Ego

I logged on to Twitter early ‘yesterday morning in the night’ and found this funny story going around. This was about some Litfest. No no, not some Literature Fest! This is about a Litigation Fest. And it involved someone threatening some people they’d have to face the law for their tweets slandering a senior BJP leader. Well, who could it be but Barkha Dutt; the champion of defamation threats. Some people are smart enough to learn from the mistakes of others. Some people are dumb not to learn even from their own mistakes. What can we do, no? Anyway, let me cut the story short and let you read the whole stuff which is storified here. If you fell off your chair laughing, don’t sue me, I’m not the one who tweeted all that.

Hollywood singer-actor-producer-director star Barbra Streisand has something unique about her. She has not just won an Oscar (for being a ‘Funny Girl’) she has an internet phenomenon named after her. It’s called the ‘Streisand effect’. Briefly: “The Streisand effect is the phenomenon whereby an attempt to hide or remove a piece of information has the unintended consequence of publicizing the information more widely, usually facilitated by the Internet”. When Streisand attempted to suppress pictures of her mansion being put out, her protests brought about even more attention to her bungalow which otherwise would have been ignored. Isn’t BD just like that? When BD tried to suppress and sue Chaitanya Kunte over his blog titled “Shoddy journalism” about her 26/11 reporting she made him and his blog all the more famous. She also earned the contempt of a huge population on the net for trying to suppress Kunte’s free speech. She initially tried the same with Open Magazine when they broke the Radiatapes but didn’t have the stuff to take any legal action.

Vinod Mehta’s Outlook magazine too had published the tapes. Mehta, therefore, appears to have permanently earned the ire of BD. Er… sort of a “Rift” between two staunch Congress supporters.  Not that VM gives a damn. It all started with a tweet, on February 13, from one @AnkushJain100 (who has since deleted his Twitter account). That tweet took the fancy of Lalit Modi, the former IPL guy, who retweeted it. And that was enough to send Barkha into her black cloak and collar and threaten the people involved of being “liable to a libel case” (liable to libel - rhymes well, doesn’t it?).

Hmm! Now, what were these guys talking about? I had no idea at all. There was another retweet from Lalit Modi which linked the problem that started it all. This tweet finally brought me to Vinod Mehta’s memoirs titled “Lucknow Boy”. Although many have said it’s a very sweet book and story about a boy, I had absolutely no plans of reading VM’s book. But trust BD to be stupid enough to force me to read at least one paragraph from that book. That’s the Streisand Effect! And this is the damning paragraph that was at the heart of the problem. This is nothing new and has been on the internet since VM published his book. So what exactly was BD yakking about?

If you read Ankush’s tweet carefully, all he suggests is that Arun Jaitley colluded with Barkha Dutt. It’s a valid allegation, not libel. The self-righteous BD then started chastising Lalit Modi over what she calls “utterly irresponsible and scurrilous attacks on a senior BJP leader”. Haha! Imagine, media celebs often known to make many an irresponsible statement on political leaders, especially of the BJP, are suddenly worried about statements on Arun Jaitley. Ahem! I guess it must be the influence of Valentine season which spreads love and affection all over. I hope Jaitley calls her up and thanks her profusely for rushing to his aid. Anyway, if at all there is really an injured party here it is Arun Jaitley and not BD. 

So why the hell is BD threatening libel cases? And is there really libel or defamation here? Ankush and others were referring to and quoting something VM has written and published. VM is a man with years of experience in the media to know a lot of behind-the-scenes titbits. His book or that paragraph is neither banned nor under any court order. No court has declared it defamatory. There is absolutely nothing wrong in quoting VM. And as long as Jaitley or BD have not denied VM’s story, rejected it or challenged him in a court of law there is no reason to disbelieve what VM has said.

Let’s talk legal. Please do note carefully that VM says BD “pleaded” with Jaitley not to mention the Radia intercepts in his attack on the govt. BD, whose Twitter profile also says “wannabe lawyer”, pleaded with Jaitley. (Oh… some lawyers were also referred to as pleaders, weren’t they?). Why was she pleading with him? Any answers? VM says Jaitley was on the “verge of”. So did Jaitley avoid mentioning the Radia-conversations because of BD’s pleading? If yes, then Jaitley does have a lot to answer for. Consequently, the BJP has a lot to answer for because Jaitley holds a top position in the party and the parliament.

This habit of threatening others, especially those who are helpless, usually comes from arrogant people who do not possess the guts to take on those in power. They suck up to them or fear a backlash and prey on those who cannot hit back or don’t have the time and resources to engage in a legal battle. BD didn’t have the guts to take on those who exposed her in the Radiatapes originally like she first threatened them. She doesn’t have the guts to take on Vinod Mehta. In trouble, she begs and pleads with Arun Jaitley. Why does she get so worked up and riled? It has an explanation in this oldie from Elton John (3.48mins).

There! That’s the reason: Well maybe it was childish, foolish, before-schoolish, immaturish, lose your coolish. Ego!

122 Reasons To Cheer

I had read somewhere that every afternoon about 7 members of the Congress media department meet to discuss the day’s issues and plan a media response. That would normally be a healthy practice in any political party. On February 1 the same group would have had an extended meeting discussing their response to the much-awaited SC verdict on 2G that was slated for February 2. What if P.Chidambaram was indicted? What if an SIT was set up to monitor investigations into the scam? And maybe a few more questions. But not in their worst nightmare would they have expected that the SC would quash the 122 licenses issued by the govt. Now that was something they hadn’t planned for probably. So once the verdict came out at around 10.30am the Congress spinners went into a huddle and not until 3pm did they come out with a response. That’s Okay! It takes time to come out with the worst spin; especially when most of them claimed they hadn’t read the full judgement.

So it was left to Zero specialist Kapil Sibal to break the good news to the media. And true to his established tradition of stupid utterances Sibal stated the SC endorsed the govt policies, blamed the previous NDA govt, led by BJP, for the whole mess. Why? It’s because the UPA followed the same ‘first come, first serve’ (FCFS) policy established by the BJP. So according to Sibal, the indictment of his govt was basically an indictment of the NDA which should apologise to the nation. Oh well! Let’s just say the BJP invented the Hammer and the UPA used that Hammer to commit murder so the BJP is culpable. True, the SC had faulted the FCFS policy but the clever spin by Sibal takes away from the real issue: That the cause for the reported 1.76 lakh crores was because 2001 prices were used for issuing licenses in 2008. The UPA had not just abused the FCFS policy but also used the wrong pricing. But that is all that the faithful poodles in the media needed to brighten their day, a spin from Sibal.

The second aspect of Sibal’s nonsense is that only A. Raja was responsible for the 2G scam and neither the PM nor P.Chidambaram were responsible. Imagine, the sales manager of a company concludes an extra-ordinarily huge transaction and neither the Finance manager nor the MD is aware of such a transaction. Normally, even a Chairman who doesn’t involve himself in day to day operations would know of such a transaction. But to expect our PM, then FM or UPA head Sonia Gandhi to be aware of the 2G skulduggery is supposedly far-fetched.

So, from 3pm onward the MSM on TV, online media and elsewhere kept playing the allegation of Sibal against the NDA and happily buried the issue of the loss of 1.76 lakh crores somewhere in their dustbins. Where the question of responsibility came up, the discussions focused on Raja. And the usual suspects who defend the govt even on the indefensible were on the panels all evening. Here are some interesting observations:

On the question why PM, PC or Sonia (or High Command) were unaware of what Raja was up to Vinod Sharma of Hindustan Times had this to offer (on NDTV): Raja’s High Command is in Chennai and not in Delhi. That’s a reference to DMK bosses and inference is that Raja, as a minister, did not have any accountability to the PM or the Cabinet. That’s how stupid media morons like Vinod Sharma can get.

Okay, the next one is from K.Tulsi, a lawyer with Congress sympathies, who suggested (again on NDTV) the PM and FM cannot be aware of everything. Everything? Haha! This is not some small-change we are talking about, this is a Himalayan transaction. To this nonsense Arun Shourie responded by asking Tulsi if the PM and FM don’t even read newspapers. That’s true, since 2009 the 2G scam has been in the news and some newspapers, particularly The Pioneer, were reporting it and yet PM and FM were unaware? Any idiot who reads newspapers would be aware of something brewing as a scam in the 2G licenses, yet the head of the Indian govt. was ignorant. Brilliant! This, when every man’s wife, children, relatives and dogs and cats knew about the scam.

Now, the best spin and deflection comes from none other than Rajdeep Sardesai, the devil on TV and preacher by night kind of journalist. He cleverly asks a panelist: So the NDA is not to blame and Raja has to be blamed for the whole scam? Journalism? Nope, Latinos might call this 'Whorenalism'! This little question would normally be missed by a viewer but if you read carefully he gives you a choice in deciding who’s guilty, its either NDA or Raja. The Congress, UPA, PM, Chidambaram are all exonerated in one single stroke. This is the same Rajdeep whose channel tried to tar and poke holes in the CAG report and claimed internal squabbles. That the loss in 2G was a mere 2645 Cr. and not the CAG figure of 1.76 lakh Cr. Motivation for the “Whatever it takes” channel!

Alright, notwithstanding all of that there is one important question that nobody is asking. What could be the motive for such a scam? Surely, behind every crime there has to be a motive. If Sibal feels the SC verdict finds fault with the NDA policy why is it that the govt chose to go for an auction of 3G licenses instead of continuing the FCFS route? Obviously, by early 2010 the govt was aware that the FCFS was misused and could have taken remedial action. It did not. Quite simply, the govt, as in many other scams, believed they could get away with it. They did not expect such a severe dressing down from the SC. The words the court used would shame any govt: “Illegal, arbitrary, unconstitutional and capricious”, but not the Congress. Which is why Sibal brazenly accuses NDA and defends PC, PM and by implication Sonia Gandhi too. And the media parrots that line.

Subramanian Swamy who fought the 2G case all along has stated many times over that there were kickbacks to the tune of 60000 crores and some of it has gone to Sonia Gandhi and family and some to DMK. But it is hard to believe that people who already have huge wealth would want to amass such further draconian amounts for personal gains. And there seems to be only one probable answer: Elections! The 2G licenses were given out in early 2008 with the general elections just over a year away. This was also a time when the Congress was in constant conflict with the Communists over the nuclear deal. Hanging on to alliances and allowing crimes to stay in power is not new in India. Elections are an expensive affair. Come general elections in May 2009 and both, the Congress and the DMK, return with a good number of seats. The Congress even manages to score higher than in the previous election. That is amazing considering the elections came in the backdrop of the worst terrorist attack on India in November 2008. Swamy’s allegations about the kickbacks have been around for quite some time yet not one single media outlet has talked about it, much less willing to investigate and report on it. Given the turn of events Swamy naturally commands a higher trust than any media house.

Narendra Modi during his Sadbhavna mission in September 2011 made an important statement: That some political parties come to power and their main agenda is not governance or development but has always been how to win the next election. In the last parliament session Ram Jethmalani quoted the improvised version of “Power corrupts..” as “Power corrupts, but the prospect of losing power corrupts even more”. That should explain the whole 2G scam. While political parties can battle over the value of 1.76 lakh crores of loss there cannot be any doubt that some of that would have been bribes and kickbacks to political outfits from the ruling coalition. Does the media have a stake in it? Maybe not directly but the Radiatapes exposed the media-politician-2G nexus so dirty secrets still abound. Also elections are a big bonanza for the media and consider all the Nehru, Indira, Rajiv, anniversaries and all the ‘Gandhi-Nehru’ schemes that get advertised. No other govt formation would benefit the media in such huge amounts. So why investigate a scam of this proportion and where the kickbacks went and bite the hands that feed them? The media’s sympathies for PM or Chidambaram apart, their motivation for trying to cover up the misdeeds of Congress is not very hard to see.

Any govt that takes a decision leading to the cancellation of 122 licenses by a court in a major policy issue should resign. The Congress and UPA have been brutally exposed over and over again for abuse of power and major scams and yet go around pretending they are fighting corruption. This is also a welcome blow to the corrupt corporate-political nexus which is slowly poisoning the nation. This is not an issue for mindless debates which the media indulges in. This is time for honest journalists to tell the UPA that it’s not about 122 licenses, these are 122 reasons why the UPA must die. For the nation these are 122 reasons to cheer.

NDTV - Malice Is Back

So after lying low for quite a while Alice is back. And I suppose there is no one better who could explain the violence or chaos in our modern times. Well, that’s not me but Barkha Dutt talking. In her latest post in Hindustan Times she gets Alice from wonderland to explain ‘Why this Kolaveri Di’. I would have thought the popular Tanglish song Kolaveri would have explained the slap that Sharad Pawar got from Harvinder Singh. Not enough, maybe! So Kolaveri and Alice collaborate for the first time to explain the growing intolerance in our society. This man who slapped Pawar is the cause of all this pain in her. Of course, Barkha does not find it worth lamenting that a few days ago some politicians violently kicked some men at the Phulpur rally of Rahul Gandhi. That group of politicians also had a man who is the spouse of a co-worker of Barkha at NDTV. I call it all “experience truth, my way”! But let me not make it all about Alice and our intolerance because this one is about malice in a maze of the financial blunderland called NDTV. Barkha usually relies on Alice to explain the toughest of issues so I wonder if Alice will be handy to take NDTV through its latest blunderland. Well, anyone alleging anything against NDTV is nothing but Malice, that distant cousin of Alice.

On November 25 news broke online about an affidavit filed by an IT Commissioner, S.K. Shrivastava,  in the special CBI court of Judge O.P. Saini. This application sought to make him a prosecution witness in the 2G scam trial. Among many other contentions, one that deserves attention is the allegation he makes that NDTV and group companies were involved in laundering over 2000 crores of bribe money from the 2G scam. The application also mentions attempts by then Finance Minister P. Chidambaram to block investigations into the financial dealings of NDTV and group companies. That’s really the long and short of it. Should you wish to go into the entire 32 page affidavit you can find it HERE. It does make sorry reading to say the least.

But the story of NDTV's financial stories started a long time ago. Read the post "NDTV- We the poodles, Crime pays" to refresh an old case from the 1990s. How that case got buried is a mystery of sorts.

Ever since Radiagate broke in November 2010 NDTV has been under a scanner. In an article titled “NDTV juggles funds, shares abroad, avoids tax” (Dec 2010) The Sunday Guardian explains how a number of subsidiaries were set up abroad and used to violate Indian corporate and tax laws. Here’s an excerpt:

“…To trace the financial jugglery involved in the whole process light must be shed on how these companies have been operating. In 2006-07, New Delhi Television Limited set up a legal entity in the Netherlands under the name NDTV BV, which in turn set up the NDTV Network Plc in the UK. The Indian company invested around Rs 57.45 lakh in the shares of NDTV Networks BV, thus making it its 100% subsidiary. NDTV BV, in turn, set up Plc as an indirect subsidiary…..The UK subsidiary also raised $100 million by issuing convertible bonds through private placements. NDTV's annual report of 2007-08, under the category of "contingent liabilities not provided in respect of"…..Mention must also be made of a November 2010 report that says US based Scripps Networks is acquiring 69% stakes in NDTV Lifestyle for $55 million. NDTV Lifestyle is held by NDTV Network Plc, UK. Take another November 2010 report, which says, shares of NDTV shot up by over 7% after the company announced that NDTV Networks Plc, has repurchased the $100 million coupon bonds due 2012….Is wealth being created and retained abroad without any benefit to NDTV shareholders?”

That was after the same Sunday Guardian carried a previous story (Dec 2010): “NDTV-ICICI loan chicanery saved Roys”. “NDTV Limited and associate companies in which Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy have a majority stake have indulged in financial misdemeanours and malpractices in connivance with ICICI Bank, and raised funds by misdeclaration of the value of shares in NDTV. These shares were held by a company called RRPR Holding Private Limited. The deal took place between July and October 2008 during a "buyback" of shares from the stock market announced by NDTV Limited at the price of Rs 439 per share”. A lot more has been written and Sunday Guardian sent NDTV nine questions to respond to. NDTV CEO KVL Narayana Rao responded thus: “Your fax of 3rd December 2010, is riddled with innuendos and false accusations. While we have answered all your questions, we reserve the rights under civil and criminal law both against your publication and against any individuals in your organisation”. He then goes on with further explanation which doesn’t really seem convincing except for inferring malicious accusations. But threat of criminal defamation? Why is it that NDTV is so trigger happy with such threats? And while Barkha Dutt mentions there is a case in the courts I am yet to find any defamation case filed by NDTV against Sunday Guardian anywhere. That story rested there.

How does Alice find her way through such a maze of financial blunderland? One might even wonder what does an ordinary news and entertainment company, like NDTV, from India do with so many companies established abroad. There’s even mention of a subsidiary in Holland that has just a postal address with no office, employees or any operations. Surely, this maze of wonderland must have some purpose. Mystery! Even more intriguing is the fact that since NDTV went public it has consistently been making losses and its share prices have hit new lows frequently. Moneylife, a financial site managed by Sucheta Dalal, has a stinging report on its performance. Here are some excerpts from “Glamour stocks, ugly returns” (August 2011):

“NDTV got listed in 2004 and is trading below its listed price after seven years. It has given a negative return of 19% compounded in the past five years and a total shareholder return (TSR) of negative 66% for the same period…..Its credibility is at a nadir (after the recent phone-tapping controversy) and its finances are in a mess. NDTV has rarely made money from operations. For the past few years, its consolidated operations have been making cash losses and it has been running on money made by selling loss-making subsidiaries to strategic investors. But capitalism is not at work in India. NDTV won’t fade away in a hurry. Indeed, every few months, the financially-beleaguered NDTV manages to get ‘strategic’ investors with deep pockets and top-flight private equity investors to step in and pick up big chunks of its equity at fancy valuations. In the 3rd week of June, DE Shaw, a $20-billion hedge fund which prefers to call itself an ‘investment and technology development company’, picked up a 14.2% stake in NDTV providing an exit to Goldman Sachs, another blue-chip investor that probably exited at a loss. NDTV’s stock was listed at Rs100 in 2004; the stock rose to Rs511 in January 2008 on the promise of a financial performance which has never materialised. It is now at Rs63—down 32% even from the issue price, after seven years of listing—and down a whopping 86% from its peak. Interestingly, despite the DE Shaw acquisition, the stock has barely moved. Maybe, the market doesn’t quite trust this information. That says a lot about not just NDTV but DE Shaw as well. As happens with glamour stocks, DE Shaw could be a front for someone else. Coincidentally, DE Shaw has a tie-up in India with Reliance Industries to sell financial services”.

To on ordinary blogger accusing NDTV of shoddy journalism they issued a legal notice charging him with libel. NDTV threatened those who leaked the Radia tapes with defamatory action. NDTV threatened Sunday Guardian with legal action for defamation and false accusations. In the last two cases we have seen no record of any legal cases being filed by NDTV. To the current petition by S.K. Shrivastava, the IT Commissioner, NDTV has once again alleged malice and defamation. Their CEO Vikram Chandra, has tweeted that NDTV has filed a defamation suit against the man on November 25. A detailed report about such a case was not available anywhere, including their website, at the time of writing. To the Moneylife article one doesn’t know if there was ever a response. Vikram also stated that a previously similar petition of Shrivastava was dismissed with fines. But that was about other IT officers and this one need not meet the same fate. Charges for laundering 2G Scam money are not about some IT officers alone, it involves black money and a national issue.

Bankers and lenders usually have a 1000-day test for a business to break even or even make profits. Normally a business would find it difficult to survive otherwise. NDTV seems to survive regardless of all business failures and financial losses. Does it make sense? And whenever someone questions their financial dealings it’s either false accusations or worse, MALICE! The options are for NDTV to come clean against all the allegations and state their position in a detailed document. The allegations in Shrivastava’s petition are serious enough to send many people to prison. Time will tell! And that may certainly not be a wonderland Alice might want to explore.

Vir Sanghvi - In Defense Of The Corrupt

By Ram Valmiki

It’s very important to know the personal opinions of journalists as that is what influences how they report events or news.  There are many in Indian MSM who are incapable of reporting without their personal biases. Vir Sanghvi is just one of them. It is not a big secret, at least among netizens or as they put it “Internet Hindus” that VS is biased towards Congress and Government. In his recent posts on his blog titled “Don’t blame media, Mr. Kejriwal” and “How the govt lost its way, and its face” he so openly defends the corrupt government and tries to peddle the lie that it’s actually the government that brought out the scams into public. The title chosen for his second post is very misleading.

“I am prepared to agree with Kejriwal when he says that the Shanti Bhushan CD was part of a conspiracy. We know now that the CD was faked and the refusal of the Delhi Police to recognise that it was a cut-and-paste job suggests a certain level of official complicity even if the CD itself was made by non-governmental sources”

Yes Mr VS, it does suggest government conspiracy but how many from your MSM has really taken on government about this issue. The very idea that there exists possibility that a government can conspire against the citizens is disturbing. VS and MSM should have concentrated on this area rather than going behind the Team Anna. Just because CD was made by non-governmental sources does not in any way lessen the sin if those sources were prompted to do so by government?

“ Unless Arvind Kejriwal can somehow convince us that the government hypnotised Kiran Bedi into filing fake reimbursement claims, it is hard to see how this is part of an official conspiracy. The most he can suggest is that official agencies helped in unearthing the evidence. But if this is proof of a government conspiracy then surely he is also a co-conspirator with the government when he makes statements based on reports issued by such government bodies as the CAG. Just because the government digs up accurate information – as the CAG did in the telecom scam – and this information is used by the media and concerned citizens it does not follow that there is any conspiracy”

I could have never imagined an experienced editor and journalist would be able to dole out crap logic ever if I had not come across these posts. It’s really amazing that though “official agencies helped in unearthing the evidence”, what is more surprising is these “official agencies”  one fine day had a dream and then went on to dig stuff of selected people who happen to be criticizing the government.  I am not aware of any complaint against Bedi that led to “official agencies” to investigate and dig up the mess of Bedi. If VS is aware of any such complaint, I would like to know because it’s really frightening to know that “official agencies” can unearth evidences just to please the political masters.  In lay man’s language that would be termed “witch hunting”.

CAG providing his report is NOT similar to “official agencies unearthing evidence” in case of Bedi. It’s the duty of the CAG to audit and provide report of government expenditure. CAG did his routine job and fortunately for India, CAG is a very honest and upright gentleman unlike MMS. Comparing CAG’s job with “official agencies” is totally out of context. As per the law “official agencies” require governmental permission or formal complaint or court order to “unearth evidences”. In Bedi’s case media has not reported any complaint or court order that prompted “unearthing” exercise and hence we have no choice but to believe the government conspired.  CAG does not take orders from executive branch of the government (ministers) where as “official agencies” do.

VS continues his new found CAG argument in his next post as well. We will look into that but before that, let’s just LOL at the statement by him: “On the other hand, you could argue that in the UPA’s second term, the scandals that have emerged have all been uncovered only as a result of the government’s own efforts.” Either VS thinks all his readers have no IQ or VS thinks by vomiting such crap will make him an intellectual journalist.  I mean, how in the holy god of secularism’s name he concludes that a government involved in scandals will uncover its own corruption. On second thoughts, has govt promised him Padma Bhushan next year?

“Let’s take 2G. The scandal only broke as a result of a report by the CAG. You may or may not agree with the CAG’s computation of the loss caused to the exchequer (and it is now clear that even within the CAG’s office, there were disagreements), but you cannot dispute that if there had been no CAG report, there would be no 2G scandal.” This is such a blatant lie that VS is trying to sell here. The scandal was in public even before the CAG report. PILs were filed and Subramanian Swamy moved SC long before the CAG report was tabled. If anything, the CAG report only confirmed the monstrous size of the scandal.  Here is the list of events and timeline as per Wikipedia. Yes Wikipedia is authentic reference, as it constructs the time line based on media reports.

…May 4, 2009: An NGO Telecom Watchdog files complaint to the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) on the illegalities in the spectrum allocation to Loop Telecom.

….May 19, 2009: Another complaint was filed to the CVC by Arun Agarwal, highlighting grant of spectrum to Swan Telecom at throwaway prices.

….May, 2010: NGO Centre for Public Interest litigation moves the Delhi High Court seeking investigation into the scam by SIT or CBI.

….Sept 13, 2010: SC asks government, Raja to reply within 10 days to three petitions filed by CPIL and others alleging there was a Rs 70,000 crore scam in the grant of telecom licences in 2008

….Sept 24, 2010: Swamy moves SC seeking direction to the PM to sanction prosecution of Raja.

The SC has numerous times pulled up CBI for shoddy investigation. If not for active role of SC and petitioners like Swamy, the scandal would have been easily buried by the government. Saying government uncovered the scandals is nothing but a joke. “The current CAG, an honest and upright bureaucrat called Vinod Rai, got the job because the UPA Cabinet chose him. His candidacy was strongly pushed by the former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram who knew Rai from his career in the finance ministry.” Justice Santosh Hegde was appointed by the government headed by Yedurappa. This is similar to Vinod Rai being appointed by the UPA government. Fortunately both of them have done justice to their assigned duties. This in no means absolves the governments of their sins. How would have VS responded if BJP claimed that it was their government that uncovered mining scam? It cannot get funnier than that. “So it is with the arrests. Who would have thought it possible that Spectrum King A. Raja would spend so many months in jail. Who would have imagined that the CBI would have the guts to arrest the daughter of M. Karunanidhi, an important Congress ally at a time when the government depended on the DMK’s support for its survival?”

CBI had no choice after being pulled up by SC. With various petitions that Swamy filed with documents he possessed, CBI had to act. Let us ask counter question. If Swamy did not really have possession of documents he claims he has, is he insane to move SC to seek permission to prosecute Chidambaram and also showing intention of even inducting MMS? “In the end, all of the uncovering of the scandal, all of the investigating and all of the arresting has been done by branches of the government. And yet, nobody believes that this government has any interest in uncovering the truth or in fighting corruption. The credit is given to the courts (who can only act once the CBI brings cases to them), to the media and to the opposition. The government itself gets no credit at all.” I don’t understand why VS is so hell bent on using illogical arguments in proving government is anti-corrupt. Is not this the most corrupt government yet? A government that indulges in corruption can no way uncover its own corruption. VS is either acting innocent or its time he took sanyas. I would prefer second option for him for his own good as well as the country.

 “So here’s what the truth is. No, this is not the most corrupt government is history. It is headed by a decent and honest man. And his government has uncovered most of the corruption cases we read about. But this is a government without a visible leader. The Prime Minister has made the mistake of sitting back and watching while his allies have made money. And now, while he should be associating himself with the clean-up, he cowers silently at Race Course Road.”

Well yeah you are right VS. Seriously, if PM was silent when his allies made money, he is as much responsible. That only means for him more than national interests, saving government was important. It’s not surprising though. We are already aware that to save itself, congress can indulge in horse trading. It is an art it has mastered. Cash for votes scam is another hot topic now.

With the title of his second post he misleads the reader to believe he is criticizing the government whereas all he does is mindlessly defend the government. Then he ends with questioning leadership of the government. It is clear where he is heading with his arguments. With Clown Prince rumoured to be made party president and Diggy already announcing in public that it’s high time sycophants like him are ruled by Clown Prince, it’s an attempt to create grounds for MMS to exit and Clown to claim Gaddi. After all, it’s not surprising if Congress realizes that they may not return to power in 2014 and Clown prince would have to wait god knows how many more years to sit on gaddi.