The Loss Of Character Ethic

Elections are meant to be won or lost. Elections wouldn’t be fun if politicians didn’t trade barbs; some vicious, some humorous and some truly absurd. A little bit of twisting of statements, facts and trivia is considered normal in elections. After all, along with lawyers, politicians are not allowed to contest amateur lying contests for a good reason. Both these communities are considered “professional liars”. What a politician should prefer not to lose is the character ethic. It’s character that is permanent, election win or loss isn’t. Some of our major contestants are dependent mostly on “personalities” rather than character. Character ethic is much more permanent than personality ethic. The best explanation is offered by the late Stephen Covey  (dealt with in his book “7 habits”):

“The difference between the personality ethic and the character ethic… The character ethic is the idea that a person advances on basis of their character. This was culturally the main idea expressed in the US up until about WWI, when popular literature began to focus more on short-cuts and easy ways to manipulate situations or to get what you want. Character ethic depends on deep changes within each of us, while the personality ethic falls back on methods or techniques. The personality ethic does not challenge us; neither does it bring about deep changes within us”.

Based on Covey’s book and by others, LK Advani too has written on the topic. I recommend you read the article. If you are anti-BJP or anti-Advani, just read the article and forget who has written it. In the post after the Patna blasts at a Narendra Modi rally I rephrased the old saying: “Character does not develop in a crisis, it merely reveals itself”. In this one we will discuss some of the key people or groups who have lost their character ethic during these elections.

The Gandhi-Vadra clan:

The Gandhis have never fought elections on issues of character. Their campaign has always been personality-driven. In the past there was far less scrutiny of the family in the public domain in absence of social media. But now the SM doesn’t miss what the MSM covers up for the family. SoniaG is responsible for injecting the most foul dialogue into political discourse with her “Maut ka Saudagar” rant. During these elections it was followed up by her daughter Priyanka Vadra with silly lines in desperation. Mrs Vadra danced and waltzed around Amethi with nothing to show for performance by the family and played victim. She referred to Modi’s politics as “Neech rajniti” without any context. It seems anyone criticising Rajiv Gandhi for his known stupidity and arrogance is an insult to her family. Do these people really belong in politics? The worst was to come on polling day. The behaviour was atrocious to say the least, take a look:

That is RahulG inside a polling booth in Amethi indulging in the kind of nonsense that a candidate is not supposed to. The Gandhi-Vadra clan is used to nobody questioning them; not even police or constitutional authorities. The situation in Amethi seems to be testing for the Gandhi and contributes to his bad behaviour and that of Mrs Vadra. The PA of Mrs Vadra was floating around at Amethi polling booths as if she was some royal observer from the queen’s palace:

Mrs Vadra’s PA had to be sent out of the area after Smriti Irani confronted her. The incidents are many to list here. The Gandhi-Vadra clan seems to realise an electoral loss is on the cards unless there is a massive electoral fraud. Being out of power is a crisis for them. And their response in such a looming crisis was not one of strength or dignity but crass behaviour and bogus political discourse of lies and victimhood. Character doesn’t develop in a crisis, it merely reveals it.

Mamata Banerjee:

Mamata Banerjee does have a good story. She started from scratch and battled the CPM for a long time. She was nearly killed once in 1991 by the CPM’s brutality. Her agitation tactics finally brought her to power in Bengal after 3 decades of CPM rule. However, it’s not where you started but where you’re finishing that eventually counts. And MB is finishing badly. One can understand her phobia with death-threats and everyone trying to kill her. What Bengalis did miss, however, is that they replaced the CPM with more of the same. Both TMC and CPM are cut from the same cloth and their policies and practices are not any different. What is alarming is the uncouth and uncivilised that is now emanating from MB and her foot soldiers. In response to a statement by Modi that TMC was funded by purchase of MB’s paintings at bogus prices, she and a moron called Derek O’Brien called him the “Butcher of Gujarat”. Fine, let’s pass that for anger. They threatened a defamation case when facts proved that the paintings were indeed purchased by the scam-tainted Sarada chit fund group.

From there, it only got worse. You need to combat political barbs and taunts with political language. What flows from MamataB is nothing short of an endless gutter. Here’s the first one:

So, even if Modi gets a majority she won’t allow him to become PM. I wonder if she ever sits down and reflects on her moronery and the stupid statements she frequently makes. It is increasingly becoming evident that the woman has no governance or political skills. Like the CPM or AAP she seems good only for street agitations and unfit for any mature leadership role. When Modi stated he will send back “illegal” Bangladeshis from Bengal back to Bangladesh she went into another rant. She said she would tie up Modi and throw him in jail and challenged him to send her to Bangladesh. She behaved like she was the champion of the illegal immigrants. What kind of CM or leader does that? Her stupidity and hypocrisy didn’t take long to be established because in another rally Modi reminded her how she had accused CPM of allowing illegal immigrants on the voter rolls whom she wanted to throw out. That horrible incident was in 2005 in the parliament when she was an MP and she hurled papers at the Speaker. She has a history of uncouth behaviour but one would have thought a responsibility like the CM’s post would see better behaviour.

Nothing has changed. MB’s behaviour has only gotten worse and so has her language. She now states that if she desires Modi wouldn’t be able to set foot on Bengal. Who the hell is this woman? Who the hell is this moron? In any other country the media would have slapped her in the front pages for this statement but not in India where such moronery passes unnoticed.

Simple fact is, Bengal too seems to have been caught in the Modi-wave that is being discussed all over and it threatens MB’s party in some seats. Regardless of whether one wins or loses some seats or elections such a situation shows up true character of the person. This election season, MamataB is another politician whose poor character has been on full display. Pathetic is the only way to describe her. I pity Bengal to have gotten such leaders.

The Election Commissioners:

This is a powerful Constitutional office with the serious responsibility of conducting free and fair elections. For a few years we thought booth capturing, rigging or violation of rules was a thing of the past. We were wrong. The present CEC, VS Sampath and his team have made a total mockery of the election process. I recommend read “The Quixotic EC” for some details, if you haven’t already. Millions of voters deleted from rolls is a serious crime (read more on the farce of voter rolls). Since then the situation in the last 2 rounds of polling has only gotten worse. While pulling up Modi for flashing a lotus badge, the EC turned a blind-eye to the total farce at Amethi where RahulG meddled in the polling booths. Take a look at this Amethi polling centre decked with Congress posters and flyers:

How in the world does such a fraud get to be allowed? On May 7 the EC at Varanasi banned some of the rallies of Modi in the town. This is where Modi is contesting from. One of the locations of the rallies was Benia Bagh, supposedly surrounded by Muslim localities. The local DM claimed it was a communally sensitive area and he had IB alerts on threats to Modi. This is the stupidest thing one has heard from the EC. On one hand the DM claimed the permission wasn’t given because someone else was already scheduled there and then later claimed there was an IB alert. I see this is as clear mischief by the local EC to deprive Modi the chance to campaign. This is obviously not being done independently but under advice of political powers. Effectively, this means Modi would not have a single public rally in Varanasi. When asked about action against RahulG’s violations in Amethi the CEC had a comic answer:

In the afternoon on May 8, VS Sampath held a presser where he claimed EC is fair, impartial and neutral. Everything we suspect they are not. He even claimed EC doesn’t contest elections. These are statements of a mature CEC? The presser was more to defend the EC as pure instead of answering legitimate questions raised by a political party. Obviously the EC thinks (like the Gandhi-Vadra clan) they are beyond questions. Ashok Malik describes the whining of Sampath perfectly. Arun Jaitley remarked 'Timid men can dwarf high offices”. I cannot help but agree. It is not mere incompetence which is evident. The CEC and some of his team members have disgraced their office and, when tested, shown their office to be of poor character ethic. This is one Constitutional office that needs dramatic revamp and reform.

I can go on and list more people and groups who have lost the character ethic during these elections but it would be a very long list. I have chosen to list the worst cases. Our MSM merely relays sound-bites like a box of parrots. The media too will take a huge revamp so that they start speaking the truth about politicians and Constitutional offices. The loss of character ethic will continue to destroy many democratic institutions in the country. We haven’t seen the last of it yet.

  

The Quixotic EC

Any election without its humour and laughable moments is no fun. Lately, apart from the politicians it’s the Election Commission (EC) and its multiple Commissioners and field level Commissioners that have been providing some comic moments. They have this thing called Model Code of Conduct (MCC) which the politicians and other public figures campaigning are supposed to follow. I believe Mohinder Amarnath would have called these guys “a bunch of jokers” without a second thought; such is their implementation of policies and codes. The first and foremost task of the EC is to ensure all voters who wish to vote are able to vote without hindrance. They have failed miserably in this task and someone needs to explain and probably even be prosecuted for this serious lapse. It’s not even a question of a few hundreds or thousands, this runs into millions according to news reports:

There is no denying that the task of conducting elections in India is a huge one. It’s the biggest elections on the planet that can face a lot of hurdles. That is understandable and we shall deal with it later. But why should there be a problem with something as clerical as voter rolls? Six Million in just one state and there maybe others in other states too. That’s not a small number, that’s almost like disenfranchising the whole of Israel or Sweden or Switzerland. The EC apologised for this but this is a crime that needs much more than a mere apology. This is the reason people have stopped trusting even the EC. An earlier CEC, Naveen Chawla, was reportedly talking to Congress party members from the toilet of his office. And after all this the EC gets into idiotic issues of MCC.

First they ban Amit Shah for his “revenge” speech. Then they ban Azam Khan for his “Muslims saved Kargil” speech. Both are idiotic cases and didn’t deserve any action. But like the media, the EC too now indulges in “monkey balancing”. Amit Shah’s ban has been reversed but not Azam Khan’s. I’m no fan of Khan but if he wants to say Muslims saved Kargil, what is wrong in it? At best it’s a lie or not the full truth. That should be combated by other politicians not by the EC. Which political speech during an election does not have some sprinkling of lies and distortions? This whole nonsense of “hate speech” is driven a lot by religious issues. There is nothing hateful in what Khan or Shah said. Why are we so scared that Hindus and Muslims are dumb who will fall prey to such speeches? Are the ECs supposed to act as their Mother-in-law?

There is another moron (who invented the DNA testing system) called Abu Azmi who wants the DNA of those Muslims, who didn’t vote for his party, to scientifically establish if they are Muslims or RSS members. For the record, even RSS has a Muslim-wing. So far, terrorists wanted to hear some verses from Quran or the name of Mohammad’s mother to establish one was a Muslim. Now we have a new method? In case some have forgotten, this same EC covered all the elephants of Mayawati on frivolous claims of other parties that it would influence voters. The EC spent crores on it. Does the EC really believe voters are that dumb? There was even a complaint by Congress in MP to hide lotus ponds. This has been getting sillier with time. Then there’s the question of campaigning or flashing symbols on voting day. Which age does the EC live in?

The EC recently filed FIRs against Narendra Modi for flashing the Lotus badge while talking to media after voting in Gandhinagar on April 30. The Congress and others complained about it and the EC held a special 3 hour emergency meeting after which they decided to file the FIRs against Modi. This is as stupid as it gets. There’s a 24X7 media beaming sound-bites from various candidates on voting day. There was Nandan Nilekani commenting on BJP and why Congress should win after he voted in Bangalore. In the pic below, others using symbols after voting are doing so deliberately and not accidentally:

There was Meera Sanyal in Mumbai condemning Milind Deora after she voted in Mumbai. There are many such cases and the complaints can be endless. If that is not enough, on voting days at some places there is campaigning on at other towns. The media airs those campaigns. Does it not influence voters? Is the EC under the impression what Modi may say in Bangalore may not have any impact on a voter in Bihar which may have a voting-day? Or are the channels not airing the campaigns in voting areas? What is the point of the whole farce of FIRs and silly actions wasting time from an important exercise in the country? Because the media morons and Congress screamed the EC filed an FIR against Giriraj Singh (Who said Modi-haters must go to Pakistan). The arrest warrant against him has been quashed by the Jharkhand HC. What is so painful about what Giriraj said? (There are already people who have said they will leave the country if Modi becomes PM). It may offend some people but is mere offence cause enough for the EC’s quixotic behaviour? In an interesting story, the state of Ohio in the US has banned negative campaigning and lies against candidates. Although this has been challenged in their SC under First Amendment rights, there is a similar need for dramatic change in our MCC. Operating the same MCC where prosecutable crimes aren't separated from petty issues drains the EC of valuable time, resources and focus.

If at all the EC and political parties really want to stop this silly incidents all they have to do is have clear guidelines for the media. In this day and age it is absurd not to recognise that channels like NDTV, Timesnow, CNN-IBN, Aajtak and other groups are active campaigners in elections. Each media channel supports and campaigns for a party. The excessive promotion of Mrs Vadra by Arnab Goswami and TimesNow has reached levels of absolute moronery. Even the most stupid and childish things she says and does are peddled as great political insight or skill. Silly Arnab even had problems with someone calling her “Mrs Vadra” because the Vadra name is now associated with land scams which are in the news again. Given all these stupidities does the EC have time for crimes such as illegal voter cards?

The EC has been quixotic in almost all elections. First off, holding a national election over 35-40 day period itself is a very absurd practice. The gaps between voting days provide enough opportunities for political parties to get exit polls from sources and even corrupt media channels to tailor their campaigns in between voting days. It also provides opportunities for other corrupt practices to be extended. The whole exercise has to be modernised and completed within a week. It may be a tall task and require a lot of resources. It’s better to make those resources available and enable elections to finish inside a week. Considering elections form one of the most important parts of a democracy, the new govt must make it a top priority for electoral reforms. That would at least be a start to stop the EC’s Quixotic ways.

Not Watchdogs Anymore, Just Poodles...

This is an update to the post "CEC: Media As Friend & Ally In Elections" of March appended below:

It would be dishonest and unfair to tar the entire community of journalists as corrupt. It is just safe to say that a huge majority of news outlets are corrupt and cannot be called a watchdog anymore. I have personally been witness to newspapers blackmailing business houses with planting fake stories or exposes if they didn’t get their share of ad business as a rival newspaper. In wanting to avoid confrontation or wastage of time most businesses oblige, some do stand up. It is in this light that latest developments of the ‘paid news’ syndrome has to be viewed.

It would also be naïve to imagine that the money trail for ‘paid news’ can be traced. Obviously these transactions aren’t made through cheques. That’s what explains a total election expense of 7/- lakhs within the then limit of 10/- lakhs. This is what P. Sainath writes in The Hindu:

“Mr. Chavan's accounts are a delight. A kind of Gandhian manual on poll austerity. Read them and you know that Bhokar, Nanded is where you want to settle post-retirement. Things are so cheap. Mr. Chavan wrapped up his newspaper advertising within a frugal Rs.5,379. His entire poll campaign cost less than Rs.7 lakh. (The limit for an assembly constituency in Maharashtra that year was Rs.10 lakh). This included two public meetings where he brought down Bollywood megastar Salman Khan as the main attraction, drawing thousands of people. The first meeting cost a piffling Rs.4,440 and the second even less, only Rs.4,300. In both cases the main cost, more than a third of the total, was on the public address system. (But even Steve Jobs could not have got the audio done in Rs.1,500). The pandal top cost just Rs.200, hired sofas cost the same and Mr. Chavan spent no more than Rs.1,000 on setting up the stage”.

The PCI’s paid news report was watered down to around 12 pages, from the original 71, on protests by the worst offenders involved in the syndrome. Each time the issue of accountability is raised with the MSM the endless fountain of screams about “freedom of press” or “self-regulation” flow as a torrent. It is, therefore, amazing that the CEC or any sensible body rely on the media to report violations or instances of paid news. Oh yeah, they will depending on which side of the political spectrum they are on.

Apart from the paid news syndrome, Radiagate has exposed beyond any doubt that MSM is into far greater misdeeds than just paid news. It is actively involved in political power broking, planting stories on the whims of such brokers. It’s not news and analysis anymore. The last Sunday (Oct 9) edition of ‘We the poodles’ on NDTV ran a debate on the Telengana issue. Among others, one of the key elements of the discussion was what “muslims want”! More than politicians it is the media crooks who are constantly immersed in discussions deciding what is secular, what is communal, what is hate-speech and what is justice or miscarriage of it. The media divides society a lot more than politicians do. The media is far more corrupt than the politicians we keep rapping for it. It is hard to imagine how a company like NDTV still operates despite consistent losses over the years. Since the issue, its share price has constantly gone down. I imagine the financial intrigues of many other media outlets would make sorry reading if thoroughly investigated. And that is good reason to bring the media too under the RTI and the Lokpal.

The slant and biased reporting is now becoming more obvious to people at large thanks to social networks. Can’t call them watchdogs anymore, just Poodles would do!

CEC: Media As Friend & Ally In Elections - March 11,2011

What is wrong with other people? Don’t they matter? The people are your biggest eyes and ears if ever you needed a watchdog. Across the world people are now realising that the mainstream media is a self-serving lapdog and is not a watchdog for anyone. Just as an honest politician is hard to find these days, it is just as hard to find honest media outfits or honest journalists. The honest are the rare exceptions. Here’s what Chief Election Commissioner, S.M. Quraishi, is reported to have said:

....and they can watch over elections?

From the WSJ: India’s Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi on Tuesday asked the media to play the role of watchdog by reporting any violation of the code of the conduct by political parties or candidates in upcoming state assembly elections. Five states – Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal... “We see the media as our ally and friend in the elections. We will see through your eyes.” Mr. Quraishi said that media reports about malpractice and violations would be treated as formal complaints and would be taken up by the Election Commission. But while giving the media the responsibility of ensuring fair conduct during the polls, the Election Commission has also tried to ensure that the phenomenon of “paid news” – one that escalates during election time – is curbed. It has called for the setting up of “district-level media watch committees” comprising “a senior journalist nominated by the Press Council of India” to monitor any instances where the media charge candidates or parties for favorable coverage or for avoiding unfavorable coverage. So while the media will be watching the elections, it will also be watching itself. The debate around “paid news” caused a furore during the national elections in 2009. The Press Council of India later issued a report on regulating and curbing paid news. The council oversees media practices and strives to improve media standards. The report, made public in August 2010, had also recommended amending the electoral laws to make “paid news a punishable electoral malpractice.” The Election Commission has now also said that candidates or parties found paying for news will be punished and will have to bear the cost of the paid news in their election expenditure. But the phenomenon is one that has been difficult to weed out.

Just as it is unfair to tarnish all politicians with the same brush it is equally unfair to tarnish the entire media as well. There are still many honest journalists and mediapersons. Just who will get to pick the ‘district-level media watch committees’? In case the CEC is unaware or has forgotten,  in states like Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Kerala the politicians themselves own the TV channels and much of the print media. The DMK’s TV channel is currently embroiled in links to various scams. So who will be the ‘district-level’ watchdogs? Say, someone like Kashmir interlocutor Dileep Padgaonkar? Or a Barkha Dutt? A Prannoy Roy maybe, or even a Vinod Sharma? As for the Press Council’s report on ‘paid news’ one of the authors, Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, himself is on record stating that the report was ‘watered-down’. The media today is not ‘independent’ as we knew it. The corporate media should not be treated as the ‘Press’ anymore but just as any other business entity. Therefore, Mr.CEC, this is what you need to do:

1.   Appoint a body of people from various walks of life with impeccable credibility and integrity to act as the watchdogs. Avoid including any media person.

2.   You can even hire reputed firms who regularly conduct surveys of all kinds (like Nielsen, Gallup for example) to take an ‘audit-like’ approach to keeping a watch on malpractices.

3.   Put up a page on your website where people themselves can lodge complaints about mal-practices. Sure, you are likely to have plenty of complaints but your auditors can do the job of scrutinising these.

Recent events have only helped to consolidate the suspicion of the media being a lapdog. Till such time there are serious rules that deliver punishment to erring media entities and persons they cannot be anybody’s watchdog. The Press Councils and the Advertising Councils and Editors’ Guilds are all coffee-shop organisations with neither power nor the willingness to reform themselves. People don’t trust the media Mr.CEC, why should you? With all the resources at your disposal I am sure you can find better watchdogs.