Candle Light Sinners

How the leaders and public figures of a nation respond to a tragedy reveals a lot about their character. Two coffins returned from LOC with the mutilated bodies of Lance Naik Hemraj and Lance Naik Sudhakar Singh. The head of one of them is still missing. I am not aware of any leader, minister visiting these families and sharing their sorrow with the nation. I am not aware of any leader or minister from the GOI attending their funerals. John F Kennedy once said: "As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them”. If our late PM L.B. Shastri were alive he would wonder happened to his famous slogan of “Jai Jawan…”.

The tears of the families of the 2 Jawans killed on January 8 had not yet dried and some of our public figures were already into “debate” mode. A bunch of journalists and other candle light specialists got together to debate ‘Aman Ki Asha’ in Delhi on January 10. A Union Minister, Shashi Tharoor, was playing the moderator. Participants included: from Pakistan: Najam Sethi, Salman Raja, Wajahat Khan, Javed Jabbar and from India: Mani Shankar Aiyar, Salman Haldar, Shoma Choudhury and Kabir Bedi. Some govt guys, some filmy ones, some editorialists. Probably the most theatrical bunch in a tragedy! And what were they debating? Civil society for peace! One of the common refrains from the discussions: “Moderates will wipe out the Hafeez Saeeds”. If you look at the audience you can see the elites of society in all that jangles. Oh Yeah, these are the ones who are most likely to wipe out the Hafeezes of the world. I remember the movie “Gandhi” where in a powerful speech he says a bunch of lawyers in Delhi do not represent the people of India. If MKG were at this stupid debate he would have said the same thing about these people all over again. The debate was not only stupid it was also badly timed and reflected a serious lack of sensitivity on the part of the participants, audience and, of course, the hosts. Who else but TOI?

With what face do these Pakis come here to debate? Who are the morons who invite them? These are people from a country which sentenced the doctor who led to the killing of Osama Bin Laden to 33 years in prison. He was convicted of high treason. In any other civilised nation this doc would have been rewarded. These “useful idiots” from Pakistan (and India too) can’t deal with the stupidity of their own govt and want to lecture in Delhi. These worthies who are going to wipe out the Hafeezs were probably not even aware (owing to their ‘moderate’ engagement) that on the same day as the two Jawans were killed on the LOC there were 10 CRPF Jawans killed in Latehar (Jharkhand) in an encounter with Naxals. Surprising, isn’t it? The CRPF men were killed on January 8 but for our media that would be ‘Breaking news’ only on January 10. One Jawan’s dead body was stuffed with a bomb.

The PM, Manmohan Singh who didn’t have anything to say about all this had said back in February 2010 that “Naxalism is the biggest internal threat”. One wonders what he has done about the threat. He should be even more alarmed that the Pakistan camps were rejoicing the deaths of our Jawans so it’s clear the Pak army that was involved. Hafeez Saeed was also around the LOC and it appears he had offered a reward of 5 lakhs for the head of our soldier. These two tweets from Padmaja Joshi of Headlines Today say a lot. The PM and his cabinet need not worry I suppose. The so called “moderates” from India and Pakistan will wipe out Hafeez Saeed (the LeT mastermind behind 26/11), ably led by his minister, Shashi Tharoor. If all that wasn’t enough, The Hindu ran a story on the LOC incident implying it all started with an old woman, a Grandmother, who crossed over to POK. Even the headline of the story seems to turn the spotlight away from the brutal killings into one of providing “sound reason” for the deaths.

“Runaway grandmother sparked savage skirmish on LoC”. Skirmish? Was that all? The killing of two of our soldiers on our side of the LOC, their bodies mutilated, one Jawan’s head missing and all that was just a “skirmish”? Where did Praveen Swami, a supposed defence expert, get his intelligence from? Oh! He says “…highly placed military and government sources have told The Hindu”. Really? Which military and which govt? He doesn’t say and I refuse to presume Indian or Pakistan. Maybe Swami would like to clarify which country’s sources he was referring to. Swami’s article comes out and our journalistic-bimbo wastes no time in jumping and rubbishing all the “patriots” on TV. I guess you know who and which channel she’s referring to. Runaway Granny! Nice title! Let’s examine what key points his article makes and what the Indian Army responses were. (Indian Army response here)

Swami mentions the 70-year old granny, Reshma Bi, left Charonda village and crossed over the LOC to live with her sons in POK. This was on September 11 and the article implies in 2012. Inside of a week after Reshma’s flight, Indian troops began constructing observations bunkers around Charonda, seeking to monitor the movement of villagers. The construction work — barred by the terms of the LOC ceasefire of 2003 provoked protests from Paki troops.  Indian commanders, the military source said, conceded that the construction was in violation of the ceasefire. However, they refused to stop work, arguing that the posts faced out towards the village, posing no threat to Pakistan. Early in October, the official said, tensions began to escalate. Pakistan even made announcements over a public address system, demanding that Indian troops end the construction work. Exchanges followed and then Indian soldiers raided a Paki post on January 6 which led to the brutal killing of our soldiers on January 8. That’s it.

The army rejects the story (and I quote some statements). Swami’s story is not exactly short on facts but his timelines and linkages appear inaccurate. The Indian army stated that Reshma Bi crossed over on September 26, 2011 a full 16 months before Swami reported she did. On the raid on a Pak post, Colonel Dahiya rejected Swami's contention that there had been LOC transgressions by the Indian Army in the Uri Sector on January 6, 2013. He further stated that the article mentions announcements made by Pak Army over a public address system at Uri demanding a halt to any construction work. This also was factually incorrect, he said. The article also wrongly identifies Major General G.S. Rawat as the GOC of 19 Infantry Division. The current GOC is Major General Khandare. He said that Pakistan carried out cease fire violations on night of January 5 and 6, and the Indian Army carried out controlled retaliation from its own side on January 6. So in effect,the Army rubbished Swami’s report.

It’s a question of which one to trust; The Hindu or the Indian Army. Given the dubious articles that frequently appear in The Hindu and even otherwise I would go with our Army. Praveen Swami, though, is not a dubious writer. So where did he get all his “intelligence” from? Hmm! It would appear someone already knew this article was going to appear in a newspaper on January 10. Guess who? It’s none other than Wajahat Khan the Paki journalist who had appeared on Barkha Dutt’s programme “The BS here”. Yeah, a load of BS indeed! The programme over, late night (or wee hours of January 10) Wajahat Khan tweets to someone to watch out for a “narrative changer tomorrow” (ie January 10). He tweets and The Hindu delivers! Voila! This is the “intelligence” circuit of Swami as it appears. And Wajahat calls it the “narrative changer”. Whenever anyone uses the term “narrative” I immediately see a warning sign of concoctions being brewed. It’s a term that highly “intelligent” people use, like the ones at the AmanKiAsha debate in Delhi.

Do you need any more proof how stupid Indian media is? No, don’t go by my word. For some reason the AKA crap wasn’t telecast by TimeNow the channel of TOI group who came up with the AKA farce. The debate was telecast by Headlines Today and I wonder why. Maybe Arnab Goswami has decided AKA is nonsense too. It is Rahul Kanwal, who heads Headlines Today, who wonders what the Tamasha is between the TOI and its news channel. The families of dead soldiers are hopefully unaware of all the Tamasha going on. Our freedom is never free. Someone pays a price for it, usually a soldier standing guard on a fence. The shameless ‘Macaulay Putras and Putris’ who don’t tire of their AKAs and cocktail debates breathe because someone pays the price for their freedom to do so. They usually finish the debates, give sermons on TV, write crap in newspapers and go have candle-light dinners. I may have to call them the candle light sinners. 

Twenty Two Yards Of Dead Bodies

“He who joyfully marches to music, rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would surely suffice.” - Albert Einstein

According to a TOI report some 4000 soldiers have died since 1999 for various reasons when there has been no “official war”. There is something strange about soldiers being recruited in the Army. Quite a lot of them are from villages, rural towns and mostly from poor families. There are villages in Rajasthan and Himachal that have at least one veteran or soldier in the army. There are villages in Rajasthan where at least one member of every family is in the Army or is a veteran. You know… young men and women around the age of 21-22 willing to die for their country if required. Many, if not all, fortunate ones in the same age-group are addicted to the latest mobiles, malls and movie stars. The slogan “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan” does seem to have a deep meaning and prudence. It’s either the farmer or the soldier who is dying lately. Very frequently!

Last night some TV channels were discussing Captain Saurabh Kalia the soldier who first noticed the Kargil infiltration in 1999. He and five others were captured, tortured and their dead bodies returned to India by Pakistan. There was Arnab Goswami on TimesNow talking about him. And yes, there was Barkha Dutt, the Kargil heroine, on NDTV. Both channels had to discuss Capt. Kalia with some Pakistani guests also. Barkha was looking to an open and honest discussion and the Pakistani, Gen. Qureshi, decided he had enough and it was pointless. I’m even amazed that it takes him to tell her that it’s pointless talking to a representative of your enemy of that war about a situation. Well, Barkha and Arnab show you how intelligent our media is and how concerned our govt is. Barkha even ended her program with the words that it takes something sensational to talk about our war heroes. So what was this sudden reason to talk about Saurabh Kalia? Well, after 13 years of waiting his father, Dr. NK Kalia, has petitioned the Supreme Court to direct the GOI to seek an apology from Pakistan for “war crimes” in returning the body of his son tortured.

“Kargil martyr Saurabh Kalia's torture: Violations by Pakistan unacceptable, says government” says the NDTV report. If you read the headline you’d think our govt has suddenly woken up and it had nothing to do with the SC petition by Kalia’s father. Yeah, the UPA govt that doesn’t observe Kargil Diwas. The same UPA whose prince charming, Rahul Gandhi, claimed on November 4 that the Congress had generously supported the BJP during the Kargil war. We are just past another anniversary of 26/11. I remember during the 26/11 attacks TimesNow and Arnab had screamed “We will never forget”. And yet within a couple of months TOI was running a crap campaign called “Aman Ki Asha”. So much for never forgetting dead people and soldiers! And Barkha Dutt? Oh yes; the one who reported breathlessly from Mumbai during 26/11. In less than 48 hours, even before the blood on the streets and the targeted buildings had dried and were washed she was doing an episode of “We the people” right from Mumbai on November 30, 2008. This episode was angrily titled “Enough is enough”.

In a tweet on 26/11 this year Barkha called it an “act of war”. I suppose same as Kargil. She also states privilege offers no protection and terrorism is an awful leveller. If you decide to watch the video of that program you will find that except for one Shameem Khan, who lost 4 members of his family, all the rest could be categorized as the “privileged”. Of course, the panellists on the program were poor people who had experienced terror themselves – Ness Wadia, Simi Garewal, Bachi Karkaria, Ratna Pathak, Kunal Kohli, Luke Kenny etc. and one former police officer M.N. Singh. Barkha’s outrage over the act of war and her histrionics were on full display that night. After a heated exchange between Simi and a guy from the audience she even told everyone: “Will you all do what I ask? Can we have dignified silence please?”. Such was the outrage. Here are some quotes from her (in blue) at the beginning of the program:

Home Minister (Maharashtra) and many more heads are expected to roll. Oh yes. RR Patil, then HM did roll. He even said somewhere that such attacks happen in many cities. Well, what do you know; he’s back and is still the HM of Maharashtra. 

We are going to tell our politicians that we don’t necessarily trust them. And the politician she had on the program? Oh, that was Abhishek Singhvi. Yes, the same guy who was suspended for his physical escapades and is now back on all channels again as Congress spokesman. She also had Milind Deora, who is currently a minister.

Justice for this, justice for that! These are frequent campaigns run by our media. And in the run up to 26/11 what are some of the great deeds our politicians were busy with? 2G, Cash for votes, CWG scam, Hasan Ali and his black money which has ended nowhere, Adarsh scam, Aircel-Maxis. Within hours of 26/11 ending Vilasrao Deshmukh his son Riteish and Ramgopal Verma were on a terror tour inside the Taj hotel. At an all-party meeting the PM announced there would be four more hubs of NSG. That would mean more Saurabh Kalias and Unnikrishnans will be happy to serve. What happens once the war is over and all the patriotic screaming is over in the media? They get back to their games of hosting our enemies. Especially, the architect of Kargil – Parvez Musharraf.

Politicians and our media seem to have a strange love affair with those who plot the destruction of our nation. Even when Musharraf has ceased to hold any official position our media seems to believe he is the one with the wisdom on leadership and future of India. So you have the Kargil heroine running everywhere to interview him. You have the India Today Conclave hosting him, you have HT Summit hosting him. And he’s a frequent guest on both NDTV and CNN-IBN. These channels are often hyper-patriotic and even have special songs composed for some special occasions. A report from The Hindu in May 2012 describes certain incidents that the guys in the army seem to routinely experience. This was after a ‘Sahayak’, someone who’s like a valet, was beaten up. It talks about simmering class-tensions and feudal mindset in the army too. Musharraf comes to our land tells us he doesn’t regret Kargil, he tells us Muslims in India need a better deal and cracks jokes that make our media celebs laugh. During the India Today Conclave in 2009 Maulana Madani, an MP, gave a stinging response to Musharraf’s concerns about Indian Muslims and asked him politely not to worry. (See video) The host, Arun Poorie of India Today, was left dumb and speechless.

If not that Musharraf guy there’s always that other one. Yes, the other national pastime of our media folks, especially Barkha Dutt, is none other than Imran Khan. Our media seems to campaign for him as PM as much as they do for, say, Rahul Gandhi. He was here again this month and had reassuring words for India: If the Kashmir issue is not resolved there may be more 26/11s. And since we talk about “levellers” what levels everything better than Cricket, eh? Playing cricket with Pakistan with top politicians watching levels everything. In the 2011 world cup match at Chandigarh the Pakistan and Indian PM with their entourage were there cheering the players. After the match NDTV even put up banner with the jubilant Indian team and their lucky mascot Rahul Gandhi. And now the GOI has decided to honour Saurabh Kalia, Sandeep Unnikrishnan and many other fallen soldiers of Kargil and 26/11 by hosting another Indo-Pak series in December 2012. Idiots who scream patriotism every other day will, of course, turn out to watch the matches and the media will make another neat pile. It’s now called ‘Cricket Diplomacy’. Saurabh Kalia is dead while his father has been fighting a lot more battles. He’s taken the latest one to the Supreme Court.

If Saurabh Kalia had returned alive with his limbs broken or blinded he would have lived a miserable life running from pillar to post fighting for pensions and dues from the GOI. Fighting in Kargil was probably easier for our soldiers. If there’s anything left our politicians will make sure they will screw it up with an Adarsh scam over land supposedly allotted for Kargil heroes. Oh yes, how can we forget? There’s LK Advani, Dy. PM during Kargil, who went to Pakistan-Yatra to certify Jinnah was secular. Our Laloos and Bollywood celebs frequently go on a pilgrimage to that holy country. Lately, even the very secular Nitish Kumar was on a ‘Tirth yatra’ in Pakistan. A wag once commented Tamils in Sri Lanka don’t matter because they aren’t vote-banks but Pakistan matters because of Muslim vote-banks in India. I wouldn’t disagree. Pakistan is a vote-bank for our ‘secular’ forces.

What about our Cricketers? Aren’t they somewhat similar to soldiers? They wear India colours; often display patriotism covering themselves with the Indian flag. There’s a little guy who turns up at every match painted in the tri-colour just to support Tendulkar. Some of these cricketing celebs live under high security. The same security provided by the likes of those who die in Kargil or on the streets of Mumbai, like Tukaram Omble. People protesting is one thing, it is time these Cricketers stood up, showed some spine and said NO to playing Pakistan in a bilateral series. This is no world cup or international tournament where we don’t have a say. This is our own choice.

“The greatest patriotism is to tell your country when it is behaving dishonourably, foolishly, viciously.”― Julian Barnes, Flaubert's Parrot.

Our policy towards Pakistan is not and never has been driven by a National Compass. It has always been driven by personal opinions, situations and stupidity. The cricketers now have a chance to stand up and do the right thing by the Kalias, Unnikrishnans, Ombles and many of our fallen men and women. They have the chance to show they not only have brains but also a spine independent of the BCCI and the GOI. They can imagine the plight and suffering of the families of those who died and imagine twenty two yards of dead bodies and not necessarily a cricket pitch.

The Good Neighbour

The good neighbours

Putting the nation first is the last thing that is on the minds of some of our media and celebrities. Following the disclosures of David Headley in the current trial of Tawahur Rana CNN-IBN was the first to scroll through the day ‘CNN-IBN was the first to expose the ISI links to 26/11 in July 2010’! Sure, we all remember that. We also remember Rajdeep Sardesai was the first man on the moon, don’t we? The race to claim being the first to break something or being the one to reveal some story even where it concerns national interests is the most shameful part of our media. Not to be left behind NDTV pulls out Mahesh Bhatt for his comments on Headley’s testimony. Hmmm wait! Mahesh Bhatt? The guy whose son was linked to this same Headley?

As the worst terrorist attack on Pakistani soil, at PNS Mehran, concluded the Tawahur Rana trial was under way. A message to CNN-IBN : any idiot in India knew the ISI and Pakistan are connected to the 26/11 attacks and many previous terrorist attacks. We don’t need the wisdom of CNN-IBN to educate us on this. These events follow the discovery and killing of Osama Bin Laden in a mansion near Islamabad. I suppose CNN-IBN knew Osama’s hideout too but for reasons of security must have suppressed the info. They are very conscientious. After all CNN-IBN showed the same concern in suppressing the cash-for-votes tapes in 2008. Remember that?

Anyway, now that Pakistan stands thoroughly and undeniably exposed some of our people need to hang their heads in shame. Shahrukh Khan, Mahesh Bhatt, Javed Akhtar, Shabana Azmi, Barkha Dutt, Salman Khan, Mani Shankar Aiyar and, of course, Times Of India. Collectively these entities form the ‘Friends of Pakistan’ club in India. I am quite certain Shahrukh Khan would love to have Pakis around his house and as his neighbours. It would bring him great joy to see bombs falling all around or on his house every second day. That must be a thrill. What about Times of India? The earliest media outlet to back out on its promise “we will never forget” about 26/11. In just a year since 26/11 they came out with that crap called ‘Aman Ki Asha’. Song and dance with Pakistanis, a few awards here and there, a few matrimonial ads in their columns from across the border and TOI has proved it has strong memories of the 26/11 atrocities.

One of the worst mistakes Atal Behari Vajpayee ever made was to invite that war criminal Musharraf to a summit in July 2001. This was after Kargil. Few months after the failed summit, our parliament was attacked by terrorists. Since then our media has a great fascination for frequently having this war criminal lecturing on every issue concerning Pakistan and India. He is in exile from his own country and there is a warrant against him. NDTV alone has a long history of nurturing this war criminal as if he was some spiritual leader. (Read the post ‘Tainted? Have a chat with Barkha’)  India does not need anymore nonsense from this has-been who should still be treated as a war criminal. There are others like India Today and Hindustan Times who have hosted this war criminal in various seminars.

Another favourite of our media is Hamid Gul. He is a former head of the ISI and is known to have links with Al Qaeeda and the Taliban. The USA has even declared him wanted for terrorist links. Yet our media frequently hosts this man as if there are no other sensible voices in Pakistan at all. It is time our media, if any concern for the nation is left, stopped hosting such crooks and anti-India people.

I am in no way suggesting voices from Pakistan must be censored. Not at all. Democracy must allow all kinds of views to be aired, even those that hurt us. But democracy also means putting the country first. The media has the responsibility of not allowing known criminals to air their views and indirectly be used for some agenda setting. The Musharrafs and Hamid Guls are criminals who should not be allowed any airtime now that Pakistan has been proved to be what it is beyond the slightest doubt. There are journalists and other officials in Pakistan who can be allowed that freedom. Let me add that in many respects the Pak media is at least is a lot more independent than its Indian counterpart. We have more poodles.

There is this man called Shuja Pasha, the head of ISI. Following the killing of Osama he disappeared for a while. Then he surfaces to shoot out threatening messages to India. That any misadventure by India will have serious consequences and so on. There is a saying for fools like him. “Mian giraa magar tangdi oonchi hai” ! (Miyan has fallen but still has his feet up!) Bravo! Maybe PNS Mehran will remind him that India is not the threat.

As for the Mahesh Bhatts, Shahrukh Khans and some of their Bollywood clan, they would do well to embrace this new Pakistan. Pakistan may be our enemy but cleansing our own country would do us no harm. On most of those that firmly believe in the ‘Good Neighbour’ philosophy, you can rest assured it doesn’t come from any reason or reality other than religion or business considerations. 

TIMES NOW - 'Terror Jayanti'

Yesterday, 26/11, TIMES Now carried reports and discussions on the 2^nd anniversary of the Mumbai terror attacks.  The headlines through the program were “India’s Open Wound” and “India Won’t Forget”. In addition they kept flashing “4 Reasons why Indians are outraged” .  These are sharp lessons on how to fool the Indian people, the victims, the martyrs by a media group that has really not reflected the people’s feelings appropriately.  I may sound unkind, but for some in our media 26/11 is as good as ‘Terror Jayanti’. The Times’ economy on journalistic ethics is by now well known so I won’t go into that.

For all the outpourings on their channel yesterday, the TIMES group is the very media house that ran the obnoxious “Aman Ki Asha” campaign. This was just after the first anniversary of 26/11. When the attacks happened in 2008 Times Now covered the entire situation under a byline “We will never forget”. Yet in just over a year they were preaching “Aman Ki Asha” with the terrorist state of Pakistan. And mind you, they even wanted children to participate in the campaign. Young, innocent kids who aren’t old enough to understand the underlying issues. I called it TOI’s ‘child abuse’! How to soak up business on your emotions.

My blogs on this ‘Aman Ki Asha’ crap can be read HERE and HERE.

It is this atrocious hypocrisy and double-speak of not only the Times group but also many of the Sec-Soc media channels that insults the memory of the victims and the soldiers who were martyred. When the AKA campaign was started a favourite blog of mine, PrudentIndian, raised all the right questions. 

I reproduce a piece from that blog (which quotes The Pioneer with its own inputs):

“There are three groups in India which are obsessed with friendship with Pakistan. The first group comprises elderly people born in that part before partition (Kuldeep Nayyar, Khushwant Singh Inder Kumar Gujaral just to name some yes, Manmohan Singh too) and who are nostalgic about Lahore havelis, halwa and mujra. The second group comprises Bollywood actors, directors and assorted outfits who look at Pakistan as a big market (Shahrukh Khan, Mahesh Bhatt, Javed, Shabana and their ilk). Dawood Ibrahim’s gang has financed many of these useful idiots. ....The third group comprises bleeding heart liberals who hold candle light vigils and who cannot imagine India doing well without its ‘younger brother’ taken care of (almost all Sec-Soc MSM and their telesecularists). All three have been proved wrong a hundred times but they unfortunately play an important role in moulding opinion.

If we want the world to treat Pakistan for what it is, then we should start practicing it. We must always recognise it as the ‘Terrorist State of Pakistan’ and never have any illusion that it is going to be any different. 

We should completely and comprehensively cut off all relations with Pakistan — economic, cultural, sports and all other aspects. Dawood Ibrahim-funded Bollywood may weep....Unless we start completely boycotting the ‘Terrorist State of Pakistan’ we cannot ask others to do it..... If corporate India — including electronic and print media — starts practicing it, then we can see results in a few years. One hopes that India’s elite is listening and will not get carried away by asha for the demons.”

Read the full Prudent Indian article HERE.

TOI ad column on the left states "Love OVER Country....As opposed to supposed public and societal interests"... Well said indeed!

Now that ‘terror jayanti’ is over for some media groups, they will happily go back to doing business with Pakistan. The Times group’s thinning Matrimonial pages on Sunday can now get fatter again with Shaadi ads from Pakistan. Times sponsored Bollywood bashes and mujras can start all over again. Shah Rukh Khan is scheduled to do a special program for Pakistan (The friendly neighbour) Prime TV on November 28 in London.

Those who have never been to Bombay may like to ponder this one: The Times group’s head office in Mumbai is bang in front of the CST Railway station where the terror attacks first started. What if the terrorists had chosen to attack the TOI office instead of the CST station and if some of their dedicated employees had suffered? Would they still preach some crap called ‘Aman Ki Asha’? You try and  figure that one. “We won’t forget” indeed !

The Muck Stops Here...

CNN-IBN finally broke its silence on the Radia-Barkha-Sanghvi tapes on Monday, November 22 on their program “Face the nation”. While the discussion was sober, one must compliment CNN-IBN for finally taking the initiative to do the right thing.  Only yesterday, I had posted the article “Hammam mein sab nange hain” referring to Rajdeep Sardesai’s favourite line.  So it was pleasant to see them talk about the Radia tapes on their evening show.

One can be “neutral” about news but one cannot, or at least need not be “neutral” with his opinions. This is what the news media needs to differentiate.  I am quite comfortable if both CNN-IBN and NDTV openly admit their loyalties to the Congress (I) party. That would be an honourable thing to do as against frequently touting oneself as “independent”, “unbiased” and “non-partisan”. It is common in many countries for media houses to endorse candidates in elections.

To ensure the muck stops here with this current scam, here is what media houses need to do:

1.   Stop giving out awards like “Indian of the year” etc., especially to politicians. It is unbecoming of a mainstream media organisation to be rewarding the very people whose actions and inactions it is supposed to watch over. It becomes all the more intriguing when the same government rewards media persons like Barkha Dutt and Rajdeep Sardesai with government awards. A peer-group or industry award is worth far more.

2.   Stop excessive activism. “Lighting candles”, “Petitioning the President” and such actions for victims like Jessica Lall and many more are not what the media should be doing.  Yes, reporting on miscarriage of justice and focussing on it is an absolute must. On the other hand also stop conducting media trials. Sagarika Ghose questioning Ram Jethmalani defending Manu Sharma is absurd and uneducated to say the least. Every criminal has a right to defence, its a lawyer’s sacred duty. This is a democracy and that’s the law.

3.   Stop trying to influence major foreign policy decisions and actions by running spurious campaigns such as “Aman Ki Asha” by the Times of India. Of course, the TOI has many other dubious innovations to its credit – Private Treaties, Medianet and what not.(Read the Aman Ki Asha crap here and here)

4.   Stop the practice of “paid news”. There cannot be any bigger malpractice by the media than this. The PCI’s final report on paid news (even the watered-down version) was totally ignored by the media and hardly received any coverage.

5.   Stop jumping the gun for sensationalism. The humiliation handed out by the media to the parents of Arushi (the teenager’s murder case) and the victim herself is a lesson by itself. No one has forgotten the indiscriminate conduct of the media during the 26/11 attacks.

6.   Stop being “communal” and “politically correct”. These are domains for politicians and not for the media. The mainstream media’s unwillingness to accept the Ayodhya verdict and painting it as a victory for “religion over law” or “panchayati justice” are not stands that the public will gloss over.

7.   Stop hounding politicians like Narendra Modi. The more you hound him the more popular he becomes with his electorate. You have unwittingly conferred upon him “victimhood” ! Ever heard of Mark Antony’s speech?  The public tends to react in the opposite when you excessively bash or boost someone.

8.   Stop sympathising with separatists and anti-nationals.  Sure, give their voice and opinions adequate space on your channels but do not appear to become one of them.  Stop campaigning for them.

Of course, you, the media, have the complete freedom to carry on in your merry ways.

NDTV and CNN-IBN might well ask themselves why they are considered Congress puppets. The Cash-for-votes scam of 2008 is not too old for CNN-IBN to have forgotten. But here’s another test. When was the last time either channel or any newspaper ran a critical piece on Sonia Gandhi or Rahul Gandhi.  Is questioning them blasphemy? My own opinion on Sonia Gandhi runs like the one Jack Nicholson uses to describe how “he writes women so well” (in the movie “As good as it gets”)  and he says “I think of a man and take away reason and accountability” (I intend no offence to women at all) But here is a woman who is supposed to be the most powerful in India and one of the most powerful in the world. Yet the media simply doesn’t get it that she neither has any “responsibility” nor any “accountability”.  She dictates the course of this nation and the media doesn’t find her responsible or accountable for anything.  In the last few days the media didn’t spare even the Prime Minister, which the SC has strongly condemned.  Yet the real power behind it all, Sonia Gandhi, seems untouchable for the media.

It is an irony of sorts that the very media channels that appear to be puppets of the Congress were trapped on phone conversations monitored by a government agency under the Congress government.  Instead of phoo-phooing the tapes or threatening “appropriate action” both Barkha Dutt and Vir Sanghvi would have redeemed themselves by stating “it was an error of judgment” and that would have been honourable. That is exactly what it is, an error of judgment, they are no criminals.

On being asked  “Where do you see the biggest gaps in news gathering and reporting in India and what recommendations would you make to fix these?”  noted media person Sevanthi Ninnan responded by stating  “.....Basically each news organization has to make sure it has a seasoned, sharp, and ethically oriented news editor or resident editor as a gatekeeper. And it’s time everybody had a readers’ editor who has the independence to do his or her job well”. (Read the full interview here.) That’s when the Muck might really stop.

Who wore the first underwear in the world? Don't Know? Ask Times Of India...

When a national newspaper slides down to hit rock bottom in content it can be considered the sign the of  the "Times" ! How else does one explain the crap that the TOI seeks to peddle. Supposedly a newspaper wanting to serve the well-informed reader TOI now tom-toms its "Crest" edition. It  would be more appropriate to call it the "Crest-fallen" edition. Thats how low the TOI has sunk.

Grandly advertising the completion of one year of its so called Crest edition TOI asks us to master trivia. Who wore the first bikini, Who was India's first sex symbol, What passed through Sachin's mind on various occasions, When will India have its first Dalit PM..and what not. The people at TOI must strongly believe that Indians have dumbed-down so badly that these are the pursuits that now occupy their minds the most. Well, if this were coming from a comedy channel or the guide to IAS exams I would have quite understood the compulsion.

If these are the brains that the TOI now employs it probably expects that there are millions of Indians out there whose brains have similarly been obsessed with such "impotent" nonsense. And if you weren't convinced,  on Sunday 10th October, they even gave you all a hint with Sharmila Tagore in a bikini. Well, I suppose the mullahs must not have noticed, else they would be up in arms against the paper for portraying a muslim woman thus.

To digress a bit, The Times Aman Ki Asha campaign finally paid them some dividends. Awards apart, they are now able to carry matrimonial ads from across the border under a new category. Now I am able to understand the motive of it all. Finally, since the Crest-fallen TOI has answers to all the trivia in the world I have one question - When will the Times of India wind up?

The (Twisted) Times Of India - The "Aman" Preacher

I couldn't help laughing at the Times View in today's edition of the TOI. The preacher of "Aman Ki Asha" now tells us that there cannot be peace with Pakistan when the 26/11 masterminds are "..preaching murderous hate against India. There can't be any closure of 26/11 until there is justice" Bravo !

Here are questions to the TOI. Were they not preaching hate when the AKA campaign was launched? Were they not dodging actions on 26/11 when the AKA campaign was being run? And you wanted our children to send them "Love-Kerchiefs" ?? Pakistan is a country desperately in need of toilet paper like TOI, not our love-kerchiefs.

It does not take great intelligence to imagine what kind of brains the TOI employs to have run the scam called "Aman Ki Asha". One can only conclude that there must be ulterior motives and profits at stake, apart from the desire for some silly awards for such a campaign.

Yours truly has written over and over again that we need not desire war with Pakistan but there simply cannot be peace with them, unless they initiate it and deeply desire it. India should not be making any moves at all. It is impossible to make peace with a failed state like Pakistan simply because it exists only on a map and has no political foundation. It is hard to imagine that with all the experienced journalists that the TOI may be employing they could first come up with the stupid campaign of "Aman Ki..." and then now this same journal sermonizes us on what should be the basis for peace talks. Obviously, the "AKA" nonsense wouldn't be the idea of journalists, I have to presume that would be the marketing geniuses in the TOI.

This reality of no-peace-possible with Pakistan is evident to anyone with a decent common sense. Unfortunately, it is the Indian media that consistently displays an acute lack of any common sense. One can easily fathom why politicians behave stupidly..it is in their genes. Why else would India still send a Krishna to Pakistan? Maybe they aren't done with appeasing our muslims yet. Krishna should have retired long ago. And anyone who has watched Qureshi even once would know that the man with the perennial ugly scowl on his face, is matched only by his own foul-mouthed tongue.

India doesn't need Pakistan. It is time we put this nonsense called peace-talks in cold storage for a long long time and get on with our business of running our nation. We must deal with terrorism with the specific understanding and knowledge that Pak will continue to sponsor it forever. Anything else will only be as foolish as the Times of India.