Junkyard NDTV

That NDTV’s journalism was and is dubious has long been known. I recall once, owing to my suspicions, I even timed their debates for time-share and it confirmed how journos like Barkha Dutt manipulate debates in favour of their bosses in Congress. At other times she would be campaigning against BJP and Narendra Modi and stoking Muslim emotions against the latter as she did in 2012. And their campaign of hatred still continues through which NDTV (and some other media houses too) are singularly focused on tarring ModiSarkar with every incident of any nature that happens in India. Every incident is turned into a national disaster or calamity. And foreign media houses pick up these rants and peddle it further as gospel:

That’s the general idea of what NDTV does. Had it been a Congress govt they would have gladly defended the party. Remember, Barkha Dutt called the Nirbhaya protesters “lumpens” and “drunks”. Add to all this the fact that NDTV is seen as a terrorist-sympathising channel and nothing proved it better than the certificate Hafiz Saeed issued to Barkha. There is no place to hide anymore. But what should be one of the greatest modern mysteries of media is how a channel that has been eternally making losses survives. It is sheer magic indeed. Each time NDTV hits rock bottom some saviour comes through miraculously for a rescue. Why would investors keep pouring money into a losing proposition is an amazing mystery. Let’s look at a bit of history to all this.

It started with the Sunday Guardian carrying two stories “NDTV juggles funds, shares abroad, avoids tax” and “NDTV-ICICI loan chicanery saved Roys”. This was in December 2010, immediately after Radiagate. Both articles are not available now on the Sunday Guardian website but you can read extracts from the articles here and also here. This storm too passed and NDTV, as usual, issued legal threats of civil and criminal defamation to the news magazine. More dirt started coming out. Sanjay Dutt of Quantum Securities sent a series of complaints to Ministry of Corporate Affairs, SEBI and the RBI. His allegations ranged from mal-governance in NDTV to financial skullduggery. Moneylife listed various allegations:

Sanjay Dutt is also a shareholder in NDTV and also a former consultant to the channel. NDTV considered his allegations to financial bodies “defamation” and got a court-restraint stopping him from further allegations. Those who blabber the loudest about “Crony capitalism” are great examples of it too, like NDTV. Sample these from Moneylife based on allegations by Sanjay Dutt:

•Mr Dutt  also argues that while public shareholders have made no money, the promoters and directors pay themselves lavishly. As recently as 12 July 2013, the company has sought central government permission under Sec 640B for enhanced remuneration to directors, even though there are no profits from operations nor taxes paid to the government for many years.

•Mr Dutt further says that NDTV’s executive management, a small group close to the promoters, which include editors, law firms, tax advisers and consultants have enjoyed first class business travel, hefty remuneration, ex-gratia bonuses etc adding up to a massive Rs320 crore over four years (plus ESOPS), even as the company has made losses, failed to pay dividends and not paid taxes.

None of the financial bodies and regulators mentioned above ever responded to letters from Sanjay Dutt that contained the allegations. Such is the clout wielded by NDTV at that time under a friendly FM called P. Chidambaram. And each time NDTV sank a bit more, there was always a Knight in Shining Armour coming to its rescue:

“…how marquee institutional investors always line up to acquire this loss-making company’s bits and pieces and exit at a loss at regular intervals, only to make way for other big name investors! The latest was DE Shaw which provided an exit to Goldman Sachs in 2011 by acquiring a 14.2% stake. After this, NDTV acquired a significant investor—Abhay Oswal, who owns nearly 15% of its equity but seems to have no presence on NDTV’s board of directors. Mr Oswal happens to be the father-in-law of Navin Jindal, an industrialist and Congress Member of Parliament”.

Sanjay Dutt became a whistle-blower and exposed to the IT Department on the biggest scams by NDTV to dodge taxes. Rakesh Jhunjunwala, considered a wizard of the stock market, carries this (supposedly a fan site):

“Now, the latest twist is that the income-tax sleuths have got wind of an alleged scam perpetrated by NDTV. Apparently, some subsidiary of NDTV allotted shares to two foreign companies and received an exorbitant amount of Rs. 624 crore. The shares were allotted for an eye-popping consideration of Rs. 7,015 each. The astonishing part is that the subsidiary which allotted the shares has no business operations and there is nothing to show that it has any value let alone the value of Rs. 7,015 per share. What is even more surprising that the shares were sold in the very next year for a price of Rs. 634 per share and a whopping loss of Rs. 584 crore was claimed”.

When asked about the allotment of shares to foreigners Prannoy Roy and Vikram Chandra nonchalantly told the IT that they were “Selling Dreams”. That’s what NDTV has been doing for a very long time, selling dreams, bogus stories, fake news, vicious campaigns, pro-terrorists slant and sometimes anti-Hindu and even anti-India stuff. They seem to have got a lot of money for selling these wet dreams it appears. For this fraudulent transaction the IT has slapped a demand of 525 crores along with penalties adding up to 825 crores. Jhunjhunwala’s comments are in the image that I tweeted on August 6:

That’s not even the whole story. Sometime back an IT officer was reportedly harassed through false allegations because he alleged money laundering by NDTV. This officer, SK Srivastava, was harassed, suspended, legal cases slapped against him and even allegations of sexual harassment. He had exposed money laundering by NDTV and involvement of P. Chidambaram in the episode. Ram Jethmalani had directly accused PC of receiving bribes which were laundered by NDTV. Madhu Kishwar had narrated the whole harrowing saga on her site Manushi. I believe she too got a legal notice for defamation for writing the story.

The IT Dept. issued its notice for 525 crores in June and demanded a reply by June 22. PGurus site notes that Prannoy Roy is away in South Africa and NDTV has requested more time to reply to the notice. This is in addition to: “NDTV is already facing a FEMA (Foreign Exchange Management Act) notice of Rs.2030 crores and the matter is before the Adjudication forum of Enforcement Directorate. In Aircel-Maxis case, the Enforcement Directorate in its charge sheet details that NDTV also received around Rs.250 crores from Astro All Asia Networks, a subsidiary of Maxis during the scam period. The 2G Court had already issued a Letter of Rogatory to Britain in this regard”.

Jhunjunwala notes in his article that NDTV stock has sunk so badly that he refers to it as “Junkyard stock”. That NDTV has consistently committed financial misdeeds is not in doubt anymore. It never was. Under the previous Congress govt all these misdeeds could be covered up and wiped off. There is a new govt at the Centre now. PM Modi has promised to punish the corrupt and be a “Chowkidaar” against thieves looting the nation. It is now up to ModiSarkar to ensure Junkyard NDTV pays for its sins and winds up. NDTV is useless to the nation and offer no value to anyone. With 3% viewership of the English audience it’s no value to even advertisers who advertise under pressure. The only thing NDTV does is create communal and caste divides, damage India’s name abroad, indulge in fake campaigns with a political agenda and most of all its Pro-Pak, Pro-terrorist agenda. India can do without their nonsense. 

Sanjay Dutt & The Bendy Bananas

Ever seen a straight Banana? No? I found a rare one in the pic. Next time you buy bananas try and find one without a curve. Great democracies are known not just for the Constitution or Independence but for their justice systems and their citizens to accept that justice system. Last year Rajat Gupta was sentenced to two years in prison for an insider trading racket in the US. Tears were flowing like rivers in the Indian media. The court did tell Gupta he may have done a lot of good things but it has no option to sentence him for his crime. Unless he wins an appeal Gupta will indeed go to prison. There’s the case of former British MP Jeffrey Archer. He is also a very successful writer whose books have sold over 200 million copies. In 2001 he was sentenced to four years in prison for perjury in a 1987 libel case which he won. Archer served two years before being released and had returned the 5Lakh Pounds he had won in the libel case, with interest. To say that both these gentlemen are celebrities would be an understatement.

It is, therefore, not surprising that in a growing Democracy like India there are “Bendy Bananas” in the form of celebrities who are hell bent in turning India into a Banana republic. Theirs is the loudest clamour for mercy and pardon to Sanjay Dutt for his crime and 5-year sentence. Over the last decade the justice system in India has rotted along with other democratic institutions. In less than 24 hours of the Supreme Court verdict on SD a former judge Markandey Katju wrote an open letter to the Governor of Maharashtra to pardon Sanjay Dutt because he has suffered enough for the last 20 years. By that he means the 20 years it took to reach a final verdict in the Bombay blasts of 1993. Justice Katju… Er… let me correct that, it should be “Private Citizen Katju” (PCK), since he claims all his opinions now are as a private citizen and not as a former Justice or his current position as PCI Chairman. I wonder if PCK had even taken the trouble of reading the judgement before he appealed for a pardon. Having sent off that appeal PCK was on all media channels defending his worthless act and even walking off angrily from TV discussions. This is what PCK wrote in his appeal:

“The power of pardon under Article 161 by the Constitution is different from the judicial power. The Governor/President can grant pardon or reduce the sentence of the Court, even if a minimum is prescribed. Hence there is no doubt that the Governor can grant pardon/reduce the sentence”.

And among other things PCK also writes:

“The event happen in 1993 i.e. 20 years ago. During this period Sanjay suffered a lot, and had a cloud hovering over his head throughout. He had to undergo various tribulations and indignities during this period. He had to go to Court often, he had to take the permission of the Court for foreign shootings, he could not get bank loans, etc… Sanjay in this period of 20 years has through his film revived the memory of Mahatma Gandhi and the message of Gandhiji, the father of the nation”.

Ever read anything more idiotic and silly? But that was enough to send a whole lot of other parliamentarians and Congress members to scream “pardon”. Even legal-bimbos were talking about appealing to the Maharashtra Governor for the pardon. This is apart from the whole Bollywood mafia which feels Sanjay Dutt is a victim, innocent, made a foolish mistake, is a kind-hearted soul. I’m sure SD is all that to his friends and people who know him. The law is not in the movie-making business. This is what his friends and PCK don’t wish to acknowledge. And how did SD struggle and suffer for 20 years? Oh well, if you didn’t know, he made over 90 movies during this 20 year period. At a miserly average of 50 Lakhs per movie that would be 45 Crores! Super stars in Bollywood are paid in crores not lakhs though. I wonder why SD even needed bank loans. Never mind!

PCK is foolish and even moronic to suggest that SD has revived the memory of Gandhiji. I am surprised this is the nonsense with which he appeals for pardon (or maybe I shouldn’t be surprised anymore). Even though this moronic suggestion has to be laughed at and dismissed, PCK should know that the message of a movie is essentially a message of the Director and not the actors. The actors just play the part. It is the Director who tells the story through his vision and imagination. Never mind that. If indeed someone has made Gandhi popular across the world then it has to be Ben Kingsley. He won an Oscar award for that role so maybe according to PCK Kingsley should be provided complete and permanent immunity from any prosecution for any crime for a lifetime. And this comes from PCK, a man who claims he hasn’t seen a movie in 40 years (how can you possibly be an Indian if you haven’t seen movies for 40 years? For that alone PCK should be prosecuted) and has never met SD.

The media picked up the nonsense of PCK and peddled it all through the last three days. Naturally, the editors everywhere didn’t even bother to check if what PCK was saying was really factual or had any merit. They never checked if a Governor did indeed have the power to pardon SD. Well, in the movie I saw last evening (State of Play) the editor has a sign on her desk that says “Never trust an editor”. If you look at the headline and tweet by NDTV you would be led to believe SD was prosecuted for just having a small, illegal gun for self-defence. I guess by now everyone knows that SD ferried, possessed and latter destroyed weapons enough to start an attack quite similar to 26/11. He also had a large cache of cartridges and grenades. This is how our Bendy Bananas twist the story. But that isn’t important. 

The SC has taken everything into account and pronounced its judgement. Does the Governor really have power under Article 161 to pardon SD’s crime? Here’s what Mahesh Jethmalani, another prominent lawyer, had to say:

"While it is the personal prerogative of any citizen of this country to campaign for a pardon for any convict -notwithstanding the dubious company the convict might have kept, both before and after the cataclysmic events that had shaken Bombay on 12th March, 1993, citizens are entitled to expect a modicum of elementary homework at least by such distinguished personalities as Messrs Katju, Ashwini Kumar and Manish Tiwari… The executive power of the state government does not extend to matters enumerated in the Union list of the 7th Schedule of the Constitution of India. Entry 5 in the Union List consists of arms, firearms, ammunition and explosives. The Arms Act is a statute enacted by Parliament. The Governor's power of pardon under Article 161 of the Constitution of India, accordingly, does not extend to the sentence of any person convicted under the Arms Act”.

It’s really hard to find a “straight” banana; curves seem natural to this loveable fruit. Therefore, the European Union decided how much curve is acceptable and passed a “Bendy Banana” law in 1995. Good democracies are worried about how curved Bananas should be. The sinking ones are turning into Bananas themselves. It specifies, among other things, “minimum standards for specific quality classifications of bananas (Extra, Class I, Class II). Only Extra class bananas have to comply fully with the shape specifications. Class II bananas, for instance are permitted to have "defects of shape"; Class I bananas are permitted only "slight defects of shape". Hmm! You see, we Class-2 bananas are extended some latitude for our ignorance and curves because we aren’t judges and celebrities. What about the Class-1 bananas? They are permitted only “slight” defects but in India these celebrities or “Bendy Bananas” seem to twist and grind the law out of shape all the time. The bigger the celebrity the bigger the twists and curves it seems. I have to agree with what the apple says to one such very “Bendy Banana” whose “opinions” are starting to stink.