The Devil In Disguise

Old principle at Tennis events: The ball-boys are most efficient when they aren’t seen at all.

Try explaining this as best as you can: “Where competition is possible govt must privatise, where only monopoly is possible we should avoid privatisation”. That’s a loose translation of what Arvind Kejriwal said in his speech in Hindi to CII on February 17, 2014. That statement went over the heads of the educated audience at CII. It also went over the heads of media morons. Rajdeep Sardesai quoted this statement with a clip on his show on the same night and asked his panellists to comment on it. None bothered to examine the stupidity of this statement. Seriously, is there any business or industry that can be inherently “monopolistic” by nature? Monopoly is imposed by the govt or illegitimate practices of a business house or a group. It speaks poorly of the business community at CII that they need a special event and a speech to discover any economic vision of AK. Blunt fact is he doesn’t have any. Let’s sample some mundane crap from AK in his speech:

"We are not against capitalism; we're against crony capitalism... It's a wrong perception that AAP is against business. Of course we need businesses," Mr Kejriwal attempted to explain what his political vision, popularly called "Aapnomics" is, and why corporate India should not be running scared of his party despite several decisions that his government took in its 49 days in power in Delhi… During his brief term as Chief Minister, Mr Kejriwal increased subsidies for power and water. His cabinet overturned the previous government's decision on FDI in retail... "The government has no business to be in business, it should be left with the private players. License and inspector raj has to end... A small section of industrialists who are not industrialists but are looting the country" he said.

NDTV grandly says AK’s “political vision” is popularly called “Aapnomics”. Really? First of all, nobody is commonly using a term like Aapnomics (except probably Barkha Dutt and her seven white dwarfs at NDTV). And why is a “political vision” associated with some term that should represent economics? Govt shouldn’t be in business? That sort of mundane statement uttered by many a politician is AK’s new economic vision for India? This is how not just AK but the media also fools people. It doesn’t matter that AK doesn’t know economics from an Eskimo Igloo but our media charlatans will tell you that they saw vision in his speech. At the end of it Adi Godrej is reported to have said “"It is very important that we fight corruption, reduce corruption. But it is also very important that we have a good economic policy that creates development and jobs in the country. And I think the Aam Aadmi Party should improve their views in that direction".

But Godrej is stating an optimistic view. It should now be evident to any observer that AK and AAP are neither interested in politics nor in eliminating corruption. The whole drama is scripted to perfection, including AK’s resignation on February 14. His street dharna as a CM is clearly the most disgusting conduct by a man in power. His desire for instant justice, with cronies like Somnath Bharti, doesn’t reflect any great belief in democracy or processes. In short, other than being a Congress puppet to garner votes to keep the BJP out there is nothing in his armoury that can be seen as vision. Add to all this his frequent U-turns and lies and you have a motley crew of people who just want power to satisfy their lust and nothing more. Remember, the CPM has rarely had any allegation of corruption against it; maybe even none. Yet, the CPM has not only committed political murders but also destroyed Bengal where economy is concerned. Fighting and reducing corruption can only be one part of an agenda. It can never be the only plank.

I have earlier compared Sonia Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal to Eva Peron of Argentina. That woman (and her husband who was president) screwed the good economy of Argentina with their freebies and doles. That country degenerated into a dictatorship and economic ruin. AK is nothing but Sonia Gandhi in pants and shirt. Sonia just maintains some decorum in public. He should have been on her NAC (probably wanted too as well). Someone has drawn another parallel between AK and the late Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez. The similarities are indeed striking. Let’s patiently watch Deepak Singh’s (@Smarket) analysis in his video (14.37 mins):

Commies are historically known to prey on the poor and their poverty. For the poor the illusions the Commies create is a straw to clutch on. They get fooled over and over again out of sheer lack of opportunities. We have seen the total failure of CPM in Bengal and we have seen the lies, deception, U-turns and murder of political opponents world over by Commies. We have seen that from AK and AAP too except the mass murder part. But our media would have you believe that AK is on TV again because he is “available” and answers questions as Rajdeep and Barkha foolishly believe and would have you believe:

It doesn’t occur to these two Congress propagandists that AK is available because he doesn’t want to work. He has never had any interest in sincere work throughout his career. Most other CMs are busy with serious work and cannot afford to be on stupid TV channels all the time. Worse, AK even found time in his short stint as CM to do a "loving-it" interview with Barkha at the Delhi Litterfest on February 9. For a new CM that’s the priority stupid media people applaud. As for Rajdeep, his lipstick for himself and AK never runs out of stock. Here’s what a Google search shows; it’s quite fascinating:

It’s almost like Rajdeep is running a permanent beauty salon for AK with a “before and after” show. There was one before becoming CM, one after he became CM with Malala scarf and all. Then again the “first” after resigning without the Malala look but with a better-managed haircut and appearance. Looks like Rajdeep has been like a “waiter” who has been waiting on AK for everything he does “first”. And RS explains his stupidity (as does Barkha) that it’s because AK “answers questions”. You know, birdfeed questions where AK gets to call everyone corrupt except himself and his gang. Hugo Chavez once called George Bush a “devil” in his UN speech. AK is not very far off in the language he uses for all his opponents. Here’s a summary of Chavez’s speech in 2006:

 

"Those who want to go directly to hell can follow capitalism... and those of us who want to build heaven here on earth will follow socialism… The Devil is right at home. The Devil, the Devil himself, is right in the house. And the Devil came here yesterday. Yesterday the Devil came here. Right here. And it smells of sulphur still today. Yesterday, ladies and gentlemen, from this rostrum, the president of the United States, the gentleman to whom I refer as the Devil, came here, talking as if he owned the world. Truly. As the owner of the world."

Well, ladies and gentlemen, I don’t know about people but Hugo Chavez did meet his maker in March this year; at a relatively young age of 58 (or maybe went to hell as he predicted some would do). I mentioned “Sponsored Revolutions” in an earlier post. There isn’t doubt anywhere that AK’s so-called revolution is sponsored by both external and internal forces. The Congress cronies in the media like it because they want AAP to win as many seats as possible in the LS since all those eggs would invariably end up in the Congress Omelette. Nothing in his 49-day stint as CM has shown AK has any political decorum or vision or any idea of economics. Cheap populism and street level “goonda” behaviour is what we have seen.  

And what questions did AK answer? Actually none! He just used the platform to make claims about how his govt had done more work in 4 days than any other since Independence. By what real measure? Any question on such a dubious claim? None! He also grandly claimed corruption in Delhi had come down in his 49 days as CM. This spurious claim also went unchallenged. Rajdeep is probably another gullible AAPSucker who buys this nonsense. Seems, the claim was also made by Shazia Ilmi quoting Transparency International reports. The other member of the Unholy Trinity Hindustan Times grandly published Shazia’s nonsense too without any verification. Turns out Transparency International issued a denial of any such report and AAP had to apologise for their lies. This is the interview of opportunity that both Rajdeep and Barkha peddle as “available”.

The ball-boys at a tennis match are trained and gifted. They run around with speed, collect and transfer balls with methodical grace. Often you don’t even notice them. That is when they are supposed to be most efficient; when they aren’t seen at all. Govts are meant to be like that: work and operate so efficiently that they aren’t seen at all. The only signs of govt that people should usually see are the traffic cops or the regular police on the beat. But propagandists Rajdeep and Barkha would have you believe that “netas” should be on TV as often as they can. There has to be someone to put lipstick on I guess.

I have written before that in his entire career so far AK has left everything unfinished. He takes up one task or campaign and moves on to another like people move on from on one song to the next popular one. “I doubt AK ever wanted to be a CM. He probably wanted to create a revolution and be a high authority like a Lokpal or a CJI (He can’t be CJI though) or the CIC by which he could dispense instant justice, haul anyone before his court and sentence anyone without proper hearing. He wants to play Dirty Harry. The Congress calculations forced him to settle for something less like a CM position. He has used people as “tools” in his public life but for once he has become a tool himself for the Congress. I’m sure his mirror will tell him that. He could have been an honourable public figure doing great service. He chose the evil path and evil always gets defeated in the end”.

Chavez called everyone he hated the “devil”. AK does the same; everyone but him is corrupt. In reality, a closer look at his silly actions and claims only tells us he’s a proxy for some external and internal political forces. People like Rajdeep and Barkha are used to be being propagandists for the devil and the corrupt; that is one measure of why the devil appears on their channel so often. It is just that they believe others can’t see the devil in disguise too and are as blind as they are. 

Democracy & The Fake Aam Aadmis

England is often called the “mother of democracy”. Our former rulers don’t have a Constitution. Till about 2009 they didn’t even have a Supreme Court. They have managed a democracy pretty well without a Constitution. We borrowed their parliamentary system, retained some laws from Jurassic park and we borrowed the concept of Constitution from others. The ones who scream most about democracy in India are usually the ones who hate it the most.

RahulG quotes the Constitution as if his party actually believes in it. This is the party that “appointed” and unelected loser as the PM. And then he claims those who are anti-democratic are against Congress. The undisputed truth is Congress neither believes in democracy for itself nor for you. Their only Constitution is “Gandhis”; Chinese Gandhis if you like. This hypocritical approach to democracy also goes for all Commies who would like to overthrow the state and have a single-party rule like the Chinese. This is what the Maoists, Congress, Commies and the Johny-come-lately, AAP, would like to have. On January 23 on HeadlinesToday Yogendra Yadav, the umbilical cord between Congress and AAP, once again reiterated his “Idea of India”. This being “democracy, inclusiveness and diversity”. Yadav is the classic Commie liar who will use deception to further his ends. Which part of the nonsensical dharna by him and the AAP thugs constitutes democracy by elected members of a house? That brings us to the question: Are these people really Aam Aadmis at all? Do they even understand democracy or how it works? Take a look at this motley crew of AAP members and their supporters:

Was Dhirubhai Ambani an Aam Aadmi? When he was a gas-station attendant he could be called one but once he built his business and became one of the richest men in the country he ceased to remain an Aam Aadmi. The same is true for all the people you see in the pic above. Some are politicians, some are political-brokers. Most of them also have a shared resume of suspicious foreign funding whose interests aren’t exactly transparent. Kumar Vishwas claims he worked his way up in life earning Rs.100 for some shows. His climb is admirable but now that he stays in a 7-room bungalow, does he still qualify to be called Aam Aadmi? Absolutely not! Same is true for Arvind Kejriwal, Ashutosh, Yadav and the rest. The possible exception could have been Binayak Sen but he’s actually “special” because he’s a convicted criminal. The lies of Ashutosh claiming to be a journalist already stand exposed. There’s another guy called Punya Prasoon Bajpai who claims to be a journalist but was caught sleeping with AAP. I guess it’s not hard to identify the other closet AAP members who still pretend to be journalists.

The deception of AK is evident by his tweet to Bajpai. He claimed Bajpai was batting for BJP while in truth the guy was sleeping with AAP and AK probably knew it. This same AK claimed Congress had spent 1400 crores on the media to damn them when almost the entire media was batting for AAP in the hope that they can deliver a final “Blow to Modi”. All the crooks haven’t managed it so far so they will have to try some new tricks. Latest allegations are that AAP offered money to write positive posts about them to a Pune writer. What comes through clearly is that both AK and AAP are a big front for the Congress and their deceptions have been cleverly peddled by the CNN-IBN group, Aaj Tak, Headlines Today, TOI group and quite a few other media dealers. On January 23 (on his election tracker show) a panellist, Manini Chatterjee, stated this bluntly to Rajdeep Sardesai. It is important to ask, therefore, if these guys are really Aam Aadmis.

For a start, how many Aam Aadmis would have done what AK did for 2 days at the Rail Bhawan and gotten away with it? Any other man or group would have been quickly arrested, lathi-charged and dumped into some open-air stock yard. That the police and the Centre watched quietly is only because AK, Somnath, Yadav and their gang is NOT “Aam Aadmi” anymore. “Sponsored revolutions’ invariably go wrong. I have no doubts the so-called AK and AAP “revolution” is sponsored by forces that want to destabilise India, create anarchy and keep a certain party away from power. Only a thorough ignoramus will fail to see through this. Over 40 years ago, John Lennon, out of experience, warned us of these FAKE revolutions with bad tactics and bad intentions. It may be of some solace that he wrote “Revolution” in the hills of Rishikesh in 1968. This video should tell you all about it (3.20 mins):

Claims of representing the Aam Aadmi when these Commies and Maoist-sympathisers are actually fooling them now stand exposed. Each person in the Commie gallery that appears earlier in this post has nothing in common with any Aam Aadmi. The great Commie ambition is to overthrow democracy and establish a system where their members alone will dispense instant justice on the streets or wherever they are. Ask CPM, they know all about it. They want to make laws that will suit themselves and not democracy. I have long maintained that our MSM itself is infested with Commies and anti-nationals of all kinds. They find it easy to fool people because people have been fooled for ages by the Congress+Commie combine. Let me quote again “People don’t drink the sand because it quenches their thirst, they drink the sand because they can’t tell the difference”. It is this helplessness coupled with ignorance that is the prey for anarchists of the AAP variety.

The kind of threats that AK made during his stupid dharna can only come from an anti-national. He threatened to fill Rajpath with supporters to disrupt the R-Day parade. He asked the police to shed their uniforms and join the protest. That is the equivalent of provoking a revolt and he grandly claimed “I am an anarchist”. Ask yourself an honest question. Would any Aam Aadmi get away with what AK did? Would he or any of his goons get away with what they did if they didn’t have the title of “minister” and “MLA” after their names? Any real Aam Aadmi doing what these thugs did would immediately be arrested. The horrible fact is that AK, Yadav and his gang neither respect democracy nor understand it. Democracy was deliberately meant to be slow and not instant. Dictators can be swift and take instant decisions. During wars an army general or a leader is better as a dictator than a democratic leader. Take Cincinnatus or even Winston Churchill, when the battle was over Cincinnatus went back to his farm and Churchill was voted out. Look at some of the other foul-mouthed utterances of these so-called Aam Aadmis once they got into power:

I have little doubt that this AAP gang is nothing but foot-soldiers for the Congress which is well-aware of its possible death in the general elections. The history of Commie Congress and their other Commie friends is one of destroying democratic processes; not nurturing them.

So for RahulG or Yogendra Yadav to claim they believe in any form of democracy is the biggest farce being peddled in this country. Their friendship is inevitable as RahulG expressed his admiration for them and has poll-campaign friendly meets with them. None of their actions have proven their claims. The same AK who called MPs “murderers and rapists” now protects a thug as Law Minister. Somnath Bharti has been indicted for tampering with evidence and also has FIRs for his illegal behaviour with the Africans. What exactly is different between a Khap Panchayat and the AAP Panchayat? AK and AAP continue to defend this Bharti despite undeniable evidence of wrong-doings. They want instant laws, instant doles, and instant street justice. Democracy doesn’t work that way. Sometime back the US had a shutdown over debts and their Congress and Senate were at loggerheads. A brilliant article explains why this conflict is the best part of democracy and that democracy wasn’t meant to be as “efficient” as people imagine it should be. It was deliberately meant to be a bit slow but considerate. Let’s read a bit of this:

The founders did not want an efficient government. They feared tyranny and created a regime that made governance difficult. Power was diffused among local, state and federal governments, each with their own rights and privileges. Even the legislative branch was divided into two houses. It was a government created to do little, and what little it could do was meant to be done slowly. The founders' fear was simple: Humans are by nature self-serving and prone to corruption. Thus the first purpose of the regime was to pit those who wished to govern against one other in order to thwart their designs. Except for times of emergency or of overwhelming consensus, the founders liked what we today call gridlock.

At the same time, the founders believed in government. The U.S. Constitution is a framework for inefficiency, but its preamble denotes an extraordinary agenda: unity, justice, domestic tranquility, defense, general welfare and liberty. So while they feared government, they saw government as a means to staggeringly ambitious ends -- even if those ends were never fully defined.

… The founders needed to bridge the gaps between the need to govern, the fear of tyranny and the uncertainty of the future. Their solution was not in law but in personal virtue… Their Senate was both a Roman name and venue for the Roman vision of the statesman, particularly Cincinnatus, who left his farm to serve (not rule) and then returned to it when his service was over… They also wanted virtuous rulers… It is the virtue that most reasonable men would see as praiseworthy: courage, prudence, kindness to the weak, honoring friendship, resolution with enemies. These were not virtues that were greatly respected by intellectuals, since they knew that life was more complicated than this. But the founders knew that the virtues of common sense ought not be analyzed until they lose their vigor and die. They did not want philosopher-kings; they wanted citizens of simple, clear virtues, who served reluctantly and left gladly, pursued their passions but were blocked by the system from imposing their idiosyncratic vision, pursued the ends of the preamble, and were contained in their occasional bitterness by the checks and balances that would frustrate the personal and ideological ambitions of others”.

People like Arvind Kejriwal and his gang (as also the Congress party and the Commies) do not like these checks and balances. Their bitterness spills on to the streets. They will do anything and everything to have their way even if it means disrupting your lives and destabilising our democracy. It’s another R-Day celebration and a celebration of our Constitution. However weak in some areas our Constitution maybe, we do not want fake Aam Aadmis pretending to be revolutionaries. At the very first opportunity, after being elected, they abused their positions and the Constitution. The only place for elected representatives to seek change is through the Assembly or Parliament. Even before AK and AAP have started doing any good they have already started destroying some of the best things about India. These guys neither understand democracy nor do they respect it. More importantly, these fake Aam Aadmis neither understand governance nor have the skills to deliver. 

PS: Please vote on India's worst journalists poll (Right margin of this page).

 

Sponsored Fear

By now there is hardly any politician or editor who has not written or spoken about FDI in retail. There is nothing much anyone can really add and I am no economics expert and don’t have a stand on it. I simply believe that retail FDI is neither good nor bad and will not make a significant difference. But it sure might help the real estate business which is in the doldrums for a while. “In my local market, shopkeepers say that even the smallest shops are worth a crore” So writes economist Swaminathan Aiyar in TOI. He must be kidding or out of touch with reality. If you go to a kirana store in the suburbs of Mumbai any shopkeeper will tell you that the ‘tile’ on which you’re standing is worth a crore. So Aiyar calls it a battle between the ‘Aam bania’ and the ‘Aam Aadmi’.

Aiyar adds: “Dominated by banias, small shopkeepers are notorious for cheating customers through adulteration and fiddled weighing scales. They are also notorious for evading sales tax and income tax. That's why the bania is widely despised (although it is wrong to tarnish all with the same brush)”. Really? If this man is an economist then I count myself as a rocket scientist. The biggest crimes against state and aam aadmi haven’t exactly come from small traders but from the biggest corporations. The biggest frauds haven’t come from banias and corner-shops and I need not go into a list of such looters. To the credit of the wiseguys in the Congress they have managed to make almost everyone get into the debate of FDI. Let’s take an example – the one of Big Bazaar (BB). Any supplier dealing with BB would tell you that they have to accept an extraordinary terms of credit, sometimes even up to six months and still remain unpaid. And when BB does badly the first ones to disappear are the poor check-out clerks and bagging attendants. So much for the huge employment that large retailers will generate. Another one, Subhiksha, after grand pronouncements quickly disappeared. These debates in the media were not all spontaneous. Some of them appear to be ‘sponsored’ (as they usually are), especially on TV channels.

When faced with a bad season in parliament on 2G scam, inflation, black money, terrorism, Lokpal bill, it was important for the ruling Congress to come up with bold action. So just around the third day of the winter session of parliament they drop the FDI bomb. This was neither an economic event nor a political event. It’s called “Wag the dog” and a media event. The law of distraction by phenomenon. It’s a strategy by which the public can be distracted, for a good length of time, from important issues, by one which occupies more news time. This strategy works usually when you suddenly have a war which puts everything on the backburner. But in absence of war a media-event will help. This is precisely what Retail FDI was – a media event forced by the ruling party. And what better trick than to instil a good deal of FEAR among citizens about some monster called FDI. It’s always a great strategy. So you had the NDTVs, the CNN-IBNs, TimesNows and all the major and minor newspapers out on the topic.

Sometimes help comes from unknown quarters. The Mullaperiyar dam came into focus with its own fears and politics. Politicians and people of Kerala drummed up the fear of the dam cracking up. They might have had some genuine concerns and in response politicians and people from TN rubbished the claims of the dam being a threat. Any PM would have intervened to quickly reassure both parties of action and fairness.  Should MMS have intervened and brought about a truce between the two states? Are you serious? This was a God-send that should be welcomed at a time when fear is the key. And on cue our media goes into another frenzy. FDI and Mullaperiyar, that’s a combination that is tailor-made for the orgy that happens nightly on TV. I cannot but be reminded of these famous lines from Martin Scorsese’s ‘Taxi Driver’: “All the animals come out at night - whores, skunk pussies, buggers, queens, fairies, dopers, junkies, sick, venal. Someday a real rain will come and wash all this scum off the street…” That much pretty much describes the banal nonsense on night time TV.

Fear helps. Commerce Minister Anand Sharma probably never had so much exclusive time on TV as he did on the FDI issue. Articulate as he is, Sharma did something the Congress would have considered a crime in any other situation – he even cited Narendra Modi being in favour of FDI. And guess what.. NDTV played up that interview over and over again, more often than they normally do, to push the FDI agenda. Clips from that interview where Sharma mentioned Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh being in support of FDI were played out a zillion times. Manmohan Singh, in between, found time to suddenly visit Imphal and inaugurate a new Assembly building. The success of fear-mongering finally culminated in an all-India bandh by over 50 million traders on December 1. Mission accomplished for the Congress!

Is that all? No, not yet. From the time parliament session commenced in November the clown prince, Rahul Gandhi, had only one thing on his mind – change Uttar Pradesh in 10 years. He did not attend parliament even for a single day and was wisely busy with the UP campaign and the youth congress rally. What’s his game? More fear of the Mayawati govt, of more UPites turning into beggars if Congress wasn’t brought back to power in the state and how the Elephant in Lucknow was eating up all the money meant for the aam aadmi. In hind sight Rahul Gandhi’s campaign was the only comic relief in this season of fear. Does RG have any views on FDI in retail? You will know in 10 years! Not enough!

Manmohan Singh mentioned it is “difficult to roll-back FDI”. I had jokingly tweeted asking why and if the kickbacks were taken in advance. Well, here’s the answer: It is reported that Walmart spent over 60 crores in lobbying for retail FDI in India. Where exactly does lobbying money go in India? Ummm, maybe some PR firms like the one Nira Radia operated? Maybe a small percentage but a good chunk has to go elsewhere where real decisions happen. So with parliament being stalled with all this FDI thing and other issues our media comes up with another gem. Both NDTV and CNN-IBN start a campaign, “No work, no pay” for MPs.

“No work, no pay” for MPs if parliament doesn’t work. It must take an extra-ordinary helping of stupidity for the morons in the media to further mislead and deflect the discussion on issues to such silly campaigns. If the Kirana banias are so anti-consumer as Swaminathan Aiyar suggests there is no real reason to believe that foreign businessmen coming into India are going to be exceptionally friendly. They aren’t going to be here for charity either. Such perverted arguments fuel the fears that a failing govt thrives on. Aiyar believes every shopkeeper is worth a crore, so much are our MPs worth? You’ll need a flashlight even on a sunny day to find an MP who isn’t worth crores and yet our stupid media peddles the “no work, no pay” argument. Nothing but mindless populist dialogue that you will find in a cheap Bollywood movie. The govt creates the fear and the media plays the sponsor.

But even organised and sponsored fear has to take a breather. The death of Bollywood legend Dev Anand shocked everyone and news channels covered it with flashbacks and obits. For once, even if it was repetitive,  it was nice to hear just good old Dev Anand songs through the day on Sunday, December 4. The nation, including political leaders, came together to pay homage to this great artist. But make no mistake, fear will be back. Corrupt governments throughout history have used fear to survive. In 21 century India they have a sponsor – our news media. Sponsored fear will be back.