The Ghose In The Machine

Take a look at this furnace in the basement. “He wanted to make his family disappear… He murdered his whole family and half the people on the block... That’s where he keeps his victims”. 

It’s quite a frightening horror scenario. Every time you look at the furnace you cannot help being reminded of the victims who were burnt to hell. The soot and ashes from the burnt bodies are all over the basement floor. The stench of roasted humans fills the air in the stuffy basement. You can be forgiven if everytime you entered the basement you saw ghosts of those that were killed by some maniac. 

This story was captured in a horror movie and I suggest you watch this 2.0 minute trailer (Only if you’re over 18):

Imaginative geniuses can turn a comedy like ‘Home Alone’ into an absolute horror story. Youtube has an abundance of such recut trailers which turn comedies in to horrors and horrors into comedies. Kids are scared of a lot of things. Kevin, in Home Alone, has this terror about the basement furnace. In other words, it’s seeing ghosts in the machine. I know of someone else who sees terror and ghosts in comic situations. That’s none other than our very own Social Genius. In yet another idiotic loose cannon titled “Netiquette,Not Censorship” in Outlook magazine she sees ghosts, evil and terror in the social media and, unfailingly, in the Right-Wing. The only way kids overcome such fears is as they grow, see reason, logic and scientific explanations. Being an optimist I’m sure someday in the distant future Sagarika Ghose will grow up and embrace reason, logic and science.

One of Arthur Koestler’s book's central concepts is that as the human brain has grown, it has built upon earlier, more primitive brain structures, and that this is the "Ghost in the machine". The primitive minds in our mainstream media (MSM), so well exemplified by the Social Genius’ mindless utterances on TV, in print and even on Twitter, is the phenomenon of ‘The Ghose in the machine’. So let’s visit some classic ‘moron-speak’ from the primitive Social Genius.

“Social media is not the enemy. It is simply an amoral technology..” There! In the very opening part of the article the compass points clearly to the technology being “amoral”. If that line were to be rephrased, a bigot from the MSM would have rewritten it and it could read: “Hindus are not the enemy, Hinduism is amoral” Now you get the logic of the communist?

“A deluge of profane language, abuse of religious icons and vicious attacks on minorities are the hallmarks of Twitter and Facebook in India. Twitter in India, almost completely dominated by right-wing religious nationalism, has been called a “hate factory”. Well, it’s quite easy to forget who abused Lord Ram as an encroacher or manipulated a debate on TV to make SriSri Ravishankar appear in a negative shade. Never mind! Her boss, the so called editor of CNN-IBN, in deep anguish and anger uses the ‘F’ word. Oh yeah, you could say that is kindness compared to the profanity of others. What about ‘right-wing’? It’s true social media is dominated by Hindus. Educated, tech-savvy Hindus. So they’re all right-wing religious nationalists who collectively run a ‘hate-factory’. It’s a nice clever way of branding all Hindus into one category of hate-mongers. Ghose in the machine?

“As a television journalist, I get a daily dose of abuse on Twitter, an exercise in character-building endurance. Some examples: “Bitch, you deserve to be stripped and raped publicly.” ….. why u r not covering assam riots, mulloh ne ma ch..i hai kya behan..... Dalli saali Rahul ki.” In fact, I and other women journalists on Twitter regularly receive threats of sexual assault, showing that on Twitter, criminals do not fear the law”  Aha! So you see it’s really not about people in general getting abused but it’s about her and her “hammam”. A huge majority of those on Twitter don’t use such language. Most are skilled in either subtle or vicious humour, sarcasm or ridicule. They don’t need filthy language to do that. On the other hand, without condoning that kind of language, I would surely recommend the Social Genius take a look in the mirror. Of thousands of media persons and writers on Twitter if she and a few others get this then they would do well to remember it’s called ‘boomerang’. What you send out is what comes back to you in return. How often have you heard the line: “If you don’t like our programs, don’t watch our channel”. Same goes for these propagandists. If you can’t take something just leave and go someplace else.  

“In the mainstream media, we constantly debate the limits of regulation. The NBSA, the watchdog body for electronic news media of which I’m a member, advocates a firm “no” to censorship but “yes” to responsible content”. The NBSA is a watchdog? It’s just another coffee shop like the PCI. And if the NBSA is pathetically useless it is because its members are the same ones who abuse the privileges of TV media. I don’t think anyone needs to add even one line more to the stringent observations by the Supreme Court on the TV media in the Kasab death sentence. The SC has clearly stated that regulators cannot be from “within” the media itself. That’s the level our shamelessly corrupt media has fallen to. I dare say, it would be safer to allow security of Tihar Jail to its criminal inmates than let the media guys manage their own imaginary watchdog. The SC also damned them as potential “national security threat”. Journalist involved in the Israeli Embassy attack in Delhi, journalist involved in the murder of another journalist in Mumbai, on August 30 a journalist arrested in terror-plot in Bangalore. Shouldn’t the people demand that before journalists are given jobs or accreditation they should be cleared by National Security agencies? And yet, because some fools use filthy language on Twitter, the social media needs to be throttled.

It might have never even occurred to this Social Genius that hate can be incited even without filthy language. If I remember right, petitions have been filed against religious books, religious texts have been burnt for inciting hate and violence. The Bhagwad Gita was recommended for a ban in Russia. And these don’t contain filthy language. So the self-righteous sermonisers from the MSM typically don’t do any research before they criticise.The one journalist who was booed and chased away from India Gate was Barkha Dutt. I don’t think that would happen on Twitter, would it? But hey, just as the imaginative recut trailers on Youtube, there are some shows that best explain Bimbos. In a previous post I explained Sagarika’s “Miss India” type utterances with a video. The video below explains it even better: (A transcription of the exchange is provided below the video)

Anchor:  Say (your husband) is he basically more urban or rural Cathy?

Blond:    I don’t know what they mean..

Anchor:  Oh you know about that, you married him! What dya say?

Bimbo:   Ahhh.. heck, he’s urban

Anchor:  He’s urban? How long has he been that way?

Bimbo:   About two months..

Anchor:  And you think there’s anything he can do about it?

Bimbo:   He went to a doctor…

Anchor:  Did the doctor give him anything for his ‘urban’?

Bimbo:   He gave ME something...!

So that’s how the Social Genius sees ghosts and terror on Twitter and social media. Maybe next time she will look in the mirror and find it’s not social media, it’s Ghose in the machine. Nothing to worry really! 

BJP - The Suicidal Bridesmaid

The last time India had ‘Strategic alliance’ discussions with the USA, it was advantage India all the way. India dictated what kind of technology should be freely made available to it by the US and they agreed. India also asked the US to get rid of their plans to park armed forces in the Bay of Bengal and the US meekly agreed. The US also agreed to support India’s plans on Internet censorship in the UN and ban service providers like Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Twitter in the US instantly, if India ever demanded it. (The power of Zero Sibal!) The best part was India finally forced the US to declare Pakistan a terrorist state. All this was achieved by the smooth and tactful S.M. Krishna against a bungling Hillary Clinton. At the recent G-20 meet when our honest, principled and decisive PM met President Obama one could tell even from a great distance that ‘Obama’s legs were shaking with fear’. India’s position as the new superpower is now firmly established.

I know what you’re thinking! You’re probably thinking the crook has gone nuts!

'Black Lotus' - The Suicidal Bridesmaid

Alright, alright, none of the above ever happened. But I can dream, can’t I? And so can the BJP! Truth is, in a strategic alliance one is better off negotiating from a position of strength or, at worst, from a position of equals. The recent nomination of a presidential candidate, the fracas with JDU leader Nitish Kumar, a bullying Shiv Sena and many other issues have shown all the strengths of BJP with relation to its alliance partners. Alliances make any sense only if you are in power. I doubt you had an UPA in 1970, 1999 or pre-2004 elections. Just as the NDA was cobbled together in 1998-99 the UPA too was cobbled together in 2004. In both cases the alliance partners have frequently changed but the one on top, the one with ‘strength’ retained the advantage. Once out of power the NDA has been practically dead. This is the fake dream the BJP still lives with. This is the reality the BJP is simply unwilling to accept and act upon.Fact: Except for the SAD in Punjab and ShivSena in Maharashtra the BJP does not have any real long term allies. Now, in contrast, look at the formidable alliance the Congress has with either or all of the following players at any given time:

RJD, CPM, CPI, MIM, DMK, Samajwadi Party, Trinamool Congress, JD(S)-Karnataka, TRS (AP), CBI, ED, IT, RAW, NDTV, CNN-IBN, TimesNow, AajTak, HeadlinesToday, ABPNews (formerly StarNews), Indian Express, TOI, Hindustan Trolls,BSP (Mayawati), Christian missionaries, Islamic outlets, spurious NGOs AND, being in power, for a fair consideration,it can also rope in Nitish’s JD(U), AIADMK, even Naveen Patnaik’s BJD and Vaiko’s party in dire situations or if it comes to Marathi Manoos, even the Shiv Sena.

In case we forgot, the BJP even played T-20 (Term-20) matches with some of the Congress alliance partners for power. First Mayawati fooled them into a 20-month rule each. When the BJP’s turn came she dumped them. Then they played another T-20 with JD(S) in Karnataka who, after batting, refused to field. Dumped again! The outcome in Karnataka was a BJP victory without any alliances. That’s a first for the party in Southern India.

It doesn’t take a wizard to observe that the BJP in all its alliances where it’s the ruling party, it plays second fiddle. Bihar, Mumbai (Municipality), Punjab. Earlier the alliance with Naveen Patnaik also crumbled and the BJD came to power on its own in Odisha. That makes BJP the suicidal Bridesmaid!

Among its rare long-term allies the Shiv Sena is an out-dated, redundant party and doesn’t even add any value to a national party like BJP. This is what dismays its members and followers. Why does the BJP have any alliance with the SS when it’s not in power in the state or the centre? Foolishness! Despite the bad governance, all the scams and even 26/11, the Congress got a third straight term in Maharashtra in 2009 and is the dominant partner in its alliance with the NCP. Dominant is the key word. The one time BJP came to power in Maharashtra the dominant party was the SS. Since then it has been downhill for BJP in Maharashtra. So why does it still ally with SS in elections? Does it make any sense at all? So, if the BJP wants to assert leadership it has to go it alone in the state in the next election and any alliance with SS or MNS should be on the poll outcomes. Pre-poll alliances with the SS is nothing but suicidal. The SS has no respect from a majority of Maharashtrians and counts for absolutely nothing at the national level and in the rare instances it counts it goes against the BJP. Why play bridesmaid to this insignificant party? At best of times the SS behaves like those Kashmiri youths who store bagful of stones to throw at the slightest incentive at the BJP.

Now, where Bihar is concerned the JDU is now flexing its muscle perhaps because its leader, Nitish Kumar, has his own ambitions. Nothing wrong with that! But why should the BJP again be the victim? Simply because it is once again not the dominant party but the second fiddle. For a national party it’s better to sit in the opposition than to play second fiddle in a coalition. This is a lesson the BJP hasn’t learned from the Congress. It must anticipate that the JDUs and the BJDs are in principle more aligned to the Congress than to the BJP. Both, the JDU and BJD, are welfare-state specialists and are clones of the Congress. Their alliance is based on convenience, power, funds and not on principles. I’m sure this is not lost on BJP either. What kind of national party allows a man to dictate who will campaign in a state, who should be the party’s PM candidate in the future and who keeps defining ‘Secularism’ as frequently as he goes to the toilet every day?

In absence of a clear, unambiguous message to Nitish Kumar the BJP is once again playing the suicidal bride. Voters don’t vote on manifestos, they vote on the confidence and strength a party and its leaders exude, communicate and demonstrate. Tragically, the BJP management hardly seems to realise who represents that confidence, leadership and performance in their party. The other thing they would certainly know is that voters don’t often vote similarly in state and general elections. Congress which was thrashed in UP in 2007 came up with the largest seats for Parliament in 2009. Even Gujarat gives a better deal to the Congress in centre’s elections than in state elections. There is no reason to believe without SS or JDU the BJP wouldn’t score more in Maharashtra and Bihar where they have a much better standing than say a state like Bengal. Whether they declare Narendra Modi a PM candidate or not is hardly important. First they need to demonstrate they are at least a party capable of leading and performing and worth the votes without their sundry allies.

Given the complete disenchantment with the Congress and the UPA’s non-performance, scams and corruption there is absolutely no risk in going it alone in 2014 in states where their current or previous allies are a constant nuisance. Bihar, Maharashtra and Odisha are prime states ready for a solo run for BJP. In Punjab unless they get a majority of seats to contest the BJP must go it alone. In the state, it’s fine to allow SAD the majority but not at the centre. At no cost should they have a pre-poll alliance in these states unless they hold a substantial advantage in terms of seats to contest.

The artful photograph in this post, an imaginary dead woman underwater, is titled ‘Black Lotus’ I have just given it a new name. And the woman does look suicidal. Not much is different with the present BJP and its central leaders. Each time they are called upon to be tough, responsive and combative and to the altar to be the bride – They end up playing the suicidal bridesmaid. The worst part is their spokespersons keep appearing on and giving interviews to Congress alliance channels in the media. What is evident to even a stray observer seems invisible to the BJP.  NDTV, CNN-IBN, ABPNews have sworn their allegiance to the Congress. Some channels are even predominantly anti-Hindu. Just as they should take strong positions with their state-based allies they need to take a strong stand with the corrupt media as well. If they are truly a national party then it’s time to assert their leadership.

PS: Please take a minute to vote for 'India's Best Journalists' .. Poll at top right of this page.

The Fast & The Spurious

Imagine the following people going on a fast unto death to fight corruption: Sharad Pawar, Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, A. Raja, Kanimozhi, Dayanidhi Maran, Arundhati Roy, Suresh Kalmadi, P. Chidambaram, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan….. You can be forgiven if you fell off your chair laughing. Even if you did, some would be seriously backing these people as ‘saints’ without any question. You can count on Rajdeep Sardesai of CNN-IBN, Rahul Kanwal of Headlines Today (HT) and some more to probably support these saints if they ever undertook a hunger strike against corruption.

When Anna Hazare went on his hunger strike almost all TV channels ran a campaign for ‘India Against Corruption’ with logos, fisted hands and asking people to SMS their support to some number. Well, now that Baba Ramdev is fasting and has challenged the government on the same grounds the media, at least two major channels – CNN-IBN and HT, are up against him and indulging in extraordinary mud-slinging. You could call this ‘the fast and the spurious’. Pallavi Ghosh of CNN-IBN even laments in her tweet: “Let's not just blame the govt for going soft on baba..sad to watch some channels doing it too”. That’s right, according to her all TV channels should be attacking Ramdev as viciously as CNN-IBN and HT.

Some weeks back nothing less than the Supreme Court of this country blasted the IT department. “You would have been sleeping if the court had not intervened... You tap phone calls in 2008 but took action against telecom companies only in March 2011. You would have continued to sleep if the court was not monitoring the case..” the apex court observed. All in the media, except one journalist (J.Gopikrishnan of Pioneer) were sleeping too. But our TV channels wasted no time in claiming credit for exposing all kinds of scams. Some of those tapped phone calls brought down one of the most prominent journalists in India. Barkha Dutt had these miserable scenes to witness against her during the Anna Hazare campaign. (See video below)

That Supreme Court statement to IT department should have told any ordinary man that the Indian government was least interested in acting against corruption or black money. That’s the reason there is popular support for the Hazares and Ramdevs. Of all the possible black-money hoarders the one that is under the glare is a scrap dealer from Pune, Hassan Ali, who is supposed to have stashed billions in Swiss banks. How intelligent is that? The funny part is, even as Ramdev’s campaign was about to start off another Maran scandal cropped up. The full extent of corruption and loot is unlikely to ever come out. If they do, it will be accidentally and not because of the government.

Like politicians, journalists too need to learn that spurious and yellow journalism can only go so far. In the wake of the Ramdev campaign both CNN-IBN and HT have been running a relentless campaign against him with various charges of illegal assets, fraudulent funding, illegitimate properties and everything they can throw at him. Of course, none of these come with any solid proof of any wrong doing. In misdirecting their coverage with wrong issues the TV channels can end up supporting those who are actually anti-nationals. (more of this later). And then they keep pointing to various people backing Ramdev, like Ritambaradevi or RSS cadre or VHP and so on.

The Congress bosserina has put a gag order on all its spokespersons. They have only allowed one loose cannon, Digvijay Singh, to utter all kinds of nonsense. In a supposedly democratic party there is a ‘gag’ order. Even as sycophants, there are some good minds in the Congress. Even they chose to zip their lips. Imagine, this is what may happen to the nation if some had their way. They would shut up the whole nation from speaking up. So, in absence of the regular Congress spokespersons the media had to scramble some of the most vicious anti-Baba, anti-BJP, anti-RSS, anti-anything that will speak against the Congress. You had Nandita Rao brought out by CNN-IBN, you had Shabnam Hashmi brought out by HT and, of course, can Vinod Sharma (of Hindustan Times) be far behind?

Except for Shabnam Hashmi, who harped on those who divide the nation, the Babri Masjid and all the communal riots and so on, the rest decided to focus on the financial aspects of Ramdev’s organisations. The private aircraft, the island in Scotland, various properties etc. became staple diet. In short, they wanted to establish beyond any doubt that Ramdev was the most corrupt man and unqualified to campaign against corruption. Throughout the last two days CNN-IBN has been running videos of fund collection by the Ramdev followers implying that this is some kind of viciously improper or illegal activity. Anything that can damage the credibility of Ramdev will do. Neither of these channels even bothered to mildly discuss the validity of his demands from the government. Their focus was to tarnish him, character assassination and pure mud-slinging. They have so far not managed to dissuade people from swarming to the Ramlila grounds.

If it were election season one can still understand, if not justify, all this talk of communalism, fundamentalism and so on by the anti-Hindu forces. What motives do media channels have in lending a platform to such voices instead of keeping the focus on the main issue? I have mentioned people like Sharad Pawar or a Maran going on a hunger strike against corruption because these worthies would know what their conscience tells them.

Baba Ramdev is no fool. The day he announced the formation of ‘Bharat Swabhiman’ and the day he took this decision to go on a hunger strike, he knew damn well that his enemies in the media would be at his throat 24X7. He also knew the enemies in the so called ‘secular’ TV channels of India. He also knew the likes of Rajdeep Sardesai, Sagarika Ghose, Shabnam Hashmi, Nandita Rao, Vinod Sharma, Nitin Waghle, Pankaj Pachauri, Pallavi Ghosh would all be out mud-slinging him. He is smarter than many media crooks. He knows the media pretty much and here is a loose translation of his sarcastic take on the media:

Yellow Journalism & Anarchist Media

“..The media channels have been giving us a lot of coverage. Imagine, these people charge heavily for every minute…. No, for every ten seconds. So you can understand how many ad-hours they have donated to us..” As for Ramdev’s oratory and invocation of national pride it must have surely worried Rahul Gandhi and Digvijay Singh no end. The problem for the Congress media and the Congress itself is not corruption really. The problem is UP is going to polls next year, so also Gujarat and some more states. This Ramdev might end up to be a thorn in the flesh for them. So the media with all its yellow journalism also plays the role of the anarchist snake. The Congress has been a gold-mine for many media houses. Why would they want to see that end?

So it is fair to assume that Ramdev would have expected the media and other agencies to put his trusts, properties, wealth and donations under a microscope and make all kinds of charges. It is unlikely he would have dared to take on this campaign if his conscience knew of any financial misdeeds. As for all those clamouring for his blood in terms of declaration of his assets, funds etc. they need to know that there are agencies in the government like the IT department, the ED, the CBI. The Congress is known to arm-twist opponents so nothing stops them from unleashing the state machinery into going into Ramdev’s funds and assets with a fine tooth comb. Despite CNN-IBN crying itself hoarse on this topic, people don’t seem to be buying it. What next? Will someone from somewhere bring out some sex-tape CD? Will someone bring out some CD showing Ramdev accepting huge amounts of cash? Will someone dig up a hole at his ashram and unearth huge amounts of undeclared cash? (a la Sukhram?) Instead of some good investigative journalism that may truly expose financial misdeeds CNN-IBN and HT have been rattling off allegations with the nonchalance of those in jail for corruption claiming innocence.

Barkha Dutt has prudently stayed away from the scene of action in this case. To my memory there has never been a case where a journalist has been heckled, booed and driven out of a place the way Barkha Dutt has been. Such has been her fall from dizzying heights. People are not just angry at politicians. Their anger is also slowly turning towards a biased media. Rajdeep and Kanwal and the rest may want to learn from her experience. Journalists were once placed on a pedestal as high as the ones reserved for Teachers in society. The fall in their integrity is quite similar to that of corrupt politicians.

On a different note, here is something from the 26/11 tragedy that the media seems to have forgotten. The TV channels reported every word of David Headley that exposed the ISI involvement in the 26/11 attacks. Here is what they did not report (Read the full report here):

"..Headley told the court that his Lashkar-e-Toiba(LeT) handler Sajid Mir was in Karachi during the Mumbai attack. Sajid Mir told Headley that a couple of people were with him. Sajid Mir was in contact with the attackers via phone and he was watching TV coverage of the siege and seeing what was going on in India, he said. … About the operation at Chhabad House in Mumbai, Headley said Sajid Mir told the two boys (attackers) to use mattresses and ambush the Special Forces who were descending down the staircases. Six people were killed in the attack on Chhabad house, a Jewish community centre."

The spurious and selective dose of reporting by TV channels is not lost on anyone. The story of Ramdev’s fast keeps unfolding. The story of the spurious media and reporters is not new. Keep watching the mud-slinging grow to a fever pitch.

PS: Since posting the above article 'Transparency International' has also endorsed Ramdev's campaign. You won't find coverage of that news in any mainstream media. Read the news report HERE or on any other news website.

CNN-IBN Inaugurates Mud-slinging Season

Why is CNN-IBN rattled?

On June 2 CNN-IBN had back to back programs covering the proposed hunger strike by Baba Ramdev. It was Rajdeep Sardesai first at 9PM and at 10PM Sagarika Ghose. The Ramdev issue was top of the list and then, of course, some routine issues of corruption concerning Dayanidhi Maran. Isn’t that nice? For once almost all channels had the Maran kickbacks and corruption issue in second place when normally most channels would have been screaming about it all evening. It’s natural! The Maran corruption case is certainly not as dramatic as the Ramdev satyagraha and by now the nation is pretty used to these stories of kickbacks and corruption. Aren’t we?

Both the programs had a similar agenda – Is Ramdev morally credible to launch a fight against black money and corruption? How did Ramdev get his enormous funds and build an empire worth 11000 crores (None being sure if this is 1100 or 11000). And of course, if this is a threat to democratic processes. The focus of Rajdeep’s program was the money part and that of Sagarika, the moral part. Money and morals! Hmmmm! Our media persons are the best to sermonise on both, aren’t they?

I have a decent understanding of finance and economics. But for those who are challenged in that area I will let Sagarika’s words enlighten on you on some economic and black money issues (Her tweets from June 2):

“Can black money simply be brought back by going on hunger strike? Or systemic currency reform needed so rich stop parking money abroad…..argument is rupee will have to be made into a hard currency. for that india will have to get its fiscal deficit etc in check…..Untaxed foreign exchange hidden abroad is a consequence of exchange controls on rupee. experts say only fwd is to make rupee a hard currency….Real issue of black money shd concern us. need to understand why it happens, a bash-the rich-and-UPA slogan will achieve little…..The govt shd look into why untaxed foreign exchange is hidden abroad, not just penalise those who do it. Reform is urgently needed….”

Do you feel educated now? She wants the government to look into why untaxed foreign exchange is hidden abroad when she, the wise one, already answered that question by stating it's a consequence of exchange controls on rupee. Duh? If any of you really manage to decipher what economic tenets or principles or theories Sagarika has laid out, do let me know and I will send you a special reward.

The Rajdeep program at 9pm in all its cleverness was basically a bash Ramdev exercise with no particular focus except to question his funding and his properties. Now, all the panelists were supporters of Ramdev except one – Nandita Rao. CNN-IBN pulled this person somewhere from the woodwork. She is supposedly a human rights activist and went on a rant on how Ramdev’s funding should be investigated, whether hawala channels were involved and whether illegal money was being transacted in his trusts and so on. Wait a minute! Doesn't that sound like gutter mouth Digvijay Singh? Never mind! Well, first of all assuming the Ramdev trusts are registered as charitable trusts there is a system for filing returns and being audited which is a government job. Secondly, throwing around wild charges of illegitimate funding and hawala transactions against someone is very un-lawyer like. Nandita Rao is also supposed to be a lawyer. So what exactly was her real problem? The real problem is that this guy Ramdev wears saffron, is being backed by BJP and the RSS and could be a front for the ‘saffron brigade’. Isn’t that the same fear that the Congress has? So in absence of any Congress spokespersons CNN-IBN found a proxy in Nandita Rao. The queen has ordered a gag on her puppets against talking about Ramdev. So CNN-IBN takes on the job of a smear campaign with panelists like Nandita Rao. Shades of  operation Namo?

Now, did CNN-IBN know who exactly Nandita Rao is? And what her persuasions are? Make no mistake, they damn well did. And in case you are still wondering, go through the communication exchanged by her with the IAC (India Against Corruption) group. You can read the whole lot (before it gets taken off). She considers RSS, Modi and such entities anti-national and killers, so by association Ramdev is equally anti-national. So who could be a better bet for CNN-IBN’s mud-slinging against Ramdev if not this activist?

The history of corruption in this country is almost equal to the history of the Congress. So the questions being bandied about in the media are whether Ramdev is the right person, whether his methods are right and so on. Nobody asked  – What exactly is the alternative? Shoot some corrupt ministers as in ‘Rang De Basanti’? The program started with images of Ramdev’s people collecting funds by cheques. Yes, would you believe it – they were collecting funds by cheques? Isn’t that alarming when we are talking about black money? By cheques? So CNN-IBN tells us how critics are questioning this fund collection. Wait, hahahahaha! No not critics, it’s CNN-IBN that is questioning or portraying the fund collection as something illegitimate and illegal. CNN-IBN’s cup of joy would have run over if those Ramdev guys were collecting cash!

So Rajdeep accuses Ramdev of using ‘public funds’! Once again, we are being enlightened on economic terminology. Does Rajdeep even know what ‘public funds’ means? Let me educate the assholes at CNN-IBN that collecting donations from the public is not the same as ‘public funds’ in legal terms. Go check that out with your lawyers or an economist, Rajdeep! But this is how they will indirectly imply that public funds are being used or misused to support the activities of Ramdev. And in case CNN-IBN stalwarts forget, one of the most corrupt bodies in this country is the BCCI which controls Cricket. One of the heads of the BCCI, Sharad Pawar, was the first to disappear from the scene when Anna Hazare started his agitation.  Despite all commercial operations, extra-ordinary funds, the BCCI is still a charitable trust. Quite a few politicians, especially Congressmen, are involved in the operations of the BCCI. The funds at the disposal of BCCI far exceed everything that a Ramdev can show. Is there any charitable work that the BCCI does as part of its main agenda?

If the likes of Nandita Rao and Rajdeep Sardesai are really interested in exposing illegitimate funding and spurious NGOs then they can refer to the book NGOs, Activists and Foreign Funds, Anti-Nation Industry edited by Radha Rajan and Krishen Kak. How about inviting those authors on your program, Rajdeep? Their book exposes the various illegal and anti-national funds that flow into India for anti-national NGOs. Read more HERE and HERE.

 

Still, if Ramdev has all kinds of illegitimate wealth CNN-IBN should take the trouble of investigating and reporting and not indulge in showing some images of donation-collection to imply there was some wrong doing where there is none. Same goes for the likes of Nandita Rao. Digvijay calls Ramdev a businessman and not a spiritual leader. Well good for Ramdev, at least he is not a crooked politician. And what is wrong in being business minded? Nandita Rao quite clearly demonstrated the fears of the Congress. And what do you know? Digvijay Singh states that “if the Congress was scared Ramdev would have been put behind bars”. Oh yeah? On what grounds asshole? On cooked-up charges? The Congress knows what mayhem will break loose if Ramdev is arrested. I don’t think the Congress is as stupid as Digivijay Singh, not yet.

The woman who opened a pandora’s box, Nira Radia, was put on surveillance by the Home and Finance ministry based on a ‘complaint’ received by the Finance Ministry in 2008. Well, what stops Nandita Rao or CNN-IBN filing a complaint with the ED or the CBDT on similar lines against Ramdev? The UPA government will be more than delighted to act on such a complaint, including phone taps and all. No, instead the likes of Nandita Rao will keep peddling nonsense which no one can decipher but can pass off in the media as gospel. And CNN-IBN will gladly oblige such gossip and rumour mongering.

The tag lines from Sagarika’s ‘Face the nation’ should tell you everything about spirituality. ‘Ungodly politics?’, ‘The asanas of protest?’, ‘Gurus of Government?’ …. Her program started by invoking Chanakya and then listed gurus right up to Bhindranwale. Yes, that same guy who held weapons in a place of worship! Do you feel wiser? See the equation?

Anna Hazare didn’t bother the media or CNN-IBN so much when he was on a hunger strike. It was great for TV. But this guy Ramdev does bother them immensely. Why? His protests and action seem to be backed by Hindus or Hindu organisations. And anything Hindu in this country is bad for the Congress and our 'secular' media. After years of Hindu-bashing, minority appeasement, coining terms like ‘saffron’ terror this comes as a different terror threat to some in the political domain and, of course, some in the media. Is Ramdev right in everything he has proposed? Obviously not. His demand for death to the corrupt, withdrawing 500 and 1000 currency notes, Hindi in some college courses are absurd and are surely not going to be accepted and shouldn’t be. But there are worse cases of absurd demands. The Gujjar agitation for reservation, blocking all rail and road traffic despite High Court orders is a classic example.

Does Ramdev really understand complex economic issues and even that of black money? I don’t think so. Ramdev only understands that black money needs to be tackled. And there is one more dangerous thing that he and many Indians know – this level of blatant and nonchalant corruption and stashing of funds abroad does not happen without the tacit approval or participation of the highest power-holders in the land. The fear for the Congress is that some of its top names may have to eventually tumble. That is bad news for Congress and in many cases, bad news for the media as well.

Let’s do a roll call. Laloo Prasad, Mulayam Singh, Amar Singh, Mayawati all of them have had or still have cases pending against them for corruption. Based on the whims of the Congress the CBI and other agencies go after them or slow down their action against them. Why aren’t these people being prosecuted or why aren’t they in jails?

Much of our ‘secular’ media personalities have built their career on Hindu bashing. If someone like Anna Hazare clad in white Khadi protests, it’s not much of a problem. But beware, if someone in saffron goes into action, all the alarm bells will go off. So you can expect a lot vicious attacks that are still to come. Mud-slinging season has just been inaugurated by CNN-IBN!

All The Queen's Poodles....

Here’s a tweet from Rajdeep Sardesai of CNN-IBN on June 1:

“Face the nation at 10 pm: should unelected members of civil society have so much power in a democracy?” Excellent question Rajdeep and I will field that one for you. But before I do, let’s attend some other issues.

Kapil ‘zero loss’ Sibal, Pranab Mukherjee and others who rushed to mollify and appease Baba Ramdev yesterday did a bad job and weren’t quite prudent in their action. They could have just left it to our communist media. It’s only communist media persons who believe that ordinary people should be ‘powerless’ and almost be slaves to those who rule. There are quite a few other tweets from media persons that are just as interesting and enlightening and some are reproduced below: (Thanks to regular reader of this blog, Free_Verse)

NDTV - Maya Mirchandani:
If Baba Ramdev is seriously planning to fast against corruption why wait until saturday?Jo kal karey so aaj kar, aaj karey so ab ko kya hua?

I completely agree. And I hold the same view about NDTV. I would give them the same advice – Jo Kal Karey So Aaj Kar – Now then, I have held in a post of mine that it is time to End-It TV where NDTV is concerned. So why are they waiting? Why not do it soon enough? If they had an ear to the ground they would surely know what people think of NDTV. They should be running an NGO with their Greenathons and their Coca-Cola sponsored school programmes. Seriously, the last thing I would want is associate a sugar drink with even the poorest of children. That’s a great way to creating future addicts of junk drinks. Well, Coke can do what it likes. It needs explanation why a supposed news channel is involved. Barkha Dutt has been prudently relatively quiet on these events but here are a few more from the NDTV godown:

Pankaj Pachauri of NDTV Hindi:
- "Can the civil society please audit Baba Ramdev's campaign expenses like election commission tracks political parties?"
- Just got this on sms: Baba naheen ye dhongi hai, kaaledhan ka bhogi hai

Hmmm! Take that for self-righteousness. Pachauri can now join Digvijay Singh and Rahul Kanwal (Headlines Today) and audit Ramdev’s accounts. Since when does civil society audit anyone? It is a Congress led government at the centre and like I said in my post on ‘Erring Barkowitch…..’ the government can use all its forces – the CBDT, the ED, CBI, IB, RAW and everything at their command to investigate the funds and properties of Ramdev. And if they need more help, there is P. Chidambaram who can even authorise phone-taps on Ramdev. Ooops, wait, phone taps might inadvertently reveal some more goof ups by NDTV. I wonder which journalistic school Pachauri attended to imagine civil society auditing people or entities. They don’t need the Sibals and Mukherjees to target Ramdev. The media will do it for them.

Pallavi Ghosh – CNN-IBN:
- We all r meant to do what we do..ramdev is a grt yoga guru..surely he can't dictate laws..
- Ramdev has come on a chartered plane..has said he will give intv to all channels..what a contrast to hazare team!

- Diggy joins in says who's afraid of ramdev

Pallavi covers the events and issues of the Congress party for CNN-IBN. And she rightly says we all r meant to do what we do. Yeah right, who’s afraid of Ramdev? Well, I suppose you would rush to the airport to appease a yoga trainer to prove beyond any doubt you’re not afraid. And as for dictating laws I remember a certain programme on CNN-IBN by Rajdeep Sardesai where there were live tweets seeking to legalise lobbying. Yes, that’s right, tweets to support legalising lobbying. Those tweets were later proved to be spurious. Well relax, that is not dictating laws, is it? And as for flying around in chartered planes here is a piece from a letter by Subramanian Swamy  (Read the post: 2G Scam: Subramanian Swamy accusesSonia Gandhi family of getting loot)

"…..What requires your special attention is the mode of the travel, not by commercial airliners, but by jets provided by the corporate sector which itself is illegal under the DGCA Rules. I find that often Ms.Sonia Gandhi and family have traveled to Dubai and then traveled onwards on private jets provided by dubious Arab business interests to Europe….."

Well, Pallavi, the letter Swamy wrote to the PM on November 24, 2010 contains some serious charges, including Sonia Gandhi flying on private chartered jets. Did you or CNN-IBN report this accusation? Did any media channel report this? In contrast, Ramdev is not flying around secretly. His aircraft and flight was there for all of you to grab videos of.

So now let’s get back to Rajdeep Sardesai’s tweet about whether unelected members of civil society should have so much power in society. Ever heard this line Rajdeep – ‘We the people…’ or is that just a programme on your ex-channel? On ‘Face the nation- CNN-IBN’ on June 1, there were three questions by my favourite TV anchor, Sagarika Ghose. Here goes Ghose:

Are unelected people seeking too much power?

Is Ramdev misusing people’s faith?

Are citizen groups taking shortcut to power?

The concoction of questions itself is a brazen attempt to ridicule Ramdev’s movement. The panelists on the programme – Madhu Kishwar, Arun Bhatia and Kiran Bedi were mostly unanimous in supporting citizens’ right to undertake such movements so that was a bit of a disappointment for CNN-IBN.And still Sagarika maintained the 'debate' will go on! Nothing wrong in that.

I wonder if our scholarly journalists ever heard the line ‘Power to the people’! Almost all civil rights movements in the 60s and 70s were brought about by people movement. The famous civil rights movement of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is referred to as a movement that brings power to the people. John Lennon, Beatle and peace activist, even composed a song “Power to the people”. And yet, our clever media crooks paint any civil movement as lust for power, misusing people’s faith, question their integrity, accuse them of illegitimate wealth and all this to suggest only those in the government or those who are elected have the right to have power. These people need to go back to school and refresh their understanding of democracy.

Hang on, if you thought that the media is seriously questioning the Hazares and the Ramdevs you are terribly wrong. They have a big fear. The fear that these johnies are encroaching on the territory that the media thought was their own turf. Yes indeed, the media believes they are the only ones who should have the power to influence opinions, course of events and the national discourse. So fake opinion polls, fake exit polls, spurious panels on their debates, paid news, coining various political terms, and outright bias in news reporting was a domain they thought was exclusive to the media. Now they have these johny-come-latelys taking over their territory. That’s what worries our media. Ramdev does not need the media, the media needs him. Ramdev has grown his empire without any help from the media and he can sustain it without them. Not just that, he has enough resources to run his own channel and lay out his own propaganda. That is really what irks and worries our media. That Kalaignar TV and Sun TV have reportedly got huge funds from the government’s misdeeds is now out in the open. Why shouldn’t we believe that all the other media outlets have also got their share of the cow-dung pie?These seven years have been a joyride for them, why would they want it to stop?

Governments should FEAR people and not the other way around. Learn that, Rajdeep Sardesai!

Power to the people doesn’t simply mean the right to elect someone to a parliament. It means the power to also influence the course of a nation, its policies and its laws. The Congress is in a soup. All the queen’s poodles may not be able to put the kingdom back together. Well, it wasn’t their job in the first place. The media took it upon themselves to put Humpty Dumpty back on the wall. FAIL !