Mallika Sarabhai's Toilet Musings

On September 17, 2011 when Narendra Modi began his fast under the Sadbhavna mission there were some who protested, some who said he was flexing his PM ambitions and some called it a 5-star fast. There was one 5-star human rights activist though who was busy doing something to prove a point. Yes! Mallika Sarabhai, the 5-star activist decided that she would feed poor slum children on that day to protest against Modi’s ‘5-star’ fast. I am wondering if that was the first time Mallika ever saw slum children from close ‘quarters’. You can usually tell human rights activists by their 'truck' – usually a very large blood-guzzling SUV.  A day later on September 18 Mallika was busy again hurling accusations against Modi of bribing her lawyers. Of course, her lawyers denied that. And then she got busy in leading a group of protestors to petition Modi about justice awaited in the 2002 riots. Then the fast was over! Modi went back to work and Mallika .. Oh I don’t know where or what she went back to.

A few days later that ‘whistler’ cop, Sanjiv Bhatt, is arrested and Mallika was back on the scene. This time she went a step further stating “even judges in Gujarat are influenced by Modi”. There are the usual SUV types like Shabnam Hashmi, Teesta Setalvad and others with Mallika with candles and balloons to support Sanjiv Bhatt. After a court battle for about 18 days Bhatt finally got bail and his family celebrated. So everyone went back and Sanjiv Bhatt went back to his family. And Mallika .. Aha! This time I know where she went and what she did. Yeah! Just like any other 5-star activist she went abroad. She dashed off to wonderful South Korea. Wonderful place to forget Modi, Bhatt and slum children. Well, didn’t quite turn out like that it seems. She had to confront the horrors of South Korean toilets. And that was enough to bring back strong toilet memories for her.

So Mallika writes the ‘Last word’in that magazine called ‘The Week’ and it’s quite appropriately titled ‘Flushed with confusion’. For all that money I could have told Mallika that her head was flushed with confusion right here in India. Anyway, let’s understand her toilet travels… I mean toilet travails… (quotes in blue).

“We were at a roadside stop, somewhere in the south of South Korea, in a very clean public toilet. I looked around the toilet stall. Behind the commode, around it, under it. No, there was no sign of a flush. By this time several other voices had joined in this chorus, each with an explanation, but no solution. At last a triumphant voice, “There is a button on the right of the door as you exit.” Phew. I hadn’t fancied leaving a clean toilet dirty for want of reading Korean”. Hmmm! Somewhere? Somewhere in South Korea? That rush to toilet must have been so bad she even forgot the name of the place. I think usually when we go into a toilet in a foreign country we carry some basic info. And discovering a flush button really can’t be part of the tour plan. But 5 star activists aren’t used to it and some poor soul had to shout ‘eureka’ there’s the flush button. Oh and I’m still wondering.. if finding a flush button would have been easier if one knew Korean I wonder how they decided the place was a toilet if it was probably written in Korean. Must be some intuition! 

Toilet House, The Museum, South Korea

Oh by the way, the Koreans (And I mean South every time I mention Korea here) absolutely love their toilets. Don’t believe me? Okay, you see this little house once belonged to someone. They had shaped it like a toilet and now it is some kind of toilet museum. I am not kidding, this toilet house is in a town called Suwon in South Korea. As a tourist Mallika should have cared to know this.. LOL!

“A few days later, in the even cleaner toilets of the offices of the Korea Foundation, the Korean counterpart of Indian Council of Cultural Relations, I sat on the toilet contemplating a series of graphics. One had wavy lines, horizontally placed. The next one had dotted lines, like upward moving waves. The third one had the same but moving downwards. Knowing a couple of my colleagues were in next door stalls I mused aloud about what they meant. Pat came a reply, “Whatever you try, try it while still seated, otherwise you will get a shower.” More cautious than is my wont, I refrained”. What a pity! The Indian Council of Cultural Relations must be pulled up for sending people to places without a guide on the graphic indicators in toilets. Wavy lines, dotted lines.. now thanks to Mallika, if I ever go to South Korea I will now try them while I’m seated. But wait a minute.. those were toilets in ‘offices’ so it does surprise me why they’d have showers in there to be warned by Mallika’s toilet neighbours. I, for one, haven’t seen showers in office toilets. Alright, maybe the Koreans thought there might be special Indian guests who might even consider taking a shower while being in the toilet in their offices. Quite possible hahahha!

Japanese Toilet signs

She mentions a diplomat who had problems with a Japanese toilet. A what? Yes, a Japanese toilet. So for her benefit and that of the diplomat I’ve put up what is a Japanese toilet guide that is pretty common. Then she goes on to narrate some more experiences, some of which I prefer to censor but I couldn’t help picking on this particular experience of hers: “Then there are the automatic sensor devices. At Paris airport, this meant getting up and sitting down on the pot several times till the sensor kicked in. I tried getting up and down straight, sideways, by jumping out of the sensor’s eye.... Finally it worked, but I still haven’t figured it out”. Up, down, straight, sideways? I have imagined Mallika is a dancer and also the daughter of a famous danseuse but I certainly can’t imagine her dancing in a toilet just to get the flush going. And she says she still hasn’t figured it out. Well, there are a lot of things, like the lies, that is hard to figure about Mallika too. Of course, I don’t think the toilets of the world are in a conspiracy against her though.

And finally she says: “If my readers are surprised at the topic of this week’s column, let me tell you why these thoughts come to mind. A five-star deluxe hotel I have just checked out of, had nothing at all—no bum shower, no mug, not even the possibility of reaching the tooth glass and the water at the basin without twisting your back. Was this a plug for the (toilet) paper industry, I wondered. Or just one more way we stupidly ape the west?” No Mallika, no one is surprised at all. And not everyone stupidly apes the west. Some of us have even lived in the west without aping them. Look at the bright side Mallika, the 5-star hotel you visited could well be the equivalent of the no-star slum that goes through such things every day. You face such toilets some exciting days in your life… they do that all the time.

Okay, so next time I travel abroad I won’t ask for a travel map or guide but will first seek out Mallika and get toilet tips from her. Well, so much for our 5-star activists! Their hearts bleed for justice, for slum children, they want to see Narendra Modi hanged and what not. But they can’t even flush their own bullshit down without dancing in the toilet!

Bidwai's Unadulterated Bullshit

By Ram Valmiki

There is a particular pattern in the way Hate Engineers spread their ill-conceived opinions and manufactured lies as real facts. They have mastered the art of pushing across their propaganda as “analysis” or “news reporting”. Be it in print media or in MSM, be it “sickular” activist champions of secularism or panelists, all of them spare no effort in misguiding the gullible audience/readers.

It is very important for us to understand the modus-operandi of these Hate Engineers so as to gauge the kind of damage they do to national interests. Since Narendra Modi is flavor of the season and every “sickular” worth their salt has been writing on his fast, I will attempt to breakdown the language of Hate Engineers by taking one recent article of Praful Bidwai as an example.  I would like to inform the readers that this is the same way how the Marxists/communist historians operate and misrepresent the historical events. Bidwai's rant is titled: 'Modi's nasty fast politics - Shifting the BJP rightwards'.

Praful Bidwai is supposed to be political analyst/commentator and “peace activist”. It is expected of him to provide just the analysis and not pass judgments. It is for his readers to draw the conclusions and his duty to provide unbiased analysis. But it is not surprising that so much like many other “sikculars”, he exhibits intellectual dishonesty.

“Through his contrived sadbhavana mission and outlandish three-day fast, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra 'Milosevic' Modi staged a grotesquely fraudulent act in ugly political theatre, which he hoped would catapult him to the apex of the Bharatiya Janata Party and make him the topmost contender as the prime ministerial nominee of the National Democratic Alliance”

The very first line in his lengthy article starts by asserting that Modi is Indian version of Milosevic.  This only shows how prejudiced Praful Bidwai is. Even before Praful starts analyzing the “fast”, he passes on judgment that Modi is as dangerous as Milosevic for the country.  Praful Bidwai seems to have great powers at mind reading. He seems to know what is on Modi’s mind.  Actually, it’s the fear of  Modi gaining national acceptance and may be even becoming the PM that forces the “sickulars” to try and derail something that does not exist. Its Modi Phobia. Internet is abuzz with the growing popularity of Modi at national level and he is no more limited to State of Gujarat as “sickulars” want us to believe. Modi is already national leader and a prospective PM candidate. That is hard to digest by Hate Engineers.

“Modi's shenanigans will certainly do nothing to make him acceptable to the Muslims, who suffered Independent India's worst state-organised butchery under him in 2002. The presence of skull-capped men and burqa-clad women at his fast means nothing.” The riot cases are in court. Supreme Court constituted SIT did not find any evidence against Modi. The case is back in trial court and Modi is not listed as accused. But that does not mean anything to the Hate Engineers. They go ahead and make such a bold statement as calling the riots as “sate-organized”. This is not allegation, not even accusation but blatant way of presenting manufactured lie as a FACT.  As in my previous post have stated, delinking Godhra with Gujarat riots would lead to wrong conclusions. It is well known that riots were started as a reaction to Godhra carnage. The local newspapers carried rumors and it ignited the suppressed anger. Does Praful Bidwai suggest here that Modi planned the train burning? It does not need great intelligence to imagine what the death toll would be if a state actually planned and decided to something as heinous as riots. This also undermines the Indian Judicial system.

For people who are not aware, Gujarat has had history of riots before 2002. Based on Praful Bidwai’s logic, we should blame all previous Congress governments for those riots. The intended suggestion of Praful Bidwai may be that the Muslims present at the fast are not real Muslims and it shows in the way he likes to term them just as “skull-capped men and burq-clad women”. Probably that’s why he sees no meaning it their presence. For Hate Engineers any Muslim not willing to accept “victimhood” bestowed upon them by “sickulars” are not real Muslims. Remember Vastanvi incident?

“Modi didn't express remorse at the violence or signal moderation. He came through as an arrogant, duplicitous and hubris-driven politician bent on further humiliating Muslims. His fast wasn't about sadbhavana (goodwill or harmony), but about hyping himself up as a politician” Modi was clear that his fast is about “Sadhbhavana”. It is Hate Engineers who linked it to riots. Why would Modi express remorse for something he has been saying he is not guilty of? Let the courts decide.  And I fail to understand how the hell it becomes humiliating to Muslims if he goes on fast? This is the way Hate Engineers try to create “victim” syndrome and suggest “humiliation” and “insult” to Muslims. This is naked way of poisoning the Muslim readers with perceived “insult”.  I guess only Hate Engieers saw the arrogance in Modi which does not surprise me anyways.

“ He even belittled his former mentor L K Advani by making him sit in a smaller chair than his own at the venue of the fast, thus symbolically challenging conservative notions of hierarchy.”

Filled by hate towards Modi, Praful Bidwai finds hidden meanings in travail things. Was not Modi the one who was undertaking the fast and is he not the CM of the state? Why should Advani be given bigger chair? Oh sorry! I understand Mr Praful Bidwai. May be it is difficult for you to accept challenge to “conservative notions of hierarchy” due to your loyalty to a dynastic political party.

“However, the Supreme Court by no means exonerated Modi or the Special Investigation Team's report which holds that there is no prosecutable evidence against him and 61 others named by Jafri. Although the court sent the case to a trial court in Gujarat, it directed it to examine that report, as well as the comments made on it by amicus curiae (friend of the court) Raju Ramachandran, and to give the petitioners a hearing.”

One should focus on the word “prosecutable”. Praful Bidwai suggests though Modi is guilty, as per his earlier assertions in the article, there are no “prosecutable” evidences. This is an attempt to present Modi in media and public as “Guilty” and also part acceptance that Modi may come out clean in courts. Hence an attempt to brush aside any Judicial clean chit in future as just lack of “prosecutable” evidences. We already know that former IPS officer is alleging that Gujarat government destroyed the evidences.

“Of course, how the court acts within Gujarat's vitiated political climate remains an open question, but it cannot simply bury the case or accept a closure report without hearing the petitioners, and summoning witnesses if necessary.” Here comes the expected. This is the attempt to cast doubts on fairness of Trial Court should the court verdict go against Hate Engineers expectations. This is also suggesting to the readers that justice is doubtful in the state of Gujarat. Well hate mongers' definition of justice is– Hang Modi.

“Meanwhile, Modi's credibility has been further damaged by the disclosure by dancer-activist Mallika Sarabhai, based on an affidavit filed by former top police official R B Sreekumar, that his government tried to scuttle her writ petition for prosecuting him for the violence by paying a Rs 10-lakh bribe to her lawyer. This showed that the Modi regime could stoop to the rock bottom to suppress efforts to bring the culprits of the 2002 communal violence to book.”

This is half-truth. Praful Bidwai posted his article on 23^rd Sep 2011. But long before that, the lawyers had called Mallika Sarabhai as liar and denied any bribe was offered or taken. It serves good for Praful Bidwai not to mention this fact as it would put question mark on the credibility of Sarabai. The fake petitions of Teesta Stelvad have dented her credibility but Praful Bidwai would not acknowledge the level his “Brigade Brothers/Sisters” would stoop to in their hate towards Modi.  Sarabhai had option to go to court and accuse her lawyers. What stops her from taking the path of Judicial Process?

“Modi hasn't overcome even an iota of the stigma he earned by presiding over the anti-Muslim pogrom of 2002. It is of course utterly shameful that he hasn't been criminally prosecuted, and worse, even politically punished, for his role in falsely communalising the Godhra train fire, and systematically organising and colluding in the ensuing violence.” Praful Bidwai finally expresses his frustration. All “sickulars” have their own definition of “Justice”. Anything that does not satisfy their definition is by default wrong. “Sickulars” way of thinking is “my way or highway”. If a muslim supports Modi, he is not a muslim. If a court does not make Modi accused, court’s ability for fair trial is doubtful. Modi does not lose the elections, people live in fear. They fail to accept that the very facts that Modi has been elected by a democratic process by the people of Gujrat is itself the evidence that people have accepted him and rejected the lies spread by Hate Engineers. The fact that court has no evidences to make Modi as accused is itself evidence that Hate Engineers stand defeated.

But they will present it a shame and instill doubts in Muslim readers that they have been denied Justice.  These “sickulars” are greatest threat to India. There cannot be any better example of selective propagation of views as stated in my previous post other than the way Praful Bidwai makes a statement  - falsely communalizing the Godhra train fire. Excuse me Mr Bidwai, it was not just any other train fire. It was not accident. It was preplanned gruesome murder of 57 kar sevaks that included women and children. I suggest you update yourself on the reports on Godhra carnage. Secondly, what do you mean by “falsely communalizing?”. If a crowd of hundreds of Muslims with previously stored petrol cans and weapons burning a train coach full of Hindu kar sevaks is not communal, what else is? These are the same sikculars who call genocide of Kashmiri pandits as freedom fight and not communal. 

“Arguably, had the secular opposition, including the Congress's Sonia Gandhi, the Communist parties' Harkrishan Singh Surjit, Jyoti Basu and A B Bardhan, and centrist leaders like Lalu Prasad, Mulayam Singh Yadav and others, insisted on its dismissal through a sustained agitation, the NDA might have had no choice but to impose President's Rule.” Now we know what definition of secularism Praful Bidwai follows. We call it in our language as just appeasement politics.“His presence has been poisonous, not just in Gujarat. No one has brought as much international disrepute to India. No other Indian chief minister has been denied a visa in numerous countries for complicity in gross human right violations.”

Praful Bidwai again indulges in half truths.. But would Praful Bidwai care to tell the readers how much lobbying the “sickulars” did? Would he please let the readers know how false stories were planted in western media? While we are at it, does Praful Bidwai know that recent report on Modi by USA think tank? They do not agree that Modi was poisonous to Gujarat.

“The BJP could soon find that Modi, with his insufferable arrogance, megalomania and obnoxious ultra-individualism, is more a liability than an asset both for itself and its allies. It stands warned

Mr Praful Bidwai, I would like to thank you for providing this article so that I could present the modus operandi of Hate Engineers to spread half-truths, ill-conceived opinions as facts. The time for all the “sickulars” and “Hate Engineers” to pack their bags and shut down their shops is nearing as more and more people are realizing the crooked ways they operate in. Before it’s too late and they lose any bit of credibility left, they should express remorse. They stand warned.

Hate Engineers

Believe it or not, in four years since 2007 an average of 25 women have been added to the imaginary number of women gang-raped in the Gujarat 2002 riots. That is how Shabnam Hashmi churns out figures. Now, Shabnam Hashmi is an activist extraordinaire, a media pet and an expert on communal issues. No matter what the discussion she will invariably come up with and link the issues to Ayodhya, Gujarat riots and Narendra Modi. Her world becomes complete with these three topics.

In 2007 Hashmi wrote an open letter to Narendra Modi about 300 women being gang-raped who are yet to get justice. This was in response to Modi’s offer of shelter to Taslima Nasreen in Gujarat. Taslima, being hounded by her own country Bangladesh and later by Bengal and the Indian govt, is a muslim writer whose writings have angered her community. You may carry on accusing Modi of a thousand things but what could possibly be wrong with such a gesture? But then for the likes of Shabnam Hashmi Modi represents the punching bag which keeps their careers and their NGOs funded. Now the lies that the NGOs peddled have already been exposed over and over again yet Hashmi continues to dangle hate through numbers.

 

On Sunday,  September 25, Narendra Modi was to hold a huge rally at Vastral on the outskirts of Ahmedabad. Obviously, he would make some political statements, but where was Shabnam Hashmi? She was right there in a predominantly muslim locality asking them to boycott Modi’s rally. What was her charge? Well, here’s what DNA reports: “Hashmi talked about the 400 women of 2002 riots who were allegedly gang-raped during the riots and were yet to get justice. She also talked in abusive terms about the Muslims who had attended Modi's Sadbhavna fast.”  So, from the charge of 300 women gang-raped in 2007, according to her letter to Modi, the number has now risen to 400. Such is the power of lies that are used to spread hatred.

The original accusation of 300 women, or any number, being gang-raped has not been backed by any evidence. Those lies already stand exposed. Now Shabnam Hashmi peddles more lies by throwing up a number of 400. Her letter of 2007 also accuses Modi of women being treated badly in Gujarat. Well, I don’t carry numbers or statistics but I am sure Hashmi can see only one state in India’s map and that is Gujarat. Safety or Crimes against women is altogether an issue and has little to do with her hatred for Modi.

Hashmi didn’t stop there, she went on to shower contempt on those who attended Modi’s Sadbhavna event: "We want to stop this politics of hate and you people don't feel ashamed in going to Modi's fast with the skullcap on your head? You posed for photographs with him after taking Rs200 to Rs500?" she said, referring to the chief minister in derogatory terms.“We will not stop anybody who wants to go to the Vastral rally but they should understand that all this is politics. People of India will never let Modi become the prime minister."

Now whatever else the criticism of the Sadbhavna Mission there is hardly any sense or maturity in showering scorn on those who attended it. Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Muslims, Jains and more attended it. Yet, Hashmi goes on to lecture the Muslim community with the hope and intention of permanently keeping them from integration. I call it hate engineering! I guess throwing up vague, irresponsible statements is a significant feature of hate engineering. There is no other way to describe the acts of Shabnam Hashmi. Ironically, such hate-mongers camouflage their intent and acts with smart-sounding NGOs. Hashmi’s NGO is named ANHAD(Act Now for Harmony and Democracy). She is the founder of this NGO along with Harsh Mandar. Now Mandar needs no introduction for his campaign against Narendra Modi. He is now a member of the NAC. I think the right name for these fake harmony mongers would be ‘Been-HAD’ for the manner in which they spread lies to divide communities. I could even comically redefine Anhad as “Act now for hatred and disintegration”!

On the same topic but on a different note DNA carries another article by Girish Patel (September 21). The title straightaway indicts and convicts Narendra Modi: ‘Despite Sadbhavna Narendra Modi guilty under international law’. If you read the article carefully, there is no such international law that exists and India is not a signatory to the International Court or Tribunal. But the writer’s theory could well be a veiled invitation for activists like Hashmi, Mandar and Teesta Setalvad to attempt a misadventure. Fact is, Teesta has already been rapped by the Supreme Court once for writing to the UN about Gujarat riots and trying to internationalise the matter. I do not know much about this Girish Patel or what his persuasion is, but I can tell him that the International Court was created to handle cases from countries whose legal systems were dubious. By his article Patel clearly rubbishes the justice system of India. Whatever our shortcomings, India still has a fine judiciary that is capable of delivering justice. Just because verdicts don’t go your way is no reason to sling mud at our judiciary system. But that is how media crooks invent theories.

For all the talk of women’s rights and safety, Shabnam Hashmi had spewed venom on the Baba Ramdev campaign in early June 2011. Activists like her and some media channels threw so much mud that it emboldened the central govt to carry out a brutal midnight violent attack on a huge crowd of peaceful protesters at the Ramlila grounds. Many were injured but one woman, 51 year old Rajabala, was paralysed for four months and finally died on September 26. I wonder what Hashmi & Co. have to say about that. Your guess is as good as mine. After all democracy or rights or security is not the greatest concern for the hate engineers.

Media's Complete Loss Of Decency

The three-day  Sadbhavana Missionof Narendra Modi ended on September 19 with a rousing speech that sought to set new directions for governance, equality and national policies. The mainstream media had no option to be there. After all, no matter how much hatred they continue to heap on him, Modi simply stands tall where leadership and governance are concerned. It also helps that he is a great orator. But make no mistake, the MSM wasn’t there to just cover the event. It was there to see if any more muck can be raised against Modi and to remind him that in the ‘supreme court of the media’ he has already been declared guilty of crimes. Much of the transactions at the Sadbhavana event were live and will also be available to read in newspapers, magazines and online pages for quite some time. So let’s try and understand the orchestration to disrupt the event by the media and other charlatans. Mine is not to discuss the merits/de-merits of the event or its political impact but to understand the orchestrated campaign of hate from some in the media and some activists.

Here’s a tweet from @shammybawejafrom September 16 (She is Harinder Baweja, Editor Investigations of Headlines Today):  “Off to Guj for Modis sadhbhavna. Remorse and legal justice needed for 1984 and 2002. Fast track justice, not cong bjp fast wars”.

Well, one would have thought like others she too would land up at the Gujarat University grounds but where does she land up? Naroda Patiya, a site of mob violence and killing in the 2002 riots. Hmmm, so what was cooking? In the morning of September 17 Mallika Sarabhai, another crusader for justice, suddenly summons a presser and accuses Narendra Modi of having bribed her lawyers to scuttle her PIL on the post-Godhra riots. The crusader-come-lately, Sanjiv Bhatt, backs up her allegations as being true. Then later she too lands up at Naroda Patiya. A small group of people, riot victims, are organised to protest and march for justice by Mukul Sinha, a lawyer. So, by strange co-incidence, Mallika, Mukul and Baweja all turn up at Naroda Patiya. Headlines Today was the only channel telecasting live from the site. The protestors were also carrying printed pamphlets that must have been organised overnight. Ordinarily, there would be nothing wrong in such protests except for the timing. Mallika could have made her allegations and led these protests many times over in the last few months but she did not. But the objective was simple – to rekindle and continue the hate-NaMo campaign during the Sadbhavana event.

And that was trigger enough for NDTV, CNN-IBN, Headlines Today and others to start their chorus of abuse without even verifying the accusations made by Mallika. So let’s deal with the the lies of Mallika Sarabhai. This report based on comments by her own lawyers should be enough to nail her filthy lies.

From TOI: “Lawyers who appeared for…Mallika Sarabhai in the SCourt in 2002 for her PIL on the post-Godhra riots denied her allegation that bribes were paid to her advocates by the Narendra Modi government to derail the petition…….Advocate Mahesh Agrawala, the counsel who filed the writ petition number 221 of 2002 in the SC with Sarabhai as the petitioner, said it was "totally false that any money was ever paid to us by anyone to do anything or not do something relating to the petition. No money was ever paid to us and we did the case free of cost. Moreover, her case was argued on April 15, 2002, by senior advocate P Chidambaram before a bench headed by the CJI and comprising Justices Shivraj V Patil and H K Sema. The court had admitted the petition, issued notices to the Centre and Gujarat government and allowed early listing,"…….Agrawala said, "She got the relief she wanted on the very first day of hearing. It is unfortunate that after nine years, she is making the allegation about payment of money, which is patently false."

So the TV channels had a blast with the lies of Mallika Sarabhai. And if lies are on the menu can Teesta Setalvad be left out? Naturally, this washing machine of justice was back on TV all through the last three days hurling abuses and spreading untruths once again. Acts for which she was awarded with a Padmashri, of course. And where else to go but on the channel that has been the worldwide platform for the lies against Narendra Modi and about the Gujarat riots, NDTV. It is widely believed that the only channel that Narendra Modi refused an interview to is NDTV. Barkha Dutt herself laments that the CM would not entertain her. There’s a good reason too. Anyone who knows well enough that NDTV and, in particular, Barkha Dutt has carried out a systematic campaign of calumny about Gujarat and Modi wouldn’t trust that channel to be honest or relate to facts.

Long before the Gujarat riots Teesta Setalvad was funded by the Congress, CPM, CPI and others to campaign and carry out ads against the BJP during the 1999 election campaign. She had asked for and received funds from these political parties for her campaign. And she did advertise and campaign against the BJP in her magazine ‘Communal Combat’. Therefore, the lie that Teesta is a ‘social’ or ‘rights’ activist is one of the greatest lies peddled by the media. She is clearly a political activist and her political persuasion and motivation is cunningly suppressed by NDTV and other channels.

Teesta’s campaign against the BJP in 1999 failed as the BJP+NDA returned to power. Naturally, the investments that the Congress made in her had to be recovered somehow. Come the unfortunate Gujarat riots and Teesta had to deliver her pound of flesh. She creates the CJP in April 2002 after the riots have calmed. What followed was the most extraordinary campaign of untruths, fake affidavits, rumour mongering – all gleefully accepted and churned out by the media crooks. How much money has poured into her CJP is not public knowledge. Even the SC had pulled her up for trying to internationalise Modi as a criminal by writing to the UN.

In my post “SC exposes the media’s clean shit” I have detailed the lies that Suzy Roy deliberately peddled about the riots. In case of Teesta her lies were exposed by the SIT itself. All the ‘copy-cat’ affidavits she engineered for the riot victims now stand thoroughly exposed. Her own former colleagues have also nailed her lies. Imagine, this washing machine of justice has twice sought anticipatory bail, something more common among politicians. Her organisation, Citizens for Justice and Peace, parades as an NGO while clearly being a political organisation. However, this campaign of lies did pay off in some way, coupled with many other reasons. The NDA lost power in 2004 and the Congress+UPA came to power. Rewarding Barkha Dutt, Teesta Setalvad (and also Rajdeep Sardesai) immediately would be a dead give-away. So a few years later all three were awarded the Padmashri. But every time Narendra Modi is in the news, these washing machines unfailingly get back into action.

Reading motives or even words where there were none, the MSM uniformly talked about NaMo’s PM ambitions. They sought an apology from him when their attempts to nail him legally haven’t produced anything so far. Interpreted Nitish Kumar’s absence from the Sadbhavana event as a snub and for that reason the event is not supported by all. They even employed fake tweets or manipulated them to heap further abuse. During the event CNBC-TV18 even carried a full interview with Teesta in its programme “Beautiful People”. Hahhaaa, that’s an irony and, mind you, I am not talking about her looks.

The Sadbhavana event can be criticised on many other fronts but that wasn’t the case. The entire narrative was built on continuing the hate-Modi campaign. Every media celeb that talked to Modi had not one question to ask about the development model of Modi. Not one had any question of how Gujarat coped with the historic problem of water shortages. Not one talked about the girl-child education campaign in Gujarat. Not one talked about how Gujarat grew without frivolous subsidies. Not one talked about how Gujarat got around to building such great roads and highways. Not one talked about how Gujarat manages to provide uninterrupted power supply. Not one talked about reasons why industrialists are thrilled to set up businesses in Gujarat. Nothing! Whether Modi gained by the event or not, time will tell. But one outcome has been clearly established. The media’s complete loss of decency, respect for facts and truth, and further erosion in their already low credibility. Modi was giving interviews to all and sundry and if Barkha Dutt feels snubbed by not getting her chance that should tell her how low her image and credibility has sunk. An interview with Modi would have given her some redemption, but I doubt that is ever going to happen.

For all the campaigns against Modi the same crooks are yet to even find what is wrong with Sonia Gandhi, her illness, her treatment, her whereabouts. NDTV has even comically reported her return to India at least 4 or 5 times. And I doubt they still know where Sonia is. Never mind that. But this mainstream media is hurtling towards greater decimation. The social network is already delivering it a severe blow. The online netizens have become a watchdog over the media in absence of an independent body. And if that isn’t enough, there is Wikileaks exposing all the information that the media may have covered up or suppressed.

The future of Narendra Modi doesn’t exactly concern me enormously as much as it concerns the media crooks. They live in fear that his rise to the top may completely destroy whatever is left of their credibility. Whatever else, but there is one thing that these crooks can learn from NaMo. In all this campaign of calumny he has conducted himself in a dignified manner and never shot back at any of his detractors. They called the Sadbhavana event a political stunt or gimmick. NaMo is a politician and the event IS political – what is so wrong about it? That is what politicians are supposed to do – mobilise political views and directions. Modi has successfully done that in at least one thing – ‘vote bank politics will not pay in the future’. The media even tried to make a big issue of Modi not wearing the muslim skull cap offered to him by a visitor. Here is the best response I found on Twitter to that by @Pari500: “…and Maulana says 'refusal of the cap is an insult to Islam', really? Now we know the honour of islam rests SOLELY on Modi's head!”

Here is an interesting observation by The Economist: “The biggest shift is that journalism is no longer the exclusive preserve of journalists. Ordinary people are playing a more active role in the news system, along with a host of technology firms, news start-ups and not-for-profit groups. Social media are certainly not a fad, and their impact is only just beginning to be felt. “It’s everywhere and it’s going to be even more everywhere,” says Arianna Huffington. Successful media organisations will be the ones that accept this new reality. They need to reorient themselves towards serving readers rather than advertisers, embrace social features and collaboration, get off political and moral high horses and stop trying to erect barriers around journalism to protect their position. The digital future of news has much in common with its chaotic, ink-stained past.”

If ever Bill Gates made a business error, the biggest one has to be his refusal or failure to see the potential of the Internet when it came about. Since that failure, his company has only been playing catch up. Google now reports that India will add 200Mn more net users by 2014. That’s a good sign for the nation but a serious warning for the MSM. If they don’t see the writing on the wall the social network will grow to a level that will make them obsolete where news and debates are concerned. The loss of credibility has already come about.. the best they can do is to attempt restoration of some decency and respect for facts and truth.

SC Exposes Media's Clean Shit

In 1999, after losing a no-confidence motion by one vote, the BJP+NDAcame back to power after mid-term polls. It was a result that no doubt shocked the Congress and its ‘secular’ allies. The BJP victory was probably also helped by the Kargil war. That war produced a new media hero of sorts – Barkha Dutt. The StarNews team of Prannoy Roy, Barkha Dutt and Rajdeep Sardesai had gained prominence during that time. People still believed what the media said. Then came Kandahar. The extra-ordinary hysteria and emotions that the trio whipped up during the hijack drama on TV was unbelievable. Relatives of the hostages were flung on to the screens. The distress, chest-beating, wailing and abusing of the minsters was a precursor of sorts. Some of us suspected that the media was not doing this on their own. There are still suspicions that many of the relatives of the hijack victims were instigated by both the Congress and the Left and the media to humiliate the NDA with abundant aid from this media trio. So even today after every terror attack Kandahar creeps into discussions. That episode was the one where paid media started to go downhill.

On the morning of March 1, 2002 if you had walked the streets of the relatively posh western parts of Ahmedabad you wouldn’t believe what had happened while you were sleeping. You could see shops and restaurants that were burned overnight. All these shops had such names – Bhagyoday, Kabir, National and so on – all belonged to muslims, and this was a predominantly Hindu area. While there was property damage there was no report of people being killed in the area. Even residents of Ahmedabad had no idea of the scale of the riots that were going on. And then suddenly on the scene bursts Barkha Dutt and then Rajdeep Sardesai (both with Starnews then) and some more.

Hour after hour after hour we hear the most horrific stories of mass killings all over the state. In cities, towns, villages and even on highways. Words like mass murder, genocide, pogrom start to gain currency in some quarters. Were there terrible killings? You bet, some of it very horrible. But the kind of dramatic and hysterical reporting on TV was no more news reporting. It was almost fanning the flames. So much so that in some areas some TV channels had to be shut down to contain the provocation. As in the case of war, even in an unfortunate communal riot such as this, ‘truth’ is the first casualty. The numbers-killed story was generously sprinkled with imagination of people being raped, foetuses ripped and more by the media. I can safely say that the response to the Godhra train burning was spontaneous. The Gulbarg case which has become prominent because of the widow of Ehsan Jafri, killed by mobs, were attacks by mobs that would have been difficult to handle by any police force given that many other parts of Ahmedabad were equally badly affected. For all this to make one man singularly responsible could not have been anything but an agenda driven media. This agenda had to be surely backed by political forces and extraordinary influx of funds. This is where the witch hunt of Narendra Modi started. Lies, lies and more lies have been peddled by the media since then. The best example is of Suzanne Arundhati Roy who oozed brilliant lies.

Writing about the Gujarat riots, Suzy Roy had this to say (Outlook, May 6,2002).

A mob surrounded the house of ex-Congress MP Iqbal Ehsan Jaffri. His phone calls to the director-general of police, the police commissioner, the chief secretary, the additional chief secretary (home) were ignored. The mobile police vans around his house did not intervene. The mob broke into the house. They stripped his daughters and burnt them alive. Then they beheaded Jaffri and dismembered him.

The description is graphic; the veracity of the incident taken almost for granted coming from a writer of Arundhati Roy's reputation. But, alas, that's where we make the mistake. Fame and honesty are not interlinked as the following paragraph clearly indicates.

Jaffri was killed in the riots but his daughters were neither 'stripped' nor 'burnt alive.' T.A. Jafri, his son, in a front-page interview titled Nobody knew my father's house was the target (Asian Age, May 2, Delhi edition), says, "among my brothers and sisters, I am the only one living in India. And I am the eldest in the family. My sister and brother live in the US. I am 40 years old and I have been born and brought up in Ahmedabad. So if Ehsan Jaffri had only one daughter (singular) who was safe and sound in the US, where did Roy get her facts about not one, but daughters (plural) being stripped and burnt? Was it the fantasy of a writer's mind? Or was it willful deceit aimed at maligning her ideological adversaries?

Arundhati Roy did apologise for her mistake in a letter published in Outlook May 27, 2002. Could this have been a genuine mistake, one is tempted to ask? But when such 'mistakes' occur periodically, the chances of them being accidental appear remote. They appear to be in fact calculated machinations aimed at achieving a specific goal as the following incident further proves. In the same article, Roy claims.

"Last night a friend from Baroda called. Weeping. It took her fifteen minutes to tell me what the matter was. It wasn't very complicated. Only that Sayeeda, a friend of hers, had been caught by a mob. Only that her stomach had been ripped open and stuffed with burning rags. Only that after she died, someone carved 'OM' on her forehead."

Disturbed by the thought of such a ghastly act, Balbir Punj (a BJP MP) had this matter investigated. In Outlook (Jul 08, 2002) he wrote. Shocked by this despicable 'incident,' I got in touch with the Gujarat Government. The police investigations revealed that no such case, involving someone called Sayeeda, had been reported either in urban or rural Baroda. Subsequently, the police sought Roy's help to identify the victim and seek access to witnesses who could lead them to those guilty of this crime. But the police got no cooperation. Instead, Roy, through her lawyer, replied that the police had no power to issue summons. Why is she hedging behind technical excuses? So when asked to prove her allegations, Arundhati Roy developed cold feet; definitely not the attitude of a crusader for truth.

Despite the lies being exposed, Suzy Roy continues to be hosted as a crusader by our media. For such absolutely blatant and deliberate lies no journalist would have survived in any mature and honest media. Such liars can expect to grow in the Indian media. On TV Rajdeep and Barkha continued their blitzkrieg against Modi, while the likes of Vir Sanghvi called him a ‘mass murderer’ in print. I have absolutely no hesitation in saying that the degeneration of TV news owes a great debt to both Barkha Dutt and Rajdeep Sardesai. You could call them the leaders of the moral decay.

Now, after the riots calmed, out of nowhere came up another crusader. Someone called Teesta Setalvad, I had never heard of her before, she arrives on the scene with her NGO called Citizens for Justice and Peace. This NGO was created in April 2002, according to their website, to fight for justice for the riot victims. Hmmm! Suddenly, there was a flurry of affidavits being filed in the courts supported by Teesta’s group, flurry of FIRs being filed, complaints of lack of facilities at refugee camps. All this seemed noble till Teesta started appearing more often on TV channels. By now the newly born NDTV, CNN-IBN were already neck deep in targeting Narendra Modi at every opportunity. The discussions shifted from justice for the victims to singularly implicate Modi and somehow hang him. The Zahira case, the Best Bakery case, shifting of cases outside Gujarat, were all systematic effort at tarnishing Modi’s image and implying there can be no justice in Gujarat. Mind you, not one of these channels or journalists ever talked about justice for those who were burned to death on the Sabarmati Express at Godhra. Never mind!

Modi had then won the elections in December 2002. This was another blow to the media and the Congress. So later, Teesta and her cronies approach the Supreme Court and the SC also sets up an SIT to investigate. This year around 30 people are convicted for the Godhra killing of Hindu Kar sevaks. Contrary to expectations of the media and the Congress the SIT nails the lies of Teesta Setalvad and exposes her fake affidavits. Many witnesses back out from their original affidavit or testimony. In 2007, suddenly, Mrs.Zakia Jafri, widow of Ehsan Jafri finds evidence that some 60 officers of the state, including Narendra Modi, had conspired to engineer the riots and have her husband killed. This had to be the strangest concoction of a theory that came years after the investigation into the riots had started. The Gujarat High Court did not accept her petition finding no merit in it. That is how the Gulbarg case landed in the Supreme Court. Needless to say, her petition was obviously backed by Teesta Setalvad.

Despite the literary classic of ‘Maut ka Saudagar’ used by Sonia Gandhi, BJP wins the election again in 2007. As in the case of Suzy Roy, the media continued to host the tainted Teesta on their shows to support the malicious campaign against Narendra Modi. In the course of time Gujarat started gaining prominence because of development, investments and universal recognition of Narendra Modi’s performance on governance. So what happens? The Congress throws up a new hero, Sanjiv Bhatt, and more affidavits are filed in the SC.

Two of the prominent campaigners against Narendra Modi, Teesta Setalvadand Harsh Mander, go on to to a stage where they get to influence national policies and laws. They become part of a team, the NAC, that would draft the viciousCommunal Violence Bill. Every step of the way these voices, along with nation-dividers like Digvijay Singh were given the biggest space in the media. If anyone remotely appreciated or associated with the work of Narendra Modi they were ripped apart. Ghulam Vastanvi and Amitabh Bachchan were fair targets for the Congress and the media.

The vicious anti-Modi industry is a mixed bag of media crooks, NGOs and politicians. A heady cocktail if you like and the only thing we don’t know about these liars is who funds them and to what extent they were funded. The misdeeds of the ‘cash-for-votes’ scam exposed Rajdeep Sardesai for what he is. But the final evidence of Barkha Dutt and Vir Sanghvi being well entrenched in Congress persuasions was exposed by Radiagate. There was no place left to hide.

What the media did not anticipate in 2002 was another form of media. In 2002 the internet was just about growing in India, mobile phones usage was going up. There was no Facebook, Twitter, Youtube. The law takes time to catch up, but the social media doesn’t. In the absence of social network there was really no challenge to the corrupt media. The Congress was in power and they had a field day. Rajdeep, Barkha, Sagarika, Vir Sangvi, Prannoy Roy had established themselves as the most powerful force after the govt. One should recall a prominent editor once boasting that he “was the second most powerful man in India after the PM”. Naturally, the media believed the case against Narendra Modi was already rested. They had signed, sealed and delivered the judgement. He was guilty, he was a mass murderer and should be put away. The advent of the social network was a challenge the mainstream media did not calculate. Writers, bloggers, websites, tweeters, youtubers all started exposing the lies of the media.

The make-up and mask of Chachi 420 wasn’t meant to last forever. Like bad make-up, the media’s lies came crashing on September 12, 2011. The Supreme Court simply directed Zakia Jaffri to approach the lower court with her petition. Effectively, there was no significant evidence in her petition to pronounce any indictment of Modi or to warrant a probe against him by the SC. The SC also informed that it would not monitor the case further. The media crooks didn’t know which way to look. All the years of carefully crafted hate, lie-mongering had come undone in a single stroke. So, as in the case of many other verdicts, the media now even questions the wisdom of learned judges of the SC.

The media’s campaign against Modi shouldn’t be seen as a stand-alone case. The cottage industry of hatred has coloured every national issue. Be it terrorism, riots, communal harmony, civil rights. In all cases the media has mostly been on the wrong side of justice. Suddenly, new terms were being searched for  “clean-chit”, “relief”, “breather” to describe the SC verdict on Modi. And just as they called the Ayodhya verdict a “panchayat” judgement this time the crooks called the SC verdict overlooking the “moral” aspect of the Modi issue. So when a media campaign fails the legal measure, they invoke the moral measure.

Politicians in India are not reputed to have great moral standards. It’s the media that has become the gutter and the drain. That tainted journalists like Barkha Dutt continue in their jobs is a feature you may not find in the media of any other democracy. The ones who should be accused and found guilty of moral failure and more are Barkha Dutt, Rajdeep Sardesai, Sagarika Ghose, Vir Sanghvi, Suzy Roy and many more. The list is too long. The bigger danger is that there could be darker forces funding and handling a media that never fails to honk its independence. Next time any of these media celebs talk about morals, imagine them naked and see how full of shit they are.

From Kandahar to 26/11, from 1984 to 2002, from Ayodhya to Ahmedabad, I maintain that the current media is the greatest danger to Indian democracy. I don’t think Modi is debating whether it’s a clean chit or not. But the Supreme Court of India has clearly exposed the media’s clean shit.

Padma Shri Awaits Sanjiv Bhatt

Sanjiv Bhatt, the IPS officer who filed an affidavit in the SC against Narendra Modi, is back in the news again. First, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Delhi police is investigating a complaint filed by him. This is what the Indian Expressreported on July 28:

In a complaint filed with the EOW, Bhatt said that his “Gmail account had been hacked into by some agents working on behalf of the administrative machinery of the state government of Gujarat with a view to tamper with certain crucial evidence, which could potentially incriminate certain highly placed persons”.

Bhatt lodged a complaint with the EOW on July 18, stating that he was contacted by a reporter of a leading English daily. He was told that around 300 pages from his e-mail account were delivered at the reporter’s office. The e-mail exchanges pertained to the affidavit filed by a freelance journalist, claiming that Bhatt had attended a meeting called by the Gujarat Chief Minister after the Godhra incident. The complainant said he was contacted on July 13 by the reporter, and the e-mail exchanges were dropped at his office in the latter half of June. Bhatt said the hacking of his e-mail account has to be investigated. Bhatt lodged a complaint four days after an article regarding the hacked e-mail account appeared in the English newspaper.

Hmmm! “email exchanges were dropped at his office”? I really don’t know how to figure that one yet. You might also like to read my previous post on this subject: “What is Sanjiv Bhatt angling for?”.

I didn’t know then but I am sort of able to make more sense of it all now. Here is another news report from JagranPost (Regular reader Poorva has also posted this in the comments section of the previous post I’ve referred.)

In a development that could put IPS officer Sanjeev Bhatt in the docks, the trail of email exchange of the officer, accessed by the Special Investigation Team (SIT), show that the officer has been in touch with the anti-Modi lobby including the Congress, rights activist Teesta Setalvad and others. The contents of the email exchanged even put a question mark on his claims of being at the meeting chaired by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on the night of February 27, 2002…….

According to sources, the content of the emails not only expose Bhatt appealing for help from the anti-Modi camps including politicians and civil society members, it clearly establishes Bhatt as a mere pawn in a bigger game plan. In order to prove his claims against the Chief Minister, Bhatt had asked his IPS friend Rahul Sharma to help in managing evidences to substantiate his claims, but he failed in his endeavour.

In order to prove his claims about the February 27 metting, Bhatt in his affidavit submitted before the Apex Court and in his testimony before the Nanavati Commission has claimed that he met former Gujarat Minister Haren Pandya(who died later) at the meeting held at the Chief Minister’s residence. However, the call records of Haren Pandya on the eventful night contradict Bhatt’s claims. The trail of emails exchanged between Bhatt and Sharma between May 12-22, 2011 show that Bhatt tried his best to manage some evidence to support his claim on Pandya.

Rahul Sharma in his reply to Bhatt on May 22 at 7.42 am stated that Pandya received the last call on his number at 10.52 pm, which clarifies that he was not heading towards Gandhinagar. It’s clear that he was in his constituency Ellis Bridge and there was no chance of the minister being in Gandhinagar on the intervening night between February 27 and 28. The content of the email show Rahul asking Bhatt whether Pandya ever mentioned of being present at the meeting, to which Bhatt replied that he heard that spoke about it with some other people.The entire trail of emails between the two officers shows Bhatt trying to get a hand at some evidence to substantiate his claim on Pandya but he failed.The mails clearly show that after his testimony before the Nanavati Commission he was not only in regular touch with Teesta Setalvad, the rights activist who has filed a case against Modi in post-Godhra riots, but was also getting instructions from the Congress leaders.

Bhatt was in regular touch with Teesta, Congress state president Arjun Modwadhia and Leader of Opposition Shakti Singh Gohil on some pretext or the other in the month of April. Records show that Bhatt procured documents and a Blackberry phone from Gohil…..He wrote to Shabnam Hashmiof NGO ‘Anhad’ and Father Sedrick Prakash of ‘Prashant’…. On 9th May, Bhatt also requested them to run a signature campaign and help him in taking his fight against Modi to logical end.

Sanjiv Bhatt follows the footprints of illustrious people who have a reputation for filing false affidavits to tarnish Narendra Modi. I maintain that the Congress government at the centre is the most corrupt and the most dangerous government India has ever had. The campaign Bhatt desired from some already looks like a “signature” Congress campaign.

NDTV and CNN-IBN who made a huge noise about Sanjiv Bhatt and rang the death knell for Namo’s political future have so far had nothing to say about these fresh news reports. Well, don’t worry you will find them reporting about Sanjiv Bhatt in the very near future. By every indicator available Bhatt has only followed the path chosen by Setalvad and others and should be entitled to the same rewards they received.

He can rest assured in the new year he is sure to receive the Padma Shri. And if he can throw up some more muck, membership in Sonia Gandhi’s NACwouldn’t be an over-reach.