Rajdeep & Co: Convenient Testimonies

Imagine someone has a bounty of Rs.1.2 Billion on his head and you can imagine the thousands of bounty hunters chasing him. Or imagine a football match when a team gets pretty close and the supporting crowd roaring and cheering. Then when the player misses, there’s those “ooohs” and “aaahs”. When a Sreenivasan Jain or Rana Ayyub get crumbs from CBI with black beard and white beard the whole media starts roaring and cheering, doing high-fives, kissing each other, hugging each other in celebration. And when the CBI doesn’t score, the media-cronies go back into their hole with ooohs and aaahs. Up comes another match with some Vanzara letter. The lynch mob goes into a frenzy again roaring and cheering “letter-bomb, letter-bomb, letter-bomb… kill, kill, kill” and it turns out a damp squib. More ooohs and aaahs! Anybody? Can anybody at all help these people achieve their life-long dream? Oh lucky! Up comes Swami Aseemanand and they start jumping for joy again. The entire army of bounty-hunters from the media was out cheering.

Suddenly everyone knows Aseemanand is a man of God who will deliver these folks. Why? Because someone called Leena Gita Raghunath from The Caravan magazine sneaked into a jail and over a 2 year period interviewed him and discovered who was behind some blasts and terror attacks. I don’t give a damn what Aseemanand says. To me he now looks like a “rented-accused” to be also used as a “rented-witness” depending on what is convenient to the bounty hunters. For the record, I wrote a long time back that this NIA and other investigations look like a sham meant to last a long time to be used and thrown in a “need-based” approach (read Confessions from Aseemanand. Who’s next?). As with these accused, the useful idiots in the media are also “used and thrown” on a need-to basis. Certain powers control their owners who are trying very hard. Let’s read an excerpt from an interview for starters:

Hmm! Pusillanimous ownership of newspapers who lack journalistic integrity. What if the publisher also had an oil company like Exxon? You might wonder which owner the editor is referring to. Never mind! But when the part owners of the business also happen to be the managing editor and deputy editor with hatred in their DNA for one person you know how far their hatred can go. Not a day passes without Rajdeep Sardesai and his deputy Sagarika Ghose bitching about Narendra Modi or passing some snide remark. I wonder if they even get to sleep without cursing and bitching about him for an hour every night. That’s how Rajdeep starts his day as well. He can’t even walk his dog without bitching about Modi:

Naturally, the response from a tweeter is quite justified. Lately Sadanand Dhume seems to enjoy slapping this duo for their stupid statements as well. They don’t seem to realise SM is not TV and some will hit back with greater force at their bitchy comments. Let’s get back to Aseemanand. Rajdeep was keen that The Caravan interview will stir a pot of gold for him. Caravan earlier tried writing about other media networks and personalities but don’t seem to have found much success. There’s that long article about Arnab running into some 12786 words which I discussed in “Bitchin’ in the back row”. That was Caravan’s first attempt at getting into the top row of news-stands. Then they tried again with one on Network18 but that didn’t do much either. Finally Caravan too adopted the “formula” masala and came up with one against RSS, BJP or Modi, if you like, with the Aseemanand crap. Now the previous two attempts may not have endeared the magazine to the media-mafia but this one certainly did. Rajdeep & Co show us how best to use convenient testimonies with a new entrant to the mafia.   

There, you see! When it’s on Ram Guha, the ‘Eminent Distortian”, the Caravan becomes a “first rate” mag. Then another one where Swami Sardesanand testifies it’s a “fine piece” and that good writing is not dead. Very nice! But this Caravan’s writing is a lot like Aseemanand’s testimony; believe it when you like and hate it when you don’t. No one proves it better than Scotch-circuit specialist Suhel Seth (November 2011):

From “I love what you’re doing” to a magazine that “nobody reads” Suhel Seth is the classic witness who can be useful for any kind of convenient testimony that the media might like to peddle. All these images are from 2011. But here’s one from Rajdeep in 2012-13:

The Ooohs and Aaahs from Rajdeep can’t seem to stop for his favourite magazine. This is like Caravan playing Vanzara. Rajdeep likes, Rajdeep applauds! Of course, anything Ram Guha says is as good as Moses saying it to Rajdeep. Then Caravan goes and does something stupid. In November 2013 Rajdeep was off to Nagpur for a lecture but I wondered if he had any other agenda too:

Rajdeep didn’t tell us he was going to meet Mohan Bhagwat, the RSS chief, and I am not confirming he did but Caravan did. In another of those long articles (a style Caravan seems to have borrowed from Suzy Roy) the magazine explained how the owners of Network 18 were forcing the dealership to bend to the Right and be a lot more favourable to Modi. Huh, what? Rajdeep and be favourable to Modi? The man he and his deputy bitch about day and night? So in one single shot all the good writing, fine, very very fine goes out the window and Rajdeep comes up with this convenient testimony:

So as long as it about others it is gold standard but when it comes to his own house, the Caravan’s article is loaded with lies and malice. Caravan should be ashamed for such trash. That’s inconvenient testimony by the struggling magazine which is trying to become a “made member” of the mafia. Just two months later the Caravan would seek forgiveness and redemption with the Aseemanand story. Rajdeep likes! Rajdeep thinks this is his pot of gold:

So Caravan can now claim full membership of the media-mafia having handed something to certain political vandals to jump in joy and cheer. When the mafia got “ball-possession” they started to cheer and roar again. But alas! It was another missed chance. The NIA decided not to pursue allegations of the “rented-witness’s” statements which aren’t even confirmed as authentic. And that is that! The bounty-hunt continues. Please do remember, there was also one Bhavesh Patel who claimed Shinde, Diggy and others had forced him to make some allegations and statements against Mohan Bhagwat and others in the Ajmer blast case. That was killed by the media without any persuasion. RK Singh, former Home Secretary, also stated Shinde helped a friend of Dawood escape law. Even that was buried since Singh is now a BJP member. Very convenient, eh?

The one thing Rajdeep and other peers of Arnab Goswami have to learn from the latter is that Arnab does whatever he has to do on TV; good, bad or ugly. He doesn’t bitch 24X7 on the SM or anywhere else about politicians and other articles that float around. Arnab is also smart enough not to respond to bitchy articles written about him like the one from Caravan. That should tell people on NDTV and CNN-IBN why their TRPs keep going south. Same is true for Narendra Modi. He doesn’t respond to the crap peddled against him by the likes of Rajdeep, Sagarika or silly magazines.

The first image in this post is from an interview (January 2014) of none other than Jonathan Shainin the former editor of Caravan. The Aseemanand episode comes after his departure. Shainin describes in enough words that owners of Indian media are political slaves and doormats. That he uses the hypothetical example of an oil company owner should also tell you something. He didn’t include editors probably because he was one himself. It is not just the Congress, CBI or NIA but people like Rajdeep Sardesai who have now become a laughing stock for their use of convenient testimonies. This goes for most of the media-mafia. Someday there will be a price to pay for this practice.

Seema Mustafa V Subramanian Swamy

Subramanian Swamy in his true insightful but provocative style has written an article in DNA July 14: ‘How to wipe out Islamic Terror’. Much of the article is on Islamic terrorism and how it threatens Hindus in India. In response Seema Mustafa, a noted journalist, has responded with another article in DNA July 19 titled ‘Dr Subramanian Swamy has inflamed passions through blatant falsehoods’. I have read only a few of Mustafa’s articles which have come across as good, sensible pieces of journalism. This particular piece of hers in response to Swamy stands out in some ways. Falsehoods she says. Okay, so before I come back to her article let’s try and understand what Swamy has said.

Swamy’s strongly worded article revolves around 5 goals that he attributes to the Islamists or the ‘unfinished’ Islamic business for India if you like. I believe these being central to his article would constitute the falsehoods that Seema Mustafa is talking about.

Goal 1 (Falsehood 1) : Overawe India on Kashmir.

I need not go into the history of Pak-funding of militants, frequent incursions, Kargil war and all that. They never happened. Lakhs of Hindu Pandits displaced violently from their homes and are refugees in their own country. Falsehood, never happened. SmitaPrakash, another prominent journalist writes chillingly about how teenagers and youths were paid money in the stone pelting exercise. Oops, falsehood again! Geelani and company go around the country  with inflammatory speeches. Falsehood! Again! Hoisting Pakistani flags at Lal Chowk on Republic Day. Falsehood, never happened. There you go, Mustafa disproves Swamy’s goal no.1

Goal 2 (Falsehood 2): Blast temples, kill Hindu devotees.

Blasts at Varanasi this year. Oops, that wasn’t a temple, that was some Sulabh Sauchalay. Daring attack on Akshardham in Gandhinagar (Gujarat) in 2002. Again Akshardham is hardly a Hindu temple. Sai Baba temple blast in 2002. Misreported. Sankat Mochan temple blast. What a lie! All these are falsehoods because Muslims and Christians may have died in these temple blasts too. There might be more and I guess all of those are falsehoods too. Mustafa exposes Swamy’s lie on this one too.

Goal 3 (Falsehood 3): Turn India into Darul Islam.

That’s a blatant lie by Swamy. This statement by the Imam Bukhari of Delhi was falsely reported by media all over. “We were rulers here for 800 years. Inshaallah, we shall return to powerhere once again”" and threatens “this country is in for another partition,so let us be prepared for nation- wide riots and violence. ” I would recommend readers to go through the post ‘Life,Liberty and the pursuit of Sharia’. Swamy is a liar. It is not just India, this particular falsehood is for the whole world and not just India. Mustafa, once again, brilliantly exposes the falsehood.

Goal 4 (Falsehood 4): Change India’s demography by illegal immigration, conversion, and refusal to adopt family planning.

Read my post ‘Make Mumbai aseparate state’. There isn’t still a handle on the number of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan or other places in Mumbai, Assam, Bengal and other places. The vote-bank hugging ‘secular’ government simply loves this. And when was the last time you ever heard of population control, family planning etc.? Those terms died in the late seventies. Mustafa doesn’t have much to say on this so her silence proves it to be an absolute falsehood. Bravo!

Goal 5 (Falsehood5): Denigrate Hinduism through vulgar writings and preaching in mosques, madrassas, and churches to create loss of self-respect amongst Hindus and make them fit for capitulation.

Well, I suppose at all mosques and madrasas they are only preaching love for humanity. I guess the FBI in the USA is stupid to be keeping a close vigil on all major mosques. The UK does it now too. Some mosques in Germany have even been shut down. It is only in India that Swamy is stupid to peddle this lie. Once again Seema Mustafa has nothing to say on this. So once again her silence on this proves it to be a falsehood. We would never get to know what goes on in mosques and madrasas because our ‘secular’ government considers that too important a sentiment to offend.

So now that Seema Mustafa has clearly established the falsehoods in Swamy’s article let’s see what she actually had to say in her piece. Much or almost all of her article is an ad hominem attack on Swamy and is basically an opinion piece. It neither confronts the basic premise of Swamy’s central arguments nor does it offer a solid, logical and factual rebuttal of his contentions. Needless to mention, Swamy’s article also contains quite a bit of his opinions and his solutions to the goals are basically his opinions, some of which are also impractical. But a response basically requires disproving the theories stated in an article. To that end, Swamy’s article contains nothing but commonly known facts which he outlines in the 5 goals. None of that is a big secret to anyone, anywhere in the world.

“Swamy’s article has drawn absolutely excellent responses from the people of this country, mostly non-Muslims, to put him and his exhortations in their place” says Seema. Oh yeah? How do you know? Did you carry out a survey? Did you research all the respondents in all forms of media? This is the typical defence of the secularist. Everyone says so, so it must be balderdash. Since when is that childish logic the foundation of mature debate?

“The Hindus, he keeps insisting, are the targets. But when blasts take place in crowded market places in Mumbai or any other part of India, the targets are the people of India, Dr Swamy. Hindus and Muslims and Sikhs and Christians and Parsis and Jains and Brahmins and Dalits and all those who are at the spot die because the bomb cannot differentiate among religions and castes. India, as we have grown up to understand it, is a secular, democratic country belonging to all who are its citizens” writes Mustafa. First note how cleverly and significantly she segregates Hindus, Brahmins, Dalits as three distinct entities. Isn’t that a common secular strategy? That’s the first line of attack of secularists. Separate Hindus into different groups.Wouldn't it be funny to suggest bombs kill Shias, Sunnis, Protestants and Catholics? Well, only in case of Hindus the bombs know the segregation I suppose..

There is a saying in Goa: “If you throw a stone it will invariably land on a bar”. But, of course, there is a tiny chance it can also land on a church. Same is true for people dying from bomb blasts I suppose. The bombs aimed at Hindus invariably land on other religious groups.

Yeah, bombs don’t know who they kill – brilliant. I don’t walk backwards ‘cuz I don’t have eyes in my ass! But those who plant bombs do know who their intended target is. I suppose those who planted bombs at Zaveri Bazar didn’t know there might be Muslims and Christians in the area. Of course, they also didn’t know that bazar is a predominantly Hindu and Jain bazar or a majority are Gujaratis. Of course, secularists conveniently forget that people have been dragged out of buses in Kashmir, Hindus have been sorted out and lined up separately and killed. So when terrorists have the opportunity they would indeed choose their specific targets. It’s only when it is not possible or inevitable that some collateral damage has to be accepted. How intelligent would it be to suggest that the 9/11 attack wasn’t Islamic terror because Muslims also died in those towers? Yeah, sure, we are so convinced of this line being churned out by politicians, now we have to be reminded repeatedly by journalists, that’s all.

Does anyone remember the Israeli raid on Entebbe airport in 1976. An Air-France airline was hijacked by terrorists and landed at Entebbe airport in Uganda. The terrorists allowed all to go except Jews. Does that explain that when the chance is available terrorists do choose who they wish to target or kill?  I can believe politicians can make silly statements but can’t believe journalists too expect people to be so naïve.

Seema suggests Swamy may even face charges of hate speech or some law-violation. Well, I suppose he has no right to air his views some of which are based on facts but the likes of Digvijay Singh delight our secularists. I have yet to see one really strong piece in any major media outlet that questions the utterances of that man. Never mind that either. Let’s see some more brilliance from Mustafa.

“It (India) is home to all religions, and it is a vibrant democracy that thrives on plurality and diversity. The terrorists, al-Qaeda, Lashkar or the Aseemanands…” Hahahhaha! That really takes the cake! You win Seema! Aseemanand, whose arrest is full of controversy and still not convicted of anything, is sweepingly bracketed with Al-qaeeda and LeT. So fools like me finally realise now, through the wisdom of the likes of Seema Mustafa, that Aseemanand is as big a threat to India and Hindus as are Al-Qaeeda and LeT. I guess that is what RG meant by 99% terror stopped!

There, the falsehoods of Subramanian Swamy stand thoroughly exposed. On behalf of Seema Mustafa should I say, ‘QED’?

Confessions From Aseemanand? Who’s Next?

It looks like terrorists are falling over each other to confess to the Samjhauta blast, the Ajmer and other bombings around 2006-07. We barely get past one confession and see any convictions and we have a new one. Predictably Swami Aseemanand’s counsel has stated the confession was made under duress. Even otherwise such confessions are worth nothing unless they are corroborated with indisputable evidence of involvement of those accused in the confession.

So apart from leaking Aseemanand’s confession to the media and once again trying to target Hindu groups to distract from the season of scams, one wonders what other stories the UPA government is now going to come up with. Take a look at these reports:

From Times of India, January 10, 2011: Giving a new twist to the Samjhauta Express blasts case, the counsel of Swami Aseemanand — he is also an accused in the Hyderabad Mecca Masjid explosion case — claimed on Sunday that his client's statement recorded before the metropolitan magistrate of Tis Hazari court in Delhi on December 18, 2010, was obtained under duress. Manvir Rathi, who represents Aseemanand in the Samjhauta blasts case, said he had a one-to-one conversation with him on January 3 when he was produced before special NIA court in Panchkula. Rathi says Aseemanand told him that the CBI had recorded his statement in a Delhi court, but that statement was not voluntary. Read the full report.

In November 2008 SIMI Commander Safdar Nagori was put through a Narco test and had admitted to his involvement, along with others, in almost the same blasts.

The DailyPioneer: November 14, 2008: The report of the narco analysis test on SIMI commander Safdar Nagori and his close aides takes the wind out of the Mumbai Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) probe into the possible involvement of Hindu outfits and Army officers in the Samjhauta Express train blasts.....A joint director-level official of the operations branch of the Intelligence Bureau, responsible for the parallel investigation into the Malegaon blasts, said the Mumbai ATS claims about the involvement of the Sadhvi and Purohit are “far-fetched” as SIMI’s involvement in the case is “beyond reasonable doubt”. ...Apart from the Samjhauta Express and Malegaon blasts, Nagori and his associates have also confessed to SIMI’s role and involvement of Muslims in terror attacks in Mumbai, Aurangabad, Hyderabad, Ajmer and the shootout at the American consulate in Kolkata. Read the full report.

It seems that Congress ministers and even the national investigative agencies have only a one-point agenda - to prove Rahul Gandhi right. First, his travel plans are set to coincide with ministerial announcements on projects like the Niyamgiri one in Orissa. And now, we have the NIA finding a Hindu terror link to corroborate Rahul Gandhi's RSS=SIMI statement. Who knows, Rahul Gandhi might come up with a new angle to the terror attacks and the NIA and ATSs of this country will run looking for newer suspects. Effectively the Congress seems to be flailing its arms at everything to distract from the season of scams.

Will this work? Will the terrible nightmare for the Congress now go away?