.

People may have some idea of the privileges of the media but let me give a few examples. Even the lowest level employee in a well-known media outlet extracts the greatest privileges from the system. For instance, you could glide through a curfew area if you flash your media house business card even if you are not a journalist or not have a permit. You can bargain the best discounts at hotels and many other shopping outlets. Your payments could get priority in government organisations if you’re from the media. Even a passport office gives you priority if you flash your media card. The parties of big media houses and their indulgences are something to behold. If you ever happen to attend one of them you would hardly believe these outlets actually serve the general public. So it’s only in a situation like the Anna movement that many media outlets had a compulsion to tilt in favour of common people. They had no choice. Otherwise, throughout the year they are more or less an extended PR department of the government. How do I know? I’ve been there and done that in my association with one of  the highest circulated journals in the country and probably the world. It is absolutely shameful!

The current media as we know it has come about since the reforms of 1991. Prior to that, and maybe even now, the biggest advertiser is not private enterprise but the government. The very survival of many media outlets depends on the govt. In such a situation can the media really be expected to be on the side of facts and truth? Despite all their claims those in the media who accept govt awards like the Padmas must seriously question their own conscience. I was witness to the terrible reporting of the Gujarat riots by star media celebs like Barkha Dutt and Rajdeep Sardesai. They are also the ones that whipped up the most emotions during Kandahar. They are now Padma Shri award winners. Both NDTV and CNN-IBN have awarded Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh, Rahul Gandhi sham awards like ‘Indian of the year’. Are you seriously expecting them to represent the people’s concerns?

On January 17, 1991 I was at home in London. It’s a historic day. I watched till late night the first Gulf war that broke out. Even the BBC that normally shut down broadcast then at midnight carried on airing reports till around 3am. In less than an hour CNN, an otherwise unknown cable channel, became an international household name. History hangs on tiny chances. In the current Anna campaign TimesNow grabbed that tiny chance to become the channel to grab the most eyeballs. If the other competitors followed,  it was out of sheer compulsion and not out of any sense of reporting factually. Thus NDTV, CNN-IBN, Headlines Today and even all the Hindi channels rushed to stand by the people. This time they were all also watching people on the social networks. So, in normal times a media that is a slave of the government had no choice but to be in the right books. Make no mistake, in the days and weeks to come, some of these channels will revert back to their normal position of standing for the govt. They will do everything to indulge in mud-slinging against the Anna Hazare team just as they tried to during the initial stage of the anti-corruption movement in April and June (Against Ramdev).

Ashutosh, the MD of IBN’s Hindi channel, has openly accused some English channel media celebs of being govt spokespersons. He mentions how some of them have acquired luxury flats and residences in a discussion conducted by Karan Thapar. Believable? Absolutely! Go and take a look at the kind of flats and bungalows that our media celebrities live in. You will not find that very different from Bollywood celebrities. Rahul Kanwal even tweets about rising interests bothering home buyers, but I really doubt it’s a problem that seriously confronts him.

Following the outbursts of Kiran Bedi and Om Puri, the Parliament has moved privilege motions against them. Hmmmm! PRIVILEGE is the key word. The media reports it but it fails in their job to defend the right of free speech of these individuals. That parliament has been endowed with such extraordinary powers is wrong. The media should be standing up for these two individuals despite their buffoonery. They will not. What they said and did may be excessive but they weren’t wrong. It’s the way people feel. What does it say about a journalist who cannot get near the people and feels comfortable in her studio when she can rush to Egypt or Libya? Barkha Dutt has learned one thing at least, that being crooked doesn’t pay! It equates with you with politicians who constantly take the people for granted.

Democracy is not a relationship between the rulers and the ruled. It’s a process between and among equals. The moment parliament thinks people are subordinate they go terribly wrong. People are not subordinates. They are the reason parliament exists. They are the reason constitution exists. They are the reason why media exists. The day our media realises that and learns to be honest our parliament will be honest. Till then, our media, more than our politicians, poses the greatest danger to our democracy.

Why Don't They Ask Suzy?

The PM keeps repeating his statement ‘govt has no magic wand against corruption’. Well, why don’t they ask Suzy? Suzanne Arundhati Roy is a single-window system for all your problems. In a post titled India’s worst journalists I had stated: “She is India's only global journalist. Be it a politician, a minister, head of state, saints, print journals, tv channels, everyone relies on her to deliver considered and scientific opinion on everything. And she never fails. Be it literature, nuclear threats, dams, environment, maoists, naxalites, mining, rocket science, environmental problems on the moon and mars, saving martians from pollution. She knows everything!” But we will come back to Roy a bit later.

While there is a huge support for Anna’s anti-corruption movement there are also a good number who criticise him for undemocratic ways adopted by him. It’s hardly possible to have a mass movement without its critics. Some of them are quite fair in their criticism but some are extending the Manish Tiwari line of dialogue, with a bit more sophistry though.

Sample some excerpts from this one from C.P. Bhambhri in a piece called ‘Spreading Canards….’ From The Pioneer:

A democratic system of governance cannot survive or, for that matter, thrive if people are conditioned in believing that every ‘elected representative’ is corrupt and misuses his power to appropriate public resources………Historical evidence clearly shows that democracy can be subverted and sabotaged by anti-democratic military Generals or fascist and Nazis like Hitler of Germany or Mussolini of Italy or General Franco of Spain or near home General Ayub Khan of Pakistan if the ‘public mood’ turns against electoral process which is projected as villain of the piece because democracy is labeled as a breeding ground for corruption.

First of all, I am yet to hear anyone, I repeat anyone, even remotely saying that every elected politician is corrupt. No, not even Anna Hazare says that. If there is anger against politicians as a community it still doesn’t imply that all politicians are corrupt or misuse power. It is fair, though, to believe that a majority do misuse power in some way or the other. The ‘maoists and anarchists’ comment by Manish Tiwari is still fresh but here is someone just putting it differently with subtlety by invoking Mussolini, Franco, Hitler and Ayub Khan. So the canard is now flowing both ways. Democracy was never meant to be a breeding ground for corruption, Mr. Bhambri! Unchecked power and greed are breeding grounds for corruption. If those in the ruling class can’t find the conscience to fight corruption, people will have to defy parliament. We are still lucky that unlike the Mideast people haven’t pulled out guns and swords. So Bhambri’s imaginary threat to democracy is as much a canard that he accuses the protesters of spreading.

Anna Hazare is leading an anti-corruption movement that has a fascist overtone because even Parliament, which represents political diversity of India, is being commanded to accept the so-called Jan Lokpal Bill drafted by Team Anna. Parliament is the pillar of Indian democracy and every Bill gets democratic approval or rejection on the floor of both the Houses of Parliament….The demand to ‘accept’ their Bill or ‘face’ public anger which is manipulated by undertaking emotive steps like ‘fast-unto-death’ is not justifiable……It is bizarre, to say the least, that Anna Hazare is adopting coercive methods to achieve his goal. He is challenging the constitutional and legal rights of elected representatives to perform their legitimate functions.

There is definitely truth in stating Anna Hazare is pushing Parliament a bit too far by forcing the JLP and imposing deadlines. As bargaining chips protesters throw up the weirdest demands. But really, he has only half the blame to share. If the govt itself constituted a joint team to draft the Lokpal bill, then the right thing to do would be to present a bill that is drafted through consensus. They could have taken longer to reach that consensus. Playing tricks on the civil group and presenting a unilaterally drafted bill is bound to force such agitations, especially after the extreme step of arresting Anna, lathi-charging protesters earlier and displaying extra-ordinary arrogance. Very few people in print or TV are actually discussing the merits of both bills or the many versions of bills that are floating but instead focused on which side will blink first. This is the Bhambri version of Anna’s fascist approach. Parliament and government deserve to be respected. But the moment the government becomes arrogant, extremely corrupt and intolerant, it is the duty of citizens not to tolerate the intolerant and corrupt. Throwing out a corrupt and intolerant government is not the same as throwing out democracy. We have seen state and central governments thrown out before on many different issues. All this ‘holiness’ about parliament can only go so far!

There are reports today that around 26 MLAs from Andhra have quit over the CBI raids on Jagan Reddy. Why is it that these raids are happening only now? Was the Congress totally unaware of the corrupt YSR Reddy government? This is hardly the behaviour of a government that people should tolerate. There are lines that shouldn’t be crossed in a democracy. But it’s usually the government and politicians that cross those lines first. Helpless citizens keep watching endlessly. Someday, the protests were bound to get threatening. It is not people who started the Franco and Hitler trend. In this case it is the government that started it and will now have to pay the price for it.

That brings us back to sister Suzy. She says ‘I am not Anna’ in an article in The Hindu. Thank God for small mercies. Frankly, you wouldn’t mistake her or her ideology for Anna even if you met her under a nuclear mushroom glow. She calls the whole JLP draconian. In the whole rant against Anna Hazare and the JLP she does not provide one single clause in the JLP that she finds draconian. She does not challenge anything in the JLP. The entire exercise is to merely poke holes into the character of Anna. The strange part about such lunatics is that they believe that anyone who stands up and fights for a cause should also fight for causes that are dear to their critics. Where does such sick thinking come from? Only from sick minds like Arundhati! So here is the sample from her article which should tell you everything that Anna isn’t:

Who is he really, this new saint, this Voice of the People? Oddly enough we've heard him say nothing about things of urgent concern. Nothing about the farmer's suicides in his neighbourhood, or about Operation Green Hunt further away. Nothing about Singur, Nandigram, Lalgarh, nothing about Posco, about farmer's agitations or the blight of SEZs. He doesn't seem to have a view about the Government's plans to deploy the Indian Army in the forests of Central India.

Well, to be honest, not everyone is as bright as Suzy to be knowledgeable about every single problem that confronts us. I sometimes wonder why the PM doesn’t talk to her. Is there any problem on earth or the universe that Suzy can’t solve? Because he didn’t talk about Nandigram he shouldn’t talk about corruption! Because he didn’t talk about Posco he shouldn’t protest about corruption! Because he didn’t talk about Singur he shouldn’t talk about anything! If you observe carefully there is only a thin line dividing the Bhambris and the Suzies. If the PM cannot find a magic wand why don’t they talk to Suzy! Anna’s ‘emotional blackmail’, as some people call it, can always be matched by Suzy’s emotional nonsense!

Independence Not The Same As Freedom

US State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland: “As you know, we support the right of peaceful, non-violent protest around the world. That said, India is a democracy, and we count on India to exercise appropriate democratic restraint in the way it deals with peaceful protest.” This was a comment about Anna Hazare’s protest against corruption with fasts starting August 16. Imagine, if that statement had come when we were still fighting for independence. Every political party would have welcomed it and quoted it over and over again. If that were about Egypt or Libya the Barkha Dutts, the Rajdeep Sardesais, the Sagarika Ghoses, the Arnab Goswamis, the Rahul Kanwals would be calling it a statement from God herself. Now that we are an independent republic every party condemns it citing our constitution and what not. And the same politicians will cite our constitution. The very constitution they frequently trample. The very freedoms they deny to ordinary citizens.

Our cricket teams still have many tags of Kings and Crowns. Punjab Kings, Royal Challengers, Rajasthan Royals or Chennai Super Kings! How do you explain that? If you really go by the last CNN-IBN poll that suggests people would still vote for UPA if elections were held today, you’ve got to believe this is an idiot nation. I'm sorry to say this, but only a nation of idiots can really vote for the UPA again in current circumstances. As I write this, Rajdeep Sardesai is busy with Ramchandra Guha wondering why the South is never properly credited with our independence movement. Huh? North, South, East, Centre, West – when will Rajdeep stop trying to divide the nation? And this is his Independence day special! This I-day, some news anchors sacrificed their usual attire for sarees and kurtas. That's right, for one day in your life you can be Indian, they seem to suggest.

The truth is always a loser when the context is removed. Nuland made that statement given recent events in our nation. Killing agitating farmers, lathi-charge at peaceful, sleeping protesters at Ramlila grounds, setting conditions for protests by Anna Hazare & Co., banning movies and books, like the one called ‘Aarakshan’ by Prakash Jha. Stupid banning of a book on Gandhi by the Gujarat government, banning a book on Shivaji by Maharashtra, banning Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie. Imposing strange conditions and telling you how you can protest. Independence is not the same as freedom. Independence is not the same as liberty. Independence is not the same as ‘we were born free’! Looks like only wild animals are really born free.

Land grabs, farmer suicides, black money, Swiss accounts, Italian heads of ruling parties, an untruthful news media, a divided nation. One is almost tempted to quote the Billy Joel song “We didn’t start the fire”. The true hero, the common man is yet to taste freedom. Taste this dosage from a gutter mouth called Manish Tiwari, spokesperson of the Congress party: “.....consists of "armchair fascists, overground Maoists, closet anarchists...lurking behind forces of right reaction and funded by invisible donors whose links may go back a long way abroad". In short, he has described Indians for you. Such contempt for ordinary men and women in a democracy can only be held by fascists themselves. If this continues you may sooner or later have that midnight knock on your door. And instead of severe condemnation our media rejoices and delights in the controversy of this filth.

Sample these translated lines from the PM's I-day speech and see if they reflect any learning at all:

"Key to winning battle against corruption is for the nation to unite

There can’t be any slip-up in vigil in the fight against terrorism

13/7 blasts have proven we need to tackle terrorism"

There hardly seems to be any wisdom gained in all the seven years of his rule. Do yourself a favour. This I-Day don’t listen to speeches by morons. Instead listen to the concept of freedom from Steven Spielberg’s movie ‘Amistad’. That’s a true story about smuggled slaves from Sierra Leone defended by a former US President, John Quincy Adams. 

The text of that great speech can be googled and found anywhere on the net. We really don’t need a constitution to tell us about our freedoms. We don’t need a constitution to confirm land should be given to the tiller. We don't need a constitution to tell us how or what to think. The mother of all democracies, England, doesn’t have a constitution. In the petition by Prakash Jha the Supreme Court must seriously strike down any ban on freedom of thought or expression, once and for all. We now have the most corrupt and the most dangerous government ever ruling this nation. When ordinary people are called ‘fascists’ you know your freedoms are dead

Freedom is bigger than the concept of independence. This I-day, for change,  please listen to a different speech.

CNN-IBN: 'Stupefy The Nation' Polls

Gallup is probably the world’s best known poll organisation. It is also one of the most trusted research organisations when it comes to opinion polls. But even polls by Gallup may sometimes not be an indicator of the grave impact of events. This is not to suggest that their polls are flawed or unreliable but that current events and trends may not have such an immediate and influential impact. Therefore, some poll results may end up being merely academic or a test of trivia. In the last dialogue in ‘All the President’s Men’, Ben Bradlee, editor of the Washington Post, chides his two journalists, Woodward and Bernstein, thus: “You know the results of the latest Gallup Poll? Half the country never even heard of the word Watergate. Nobody gives a shit.”  Richard Nixon became the only American President to resign office. That many major scandals since then would be routinely suffixed with ‘gate’ is an impact that could not have been measured by the poll conducted by Gallup at the time.

That’s right; nobody gaves a shit till it finally hits the ceiling. Has corruption hit the ceiling under Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi? Not if you go by the CNN-IBN polls, which is presently airing on a daily basis as ‘State of the nation’ polls. In contrast to the Gallup poll I've mentioned CNN-IBN is busy indulging in trivia when the shit has already hit the ceiling. Much of the poll is based on questions that can best be described as ‘trivia’ or if you’re in school you might get to answer a GK question of that nature. The man leading the venture is Yogendra Yadav. He has a record of sorts for polls that have gone terribly wrong and has ended up with egg on his face on many occasions. When this happens all too frequently one tends to suspect the motive and aim of the poll itself.

I call the whole exercise ‘Stupefy the nation’ polls. The second instalment of their polls is on ‘Corruption’ and here are some interesting facts from the poll. In the previous poll in which Rahul Gandhi was declared the most popular choice for PM, CSDS (who actually conduct these polls) had clarified that over 70% polled are from rural areas.  I’m no poll scientist but let’s look at some of the questions asked in this poll on corruption:

Q. Have you heard of these names? : A. Raja, Kanimozhi, Suresh Kalmadi, Dayanidhi Maran. And the max that have heard of them is 27% and those who actually know them is 22% If you look carefully, none of these are national level politicians in the real sense. Three of them are from a regional party (DMK members from TN) and one Congress member from Maharashtra. Well, why didn’t they ask about Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh, P. Chidambaram or Praful Patel. First, has CNN-IBN given a clean chit to these people? Secondly, the more relevant question would have been if people knew about 2G, CWG, Adarsh and the actual scams rather than names involved in those. There is no need to preclude that only some individuals are involved in the scams as the poll does. This is hardly a popularity contest.

Q. Who is more corrupt – Centre, state or local government? – Now, this is how they fool people by asking a question that measures degree of corruption between various forms of government rather than each government separately. How is the perception of which government is more corrupt relevant at all to the study? It’s like asking you a stupid question: Do you like milk, coffee or tea? Chances are your vote will be divided between the three. In contrast if I asked you if you are a regular coffee drinker or not you are likely to give a more definitive answer. This is nothing but wilfully clouding the issue of corruption to indicate that one is worse than the other and covering up the severity of corruption of each one of them. As a consequence the All-India perception of the centre being corrupt is 35% when the answer to a clear single question would well have been 82%. This is a good hobby to play around with numbers. Alright, so between Manu Sharma and Vikas Yadav you choose who is a bigger murderer.

Q. On Anna Hazare, Ramdev, Lokpal etc ….. How is this relevant at all except for knowledge of trivia or general awareness? And does awareness of these people or their attributes have any significance to corruption? Frankly, I am confident that a huge population from the sample wouldn’t know who Pratibha Patil is. Considering that a majority of the sample is from rural areas it is not even clear if they have access to TV, national newspapers etc. Then, questions about Lokpal etc. Well, if there is a question about Lokpal it would have been worthwhile how many know there is a ‘Prevention of Corruption Act’ or a comparison with it. On a question about the polls Rajdeep Sardesai had tweeted a message to the effect that ‘there is a universe outside of TV channels and Twitter’. That should tell you enough.

Q. Is UPA very corrupt, somewhat corrupt, not much corrupt, not corrupt? Of all the questions this one has to qualify as the most stupid one. Is there a degree of corruption that can somehow be justified or condoned? Is that what these researchers are trying to establish? So in all discussions you will be told about the figure that 28% think UPA is very corrupt. Which clearly attempts to cloud reality and actual facts.(Didn’t they also highlight Rahul Gandhi has popularity of 42% when the real public figure was 19% according to them?) Therefore, the basic message is not everyone really thinks the UPA is that corrupt. Get that? The joke around is that MMS must simply release the names of ministers who are not corrupt. That would be easier. This method of polling almost reduces the exercise to a movie review by a critic who would rate it from 1 star to 5 and reduces the seriousness of the issue of corruption.

When Ajay Maken tried to pin the appointment of Suresh Kalmadi as CWGOC chairman on the NDA the media went to town with his statement. Now that Arun Jaitley has completely destroyed and exposed his lies, the media looks like a fool as usual. The intricate nature of documents and forgery that are used are not easily comprehensible to a majority of our population. That makes it easier for the media to conduct fake and motivated polls to stupefy the nation. You never know, for all that matters the NDA itself might have bid for the CWG hoping to make a kill but then they lost power. The UPA came to power and made a killing with all the scams. There is no need to rate corruption by number of stars as the CNN-IBN poll attempts to do.

From Lensonews

In another poll by Lensonnews website one will find quite a different picture. That is mainly because that poll is only from 5 metro cities. But what Lensonews does is that keeps a clear focus on critical issues rather than trying to flavour the issues with some agenda. There are many issues that a government handles but some are critical to ordinary citizens. To confuse that by multiple choices or choices of degrees is a clearly dishonest poll. That poll also indicates Narendra Modi as a clearly popular choice for the next PM. But that can also be set aside as urban bias

CNN-IBN isn’t yet done with these polls. They will carry one segment each night till independence day. By the time they finish you might find it hard to remember what people’s opinions really are. And, of course, they will tell you Manmohan Singh is still an honourable man.

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