Teesta Rudaalis

“Just in case we forget this same Teesta in a way justified the Godhra burning of 59 Hindus with this comment on the day of the incident:  "While I condemn today's gruesome attack, you cannot pick up an incident in isolation. Let us not forget the provocation. These people were not going for a benign assembly. They were indulging in blatant and unlawful mobilization to build a temple and deliberately provoke the Muslims in India." So because they Hindus were assembling for the temple the Muslims were provoked and were justified in the burning of people. It is such sick logic that results in the kind of backlash that Godhra brought about”.

That is what I wrote in “Hasta La Teesta.. Baby” in my epitaph to one of the most communal, hate-mongering woman I have ever seen in the public domain. When the Bombay HC lifted the stay on her arrest all the top lawyers of Congress rushed to the SC to get her bail over phone calls and video conferencing. That the woman is so important to Congress signifies her misdeeds over the past 13 years. Her financial misdeeds are now in the public domain so we need not go into all that again. What should shock us is that till the other day our media criminals were screaming CBI, CBI, CBI over the Vyapam scam. But they have problems with CBI acting against Teesta Setalvad. First, let’s see some responses to the CBI raid on Teesta’s home and offices on July 14. Here’s Sreenivasan Jain, Con-Journo par excellence:

Make a good note. Jain argues that it is mere “financial impropriety” so the action by CBI is heavy handed. So these crooks in the media will decide what is heavy handed and when CBI should raid or not raid on so on. Barkha Dutt reflected the same opinion of this moron – financial irregularities. And she drags in that Sickular Amitav Ghosh (who didn’t want Modi as PM) to comment on the issue while interviewing him:

And she wonders if it needs day long raids by CBI as a quote from Ghosh. These guys will decide how long CBI should raid a person, how many places and so on. As if the duration of the raid determines if it’s genuine or vendetta. To defend their pet criminals these Sickulars will put forward all the dumbest arguments. And Amitav Ghosh is supposedly a public intellectual. Yes indeed; one of many of India’s intellectual morons. Okay! Now remember, this is the same Jain who danced all over when CBI filed bogus cases against Amit Shah:

I remember Jain ranting Blackbeard-Whitebeard to implicate both Amit Shah and NaMo. He also came up with a fantastic argument at that time – that Ishrat Jehan and Co had merely come to Gujarat for some “Chota Mota blasts”. So, to these media criminals Chota-Mota blasts are acceptable as long as they are Muslims. Fine! Of course, there is that Wheeler-Dealer of Lutyens – Shekhar Gupta, who once dismissed cases against Teesta as mere “accounting errors”. I am sure Gupta has many such accounting errors in his accounts and therefore can appreciate Teesta’s situation. Here’s what the guy tweeted:

Teesta is being crushed? What kind of moronic argument is that? She is protected by the highest court of the land in a flash like no one has ever been before. This Gupta did not once talk or write about the crimes of Teesta or her swindling and he claims he had arguments with her. What arguments? On the options of whether Modi should be killed or jailed? Let’s not forget, there’s that eternal C5M bimbo Sagarika who came up with a fantastic defence:

Teesta is a bridge builder? Like what? Like Pappu wanted to build a bridge between Bundelkhand and the USA? Such are the moronic utterances of these Rudaalis. Truth is, each one of them knows they are on the wrong foot and are lying through their teeth. But all of them have bathed in the left over dirty water from Teesta’s bathtub and have to defend her in some way or the other. This means even vaguely claiming they had differences with her. Media-scoundrels of the first order! So what’s the real problem?

It must be noted that Teesta was funded by Congress and CPM to campaign against BJP in LS2004 elections and also later against NaMo after the 2002 riots. How did Ford Foundation suddenly find interest in the Teesta couple? Surely, FF doesn’t come knocking at the doors of a political NGO unless the political bosses put in a good word. And you know well who put in that good word to carry out the campaign against NaMo. And is it all just financial irregularity? If that were the case then CBI need not have been involved at all. Local investigating agencies and ED could have imposed some fines and settled it. But that is hardly the case with Teesta.

First of all, why did the CBI have to get involved at all? If Teesta had cooperated with the Gujarat police in investigations and provided documents then there would have been no need for CBI at all. But Teesta dodged the Gujarat police for years. She is an “Inter-state” crime-accused. She commits her crimes in Gujarat and hides in her hole in Mumbai where Gujarat police do not have jurisdiction. She files petitions in Mumbai HC to dodge Gujarat police. And that is the reason CBI had to be involved since they have national jurisdiction.

And what are the many crimes of Teesta? According to the SIT on Gujarat2002, she had filed many fake affidavits from those claiming to be victims of the riots. The Naroda residents have claimed she defrauded them. FCRA violations or mere financial irregularities are quite different from defrauding the public. Our media criminals refuse to recognise this. And the Sickular Commies from media and politics have also organised a grand protest for Teesta over what they call “harassment”:

The motive for all these Teesta Rudaalis is simple: If Teesta is indicted and later found guilty by a court then they all will stand guilty of carrying out the most vicious and malicious campaign against one man based on lies, fraudulent documents and fraudulent transfer and misuse of funds. All of them have used Teesta as their frontline foot-soldier in their political campaign. Teesta even led Zakia Jaffri up a garden path to target Modi and Modi alone and the old lady is now left in tatters wondering if she got justice. All of these Teesta Rudaalis have scavenged on the death and misery of the riot victims and their familes. Their chest-beating and wailing has only started now. Let them mourn! 

Do You Really Trust CNBC-TV18 ?

“CNBC-TV18 today is clearly the last word in business news. CNBC-TV18 is a joint venture between Network18 and CNBC, the global leader in business television”. That is what their website tells us. With the Radia tapes exposing many journalists and news channels and newspapers,  the financial networks haven’t received much attention. They, of course, offer wisdom on how your money works best or how the economy is doing or what shares will do well. But do they always tell you the facts? Can you trust them? Let’s take the case of CNBC-TV18. The TV18 group is headed by none other than Raghav Bahl, the author of a recent book called ‘Superpower’. Yes, he should know everything about power. 

                     Udayan Mukherjee - Pays 6 Crores as Income Tax?

Girish Nikam, a journalist, has been following the telecom scandal for quite a long time. Following the second round of the Radia tapes exposure in Outlook magazine, here are some extracts from his site: (in colour and edited for space by me)

What does Raghav Behl, the MD of TV 18(CNBC TV 18 and CNN-IBN), have to say about Manoj Modi (right hand man of Mukesh Ambani) claiming (on June 10,2009) in his conversation with Niira Radia that he told(threatened) him(Raghav) “your organisation is corrupt…. Even factual stories you don’t print about ADAG and you will work for us. I want to know who is the source, Mukesh(Ambani) ko personally attack karega toh main manoj modi hoon, chodega nahin kisiko.——-Raghav said in order to put pressure on me(Raghav himself)— send me(raghav) a legal notice”...... Did Raghav Behl ask Modi to send him a legal notice? If not true, did Raghav Behl get a letter from Modi, making such threats, as Modi claims in this tape and repeatedly asks Niira Radia not to disclose about it to anyone?

In one of the conversations(on June 13,2009) .......Niira Radia remarks that “Sebi investigations is on against Siddharth(Zarabi, Economic Policy Editor, CNBC TV 18), Udayan(mukherjee, anchor and MD CNBC TV 18)....they are getting their wives involved in the (stock) market), and the SEBI investigation is on”. She also goes on to say that Udayan Mukherjee “files the highest tax returns among journalists…… he pays Rs.6 crore as income tax, and he doesn’t even earn that much”. Now what has Raghav Behl and his colleagues named here done about these obviously serious charges? Is what she is saying true? If not what action are they contemplating or have taken?

 

Make no mistake whatsoever. CNBC-TV18 and other financial channels as also most of our news channels and journals can only be expected to be faithful to their paymasters. The viewers and readers are their last priorities. And if you believe all the stories that appear on financial channels, do so at your own risk. Most financial journalists eat from the palms of corporate bosses and advertisers. Not convinced yet? Let’s go to the global CNBC itself.

In my post ‘Servantile Journalism’ in March 2010 this is what I wrote:

"... In March 2009 in his now famous smack-down of CNBC (the American financial channel) Jon Stewart of The Daily Show showed how the journalists at CNBC asked all stupid and servantile questions to CEOs of companies like Bear Sterns, AIG, GM, Merryl Lynch, one even went far enough to ask Allen Stanford “how does it feel to be a billionaire?” ....In weeks after the interviews each company collapsed and Stanford was actually running a Ponzi-scheme. Yes, the very same Allen Stanford who sponsored a cricket event in the WI. The point here is, the journalists sucked up to the CEOs of these companies and never asked real hard questions that would indicate the health of their companies. The end result was the economic collapse in the US."    View the full Jon Stewart CNBC smackdown video HERE.

That US economic collapse also affected India. There were suicides by many financially broken people. When it comes to your money beware of servantile journalists and channels. When it comes to financial channels, be cynical. Be very cynical. Can you really trust them?

Is CNN-IBN Plagiarising From MediaCrooks?

Don’t let the title of this post surprise you in the least. The mainstream media is notorious for lifting pieces from blogs and passing it off as their own. Even fake  news and spoofs.  Here is what I wrote in my post titled ‘UPA Govt. May Not Have A Case Against Nira Radia’ on December 14.

“...one can safely assume the complaint to the then Finance Minster, P. Chidambaram, on the basis of which the phone tapping commenced might as well be fabricated. Else, Chidambaram can and should reveal who the complainant was. That is neither a matter of national secrecy nor a matter of grave danger. I wonder if the complaint was signed by anyone or was an anonymous one”.

This morning, reporting on the CBI raids on Nira Radia, CNN-IBN’s Bhupen Choubey asked the very exact question that I asked above. So why does it strike me? Because nobody, no one in the MSM had asked this question before. Who is the complainant? Is the complaint signed or is it anonymous? This was the exact question that Bhupen Choubey asked.  Picking up pieces from various journals or sites is no crime at all, as long as the source is mentioned. Let’s see if CNN-IBN refutes what I have called plagiarism.

Even if they did, I have no problems. This blog was any way meant to persuade the media to ask the right questions. And for once CNN-IBN, at least, has asked the all important question. Who was the person who filed the complaint against Radia? Was it anonymous? I believe the answer to this simple question will solve the entire drama surrounding the 2G Scam. The CBI raids, eye-wash as they are, on Nira Radia and others is bound to reveal absolutely nothing. With all the intelligence at their disposal it seems outright stupid for the government to be raiding Radia or others now.  Even the tape-leaks are nearly a month old. Everyone involved had enough time to cover their tracks and clean up. I am confident the CBI is working like an old dog that has lost the sensory effectiveness of its nose and smell (or should I say Congress’ ‘pet-dog’?)

Regardless, now that CNN-IBN has asked the question, others in the media should pick it up and pressurise P. Chidambaram to come clean.  The questions that the government should answer are:

1.   Who filed the complaint against Nira Radia that instigated the phone-tap?

2.   Was the complaint signed or anonymous?

3.   If the complaint was signed, was the complainant ever queried or questioned?

The media must now put pressure on P. Chidambaram to come clean. These 3 questions hold the key to the entire phone-tapping and 2G scandal. My personal bet is the complaint was anonymous and was probably fabricated once the Supreme Court got involved in the case.  Will the rest of the mainstream media now pick up the challenge and ask these questions? Even if PC can't reveal the name for some reason, he can definitely inform whether the complaint was signed or anonymous.