NaMo's Victory - Media's Amazing Disgrace

No matter how good the map of a place and how good a map-reader one is, it’s not the same as being there. This is worse if you have the wrong map or a subjective map. What would you expect of me if I told you I am travelling to Rajasthan but only had the map of a spot in Ajmer? What would you expect of me if I told you I am travelling to Karnataka but only had the map of Cottonpet in Bangalore? Yeah, you’re right! I would probably describe Rajasthan a place full of Dargahs which Ajmer is famous for and Karnataka a place full of Muslim ghettos which Cottonpet is. So when Barkha Dutt travelled to Gujarat all she had was a map of Juhapura in Ahmedabad. Sagarika Ghose travelled to Gujarat too but all she had in her map of the ‘golden corridor’ from Ahmedabad to Surat were Muslim localities. So their stories had nothing but Muslims and their supposed sufferings. Their stories were not about Gujarat. As Stephen Covey puts it in ‘7 Habits’: “Individuals may look at their own lives in terms of paradigms or maps emerging out of their experience and conditioning, these maps are not the territory. They are a ‘subjective reality’, only an attempt to describe the territory”. This is the reason most media celebs fail to read Gujarat.

Even Rajdeep Sardesai, who claims to be born in Ahmedabad, sees mutual fund hoardings dominating the streets in Ahmedabad. This is a lie. He sees what he wants to see and not reality. To my surprise the only media person to have really travelled across various parts of Gujarat and learned about the state and its people is Shekhar Gupta. Surprise, considering his main interest appears to be real estate in NCR. The fact that Gupta travelled widely comes across quite well in his last few articles about Gujarat and also his statements on TV on December 20 during discussions of the election results. Apart from roads, power and other experiences Gupta narrates the story of a widowed woman farmer, Kamalaben, around the Godhra area who is doing splendidly well on her own. She has managed irrigation, gets power, is an expert on cricket like all of us and catches up with the world on her TV. And she’s a traditional Congress supporter who acknowledges Narendra Modi’s work and may have voted differently this time. This is the ‘experience’ I narrated in ‘Gujarat – Breaking rules’; here’s an excerpt:

These people are reading newspapers… They are reading poll analysis… You know, like the ones by Rajdeep Sardesai, Yogendra Yadav, Prannoy Roy or India Today and many other pundits. They are also analysing the GDP figures of all the states, poverty figures of all states…. They sit around and analyse all the figures, manifestos, claims and other stuff put out by the govt and media before they decide who to vote for. No? Well, all that stuff is good for debates and policy making. Ordinary people know it in their gut. Whether the economy is good or bad, they know it in their gut. The same “experience” that draws them back to a restaurant or airline also draws them to a politician or makes them reject him. People feel good at visible development and experience it but they also vote based on the intangible, non-visible experience. The more connected a politician is the better the experience. Narendra Modi knows to connect.

Kamalaben, unlike Rahul Gandhi’s Kalawati, has a different experience. She feels development in her ‘gut’. Narendra Modi connects with her. So, on December 20 when the Gujarat election results started pouring in our TV panellists and anchors weren’t surprised but were hoping Modi’s run would somehow be dented with a lower-margin victory. Collectively, most channels and panellists put up the most pathetic display of their lives in election analysis. The few exceptions were the saving grace. Be it NDTV, CNN-IBN, Times Now, Headlines Today, ABPNews or any other Delhi channel. They simply disgraced themselves. Leading the disgrace, of course, was Barkha Dutt. As results started pouring in and early signs were slow for BJP she remarked “Modi is down but not out”. That is not analysis; that is hope in disguise. Hope that Modi would sink. And she had nothing but more queries for her guests on Muslims in Gujarat.

All the usual suspects were there. Yogendra Yadav was there too. He is still toying with his ‘idea of India’. Yadav and RahulG are similar. Yadav is inventing the ‘idea’ of India and RahulG has ‘no idea’ of India. And all the morons who pass off as anchors had very common questions. They wondered if Modi had built a ‘personality cult’. Umm… let’s see! Barkha, Arnab, Rajdeep (the lowest BAR in Indian TV journalism) woke up early in the morning.  They did their Agarbattis or Namaz and rushed to the studio. They hogged their TV channels from around 7am till 10pm in the night as if no one else exists in their channel. Rajdeep only let up for moments when his Dubiousity Editor, the Social Genius, filled in. And these morons are worried about personality cult? After having made their own channels a pathetic reflection of their pathetic personality, can they even ask this question about anyone on earth? They should listen to Michael Jackson’s “Man in the mirror” at least once a day and once before going to bed. And they all had the usual spinners, from Shabnam Hashmi, Swaminathan Aiyar right down to the Modi-infatuated Aakar Patel. Lately, with the Delhi Gangrape incident some are talking about ‘Chemical Castration’ of rapists. Maybe Aakar Patel could do with a similar chemical castration of his head for excessive obsession with one man.
 

Did we hear Gang-rape? Then we must be in Delhi. From the Shabbos to the Sonias, there is hardly any opponent of Modi who hasn’t wailed about the condition of women in Gujarat. A UN observer might hear them and imagine Gujarat is the worst place on earth for women. And yet, the most atrocities on women come from right under the noses of the GOI and Delhi govt headed by women. It’s on Barkha’s NDTV show that the Imam Bukhari called Shabana Azmi a “naachne waali, gaane wali” woman. A Congress moron, Sanjay Nirupam, repeated a similar offence by calling Smriti Irani a woman who “wiggled her body on TV for money” (translation from Hindi) on ABPNews on Dec.20. It was NDTV who refused to name and shame the Delhi politician who treated their reporter, Sunetra Chaudhary, to sexual innuendos. Take a look at the pic. It has people protesting the horrible gang-rape and near murder of a woman. How many such scenes have you seen from Gujarat? Then the police water-cannons protesters! How many such scenes have you seen from Gujarat? And there’s a small crowd celebrating Modi’s victory which is so offensive to his political and media opponents. The height of media hypocrisy is accepting a man who was indulging in sex in his office chambers in a court complex. The Congress may condone Abhishek Singhvi’s nonsense but is the media obliged to accept him as their guest? In all this, there hasn’t been one word from the Prime Minister on the Delhi rape incident.

Oh hell! Did we say Prime Minister? Now that’s a permanent obsession with our media, isn’t it? Modi is performing or doing things not because they deserve being done but he has PM ambitions. So, like I said in the post about ‘Breaking rules’, the media celebs go around asking every idiot they can find if Modi is fit to be PM. Barkha even drops her Congress garb and invokes the inclusive nature of ABVajpayee to make a point about Modi not being good enough for PM. Not everyone in India is obsessed with whether Modi becomes PM or not. But seriously, these discussions are being held when the PM of the country is a man who has never won a public election. Manmohan Singh is being called a puppet, a poodle and many names. I suppose in the eyes of our media MMS fits the bill as PM for the sole reason that he has no spine. In the context of MMS being “appointed” a PM it is even shameful for these media celebs to be discussing anyone else’s worthiness as PM candidate. Doesn’t matter!

When Mayawati won an election 5 years ago and later Obama won the presidency in the US, our media fanatics were quick to declare she could be the first Dalit PM in India. Not a bad thought but where is Mayawati now? Counting her elephants? So who fits the bill? Rahul Gandhi? The man who knows nothing about India? P. Chidambaram, the media’s darling? The man whose last election is in dispute in a court? AK Antony who, as Defence Minister, has the army in conflict with govt? Why so much worry and distress over who the opposition party’s PM candidate is when they can live with a poodle for a PM? The question of whether Modi is fit to be PM is not so much a question about Modi. It is the fears that lurk inside the media of having a PM who doesn’t give a damn about the media. Modi did not spend a single soiled rupee on the MSM-TV of Delhi in his election campaign. That’s a first in India. The unholy trinity of media can’t find the courage or honesty to admit that a NaMo is any day better as a PM than the trio of Sonia-Rahul-MMS. A trio who can’t string together one sentence without someone helping with them with a script. Sonia even reads her Hindi speeches from Roman scripts. Oh! Did you say Hindi?
 

There! Now the chronic LIARS like Barkha, Sagarika, Rajdeep and their mafia even have a problem with NaMo speaking in Hindi. Whoa! So when Modi addressed his supporters on December 20 in Hindi these bimbos were up in arms suggesting his choice of Hindi meant PM ambitions and he was “addressing Delhi”.  They joined the rank of Idionaire Renuka Chaudhary who asked the same question. Not only are these Idionaires, the new term for idiotic millionaires, chronic liars they are even pathetic at their deception. Here’s a short clip from Modi’s victory speech in December 2007 (Courtesy Deshgujarat.Com):

Well? What did he speak in? Italian? Modi has a history of often speaking in Hindi when he speaks in Ahmedabad. It is also probably because Modi knows that when he speaks in Ahmedabad there’s more national media focus at all times. Now what’s so new about that? Did our media morons forget the Sadbhavna Mission in September 2011? Here’s Modi’s speech on Youtube at the Sadbhavna gathering. Again, what language did he speak in? The language of deception that Barkha and Sagarika use? So what was special about his victory speech on December 20 in Hindi? Nothing! But as with all the other lies about Modi, our media just invented one more.

The media, like Modi’s political opponents, wanted him to lose. Didn’t happen! Sorry, buy yourself another beer at Congress’ expense. Nobody described the media’s feeling than their darling Chidambaram himself. Like a clown he said “we have restricted Modi to under 117 so it’s a Congress victory”. Well, the media would have liked a result even better but the Gujjus didn’t oblige. Two strong NDTV features, Shekhar Gupta and Dushyant Dave, finally accepted that there is a big difference in the way Gujarat is managed and that Narendra Modi does make a difference to the state’s governance. In the end Barkha, Rajdeep and his Dubiousity Editor (She’s funnily designated as Deputy editor) maybe the only ones living in permanent hatred, prejudice and bigotry. Their hatred runs so deep that they let their hatred for Modi get transferred to Gujarat and Gujjus even.

Christians say grace before every meal or thanksgiving. It’s a good practice to thank the Lord for what he gives. They also use the poem ‘Amazing grace’ containing a message that forgiveness and redemption are possible regardless of sins committed for funerals of the dearly departed. That even dead people receive God’s mercy and forgiveness. For some of the criminals in our media whose integrity and conscience is dead I doubt a poem of grace can be written. If they don’t change, someone someday may write the song ‘Amazing Disgrace’ in dishonour of their deeds.  

India's Worst TV Panellists

If you haven’t watched this particular episode of the CNN show ‘Crossfire’ I recommend that you do. It was the American version of Left and Right which made the unfortunate mistake of inviting film actor and satirist Jon Stewart as guest. Stewart not only exposed the hacks but accused the hosts of dividing the country with their mindless ‘theatre’ and ridiculed them so badly that the show had to be pulled off the air. That is the unfortunate truth. There is a great difference between good debates and ‘theatre’. And it is always easier to imitate evil than it is to replicate the good. The Indian TV channels and their daily debates are mostly nothing more than absurd theatre. Usually, the panellists on the show are picked not for their independence but for their political persuasions. Kicking and screaming, talking over each other, hurling insults is the kind of theatre that our media dishes out as ‘shows’ rather than sensible debates that can unravel facts. There are panellists like Soli Sorabjee or Harish Salve who hold strong views but express these with decency and respect for others. Not so the usual suspects who are handpicked for the divisive agenda of the media.

The Lokpal bill is obviously the flavour of the week. Far from discussing the contents of the draft bill or its clauses our media crooks were busy helping the govt divert attention by focussing excessively on the quotas and the comedy of Laloo Yadav. It is only Arvind Kejriwal from TeamAnna who talked about specific clauses in a presser. So, on December 22 I asked fellow tweeple who they thought were the worst TV panellists and the response was near unanimous when it came to naming those. 

Thanks to the responses of:

@shuchitac @samir21172 @_innovision @atulpandey1991 @aka_shan @bmukh2011 @vijayendradesai  @vksdbs7 @kittukrithika @shrutidharp  @james_priya

Mark Tully, the renowned British journalist, who is as Indian as you can get stated it best: Primetime debates an excuse for doing cheap TV:  “Well, as someone who is sometimes on these panels, frankly I am amazed that there are so many of them. There is a stage army of people really who come on to these panels….And I think this is largely an excuse for doing television on the cheap. I personally believe that we should have other ways of presenting the news, discussing the news than endless panel discussions…”. So here are India’s worst panellists. (They are listed randomly and not in any ranking)

Vinod Sharma – He’s the political editor of Hindustan Times. Yes, the one with that permanent smirk on his face which is eerily similar to the smirk that child molester S.P.Rathore sports. His boss is a Congress MP in Rajya Sabha and his newspaper itself is seen as a Congress mouthpiece. If he is on a panel you need not have a spokesperson from the Congress at all. At best, he will grudgingly concede the gaffes of the govt but will quickly come around to defend them by any and all spurious arguments.

Mani Shankar Aiyar -  Foul-mouthed, intemperate and vicious he probably considers it a goal scored if he manages to infuriate viewers. From his comment about Ajay Maken’s command of the English language to the most recent diatribe against Anna Hazare he is the best example of ‘theatre of the absurd’. As substitute for genuine argument he lately asks Anna to go back to Ralegan Siddhi and flog drunkards. And in intended pun he thought it was funny to state that we have heard the “Annas and paises” enough. Personal attacks and insults are his favourite form of healthy debate.

Teesta Setalvad – Think Gujarat and she will crawl out from anywhere and on every channel you can think of with that permanent scowl of hers. She is the favourite of our TV channels when it comes to bashing Narendra Modi and when required also trash the BJP. Not surprising, considering that she was funded by the likes of the Congress and CPM to campaign against them. The SIT that investigated Gujarat riots is on record stating the affidavits she engineered were mostly fake and her own associates have now turned against her. And because she is so tainted it makes her all the more endearing for channels like NDTV and CNN-IBN. The agendas match! Has sought anticipatory bail and none less than the Supreme Court has rapped her on the knuckles for frivolously attempting to internationalise what are matters for Indian courts. Of course, for all her services the Congress govt honoured her with a Padma Shri award. 

Renuka Chaudhury – Whosoever coined the phrase “insult to intelligence” must have pictured and heard this woman light years ago. If sheer cacophony were to win awards in a debate she would have a roomful. And, of course, the nation owes it to her for enlightening everyone that Rahul Gandhi isn’t a “parrot”! I still maintain that if the Congress wants to lose a battle or a debate or cut a sorry comic figure Renuka Chaudhury is any day a reliable bet. To her goes the credit of reducing of any debate to bickering and throwing her ‘weight’ around. I doubt if you would want her as a neighbour, one as shrill and senseless as her. 

Shoma Choudhury – She sure gets paid for ‘telling the truth’ as her rag called ‘Tehelka’ proudly claims as their tagline. Mind you, she is not your kicking and screaming types but an intelligent smooth-talker who will find great malleability with facts. Recently crossed swords with Subramanian Swamy on a channel discussing his controversial article in DNA for which his courses were cancelled at Harvard. She suggested the article was hate-speech but did not directly confirm if she had read it thoroughly when Swamy asked her. A rare one who can form opinions on people without reading what they have written. Her magazine is another one that resurrected itself after the UPA came to power in 2004. Her greatest moment must have been ‘THINK’, but I wish she would do that before speaking. 

Sanjay Nirupam – Last heard he is STILL a member of the Congress. Imagine a thousand empty vessels tumbling down a rocky mountain cliff and the sounds they would make. There, you have Nirupam! Loud-mouth who considers TV debates as election campaigns. What more can one say about him than cite Ashutosh of IBN7 who recently asked him to leave a debate if he could not tolerate the views of others. Maybe he should attend SriSri’s AOL courses or Dr.Phil’s art of being subtle. But knowing Nirupam he is not likely to learn new tricks in a hurry.

 Tushar Gandhi – He is not a frequent traveller on TV debates but springs up every time there is a discussion of Mahatma Gandhi. You would not be wrong in thinking he is Gandhi’s gift to God. At other times, he is the sole authority on what is “Gandhian” and what is not. Didn’t think too much when he considered selling out rare images of Gandhi to a corporate entity for commercial campaigns. To his credit, he is soft-spoken, mild mannered and not as belligerent as some of the other panellists that are frequently on display. But the world would be better off if he weren’t dishing out too many sermons in the name of Gandhi. Lately, this nation is getting a bit tired and restless with all the other Gandhis.

Nandita Rao – It is one thing to be kicking and screaming. But it gets worse when you have a bad voice too. The shrill lawyer is a favourite of CNN-IBN when it comes to Anna bashing. How she came to be a panellist on TV shows is a mystery that only CNN-IBN can answer but I’m sure quite a few strings, nay ‘ropes’, must have been pulled to get her there. Thankfully, her appearances have reduced and one hopes it stays that way. It is fair to oppose Anna and team on issues but to take a war-like, belligerent approach to debates is what makes up Nandita Rao. But she provides the kind of theatre that our TV channels desperately seek. Logic or sense be damned!

 Manish Tiwari – He is one of my all-time favourite panellists. If he is on a show he is bound to leave you spell-bound with some quote or the other. And he’s a lawyer too. His comment “Corrupt from head to toe” about Anna Hazare was made as a spokesman of the Congress and not as a panellist. Irritating, belligerent he could easily be the saint of lost causes. Since that comment on Anna he was gracious enough to apologise only to goof up again in parliament. Sushma Swaraj, leader of opposition, had to caution him with advice on being a first-time parliamentarian and to learn decency. Will he learn? Time will tell!

There were other names suggested like Suhel Seth, Mahesh Bhatt, Chandan Mitra and more and all of them deserve a place in this post but the list could go on and on and on.

Here is something that is disturbing about these panellists. Umesh Aggarwal, a documentary film maker, who has been exposing the underbelly of the media had this to say: “Every aspect of news be it political, business, sports or entertainment had a price tag. Even panel discussions on an important national issue were ‘fixed”. Guests were invited to give the discussion a particular slant. Selection of guests wasn’t dictated by the editorial policy of the group but there were other considerations”. That says everything about India’s worst panellists.