Shrillery Of The Shill

Skills can be transferred, not talent. A look at some of the film stars who are kids of great actors would be a good indication. In his landmark book “First break all the rules”  Marcus Buckingham (A Gallup researcher) effectively lays down this principle after researching over 80000 managers across the world: “People don’t change, don’t try to put in what is not there. Try to get out what is left inside and that is hard enough”. Some of our TV news channels and journalists do well to use that principle. Among quite a large group Sagarika Ghose stands out as a media celeb who dishes out opinions, debates and articles that are filled with misleading statements that would make any reasonably sensible journalist think ten times before making. On TV she tries to make up with her shrillery her acute poverty of insight. Incidentally, you may not find the word in a regular dictionary but ‘Shrillery’ is a nickname awarded to Hillary Clinton.

Sagarika Ghose does come from a family of media persons but that is where it ends. This is where I emphasise that skills can be transferred but talent cannot. Her latest post, on September 14, on her blog (quite appropriately called Bloody Mary) is called ‘A class apart’. I am simply trying to understand some of the gems from her article. (Quotes in blue)

In the crowds at Ram Lila Maidan, at the height of Anna fever, there was anger against corruption, but there was also anger against the rich. An "elite class" milking the system, sending their children abroad, "looting" benefits was the particular target of rage.Is that really so? If this wasn’t a poorly crafted untruth it would have been laughable. Fact is, there were no slogans against the rich. There were no effigies of Ambanis, Narayanamurthys or any rich people burnt during the agitation. The most horrible slogans were reserved for politicians and, may I add, some media celebs. It is also strange that people who are usually seen as ‘elites’ by the public live in blissful imagination that they are not in that group. Most media celebs are clearly part of that elite group, Sagarika included. If she doesn’t know it, that’s blissful ignorance.

Today `Hindu nationalist rage and massive sangh parivar mobilization is taking place at all levels of society. Large sections of youth are becoming radicalized along right wing religious lines. The only way to win hearts and minds is to urgently start speaking the language of equality, without doublespeak or condescension. This idiotic assertion makes it amply clear that Sagarika perhaps really needs to brush up on terminologies. Hindu nationalist rage and radicalized religious right wing? Fact: It is unfortunately only the right wing in this country that talks about equality for all. The right wing doesn’t recommend covering up sins of political failure by populism or by sops or appeasement. Sagarika cleverly tries to associate the right wing with the Sangh Parivar and Hindus. This is another clever untruth that the media has perpetuated. Many right wingers are neither RSS nor BJP members and they do make up substantial numbers in the media too. And the sly injection of “massive sangh parivar mobilisation” is almost as if this mobilisation is going to hold the nation under siege.

Already, millionaire ministers and babalog MPs appear far removed from daily struggles. Birth-based privilege, so much in evidence in UPA II, is anathema to the millions who have to compete to survive. Really? Does Sagarika ever hold a mirror to herself? The mainstream media is supposed to frequently serve a reminder to these millionaire ministers and baba logs on what they are removed from. Instead, the shills are busy in the deploring the few states and their administrators who are doing well. A journalist who has shown scant respect for even the supreme court cannot be more farther from reality as Sagarika is. After all, she was the one pleading for at least a moral stricture by the lordships on Modi. CNN-IBN, NDTV are both part of the cottage industry that has been a platform for excessive hate-mongering against a politician with no real evidence or logic.That would leave much less time for real journalistic pursuits.

Rahul's wannabe "I have a dream" speech read out unexpectedly in Zero Hour even as the Anna crisis boiled over, showed a lack of understanding of New India. I don’t believe that… hahaha! A lack of understanding of New India? How did Sagarika ever come to that conclusion? I repeat for a thousandth time even though I have probably bored many with this actual statement of Rajdeep Sardesai of CNN-IBN. This is the statement made when CNN-IBN gave out the sham award of ‘Indian of the year’ to Rahul Gandhi: “Rahul Gandhi has been chosen CNN-IBN politician of the year over many of his more experienced colleagues and rivals because no one toured India the way he has in the past 60 months. Nobody has enunciated a vision of new India the way he has and none has understood the immediate need to bridge the city-country divide the way Rahul Gandhi has. His efforts show that hard work pays even in the uncertain world of politics.” Take that Sagarika. That is your channel recognising Rahul’s vision of New India. And now you think that moron is suddenly disconnected? Question your own organisation why they were in such a rush to please and award a politician who was around for just 5 years then. It is these very acts of servantile media that’s reflects the media disconnect with people.

UPAII's loathing of television media is another mark of its elitism. TV may be noisy, in-your-face, but it is now inescapable. The camera never blinks and often is the only recourse to those wanting to make their voices heard. To scorn television media is to scorn the millions who watch it. To refuse to use television for a political outreach is also to fail to recognize how fast the electorate is changing.   Another clever distortion of facts. Far from loathing television the UPA, particularly Congress, and the Left have extra-ordinary access, influence and presence on TV. If Anna’s fast had become similar to that of Irom Sharmila I doubt CNN-IBN would have cared two hoots to cover him. What forced the media to cover the event is the massive public support that his movement received, particularly after his arrest drama. To equate the scorn of the UPA for TV just in the case of this event to scorning the millions who watch it is another lie. A majority of those millions watching TV news neither trust the media nor believe media is unbiased. Doesn’t Sagarika receive enough tweets about it? Doesn’t she respond with anger on many occasions? The typical argument you will get from her is that there is a world outside internet. Well, that is true but much of that world is not watching her or her channel. If that had happened the loathing for her channel will be phenomenal.

Cambridge-educated Nehru spoke to rural crowds about foreign policy and non-alignment. Can we imagine any high grandee of the UPA respecting an audience enough to take them through the nuclear deal clause by clause? Has any UPA minister gone before a public rally in a town and rationally explained their objections to the Jan Lok Pal bill? Can Sagarika give us a quote or reference of what foreign policy or about non-alignment Nehru talked about to rural crowds or when he did that? The NAM was established in 1961, China War happened in 1962 and Nehru was going around talking to rural crowds about foreign policy and NAM? Where did you get that from Sagarika? Nehru was definitely a mass leader but a leader of a budding republic should be measured by his legacy and not merely his speeches. With all due respect to Nehru, both his foreign policy and the NAM  do not reflect a great visionary. Both his foreign policy and NAM are in shambles. After the 1962 war Nehru was quite a broken man before he died in 1964 so when did he go around talking about such stuff with rural crowds? Frankly, some the ‘Cambridge’ educated people in public fields haven’t exactly been great leaders in any domain.

Here’s where I would like to quote Marcus Buckingham again: "What a leader does for followers is..turn anxiety into confidence. They’ve always done that throughout time and in every different society and situation. When leaders lead well, it’s because they’re able to rally people to a better future and make people spirited when they were previously anxious." That is where the leaders in the Congress and UPA have failed miserably. Comparisons to Nehru based on inaccuracies is not the logical answer.

And here’s the final gem:

The entitled sons and daughters of the rich and powerful, whether in politics, film industry or in business have forgotten the essential ingredient that built modern India: treating every Indian as an equal. Domination by star children has robbed Bollywood of its precious common touch. In the media there is danger of a disconnect between readers and the imitative 'Sex and the City' type columns that pour out of glossy outlets. Academics, closeted in their ivory towers, are failing to engage with new realities and generate new ideas.    

Sagarika recognises the domination of ‘star children’ in Bollywood but won’t admit the same may be partly true for the TV news media. Barkha Dutt, Sagarika Ghose are all star children of media personalities. There isn’t a danger of disconnect between readers and viewers with the media – There is already a serious disconnect. Mind you, she says “readers” and not “viewers”. To my best knowledge there is still a great deal of honesty and value in print media and online media. It is channels like CNN-IBN that represent the disconnect with viewers. Talent cannot be transferred as in the case of Bollywood’s star children. But Sagarika can surely take a break and refresh her journalistic skills.

Hillary is fondly nicknamed Shrillery. I have fondly nicknamed Sagarika ‘Cacofonix’. And till the TV news media reforms itself we will continue to be blasted by the shrillery of the shill.

Terror Is Not The Enemy, Wilful Blindness Is

I suppose it will take something really terrible, something even worse than 26/11 to wake up our government. Maybe something as dramatic as 9/11 attack with thousands dying might stand a better chance, although I can’t be so sure anymore. Nothing else can explain the pussyfooting on terrorism by the Congress. Let me first warn you – those who say “don’t politicise terror, terror has no religion, nation must unite, we will not succumb” are the ones most misleading the nation. The worst of these has to be “bombs don’t know who they kill”. These pearls of wisdom have been so drilled into our minds that people in charge and in the media have even stopped asking the right questions. A larger war is being confused for terrorism. A larger master-plan is being cleverly cloaked by frequently invoking Hindu terror by politicians and the media. The term ‘Islamic Jihad’ has even disappeared from the lexicon of the media and government. Instead, the media wilfully sings the same song as the Congress to spread a fear of Saffron terror. Rahul Gandhi even sets the agenda by suggesting Hindu Terror is more dangerous than LeT. His mentor, Digvijay Singh, takes many steps forward by clouding every terror incident by pointing fingers at Hindu terrorists.

War on terror? Even the media keeps harping - War on terror! Hmmm! You cannot win or wage a war if you don’t even know who your enemy is or refuse to acknowledge the reality of the enemy. And that is Jihad.

In response to the 7/9 Delhi blast the PM stated “it’s a cowardly act”! Seriously, it’s not the jihadis who are cowards anymore. The cowards are those who are wilfully blind to Jihad.  The jihadis are willing to die for their cause just as a soldier in uniform is willing to die for the nation. The Jihadis go back and report to their masters another successful battle. What do our ministers report? They send out messages to the people that are becoming increasingly unbearable to tolerate for us as their bosses. The people, unfortunately, have to tolerate both – the jihadis and an incompetent govt. It’s a lose-lose proposition for all citizens.

For the sake of argument let’s assume Hindu terror is a bigger threat as Rahul Gandhi, Digvijay Singh and P. Chidambaram would have the nation believe. What exactly is the objective of Hindu terrorists? Do they want to conquer India? Do they want to over throw a democratically elected government? At worst, these could be revenge-thirsty elements of the Hindu fringe. In contrast the Jihadis have a long term plan. And terrorism is just one part of their entire plan of action. I repeat, terrorism is just one part of their overall plan.

There are pockets in India like Deganga (Bengal) where Hindus and their temples are being repeatedly attacked and they are being forced out of town. There are places like Miraj (Maha) and Adoni (AP) where Ganesh pandals are frequently attacked. There are places like Ahmedabad where Rath Yatras are frequently stoned. Sure, let’s dismiss all this as mere communal incidents. There is a news item today which reports the Muthoot group, a finance company, which has ordered dress codes and banned wearing of ‘bindis’. How do you explain that? There are pockets in Kerala which administer Sharia justice by chopping off arms. In response to the Batla house encounter some years back there were those who smeared brave police officers. One prominent media favourite even went to suggest muslims are like jews under the Nazis. So on hand you have the politician-media nexus which covers up the jihadi truth and then you have pockets where you have creeping sharia. Why? The motivation is vote bank politics.

It is weird and even absolutely idiotic to think that every nook and corner of a vast country like India can be secured by policing and technology. It is impossible. Security at strategic locations is a must but you don’t win wars by defending. You win wars by taking the offensive to the enemy. It’s as simple as that. So who is the enemy? Terror is a strategy, it is not the enemy by itself. Col. Allen West of the US army (now a Congressman) put it brilliantly when he asked – “How intelligent would it be during second world war if we identified Blitzkreig as the enemy”? Blitzkreig was a strategy, the enemy was Hitler’s Nazi. Similarly, terror is a strategy. You cannot wage a silly war on terror, you have to wage it against the enemy. The enemy here is the Jihadi. And this is where the govt is wilfully blind and repeatedly fools the nation.

Strangely the PM again made a silly statement: “Terrorists are using loopholes in our security”. What the hell is that supposed to mean? That one day you will eliminate all loopholes? Is that even possible? And the media can’t stop screaming that every terror attack is a wake up call that we need ‘fool-proof’ security. Is there really anything like fool-proof security? The dunderheads that the media assembles after every terror attack do more damage to the morale of the nation than reassuring it. “The objective of terrorists is to strike fear” says HM P.Chidambaram. And you didn’t get that in over 20 years of terrorism?

The truth of the matter is that the seeds of the Jihad were sown when the 1971 war ended. Bhutto had then declared a 1000-year holy war against India. What you’re seeing now is that war being prosecuted by the Jihadists. Terror is one of their tools. The jihad started 40 years ago. The one person who has correctly identified this enemy in the media is prominent journalist M.J. Akbar. In July 2010 he wrote an article titled “Only 960 years left”. That’s right, of the 1000-year holy Jihad 960 are left to go. That is when terror will end. When the Jihadists might manage to finally overthrow India’s democracy and establish India as an Islamic Republic. The PM did say “it will be a long war”! It is just that he doesn’t know who the war is against. Terror is not the enemy. Jihadists are.

At the foundation of the 1000 year jihad is Pakistan. One of the finer security experts in the media, Maroof Raza, has correctly analysed our dealings with Pakistan as the cause of the mayhem that is continuing and will continue. There cannot be any peace, any aman (As TOI preaches) with a country that is hell bent on destroying India. You have the violent strategy of terror executed by some warriors. The non-violent warriors are executing things like ‘Love-Jihad’ in Kerala. The govt fears revealing or even dealing with the truth due to electoral concerns. So is terrorism going away soon? Forget it. Someday it might be your turn and mine.

It is a strange irony that the first major security response to the Delhi blast has been to enhance the security of P. Chidambaram. The pussyfooting of the govt over issues of security and terror is best brought out by former CBI Director, Joginder Singh. In his article “The silent invasion of India” he states “Illegal immigration from Pakistan and Bangladesh poses a serious threat to our internal security. Thanks to vote-bank politics, our politicians are indifferent.” That illegal population may have many enemies within. The multiple strategy of the Jihadis – terror, demographics, cultural terror, electoral badgering and playing victim. Before you know  it, these illegals may well be regularised by the UID scheme of the govt. Brilliant strategy! Of these, terror gets the most attention because it is violent, causes death and is dramatic for the media. The other not so visible parts of this Jihad is not so visible on your screens all the time. That is a war that is being prosecuted covertly.

The govt appoints NIA and other such outlets which have been used more to spread the canard of saffron terror. We are yet to see at least 3 visible and result-oriented actions by the govt. It can start by conducting a massive combing to flush out illegals, cutting off all dialogue with Pakistan no matter what the compulsion and declaring an official war against the Jihadis. The war against terror is as much bullshit entertainer as your usual saas-bahu soaps on TV. And most of all, Congress should get rid of a monumental nation-divider like Digvijay Singh. It takes patriots to fight wars, not communal nation-dividers like Digvijay.

If all that is not enough you have a bunch of specially appointed interlocutors for Kashmir who want to restore the state to pre-1953 status. Well, that is precisely what the Jihadis want too, don’t they? They want to restore India centuries back to Islamic rule. Many citizens have woken up to this reality. It is our govt and the compliant media that continues to suppress the reality of the war.

The first step to winning a war is identifying the enemy. The govt and the media will repeatedly carry us through the maze of nonsense like more CCTVs, more beat cops, police reforms, technology … all of that can only be of moderate defence. You don’t need “intelligence” anymore to tell you Islamic Jihadists are your enemy. They have been so for over two decades. Going after them is the only answer. Will the govt do so? I doubt, and so many more will die and acts of terrorism will continue.

The Congress and the govt seem to exist not to serve the nation but the care-taking of the dynasty and to concote election-winning populist measures and vote-banks. The secrecy of Sonia Gandhi’s illness, protecting her from any criticism, protecting Rahul Gandhi from every failure. If that is the chosen agenda where will the govt find the time to even start to fight the terrorists. Tavleen Singh writes: “Dynastic democracy has so derailed democratic processes that we have been ruled by an unelected prime minister since 2004. He was appointed by a lady whose own entry into public life was based wholly on marrying into the right dynasty. In recent weeks, it became blindingly clear that what India needed most was a real prime minister…”.

Strategy expert Brahma Chellaney  tweets: "When a nation fails to execute for years a man sentenced to death for attacking its Parliament, it will only make its courts a terror target." Those are targets they managed to hit. Many others may very well be on their table.

Terror is not the enemy. It’s a strategic tactic, the Jihadists are the enemies. Will the govt have the courage to acknowledge that and begin the real war? If they don’t, we will just have to grow up or die! 

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..”

The Official Indecency Act

I would have liked to quote an Indian MP, but I couldn’t find a speech that is close. But here are excerpts from a famous speech to the US Senate in 1950, called the Declaration of Conscience speech (in blue),  by the late American senator Margaret Chase Smith

It is strange that we can verbally attack anyone else without restraint and with full protection and yet we hold ourselves above the same type of criticism here on the Senate Floor.  Surely the United States Senate is big enough to take self-criticism and self-appraisal.  Surely we should be able to take the same kind of character attacks that we “dish out” to outsiders.

I think that it is high time for the United States Senate and its members to do some soul-searching—for us to weigh our consciences….on the manner in which we are using or abusing our individual powers and privileges. I think that it is high time that we remembered that we have sworn to uphold and defend the Constitution.  I think that it is high time that we remembered that the Constitution, as amended, speaks not only of the freedom of speech but also of trial by jury instead of trial by accusation.

Those of us who shout the loudest about Americanism in making character assassinations are all too frequently those who, by our own words and acts, ignore some of the basic principles of Americanism:

            The right to criticize;

            The right to hold unpopular beliefs;

            The right to protest;

            The right of independent thought.

The exercise of these rights should not cost one single American citizen his reputation or his right to a livelihood nor should he be in danger of losing his reputation or livelihood… The American people are sick and tired of being afraid to speak their minds lest they be politically smeared as “Communists” or “Fascists” by their opponents.  Freedom of speech is not what it used to be in America.  It has been so abused by some that it is not exercised by others. The American people are sick and tired of seeing innocent people smeared and guilty people whitewashed.

There are those in our government and our media who follow an unwritten law. The Official Indecency Act. Chief among its practitioners are Congress spokesmen Manish Tiwari and Digvijay Singh. In the media you have the likes of Nandita Rao (CNN-IBN panelist) and again another Congressman V. Narayanaswamy. It does not take great intelligence to recognise these personalities as some of the most foul-mouthed people in the public domain. Yet the media delights again and again in putting them on your screens and in your drawing rooms. The filth that follows is unbelievable. The worst is character assassination, smearing and tarnishing of reputations and of course frequently calling others RSS agents and fascists, anarchists and Maoists.

Media doesn’t get to choose the spokespersons of the political parties. Yet they can choose who they invite on their panels. A Manish Tiwari maybe the Congress party’s choice. There is no need for the media to choose him on panels unless they deliberately enjoy the theatre of the foul-mouth. Same goes for those who invite the likes of Nandita Rao or Narayanaswamy.

In the current Anna Hazare stalemate, when asked if this was like the Emergency of 1975, Ram Jethmalani replied on CNN-IBN, that it is even worse. He explained that a court order had dethroned Indira Gandhi, there was a threat of her losing power, her government falling and therefore declared Emergency. But the current UPA is facing no such threat of any kind and yet chose to act in the most indecent and arrogant manner that any government in a democracy could. At the top of the pile is a Prime Minister who is simply lost and has proved to be the worst measure of lack of leadership.

So we had three stooges, P. Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal and Ambika Sonieloquently explaining how the government was not involved in the Delhi police decision to impose sec.144 and bar Anna Hazare from holding his hunger-strike and then making a preventive arrest. The arrogance and audacity with which they mislead the nation and attempt to whitewash their wrongs had to be seen to be believed. And then you previously had those that called Hazare an anarchist, a fascist and much earlier Ramdev was called a ‘thug’. What have these crooks taken the people for?

This was backed up by foul-mouthed media experts like Nandita Rao who has problems with Anna Hazare dictating terms on the Lokpal bill. There are also others like Tavleen Singh and some more. Now the issue at hand is first not the Lokpal bill itself. The issue has now turned into deliberately and illegally arresting individuals and denying them their right to protest. And the piety with which the three stooges defended the 22 obscene conditions imposed on Anna Hazare for the protest can only be described as a mockery of our constitution and mockery of our democracy. These people who cite our constitution, law and order are usually the ones who frequently abuse it. Many should remember that Ambika Soni herself has the Emergency to credit for her rise to prominence.

The Digvijays and Tiwaris have really gone a step too far in calling the agitators fascists and communal and being funded by invisible right-wingers. Fingers were pointed at pictures of Bharat mata or chants of Vande Mataram as proof of anti-nationals and right-wingers being involved in the protests earlier. Seriously, pictures of Bharat mata or chanting Vande Mataram are symbols of anti-national right-wingers and fascists? This time the scandalous crime that the Congress has tried to perpetrate has failed. Their propaganda stooges in the media have failed. No matter how much spin they tried, the NDTVs and CNN-IBNs failed.

The concept that parliament is the supreme law making body is certainly not misplaced. But the law makers need to be guided by ordinary people and not vested interests. The rulers in a democracy cannot rule without the consent of those being ruled. The one vote every five years is not a blanket sanction to pass any and all laws. It is particularly NOT a sanction to indulge in corruption and loot the nation. When that happens, parliament surrenders its supremacy and ordinary people must intervene. When that happens people power will definitely prevail over parliamentary authority. People power will definitely prevail when governments do what they have not been authorised to do by an electoral mandate. Corruption is one of those. What vote or what constitution has authorised our government and our MPs to indulge in such unprecedented corruption?

Those who call Anna Hazare’s demands for the Janlokpal as street laws are simply foolish. In a democracy every individual or group has the right to demand a law or demand the removal of a law. It is for the government of the day to discuss, negotiate and arrive at sensible solutions. The behaviour of the current PM is all the more reason why he should be under the Lokpal, but that is an altogether different issue. He should have stepped up and said “I am the Boss, and I will talk to you”. He did not. The people will then need to show the government who the boss is. Why only PM, I want even the media brought under Lokpal. One can prove any day that our media is not only corrupt that it is also a frequent law-breaker. Anna Hazare and company have not held railways, roads, buses and airlines to ransom or held up normal life to ransom unlike many other agitations have. To deny them the right to protest with absurd conditions and then arresting them is the last resort of a frightened, fascist government. And the government must and always should fear the people and not the other way around.

To back up their indecent and foul-mouthed statements, the Congress has now backed it up with indecent and unconstitutional action. If peaceful protests are drowned then violent ones are likely to follow. This UPA is quite clearly the most corrupt and dangerous government this nation has ever had. The media should also learn a lesson now that all their propaganda will not help when people power takes over. They need to really play the role of the watch dog. Foul mouthed politicians and activists should not be allowed an excessive platform in the media. The official indecency Act must die.

CNN-IBN: Divide The Nation Polls - Terrorism

CNN-IBN carried another instalment of its series of opinion polls on August 11. This one was on terrorism. In the first two instalments IBN’s partner in this hobby, The Hindu, put out the complete data through PDF files on their site. However, in the last two polls (Economy and Terrorism) I have not been able to download the data files. Try downloading the data files at The Hindu’s site here and here. I guess CNN-IBN and The Hindu expected people to be awed and go gaga over these polls instead of being analysed in-depth. So now, you only have clips from their TV show to go by which are scanty in details on the questions, the respondents and so on. One word for their tomfoolery – BUSTED!

Anyway, before I get to this latest instalment on Terror one has to understand the minds that work behind such surveys and polls. Much of it looks like a political position already taken by  the heads of the organisations involved. Now read Rajdeep Sardesai’s anguished tweet over the right wing. I don’t know if I qualify as right-wing yet but here’s what Rajdeep tweeted:

“afzal on death row for 5 years, kasab for 3, but rajiv assassins on death row for 20 years. why no right wing anger? Gnight”

August 11, around 11.30 PM

That is probably one of the most boorish tweets to have come from Rajdeep. I also think Rajdeep was completely unaware how stupid his tweet and his thoughts are. Now, here is a media dealer who keeps shouting hoarse about a lot of things on his channel and yet it didn’t occur to him that he should be the one asking the Nalini question to the UPA. Having failed in that job miserably he thinks the right wing should be making those noises. So tell us Rajdeep have you, as a media dealer, ever asked that question to MMS, PC or Sonia Gandhi? Or have you asked that question on your channel? If not, make it a point immediately that your channel would want the same fate for Nalini as Guru. Having abrogated your responsibility don’t point fingers at some vague right-wing. You should be ashamed that you didn’t actively seek justice for both Nalini and Afzal Guru and then lament that people don’t care about others on the death row. Do you care?

In case Rajdeep forgot,  it was Rajiv’s own family member, Priyanka Gandhi, who met Nalini to seek solace. In case Rajdeep forgot, the Indian right-wing didn't coin the term 'Global Jihad'. Rajdeep has found a place in many of my posts but I thought it would be a good point to remind him of what I think of Nalini. And here are excerpts from some of those posts:

The Scum Of All Spheres

What if Pakistan did hand over the remaining 49 wanted persons from that list of 50? What exactly would our government do? Afzal Guru and Nalini (Rajiv Gandhi’s assassin) are still comfortably lodged in jails.

‘Terror’s Creed..’: MorePoppycock From Rajdeep Sardesai

Killers of Rajiv Gandhi are still in jail. Ajmal Kasab continues to dance around Indian courts every week. Now that, I suppose, is resolve for you……..It is the serious ineptness of the UPA in allowing killers like Afzal Guru or the killers of Rajiv Gandhi to defy justice that spurs anger among citizens

Islamic Terror, Government &The Indian Media

So let’s understand what the 3 stooges have said. The first stooge, PM talks about resolve. Resolve is usually shown by messages or by action. There is neither any message nor any action. Afzal Guru still continues to live in some jail. Killers of Rajiv Gandhi are still in jail.

There, Rajdeep, patriotic Indians are not biased like our media to distinguish justice for terrorists. In fact, the killing of our Prime Minister is as much a war against us as the attack on our parliament. And it is polls like the ones CNN-IBN is doing that attempts to divide the nation with dubious leading questions.

That bit done, let’s get back to CNN-IBN’s dubious surveys. Behind all the silly percentages, not backed by raw data, the only conclusion that Yogendra Yadav came to was “People say terror not linked to religion”.  Frankly, that is a line any lame duck politician will give you free of charge. Why spend all the money on surveys unless it’s free funds? And really, one had to go and ask BJP and Congress workers about their perceptions on terror? That’s really cool. CNN-IBN gets guys from BJP and Congress almost every day on their show. Where’s the need for this exercise?

Historically, terrorism was born out of religion and intolerance. Now, if all the wise men and women at CNN-IBN, CSDS and The Hindu are those who have supposedly read history then they live in denial. Not so long ago there was terrorism by IRA and PIRA in Northern Ireland/UK. The objectives were political but the motive was religion. Surveys that don’t even ponder the political motives of terrorism are usually conducted by ‘useful idiots’. Islam is not just a religion but also a political doctrine. The conquest of territories, conversions, belief in supremacy over other religions are all part of the political and religious agenda. The only religious group to have any influence in the UN is the ‘Organisation of Islamic Countries’ (OIC) who collectively attempt to pass international laws on blasphemy and such religious beliefs. That our media consciously spreads untruths is now out in the open. Don’t claim it to be ‘journalism’ anymore when the only motive is money, money and more money. The best part is getting people like A. Owaisi of MIM to debate terrorism. How clever is that? Groups that are violent against writers like Taslima Nasreen. And terror has no religion?

Rajdeep’s anger at the right-wing is understandable. I think he finds them too intelligent and far too capable of expressing themselves truthfully against CNN-IBN and their close relatives at NDTV, HT and so on. His deputy editor is credited with coining the term ‘Internet Hindus’. Far from seeing it as an affront the right-wingers wear that tag proudly. Not something she would have anticipated. The politicians’ constant endeavour is to divide the nation in every possible way. They wouldn’t have succeeded but for the help of media crooks.

At the very best Yogendra Yadav’s article “People say terror has no religion” might win an essay contest in some primary school or maybe the UN. But if truth were the measure, it fails miserably. These are media-lessons on how to divide the nation.

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.