IBN & Raghav Bahl's Motley Crew

One of the media mysteries that defies me is how Raghav Bahl, head of TV18 Group, managed to assemble a motley crew who are not only different categories of morons but exceptionally consistent in their moronery. It ranges from American elections to Israel, terrorism and any topic you can name. Th-th-th-th-the… po-po-po-po-point I’m trying to make is… Why would Bahl be so in love with muttering and stammering (apart from ignorance) which are clearly disqualification for any kind of news reporting or TV? Bu-bu-bu-bu-but you see TV thrives on those who talk nonsense half the time, on it and off it. And when people ridicule them they whine and complain they’re being trolled or abused. Let’s start with one who never fails to provide evidence of his ignorance or his half-cooked knowledge and yet sermonises people. It makes me wonder how much as an editor he inspires those working with him to be like him. Are all of them at IBN7 ignorant like Ashutosh? Take a look:

False nationalism? What exactly is false nationalism? Like you pretend to be a proud Indian and desire India to be a great country but secretly want it destroyed? Umm… I would think Ashutosh is referring to “Hindu Nationalists” and they weaken India so they are more dangerous than cross-border terrorism. This pathetic comment comes at a time when 5 Indian jawans were martyred at the LOC by Pakistan forces. So the witless chap indirectly justifies the killing of jawans stating ‘false nationalism’ is more dangerous. Even if the concept doesn’t exist one has to wonder how ‘false nationalism’ is killing soldiers or anyone else. The thing is, like all of his IBN family, this little one believes dialogue should go on with Pak so he cites the Israel-Palestine “rivalry”. You know, rivalry like the Ashes series or England-Germany football. This is the ignorance that is dangerous to the discourse.

Since the time Israeli athletes were killed in Munich 1972 and many planes with Jewish passengers were hijacked Israel has a policy of “no-deals” with terrorists. Most of the Munich terrorists were hunted down and killed but Israel has never owned up to that story. If someone attacks them, they not only retaliate but hunt down the perpetrators where ever they are holed up in the world. In the case of the Air France plane that was hijacked to Entebbe in Uganda in 1976 everyone was allowed to go except Jews. Israeli commandos raided Entebbe and rescued all hostages with the loss of one of their soldiers. The commando who was killed was Yonatan Netanyahu, brother of current Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu. Would Ashutosh or any media guy ever care to ask MPs/MLAs if they have their kids in the army? Most people may not know that while the hijacked plane landed at Entebbe, Idi Amin, then President of Uganda was managing the terrorist act with Carlos the Jackal (the notorious world-terrorist) at the airport lounge while playing interlocutor. (Source: David Yallop: The hunt for the Jackal). France later kidnapped Carlos from Sudan, brought him to France and he is now in prison. So what exactly is this Ashutosh blabbering about Israel-Palestine? Had enough? No?

In January 2010 Israeli commandos hunted down Mahmoudal-Mabhouh, the Hamas founder, whose group has carried many terror attacks on Israelis. They hunted him down to Dubai and eliminated him according to reports. Israel does talk to Palestinians under mediation but they aren’t spineless like Indian govts. They do take action when required, so this Ashutosh needs to read history before tweeting rubbish. Is Benjamin Netanyahu or all those Israelis acting under “false nationalism”? Even Yasser Arafat, the inventor of modern-day terrorism, made some amends and received a joint Nobel Prize in 1994, but not much changed. In 1974 the UN recognised PLO as a member and in his first speech at the UN Arafat said: "Today I have come bearing an olive branch and a freedom fighter's gun. Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand. I repeat: do not let the olive branch fall from my hand." (He was only allowed to wear an empty holster though, not carry a gun inside the UN). Arafat had warmly called IndiraG his sister.

So fake Israel-Palestine experts like Ashutosh need to learn that Israel and Palestine may talk but Israel does not put its guns to rot. Arafat expressed the same sentiment. It is only when Indian govt has repeatedly ignored the price of terrorism, infiltration and LOC killings that people are asking where the gun is. This time, when 5 jawans were killed the GOI at first even exonerated Pak of responsibility in a devious plot. Talks with Pakistan should have clearly ended after 26/11 but despite repeated attacks and killings the govt does nothing. And “false nationalism” is the bigger danger? I would be tempted to call Ashutosh an unpatriotic person wearing Indian clothes lecturing people without knowing the context of history. Hope he doesn’t ever compare Israel-Palestine to Indo-Pak.

Just as Ashutosh brings in “false nationalism” to target Hindutva, BJP or non-Congress politicians with his tweets, the other big news-misfit in the IBN family wonders if people have become “hawkish” in the Indo-Pak process. Expectedly, after every Pak killing of Indian jawans the candle-burners are on TV or hold debates like “Aman Ki Asha”. Sagarika Ghose predictably held a stupid discussion on whether Indian public is getting hawkish over the killings. False nationalism, hawkish; all words that are meant to ridicule the righteous indignation that people feel at their jawans and fellow citizens being killed (or wash away the Pak killings). Her show provides an alarming piece of statistics that should make every Indian angry. It says there were 57 violations of the LOC, a 50% jump from previous year (and 2013 isn’t over yet). Is this lady even fit to be on TV anchoring anything? Her idiotic topics are not only meant to deceive but a vain exercise to please communists, HR hacktivists and anti-nationals who will condone any atrocity on India and its soldiers. Each and every time! Madhu Trehan at Newslaundry shows why she is unfit for TV with her “Face the echo” show:

(Any answers to Sagarika’s stupidity, Raghav Bahl?) And that ends with Uttarakhand is a tragedy that “God has sent us”. Well, instead of so many debates, IBN can simply conclude jawans too die because God sent them death. Maybe IBN itself is a tragedy that God cursed India with. Oh well! If Numero Unee permanently wants to play the queen can the Numero Uno be left behind? Nope! Here’s Rajdeep Sardesai tweeting everybody takes pride in our army but nobody wants to send their kids to the force. Frankly, there is nothing wrong in his tweet except that he tweeted it when irony was scratching the back of his neck with nails. This was the time when the army guys were in a rescue and relief operation in Uttarakhand. Rajdeep and Sagarika had just finished getting their son admitted to a medical course at the Manipal University. So naturally, people were asking why he didn’t consider getting his son into the army. Still, nothing wrong with the tweet, children pursue their own dreams and ambitions. But considering he was tweeting around the Uttarakhand tragedy, Numero Unee was tweeting pics of her visits to beaches near Manipal. And she finds people are “hawkish” over killing of our jawans? I wonder if Raghav Bahl holds any courses on “sensitivity” for his editors. Or does Bahl permit these editors consider it their birthright to sermonise the nation and behave hypocritically? Having realised his tweet was absolutely foolish and hypocritical, Rajdeep then tweets you just have to be good whatever you’re doing. Swell!

There’s still one more editor of the IBN group who often is the toast of stupidity. His name is Nikhil Wagle! And that’s his primary fault! He’s another sidekick like Ashutosh who continuously tweets anti-Hindutva stuff, anti-Modi stuff without even a semblance of camouflage for his mindless hatred. Like Ashutosh, this Wagle is another editor who never learns despite being slapped many times. In the latest episode he tried another of his foolish tricks with noted columnist Minhaz Merchant over the Pak killings. Here’s the exchange:

All that Merchant stated, as many others did too, that the Congress govt’s response to Pak was basically intended as appeasement of their Muslim vote-bank. Wagle tweeted rubbish accusing Merchant of talking nonsense and targeting Muslims. Is talking about the Congress appeasing Muslim vote-bank the same as targeting Muslims? Mr. Raghav Bahl, don’t your editors ever have to go through any medical check-up?

The unfortunate truth is that all four of these IBN editors consistently spew hatred against Hindutva, sometimes Hindu culture and, of course, non-Congress politicians. In pursuit of their vicious agenda they will even bring scumbags like Manishankar Aiyar or similar gutter-mouths to fuel their venom. To ridicule the anguish and outrage of Indians at the frequent killing of our jawans as “false nationalism” or being “hawkish” requires being blessed with Himalayan ignorance and moronery. This is a pic of the funeral of one of the martyrs, Vijay Kumar:

Rajdeep, in all probability the little one doing the rites will join the army. He will probably never have the resources to join a medical school. So spare the country and keep your crap to yourself. The father didn’t die for fake nationalism. He wasn’t a hawk, he was a soldier. It is usually the poor and from small towns and villages that join the army as frontline soldiers. The discourse indulged in by IBN editors is nothing different from the idiotic statement by a JDU minister, Bhim Singh, who said people join the army to die. Forty former army chiefs, IB and NSA officers have signed a petition to stop talks with Pakistan. One has to wonder if these are also fake nationalists or hawks. That is how out of touch with reality the IBN family is.

So Mr. Raghav Bahl, now that you’ve seen the stupidity, ignorance and mindless hatred being spewed by your IBN family, it’s time you repaired it. Or better still, buy a new family.

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 !