Vibrant Gujarat & The Holocaust Deniers

A few years back I noticed a Post-it on a school principal’s desk with “CBSE HOTS” scribbled on it. I had no idea what it meant but I laughed inside and wondered what CBSE, a school education board, had to do with “HOTS”. So I asked the principal and she told me it stood for “Higher Order Thinking Skills” which the CBSE was introducing in schools and she asked me if I knew any teachers who could teach it. Naturally, I had to ask why a school with 70 odd teachers would have to search for someone to teach ‘thinking skills’. Aren’t school teachers supposed to possess thinking skills and be teaching it through regular subjects like Maths and Science on a daily basis? That is half the story. What CBSE or schools don’t teach about is ‘Perception’. The world outside schools operates on the principle of perception, yet it’s never taught in schools. It’s not taught as a specialised topic even in business schools. The entire marketing world operates in creating, sustaining and exploiting perceptions. This is just as true for politics and politicians. It is even truer for our media. Their entire game of the media is built on perceptions. The entire flow chart of some media debates concerning Gujarat can be explained as under.

This is a flow chart that is a rough indicator without going into greater details but is a fair sample of how some of our media’s political programmes are delivered. You could even call it “Inception” after the famous movie. Yes, that’s the job of media: “Inception” of “Perceptions”. This is a template for all major Dynasty-friendly media. Just before the Gujarat elections in December 2012 someone from the Congress party remarked “Narendra Modi is sending invitations for Vibrant Gujarat 2013 as if he is going to win the elections”. You can guess that the TV anchor hosting the debate won’t point out the stupidity in such a statement. Supposing Congress had won the elections are they suggesting they would scrap the Vibrant Gujarat summit? This loose flow chart I explained is the template for channels like NDTV and CNN-IBN, the masters at “inception”. While they will pick holes where there aren’t any when it comes to Gujarat and Narendra Modi, they will provide platforms for CMs like Sheila Dikshit to appear as a saint. The latest programme by Barkha Dutt in which she hosts SheilaD for an interaction with youth on NDTV is what I call classic “inception”. The brutal Gangrape that had Delhi protesting had tainted SheilaD but trust Barkha Dutt to try and alter the image and perception.

Unable to digest the success of Vibrant Gujarat 2013 (VG) NDTV predictably comes up with a debate to rubbish it. Vishnu Som brings up issues of malnutrition and famer suicides. The one independent panellist on the show, Ron Somers, the American head of US-IDC a development council, finished off the debate in one single sentence: “In the end we wish there were more CMs like Modi who were moving their states forward like Gujarat… the problems you mentioned and that of poverty exists in all states of India and even in the US”. Not a verbatim quote but that’s precisely what he stated and meant. Now, is VG supposed to handle issues of malnutrition and farmer suicide? Is VG the single-window solution to all problems of society? Only idiots like Vishnu Som and his colleagues in the media would imagine so. VG is a programme for investments and if those are coming in and creating more opportunities wouldn’t they solve many problems? Then they lament that all the MOUs signed at VG summits don’t materialise. What’s their problem? Even if 20-25% of the MOUs materialise the value in absolute terms is phenomenal. Do these morons ever sit down and analyse how many of promises in manifestos of political parties materialise in terms of delivery?

NDTV has to be categorised as a bunch of morons who don’t seem to get even the basics of VG. It’s an “investment and business” summit and more than that it opens up a state to a wide world that can bring opportunities to its people. So too CNN-IBN! The editors of both these channels follow a predictable flow chart and template when it comes to discussing Gujarat and Narendra Modi. Their anger and hatred stems from the fact that they weren’t able to destroy Modi with the perceptions they tried to create with the Gujarat 2002 riots. They are stuck there while Gujarat and Modi have moved far ahead. Gujjus know it and visitors to Gujarat know it. James Bevan, the UK High Commissioner, was moved enough to say “I too am a son of Gujarat”. But NDTV would like to compare Gujarat with Somalia.

As it happens, prodding them in their agenda are two Congress ministers. First KapilSibal says “People from foreign countries have come to India for business and then became rulers of the country. Today, they are again coming to do business here and divide us. We must be careful of them”. That’s a real laugh and it comes from a party that fought tooth and nail to bring in the FDI policy. Perhaps Sibal even forgets his party is the only one that is indeed being “ruled” by a woman of foreign origin who, according to public information, still holds her Italian citizenship. Of course, he also forgets other foreigners like Quattrochi who escaped Indian law for the Bofors scam. He also forgets his party allowed a safe-passage for Warren Anderson of Union Carbide which is responsible for the Bhopal tragedy. He forgets something else too. We will get there.

If Sibal is uttering nonsense can the other guy who could run a university of nonsense be far behind? Hell no! Manish Tiwari goes one better. He compares Narendra Modi with Hitler’s Nazi regime for corporate houses lining up at VG. This is the guy with both his feet permanently in his mouth. Who can forget his famous “corrupt from head to toe” statement for Anna Hazare? But his sound-bites are meant to be hints for NDTV and CNN-IBN to set their flow charts in order and carry out more ‘inceptions’. Here is a pic of Manmohan Singh, the SoniaG-appointed Prime Minister, with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian President. This Iranian guy is famous for denying the “holocaust” under Hitler ever happened. This guy is also famous for his statement of “wiping Israel off the map”. This guy’s regime is one of the “axis of evil” countries in the US book and a terrorist state. The wiping Israel off the map is a misquote by media though. Ahmadinejad wanted to make “occupiers of Jerusalem” (meaning Israel) a page removed from history and time. What a loveable couple they make, don’t they? They hug and shake hands and are all smiles. Now, by the logic of Sibal and ManishT, the GOI, the Congress party and Manmohan Singh support Ahmadinejad in denying the “holocaust” under Hitler. Because MMS hugs him and shakes hand they also agree to his wiping off the occupiers of Jerusalem.

All one has to do is replace MMS with Modi in the pics above and the Congress, NDTV and CNN-IBN would be left very confused. They wouldn’t know whether to call Modi a Nazi like Hitler or to call him a ‘holocaust’ denier. Remember, denying the holocaust is banned in many countries and in some countries it’s a crime. By the stupid logic of Manish Tiwari, many countries would have to prosecute MMS for hugging Ahmadinejad implying he supports his ideology and theories. By his logic Congress too would be an offender in many countries. Such is the moronery of some ministers and media channels. We do have a breed of politicians, activists and media channels that are now in the same league as the ‘holocaust’ deniers. They are busy in attempting to create perceptions of Gujarat being an evil state with an evil leader.

In “Gujarat – Breaking Rules” Part-1 and Part-2 I had tried to explain what works with Narendra Modi and Gujarat. The media lives in denial. As with many other criminal, illogical activities of the media, their dishonest programmes on Gujarat or Vibrant Gujarat are not worth dealing with by logic or truth. They are, like the holocaust deniers, the “Gujarat Deniers”. Their hate and loathing of Gujarat may someday come to haunt them. 

Mamata Stings Rajdeep Sardesai

One of the thrills of a job well-done is getting a compliment and Rajdeep Sardesai is justifiably thrilled with The Telegraph’s report on his interview with Mamata Banerjee (MB). Well, the Social Genius did say that when it came to political analysis RS is “Numero Uno”. So it must be thrilling for the “Numero Uno” of political analysis to be covered by the “Numero Uno” paper of Kolkata. Incidentally, the tweets were on September 27 morning. Catch the interview on the CNN-IBN website with the transcripts. The transcripts don’t cover the full interview but just about less than half of it. One wonders what happened to the rest.

MB is a former Congress member who set up her own party, TMC, and has performed a once unthinkable miracle of unseating the CPM from power in Bengal almost single-handedly. For this CNN-IBN had awarded her the “Indian of the year award” (Politician). She makes some statements in bits and pieces so those have to be interpreted. RS has frequently called her a “street-fighter” and he does so during the interview too. There isn't much in the interview from MB on the political front that isn't already known. What Rajdeep may not have anticipated is the manner in which she slammed the media in general and a bit more. Let’s see some exchanges (edited excerpts):

RS: Sonia Gandhi the other day said that the government is stable and it will last its full term till 2014. Do you believe that this Manmohan Singh government will last till 2014?

MB: It is stable of the corruption, by the corruption, for the corruption. But it is not stable from the public point of view.

RS: When you say that are you saying somewhere that you feel that the Congress will threaten other parties like Mulayam and Mayawati to support it, that they will use the CBI for example, is that your fear? That they will try to stay in power using ‘saam’ (influence), ‘daan’ (bribe), ‘dand’ (punishment), ‘bhed’ (division).

MB: Money power, muscle power and mafia power. These three powers they are using. I don’t know why. Why in our country, which has a democratic setup, why are we afraid of the CBI before taking any decision?....

RS: You believe that this government use to misuse the CBI to challenge their rivals? (Given that RS is such a great political analyst it’s good that at least at this point he has “discovered” that CBI was and is being misused. Must have felt like discovering fire).

MB: This is not only now, it is from the beginning when we were elected, since 2009 after Parliament elections….

Those statements by MB should have been headlines in every newspaper in this country. They are so dangerous that misuse of CBI and the rampant corruption threaten every democratic institution. Unfortunately, because this interview was given to a particular channel the other TV channels are likely to ignore all the statements made by MB. In the chat MB slams Manmohan Singh in a manner that makes him appear worse than a puppet and even mimics him on some occasions.

There are some more indicators that make terrible reading for RS during the interview: (By timeline in the video):

16.50: On the FDI issue here’s MB’s answer that raps media in general. I wonder if RS got the hint:

RS: ’Business Standard’ article says at 3.30 pm on September 20, Trinamool website had 2009 manifesto saying entry of large domestic and foreign capital in retail trade will occur and it has now been removed.

MB: No. They are some sections of the Congress, they are getting advertisements and money from the Congress. They have been paid by the Congress for image building programme, we cannot pay that amount.

I like the way RS has even noted the timeline of the Business Standard article. This attention to detail gets my admiration. But the transcripts have cleverly omitted a small detail. MB said they are paid 100 crores. I don’t think she meant Business Standard alone but that the media is being paid hundreds of crores by Congress for “image building”. That’s my interpretation. She was being kind. I doubt its only image that the payment is for. There has to be a lot more that can be bought for hundreds of crores.

26.47: RS asks if the reason for shifting of an Investment summit from Kolkata to Lucknow was caused by MB’s walk out of UPA. Hardly any doubt but what exactly has UP achieved under Akhilesh Yadav for this reward? Well, I suppose 24 hour power supply to the Gandhi family constituencies might be a good place to start.

32.08: On reforms MB states this is influenced by some “big friends” who want some reforms and that is what influences the decision. She goes on to state that to please these “big friends” the GOI treats “Indians as guinea pigs”. Umm.. publicly the Congress calls them Aam Aadmi though.

But Mamata Banerjee reserved the most resounding slaps for Rajdeep Sardesai. Some of these are not going to make headlines on his channel or any media outlet for obvious reasons.

36.35: To a question on development MB tells RS he cannot sit in Delhi and talk about development in Bengal without going into any details. Isn’t that true for most of our media celebs who conduct interviews? No research, no homework but go a with a general ‘stereotype’ question. I hope RS learns.

41.35 to 42.14: RS repeatedly taunts MB as running a One-woman party as even the tagline in the pic from the interview labels it. He even asks her if “Party is Mamata and Mamata is party” and later if she sees media as her enemy. First she mentions how corporations and political parties have bought media and then MB makes a stunning point to him: “Ask the people whether the media plays a neutral role or not”. I think in very polite words MB told RS that most media channels are Congress “brokers” though she didn’t use the words that I do.

Then, on the issue of whether she is running a one-woman party she points to Mulayam and SP, Mayawati and BSP and finally Congress too when she challenges a stung RS thus: “Why don’t you ask this question to Sonia Gandhi. Because you people have no guts”. RS comes up with a lame excuse “but she doesn’t give interviews like you”. Well, a responsible media would have told the Congress ‘take a walk, we won’t cover you if your bosses don’t allow fair time to the media. We won’t cover you if you don’t disclose illnesses and travels of your party leader’. Instead, our media, just like RS does, ridicules those who do give them interviews and even ridicule medical treatments of other party leaders. Shameful for Rajdeep! Maybe Rajdeep and other media celebs are just as scared that if they challenge Sonia Gandhi the Congress may let the CBI loose on them. That may produce some disastrous revelations like Radiagate. Wouldn’t it?

42.49: And to the repeated question on TMC being a one-woman party MB drives a hammer through Rajdeep’s head. She says: “If I ask anyone who runs CNN-IBN everybody will say Rajdeep Sardesai”. I wonder if RS got the message. That he is running as much a personalised organisation that he accuses MB of. When it comes to CNN-IBN it gets even worse considering he hires his spouse as deputy editor. That is cronyism plus nepotism. Whether one agrees with MB’s politics or policies she did deliver a rude awakening for Rajdeep. Will he learn? Your guess is as good as mine.

Somewhere in the interview Mamata Banerjee explains her frustration, which seems to reflect those of citizens as well: “Every day we wake up with the fear that what will happen next. Sometimes they will increase the price, sometimes they will go for FDI in retail, sometimes they go for corruption”. Haha! Though the last part is funny, I think she was a bit off the mark. The “go for corruption” is consistent and continuous and not sometimes. 

When The 'Blue Turban' Is 'Allowed' To Speak

So the unthinkable happened. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh finally decided to speak to the nation. Good! I suppose shop keepers, farmers and word-count specialists in the media have finally understood why the diesel price hike and FDI in retail are good for this country. The men and women in our MSM could hardly hide their delight and rushed to gloat over the PM’s speech and how he defended his spectacular decisions and cut the Opposition to their pygmy size. Mercifully, the media stopped at calling it the “Big Bang” reforms and didn’t venture to call it the “Higgs-Boson” of reforms. But there are a few questions that our ever probing media never asked. We will get to those questions in a while.

The best article on the FDI I have read so far is once again from the online news media and not MSM. R. Jagannathan writes in FirstPost: “If these are reforms, I am Amitabh Bachchan”. He explains well that the latest actions by the UPA are nothing more than desperate measures. Of course, nobody has written with convincing data on whether FDI will benefit the ‘Aam aadmi’ or not very conclusively. But there is no doubt in my mind that the decision is not inspired by the urge to “big bang” but by a lot of unfulfilled commitments to investors and lobbyists abroad.

In the meantime, here’s a small conversation between two ladies from the MSM. This was on September 14. What is striking from P. Malini of The Hindu is that she states: “IF the PM is ALLOWED….” The PM, as head of the govt, is the most powerful man in the country. Does he need to be allowed to follow his light or convictions? But her statement does make sense because it indicates the PM hasn’t been making decisions based on the country’s needs or situations but on what he’s allowed to do by Sonia Gandhi and her private club. Cleverly, Sonia Gandhi’s club is divided in two parts as under:

Club-1: A coterie consisting trusted darbaris who help her manage the difficult and troublesome political aspects of running a govt through MMS. If good comes out, she gets the credit. If the opposite happens, MMS or any minister takes a beating.

Club-2: This is an exclusive group of people assembled under a kiosk called NAC. This kiosk is a vending machine for legislations of populist, welfare schemes. Schemes like NREGA, Right to food, Right to this, Right to that. Right to drain the economy!

The reward for MMS is that he gets to be the PM for all the beating that he takes. If courage, light and convictions were to drive him, as the two media ladies were negotiating, he would have resigned on the 7th day after the first month of his job on getting his pay-check. I read somewhere that the most common reason people quit their jobs is because their ‘boss’ is terrible. A real-life Hari Sadoo! In contrast, there are bosses who are with their people most times. In times of personal grief they comfort them. They help resolve work related issues. They seem to know when to intervene and when to keep off. A nation expects the same from its boss. It’s no big secret that MMS simply lacks leadership skills and people skills. Where a warm hug is required he would typically mostly do an “aerial survey” from a distance. I quoted Marcus Buckingham, a Gallup poll researcher, in one of my earlier posts and repeat that quote:

"What a leader does for followers is turn anxiety into confidence. They’ve always done that throughout time and in every different society and situation. When leaders lead well, it’s because they’re able to rally people to a better future and make people spirited when they were previously anxious." Problem is, MMS, not having won a single public election, doesn’t have any followers. He only has a lot of bosses. Which explains Malini’s “if allowed” tweet. And people, as they become more and desperately thirsty, see the mirage and ‘drink the sand’ hoping it would quench their thirst. Nothing does this better than this scene from the movie ‘The American President’(0.36 secs):

Presidential aide Lewis Rothschild (Michael J. Fox): …People want leadership, Mr. President, and in the absence of genuine leadership, they'll listen to anyone who steps up to the microphone. They want leadership. They're so thirsty for it they'll crawl through the desert toward a mirage, and when they discover there's no water, they'll drink the sand.

The President (Michael Douglas): Lewis, we've had presidents who were beloved, who couldn't find a coherent sentence with two hands and a flashlight. People don't drink the sand because they're thirsty. They drink the sand because they don't know the difference.

That would seem right. A huge population in India isn’t drinking the sand because it quenches their thirst; they seem to do so because they can’t tell the difference. And when they want water what our boss offers is FDI in retail. Drink that! And then he comes out of his slumber to speak to them on TV. No, not because he owes them care and understanding but because the Opposition is supposedly misleading them. If at all he wanted to attack the Opposition he was neither forceful nor convincing. If he wanted to separate people’s concerns from the political ones of his detractors he failed again. In ‘The American President’ the opponent, Bob Rumsen, is constantly attacking the President’s personal life and the bills his girl-friend is championing. After a long silence, like MMS, Michael Douglas chooses to address the issue (3.07 mins):

It’s just a movie. Yes it is. And the bills that the President mentions in his speech mostly didn’t make it. But we have known leaders from time to time to stand up and talk to people and assure them that their leadership is in good hands. They stand up and talk to people and not offer defence for some policy decisions. Did MMS manage to do that? Clearly not! From once being considered an emerging super-power comparable to the league of US and China, a pathetic PM has reduced India to being compared to Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh. Sure, that is going to bring a lot of comfort to people. What next, will we be comparing ourselves with Somalia in the next speech? Ever heard the US compare itself with Brazil or Sudan? So Indians can drink the sand in the comfort that they’re better off than Pakistan and Bangladesh.

As for the political aspect of it, the media simply didn’t ask the right questions. Hillary Clinton met Mamata Banerjee in May 2012 to persuade her on FDI. That’s not me but a CNN-IBN report that stated it. Oh yeah, the same CNN-IBN whose Chairman recently wrote a book “Superpower”. Mamata’s reaction to FDI last time was no different from now when the UPA brought it up during a parliament session in November 2011. Did they expect her to revolt and even walk out of UPA? Soaked in the dirtiest waters of politics the Congress would have damn well expected it and planned for it. Isn’t that why the cabinet approved the policy last week even when the TMC minister and some Kerala ministers were absent?  Did the media ask them if they had spoken to SP and BSP prior to this latest cabinet decision? They did not. And CNN-IBN did have the greatest economist we have as a panellist to discuss the reforms and PM’s speech. Haha! If he sees the Bimboesque tweet from the Social Genius he will be pleased, everything’s fine.

It would be foolish to even assume remotely that Congress would have not taken the SP and BSP into confidence prior to introduction of the policy. All the charade of Mulayam Singh “keeping out communal parties” is just more sound-bites he feeds the stray dogs of the media whose editors then present it as gospel to their audience. MMS did tell the cabinet "The time has come for big bang reforms. If we have to go down, we have to go down fighting". After his speech, let’s just be thankful. I don’t think anyone would really want to see the spectacle of MMS fighting.