Team Anna - The Genie's Back In The Bottle

On the evening of August 2 Team Anna (TA) decided to end their fast and confirmed their option of going political. So on prime time TV all the channels were discussing, debating, kicking and screaming over the decision, the nature and the contours of such a new political party. I have a very simple answer and willing to bet on this: There is going to be no TA political party of any kind. Period! Anna Hazare, the anti-corruption activist, never was and never will be a politician. Not because of some arithmetical outcome but because of his own choice. Throughout his life as an activist Anna has been confronting corruption, corrupt politicians or some social evil and that is the mission he has chosen for himself. This has been mostly as a lone ranger. I doubt he ever wanted a large national stage but yet he found himself in one. Perhaps this wasn’t of his own choice or making. The mystery remains over how he got into this JanLokpal (JLP) mess with a Rag, Tag and Bobtail outfit. Having gotten into it, pulling out was never easy even if one assumes it had crossed his mind sometimes. So whose movement was this really? Who were the real actors? And why were they doing this?

Like everyone else I was supportive of the fight against corruption and applauded TA’s efforts. In April 2011 after the govt blinked I wrote the post “Lokpal Bill: Why The Congress Blinked..”. The April 2011 round of fasts and agitation were followed by another huge one in August 2011 which appeared to be even more successful. But since August 2011 it has been downhill for TA. I had reasoned why in another post “TeamAnna-Goodwill Blunting”. Turns out the bloopers of TA go far beyond their media obsession. This is my final post on the saga of TA.

In a season of scams by the Congress-UPA govt any anti-corruption movement would naturally receive huge public support. Even Subramanian Swamy, who was almost in a political exile, came back to the mainstream with a flurry of court cases and was back in the limelight with a massive following. He is now part of the NDA. But we did have a very unlikely character launching an anti-corruption movement. In March 2010 Baba Ramdev, the yoga guru, launched Bharat Swabhiman. He called it a non-political movement against corruption and black-money. Er.. Totally unacceptable! Guy clad in saffron, strong Hindutva connections and a mass following threatens to take on the govt over corruption. He went on a yatra to many towns with his campaign. Before he got very far he was put down very savagely in June 2011 at Ram Lila by the govt. The media, of course, played their part in the mud-slinging against him as explained in this post. But even before the attack at Ramlila in June 2011 the Genie was popped out of the bottle. In comes Arvind Kejriwal (AK) to organise another anti-corruption movement demanding the JLP and the movement he decided would be headed by brand ‘Anna Hazare’.

Reports suggest Anna Hazare was not AK’s first brand choice. The pic shows a buzz in the Sunday Guardian (December 28, 2011) by Nora Chopra and explains how AK first approached former president APJ Abdul Kalam and then Infosys chief Narayana Murthy. Both seem to have declined. So the choice finally fell on Anna Hazare. The rest (and the unrest), as they tiredly say, is now history. AK wanted a JLP bill different from the one proposed by his former RTI campaign partner, Aruna Roy, through the NAC (Sonia Gandhi’s private club). Well, nobody cared if AK’s proposal was very different from Aruna Roy. But hey, he did offer more drama. Then the motley crew of Kiran Bedi, Manoj Sisodia, Kumar Vishwas, Shazia Ilmi and some more is assembled.  

So in April 2011 Anna Hazare goes on a hunger strike at Jantar Mantar in Delhi to demand a Lokpal Bill. Govt holds talks with his team and agrees to a JLP. That’s when the term ‘TeamAnna’ (TA) was coined. The dais for the agitation was decked with symbols of national pride, patriotic songs were being sung, chants of Vande Mataram and Bharat Mata. All very moving! All, except that picture of Bharat Mata as we know. That was communal. Then that Imam Bukhari called for muslims to boycott the movement as it doesn’t give voice for Muslims. Not done! So Kiran Bedi and co. rush to placate the mullah, in vain. Team Anna promised their movement was non-political, no politicians will be entertained, no communal forces would be allowed. Anna Hazare hardly bothered much as long as there was forward movement. Nothing to worry, corrections will be made in the next bout.

The straight-talking, honest Anna Hazare made a deadly mistake though. He praised Narendra Modi and Gujarat. That was that! The secular credentials of the movement were questioned and the world came down on him. Modi immediately even warned him of the consequences of praising him in a personal letter. TA must have advised Anna to make amends. So Anna visits Gujarat and screams “Ghotala hi Ghotala” and there was corruption everywhere in Gujarat; that there were rivers of alcohol and hooch flowing in Gujarat. Okay, credibility restored!

In between TA, particularly AK and Kiran Bedi, go on a media-spree mouthing shrill dialogues. They called every politician corrupt, called everyone against TA corrupt. The applause was deafening. This post will deliberately ignore allegations of tax evasion by AK, his Trust being funded by Ford Foundation, fudging and swindling through travel bills by Kiran Bedi and other financial allegations against TA. These are not really relevant in politics, are they? So the govt doesn’t make much progress and there’s another round of fasts in August 2011. This time it’s even bigger with campaigns in various parts of the country. Add to the drama the arrest and immediate release of Anna. Then there was Om Puri’s speech, KB’s Ghoongat dance. Heady cocktail! Of course, gone was the pic of Bharat Mata, now replaced by that of Mahatma Gandhi, all saffron guys were evicted. It was now truly secular. The govt eventually gives in and Anna’s fast ends. This time the juice comes from Dalit and Muslim kids. Secular TA was complete.

Then around October KB and TA come out strongly against the arrest of anti-Modi cop Sanjiv Bhatt. What exactly did TA have to do with the cop? Nothing! But well, more secular points scored. There are more foolish points to score. Carried away with the public adoration both, AK and AH, accept sham awards from NDTV and CNN-IBN. What do they call it… Umm.. Indian of the year awards! You should know you are finished when the media starts giving out awards that are deceptively political in nature. But why complain about more recognition? And in the end even the figment of victory ends in the parliament with the “Fleedom at Midnight” moment on December 29, 2011. The Congress had achieved what it wanted to and TA were left holding the baby… er.. I mean Anna Hazare.

So AK comes up with charge-sheets against 15 ministers, including the PM but excluding Sonia Gandhi. Of course, he had called MPs corrupt, murderers and rapists. A sweeping generalisation by a losing man! And so it came to July 2012 with AK himself leading the charge and going on a fast. He took the opportunity again to condemn Narendra Modi, calling him corrupt and a communalist. Let’s see, Modi has been called a lot of names but surely corrupt has hardly been one of them. Even Wikileaks revealed that a US Diplomat mentioned that Modi is “not only NOT corrupt, but incorruptible”. If AK wanted to score Congress points like a Teesta, Shabnam, Mallika, Sanjiv Bhatt, Harsh Mander or the entire media by abusing Modi, he was a bit too late for that. AK’s political ambitions, though not explicit, were slowly being revealed in bits and pieces by Anna himself.

So after 9 days of fasting in July-August and no end in sight, the stalemate was evident and visible to everyone. The Congress sat happily over the reality that TA had alienated not only their opponents and Congress but also BJP, their own supporters, the media and were left with indecisive crowds at JantarMantar. No way out! Suddenly, on August 2  a letter with 22 signatures pops up requesting TA to end the fast. How these 22 people got together, communicated with each other and how the letter was organised, written and signatures obtained (not in hand) is best left to imagination. But it was a handy exit. The other handy exit, as Congress pointed out, was to announce a full-fledged political party. This move, so that that TA could fight corruption from within the system and not without. Nothing wrong with that! When I hinted at such a happy-ending there were many who pounced on me.

Even the best laid plans can terribly go wrong. AK didn’t provide for that. In his political quest he alienated not just supporters but many of his own team members. This list of bloopers and blunders are too long but here are some lessons:

… In a movement like this the media was already paying enough attention. There was no need for AK or for TA or Anna to constantly be in the media and suck up to them with interviews, sound bites and turning panellists. TA was too naïve to see the media is a puppet there to destroy them. Never accept sham awards from the media.

… Never criticise anyone to merely score silly points. Narendra Modi was all praise for Anna and has never criticised TA or any of their members. Yet turning an anti-corruption movement to also one against Modi is a fatal mistake. TA simply had no idea how many Modi supporters had initially supported them.

… Never lose focus. If it was JLP why turn it into a demand for SIT against some ministers? Never abuse by generalisation like AK and TA did with all MPs and govt workers.

… Never antagonise and side-line your own team members in an individual quest for glory.

… Most of all, the JLP movement never had to be secular or communal. It wasn’t a pre-requisite. It should have been just open to all citizens. By constantly catering to muslims and minorities TA became another Congress party. They forgot that a huge majority of their supporters were actually anti-Congress and anti-Fake-Secularism. Stay away from unrelated cases and issues (like those of Sanjiv Bhatt). You end up being terribly stupid.

Didn’t the Bhagwad Gita say: “Now I am become death..”? TeamAnna, after calling politicians corrupt, murderers, rapists and everything else now want to become a political party. They want to become THEM. Frankly, nobody gives a damn about their political party. It was good fun for the media crooks on TV to discuss a Fourth Front right through the night on August 2. Team Anna must find solace in the fact that they haven’t been defeated or disgraced. They have definitely delivered a greater consciousness to fight corruption among the masses. But it is really too naïve to cloak a political agenda with mighty moral stands.

In the end nobody stunted TA, not the Congress, not the govt but their own team did. Though TA has stated they will seek a referendum from their supporters on forming a political alternative I don’t think that is going to happen. There is going to be no political party by TA, regardless of any silly referendum. I don’t think people were desperate for another political alternative. I cannot say who but I can definitely say there has to be one person or a group or an entity that popped the genie out of the bottle in early 2011. On August 2, 2012 the Genie went back into the bottle and will stay there for a long time. 

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Rajdeep Sardesai & His Dirty Mirror

I have always maintained there are two Rajdeep Sardesais – One the buffoon on TV and the other a profound thinker when he’s off it and writes blogs. RS himself has stated sometimes that he would have loved to continue as a print journalist than as one on TV. I can understand that. Anchoring on TV doesn’t need being thoughtful, it’s a ‘show’ as they all call it. His latest lament is about the lack of genuine public debates on issues. And, as with the family extension of CNN-IBN and NTDV, his choice of publication is naturally Hindustan Trolls (HT). His latest Friday Blogbuster is “No Questions please” on June 15. We’ll come to that in a minute.

“The lowest part was just being in prison, it is a lonely place. You are sent to prison to serve time but I reversed it and let time serve me… You are just no good to anybody when you are inside”. That is criminal Ade Orioke who had spent about 1o years in prison. He now has a regular career and is frequently counselling prisoners and criminals. So you see, it took prison to help Orioke see there could be another side: A life of decency. That may not be an isolated story. Closer home we have the story of Laxman Gole. He was a prisoner who is now into spreading the message of Mahatma Gandhi. Rajdeep’s story is somewhat similar. He is acutely aware of his crimes on TV but when he puts pen to paper or words from a keypad to the screen he sees things differently. But, unlike reformed criminals, RS is still unable to move away from his TV agenda. Let’s see what he has to say.

That's dirty & upside down.. Buy a new mirror

“Move over George Bush, Baba Ramdev is here. In the course of a recent interview, I asked India's tele-friendly yoga guru-turned-black money avenger, the source of his great wealth. "Why are you asking me these questions? Are you with us in the fight against corruption or with our enemies?" was the Baba's riposte. Ah! Asking mildly uncomfortable questions to an anti-corruption 'crusader' meant that you had somehow switched to the 'other side'. Us and Them…. Last year, the redoubtable activist Aruna Roy was virtually chased away from the Ramlila Maidan by Anna Hazare's army of cheerleaders and dubbed a 'traitor'. Her 'crime'? She had sought a wider public debate on the Lokpal Bill as formulated by Team Anna. But then, when you are so utterly convinced about your own cause and your infallibility, where is the space for any debate or dissent”? First, RS is a terribly confused man. To equate BRD with Bush is outright stupidity. BRD speaks from a position of weakness and Bush spoke from a position of immense power (after the biggest attack on the US). Poor analogy! Besides, the fact that RS has an in-built dislike for BRD was already established last year when his channel indulged in extra-ordinary mudslinging against the saffron clad Guru. And what about Aruna Roy? She wasn’t literally chased away as readers might understand. She’s not just another activist, she is a member of the powerful NAC, Sonia Gandhi’s tool to draft unwanted laws. So if she is at odds with TeamAnna they are well within their rights to reject her. Would RS invite Arnab as an expert on his channel or vice versa? Or even his close friend Barkha Dutt?

“The intolerance that appears to drive the anti-corruption 'revolutionary' mindset is equally applicable to those in the government who oppose them. Last week, when Team Anna members raised the pitch on coal allocations, senior ministers responded by dubbing them 'anti-national', even raising the spectre of the ubiquitous 'foreign hand'. Yes, the language used by some of the respected members of our anti-corruption brigade has been coarse and ill-judged, but is that reason enough to dub them anti-national”? Alright, so it doesn’t take even a petty criminal to decide who is in a position to cause greater damage. TeamAnna or the Govt.? Don’t complain about the language of TeamAnna. They are being far more polite than the language ordinary people use to describe UPA, the most corrupt govt in the history of this country. Come on Rajdeep, have you not been provoked to use the F word yourself when agitated, in public? So why sweat the small stuff? Why poke holes into language and bury the main issues. What exactly had CNN-IBN done to pursue Coalgate even after the CAG report? You see, on TV we do shows, we can’t do more than that now, can we?

“Indeed, a creeping intolerance now threatens to destroy the very basis of democratic freedoms in the country. Don't like a cartoon? Ban the book. Don't like the questions asked in a television chat show? Walk out of it, and dub the audience 'Maoists'. Don't want a debate in Parliament? Block the House by forcing repeated adjournments. Don't like questions raised on sensitive issues like the Gujarat 2002 riots? Start a character assassination campaign on social media, or worse, file a sedition case. Narendra Modi, the BJP's poster boy, in fact, is a good example of the polarisation of public opinion. Praise the Gujarat chief minister's administrative acumen, and you run the risk of being accused of a 'sell-out'. Question the Modi government on its attitude towards minorities and be damned as a 'pseudo-secular' 'anti-national' humbug”. I won’t go into the fact that RS was one of the pioneers of the massive campaign of lies against Narendra Modi in the media. And what’s the point behind quoting a few incidents to characterise all of democratic freedoms? Who was the guy, as head of the Editors Guild of India, who staunchly defended the corrupt journalists in Radiagate? There wasn’t any outside influence there. Or is it okay when media is concerned because “Hammam main sub nange hai”?

“This 'twitterisation' of news now threatens to overwhelm us, within and outside the media. Governments and civil society groups have a proclivity to play to the gallery, offering few solutions but ever-ready to enter into slanging matches. The result is more heat than light, a greater emphasis on noise than knowledge”. Of all the people and groups that RS names the only ones truly playing to the gallery are the utterly corrupt media morons. It is no secret that media celebs hate the freedom of internet. How does RS explain the art of blocking anyone who even slightly questions any media celeb? How does he explain calling them trolls or fascists as media celebs do? How is that different from tagging and character assassination that he laments? Where does such hatred for ordinary people come from? And then talk of tolerance? Whoa! And much as RS may lament Twitter I can bet his last dirty mirror that there are far more gems of genuine wisdom on Twitter and social media than all his filthy mirrors and all the pole-dancers on TV channels.

“Sure, the media offers a ready platform for this 'game' to be played out, but it isn't as if a television studio is a magnet that should make us lose our finer senses. Why don't those in leadership positions recognise their obligation to enriching the public discourse rather than making it more debased? The answer is not long periods of silence as preferred by our PM who appears unwilling to even attempt to converse with the nation. But neither is the solution a hyper-ventilating 'shoot-and-scoot' culture that is preferred by some of our so-called moral guardians”. Well said! But people have come to expect less from politicians but expect journalists to be a lot more decent. Why does Rajdeep’s channel keep bringing on the most uncouth, uncivilised guttermouths to their debates? What finer sense compels him to allow a slanging match on his channel? I don’t know if RS considers his role as a media head a leadership position. How does he allow a person like Sagarika Ghose to still continue on the channel despite her many serious goof-ups? Can’t manage his own house and then tries to sermonise ordinary people on decency and tolerance. At least you can't accuse Baba Ramdev of not managing his own house pretty well. 

Still, I have often given credit to Rajdeep Sardesai for having a conscience (and still do) that often strikes when he’s off TV. He does make an effort to be thoughtful and wanting change. But change won’t happen if you keep looking at the same dirty mirror. Maybe RS should just buy a new mirror without dirt and smudges and look at himself in it. That might tell the truth.

Rahul Gandhi - Withdrawal Symptoms

“He has leadership and it is evolving. Rahul does not need to grab power." Digvijaya, in an interview to Headlines Today Executive Editor Rahul Kanwal. Kanwal didn’t ask Digvijay an important question about his comment on RG. A few months ago, on Rahul Gandhi’s birthday in June, Digvijay Singh had declared “I think it is time Rahul becomes the Prime Minister”. Secondly, no one has accused RG of trying to grab power. So why the defence by Digvijay? Even if his cronies, like Digvijay don’t tell him, I am quite certain RG is aware of the many nicknames he has earned. Here are a few: Pappu, Babloo, Amul Baby, Buddhu, RahulRetard, OwlGandhi, ClownPrince and the list could go on. I doubt any ‘evolving leader’ has earned so many titles in a short time. Sure, simply dismiss those people as ones who just hate RG. The carefully crafted media plan and that of the Congress slaves of the dynasty is slowly coming undone. Ever since the mounds of ash and dead bodies of Bhatta Parsaul Rahul Gandhi is, in reality, running from his own shadow. And if Rahul Gandhi does have his ‘own mind’ why does someone like Digvijay have to speak for him so often? Far from ‘Rahul evolving’ there is evidence of withdrawal symptoms. 

The SpiceGirls, a girl-band of the UK, churned out hit after hit during 1996-97 and had become a rage. Britain, devoid of any great accomplishments in recent history, used marketing as a tool to promote personalities. Even David Beckham the footballer fumbled at major events prompting some commentators to bestow him the title “Anna Kournikova of football”. But Beckham did have talent and great performances to back him. What about the SpiceGirls? Well, the first time they went on stage live the crowds discovered the girls couldn’t really sing all that well. They came crashing. They were just studio-creations and not real singers. The media marketing blitz came crashing too. I would liken Rahul Gandhi to the case of SpiceGirls or AnnaKournikova, too much hype by the media and his supporters but lacking in real substance. Rahul Gandhi is, very much, the Anna Kournikova of Indian politics.

 

Ever since his dramatic Bhatta Parsaul discoveries of mounds of ash and dead bodies RG went into hiding for a while, only to resurface during Anna Hazare’s fast in August 2011. (Lately, Congress channel NDTV is desperate to prove he was right.)While the Anna agitation was proving to be a thorn our evolving leader rushes off to meet victims of police firing near Pune. Not a bad idea but the only response he has to Anna’s agitation is a written speech during zero hour in the parliament. He sought constitutional status for the Lokpal. That’s not all, he patted himself by calling it a “game-changer”. That was humility! Hahaha! Having seen the goof up the Congress ministers, like Salman Khurshid, somehow now want to shore up the ‘great vision' of RG in turning the Lokpal into a constitutional authority.

If at 41 RG is still evolving then I have to wonder when he will mature. There have been at least six or seven people who have been prime ministers or presidents around RG’s age, including his own father. For the record, William Pitt (The younger) was the youngest PM of the UK at age 24. Not just that, Pitt went on to be PM for 17 years. What does it say about a man about whom someone like Renuka Chaudhary, Congress spokesperson, had to say that “he is not a parrot”! He runs around schools and colleges and talks to students where cameras and media are banned. He suddenly dashes off to trouble spots like Bharatpur to sympathise with riot victims, sometimes wearing a skull cap.And the only channel that seems to be allowed to cover him is NDTV. His Bharatpur visit was shown on NDTV in grainy mobile videos. Later his stunt on a Delhi metro train and taxi ride was also reported on NDTV. So he even gets to pick the media he likes and is friendly to him. Evolving connectivity, I suppose!

Someone mentioned RG had a drug addiction problem and Tehelka even defended it. Yes, people do make mistakes. But it’s how they handle responsibility that counts. And what exactly is RG’s responsibility. Failed in Bihar, failed in Tamil Nadu, did he own up to any responsibility? Bihar is all the more shocking where his campaign leadership not only resulted in a severe loss but more or less wiped out his party. And reading written down speeches (God knows who writes those) without having to do a Q&A after it is a reflection of a person who does not have the slightest conviction in what he’s talking about.

Following the Anna agitation and Team Anna’s promised campaign against Congress in the Hisar bypoll one would have expected a leader to stand up and fight. What does RG do? He rushes off to Jhansi, for heaven knows why, and meets up with a Dalit family for dinner. You have an election battle that is being rated as a decisive bypoll and RG is nowhere to be seen. It’s not a shame to lose an election battle. It’s a shame to not even put up a fight by the so called evolving leader. And Hisar isn’t very far from Delhi either.The fear of failure is a serious withdrawal symptom in any supposed leader, even 'evolving' ones.

TOI in an article states (Oct 24): “It has now emerged that Rahul was at least partly responsible for the PM's insistence that Union ministers' spouses and children should also disclose their assets”. That is nice, it’s not as if RG does not have good intentions, it is just that he doesn’t have the talent or the courage to take issues head on. And whenever he speaks impromptu he betrays a severe lack of knowledge and intelligence. The more his gaffes are exposed the more he shrinks into a shell. The letter about family disclosing assets should have been extended further to include his own – Robert Vadra. The phenomenal rise in the reported wealth of Vadra surely does not seem to be mere business acumen.

If the Bhatta Parsaul comedy wasn’t enough, RG had to face some more sordid moments in front of cameras. His visit to the RML hospital after the Delhi HC blast on September 7 gave him a taste of something he had never experienced before – heckling and booing. Even though he might have been genuinely concerned for victims of the blast he has been so cocooned that he doesn’t learn how angry people are at his party. His own silly statements of RSS=SIMI etc., tutored by his mentor, reflect his thoughtlessness on issues of terrorism and suffering. Prior to the Delhi blast his "99% terror attacks averted" statement after the Mumbai blast was another instance of stupidity and bad timing, if not ill-intentioned.

Last week RG also gave a speech on globalisation. This was at an event at ‘Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Contemporary Studies’. The speech sounds like a cross between Arundhati Roy and Aruna Roy. “There was only one India 60 years ago and it was poor. That India was completely unconnected, both internally and externally. But India today has changed and is changing as we speak” said Gandhi. This reflects very poor understanding of history itself. There were rich people, very rich people, even 60 years ago as there were poor. There were zamindars, nizams, businessmen. The thought and longing from freedom from the British connected many Indians. If there is one party to be held responsible for damaging the aspirations of a free India it has to be the Congress. Why? Because for most part it was Congress that was dividing the nation at every single opportunity. The two Indias, which is RG’s pet theory, is a creation of his own party. What does it say about a two bit man-child who runs off to some European location to celebrate his birthday? If anyone has to introspect it has to be the Congress and not the people. In July 2011 RG is reported to have stated that “UP is being run by Dalals”. Hmm! Who’s running the Congress?

One of the funny reports about RG’s speech last week comes from SunetraChoudhury. “To find out this somewhat inane fact (Blackberry addiction), I, along with journalists representing all major news organisations, had to pass through an obstacle course that included arriving more than an hour before the event, being separated from all our own communication devices, and then sitting through long, academic lectures. Yes, us foolish hacks did all this to hear the elusive Gandhi express his views on some of the urgent issues facing the nation, but all we got was a balcony view of Gandhi toying with his phone and sneaking glances at it while others were speaking……The argument that his supporters and Congressmen make is that it is real India that matters and its voters are the ones that the UPA government needs to engage with. So does that mean the people who came from Ralegan Siddhi weren’t from the real India? Is that why the villagers, who announced their intention to meet Gandhi days before, were humiliated till the last minute? Gandhi’s office simply said that no appointment had been granted to them so there was no question of an audience. But don’t they get the ridiculousness of asking villagers to get an appointment?” Withdrawal!

The ridiculous incident with the Sarpanch and villagers of Ralegan Siddhi says it all about his connection with rural India. As far as I can see the behavioral patterns of RG are not of one who has evolved as a leader or whose understanding of issues has evolved into a direction or vision. He only seems to have developed serious withdrawal symptoms from real issues and is happy to read out speeches written by others. Maybe his mother’s illness has some influence on that. But clearly this is a man who cannot face any challenges and is unfit for any leadership role. If there was a title I would bestow upon him it would probably be Miss ‘Hit and Run’. A man who cannot honestly reform his own corrupt party can hardly be expected to handle a nation or international issues. He was heckled and faced protests in own constituency of Amethi during a recent visit. That done, he can now withdraw to a Dalit dinner in some corner of one of the Indias.

Team Anna - Goodwill Blunting

From the time you learned to read you were probably brought up in the belief that journalism is a noble profession. You were taught about ethical journalism through which facts are brought to you and journalists are obliged to speak the truth. As you acquire wisdom you would have also learned that all that is just as much a myth as the Aryan invasion. Journalism and news media are as much a business as Shoe-making and selling or running a Barber shop. All of it is meant to ‘serve your interests’ as you’d often hear. To put it differently ‘viewer or reader interest’. Believe it or not, ethics and journalism go together as much politics and ethics go together in current times.

Celebs like Rajdeep Sardesai, Barkha Dutt, Arnab Goswami or Sagarika Ghose, Vinod Mehta, Vinod Sharma, Shekhar Gupta and many more are not journalists. They are ‘editorialists’ whose job is to swing public opinion one way or another, which they attempt diligently. Subramanian Swamy even stated that Shekhar Gupta has properties worth over 20 times of his known income and so has to ‘behave’ for Sonia Gandhi. Would any man with any ethics tolerate such a comment? You decide! NDTV even had a prominent tagline: “Experience Truth First”. I haven’t seen that tagline in a long time. Wonder if it went into the garbage can. CNN-IBN tagline says “Whatever it takes”! IBN didn’t stop to think that in normal parlance that can also mean by ‘hook or crook’. Effectively, news media business is only as ethical as a shoe business or a barber shop. Frankly, they don’t give a damn about the viewer or public but only about their paymasters. This is what Team Anna managed well in the first phase and later fell prey to the evil designs of the media.

So what exactly is the media agenda? BRING DOWN any person or group that goes against their paymasters, as simple as that. I am surprised Team Anna doesn’t know this.

During the two-week fast by Anna Hazare in August 2011 there was a ground swell of support for his movement all across India. Crowds waited outside Tihar jail where Anna was held for a few days. Team Anna, as his assistants have come to be known had become symbols of the crusade against corruption. By the time the fast ended they were all more or less heroes in a scam-tired nation. Among the more prominent ones were Arvind Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi, Prashant Bhushan, Medha Patkar and Shazia Ilmi. The media didn’t ‘make’ them (to use a mafia term) but were forced to pay attention due to the overwhelming support of people. It was truly their peak and ever since, it has been downhill.

Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start! When you seethe you begin with Ag-Ni-Vesh! Hmmm! During the first round of fasts at Jantar Mantar in April this is what I wrote on April 10: “First, corruption is a sore wound that hurts all citizens. Anna got it right. Then, it was important to get some honest and credible people into his campaign. So there was Anil Kejriwal and Kiran Bedi (I am not sure I want to put Swami Agnivesh in that league)”. Later events proved beyond any doubt that Agnivesh, a morally corrupt moron, didn’t deserve to be anywhere near the anti-corruption movement. Did Team Anna learn any lessons? Doesn’t look like it. That’s where the problem starts.

A few days ago I watched an interview of Arvind Kejriwal (AK) with Barkha Dutt on NDTV. The chat was so warm I could even call it love and affection. Well, on hindsight I can now say that AK was informed that he was NDTV’s ‘Indian of the year’ award winner. He must have already known and so the interview. Two days later AK does receive that award. That’s the icing on the cake of silly acts by Team Anna. If you are campaigning for a public cause, the last thing you should be doing is accepting an award from a dubious media shop. But that is not where it began.

Kiran Bedi did an impromptu ‘ghoongat’ dance about politicians with a mask during the fast in August. MPs even wanted to prosecute her. People supported her and she was lucky to get away with that silly act. Now, if the entire movement is against corruption and cleanliness in public life why do these people go about giving sound bites about unrelated issues? Starting with Prashant Bhushan’s comments on Kashmir which earned him a thrashing to comments about Sanjiv Bhatt Team Anna simply failed to understand that being in the media spotlight beyond a point can be damaging.

Last month Rajdeep, Barkha  and Rahul Kanwal went on a picnic to Ralegan Siddhi, hometown of Anna Hazare and each did an ‘exclusive’ interview with almost similar questions. Each tried to somehow trap Anna into the questions of RSS, Digvijay comments and so on. Anna bites! The objective of media celebs to support the Congress theory that RSS is evil and any association with it has to be demonised is an agenda set by their paymasters. Anna fell into that trap.

Hmmm! A few days later Sanjiv Bhatt is arrested in Gujarat for some offence and instantly Anna Hazare condemns the arrest of the so called ‘whistle-blower’. So does Kiran Bedi. Who the hell asked you people? Without touching upon the merits of the case to simply support Sanjiv Bhatt because it is anti-Modi is another trap Team Anna has fallen into. Kiran Bedi was so foolish that she failed to grasp the kind of support Modi has. After tweeting and condemning Modi all day long she had to tone down her nonsense on the same day and speak glowingly of Gujarat and her Gujarati friends and so on. Did her tweets delight the media? You bet! And if that wasn’t enough there is always gutter-mouth Digvijay Singh to throw more fuel at Anna. Pretty soon Digvijay V Anna was a street fight that became a joy for the media. Somewhere else AK’s statement of people and Anna being above parliament was widely publicised as “Anna is above parliament”. AK doesn’t seem to have learnt how the media likes to twist mild statements. Each time Anna or his team members opened their mouths the public couldn’t believe these people had become such a dysfunctional group like the govt.

If corruption was the main issue for the group where was the need to talk about Kashmir, Sanjiv Bhatt and more? Did the people give Team Anna a blanket license to talk crap on every issue like politicians? They did not! But that is how some fame in the media leads people to believe they have that license. Each time a member opened his or her mouth the team was eroding the support they worked so hard to earn. Two of the team members who aren’t so prominent have withdrawn because of the manner of AK’s working. Prashant Bhushan’s continuance with the team will bring more damage so he is more or less out. And Kiran Bedi and Kejriwal don't know when to shut up. That’s the problem being in the media. The media simply loves to destroy reputations and groups. Like scavengers they would love to feast on the disintegration of Team Anna. This is something Anna, Kejriwal and Bedi do not understand. The media works for its paymasters who happen to be the target for Team Anna. As on date Kiran Bedi’s flight details, her usage of her gallantry award for discounts is being splashed around by Shekhar Gupta’s Indian Express and NDTV. Maybe she will now understand that the media will do a hit job on her to please their paymasters.

Arvind Kejriwal increasingly comes across as an arrogant, bashful kid. This is what NDTV needed to play on. If the fight against corruption was an award winning effort then an award should have been given to Team Anna. Instead, NDTV picks the gullible AK and bestows him the sham award of ‘Indian of the year’ (jointly with Anna Hazare, of course). Even the Roman spy in Asterix comics couldn’t have done better than NDTV. Job well done! And Kejriwal gleefully falls into that trap. To top it all AK goes all out to campaign against the Congress in the Hisar by-poll. That is another act uncalled for. The three most vocal persons in Team Anna have slowly managed to erode all the goodwill that they have earned. Media is full of reports of cracks within Team Anna. Next time Anna and his team are on the streets they will find how much support has vanished.

Currently, people are sick of the excessive promotion that SRK has undertaken for his movie Ra-One. Seeing his face on every channel 24X7 is a repulsive experience for many viewers. Even SRK’s die-hard fans will admit the excess. Team Anna needs to learn from that. Being in the media too much is self-destructive by itself. And helping the media with controversies that help the adversary is a blunder that novices make. It will take some introspection for Team Anna to analyse what they have lost. It’s called goodwill blunting!

Barkha Dutt - Queen Of Telly Trolls

A fired journalist creates a fictitious letter from John Doe, as her last column, who threatens to commit suicide for society’s ills. The letter enjoys wide public curiosity and the journalist is hired back. Also hired is a character to play the fictitious John Doe. Before the journalist and her employer know it, John Doe’s movement becomes a real political movement and he really attempts suicide. That’s the story of Frank Capra’s 1941 movie ‘Meet John Doe’. Closer home, Bollywood remade that movie as ‘Main Azaad Hoon’ featuring Amitabh Bachchan and Shabana Azmi. In the Bollywood version Bachchan does actually commit suicide. These are works of fiction but good examples of how far journalists can go for sensational stories and lucrative careers. However, there is every reason to believe that even in real life many stories are manufactured, especially in the new dreamland of Indian media. Fame, wealth can lure the best to fake stories and slanted reporting and planted stories.

Not convinced? Okay! In an article titled "Jimmy's World", which appeared in the Washington Post on September 28, 1980, Janet Cooke wrote a gripping profile of the life of an 8-year-old heroin addict. She described the "needle marks freckling the baby-smooth skin of his thin, brown arms." The story engendered much sympathy among readers, including Marion Barry, then mayor of Washington, D.C. He and other city officials organized an all-out police search for the boy, which was unsuccessful and led to claims that the story was fraudulent. Barry, responding to public pressure, lied and claimed that Jimmy was known to the city and receiving treatment. Well, despite suspicions, the Post’s Assistant Managing Editor, Bob Woodward of the Watergate fame, stood by the story. Janet Cooke went on to win the Pulitzer prize for her story. It was finally established that the story was a fraud and Cooke returned the prize and was fired from the WaPo.

TV news media is not all that old in India but has acquired all the bad symptoms of shoddy journalism very quickly. Imagine the luck of TimesNow that the thrashing of Prashant Bhushan happened right in front of their cameras. And they went on to film the whole scene without pausing to think. Soon the scenes were on all the channels. The reason for beating up Bhushan was a statement he made supporting plebiscite in Kashmir. The incident was enough to set up discussions on all news channels with the usual suspects turning up as panellists. And the usual rant was about freedom of speech and intolerance. But this one is about a particular telly troll who considers herself the champion of free speech. Barkha Dutt. Except for some hot heads I don’t even believe anyone would remotely condone the thrashing of Prashant Bhushan. But BD would like the world to believe that there is a huge population of hot heads are spreading hate and encouraging violence.

Now personally, I support ABSOLUTE freedom of speech with no limits and no restrictions. If in that exercise someone defames, libels, incites violence or overthrow of the state or causes real damage to any person or group the courts can make him pay the price. Those who call themselves liberal and tolerant will never support that kind of absolute free speech. Why? Because it would then open the door to speech against the very things they hold dear – their fears, their biases and their hidden agendas. Barkha is fond of calling people who vehemently criticise or ridicule her ‘trolls’. Barkha was even silly enough to threaten a blogger for an article criticising her. That is the level of tolerance she has for opinions and criticism. After peddling all possible biased opinions and analysis on her channel, she then finds solace in sermonising in print. Therefore she writes another article “Argue your case” in Hindustan Times. That this media outlet is a mouthpiece of the Congress is not exactly a big secret, but that’s a different issue.

Her opening shot: “One would have imagined that increased communication opportunities would have led to a greater civility in public discourse. After all, the internet and social media have democratised debate and eliminated the arrogance of a hierarchical talking-down style. Yet, lurking online - usually behind anonymity or names that suggest an evangelical religiosity - are many propagators of hate and violence”. Maybe in her dreamworld Barkha doesn’t understand that the Internet didn’t bring about hate or violence. They have existed for eons. The social network just provides a vent where every other forum has failed. Would NDTV publish all the feedback it gets (if it does have a feedback system) including hateful, negative ones? People in public life need to get used to ridicule, sarcasm, satire and even hate messages. Someone saying “I feel like killing so and so” is not exactly a violent threat. It’s an expression that the literary types like Barkha fail to understand even as they invoke Shakespeare and Lewis Carroll so frequently.

 “What lessons can we learn from our own experience? Is it that as our country travels through a phase of restless flux - the sense of being betrayed by the political leadership - all kinds of subterranean faultlines are being exposed? My instinct is that disillusionments notwithstanding, the majority of Indians are uncomfortable with extremes of any kind - opinion, ideology, politics or religion. Yet, our public discourse has been slotted into black and white boxes in a manner that can only be called anti-intellectual”. The main reason for the hate and ridicule Barkha experiences seems completely lost on her. That biased reporting and opinionated TV shows anger people. As in the case of Cooke’s fraudulent story that won the Pulitzer prize, there is a former Admiral who has mentioned that a lady journalist was the cause of some deaths in the Kargil war. The lessons that Barkha hasn’t learned yet is that terms like Paidmedia, Chormedia, Dalalmedia didn’t come about because people simply wanted to sit in a corner and spread hate or coin new terms.

That many had suspicions of Barkha’s reporting and her doctored panel discussions was finally established when the Radia tapes broke. Amazingly, unlike Janet Cooke, Barkha continues to retain her job. Why? It is something nobody knows but it’s quite possible that she holds many secrets about NDTV and therefore sacking her may not have been a good idea. And she also forgets that much of the anger against her is generated by the kind of people she hosts. She proudly claims that she cut off and never had that Imam Bukhari on her shows after he had called Shabana Azmi a ‘naachnewali, gaanewali’ on her show. There was Taslima Nasreen who was attacked in Hyderabad by the group belonging to A. Owaisi. So why does she host this Owaisi so frequently? The man is foul mouthed, vulgar and has also stated on NDTV that he wants all Indians to convert to Islam. I guess those are ‘liberal’ views that Indians should tolerate and get past.

There is an old case of the publisher of a book called “Rangeela Rasool” about Mohammad. He was murdered. I wonder what Barkha would ever have to say about that. To not acknowledge that much of the intolerance that has invaded this country comes from religious sentiments is to ignore reality. The Kashmir issue also has its roots in religion. Some hotheads thrashing up someone does not mean society as a whole has become intolerant. If anything, it is the so called liberals in the media and in the establishment who have become intolerant of any opposing views. That’s the reason Barkha finds so many trolls on the net and has to use the block button so often.

“Anna's Team clearly struck a chord and tapped into a deep public anger. So, it was not surprising at all when its members were heralded as new-age heroes. Yet, the moment, any member of the team deviated from a certain kind of online consensus, they were heaped with abuses and vitriol. Whether it was Kiran Bedi's criticism of the arbitrary arrest of IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt or Prashant Bhushan's comments on Kashmir and Maoist violence - suddenly the same individuals who had been feted were now being roundly condemned. When I argued on Twitter that serious disagreement with his comments could not in any way justify the sickening assault on Prashant Bhushan, I was immediately targeted by some of these 'trolls' for supporting traitors”. That’s a strange twist of facts. That Anna or his team were feted by people doesn’t mean a permanent fan-base. Barkha must finally realise that such support is for causes and not a blanket sanction. Kiran Bedi tweeted a lot of rubbish about Gujarat and Modi in the case of Sanjiv Bhatt’s arrest. By the end of the day she had changed her stance about Gujaratis. She did not differentiate between Gujarat and Sanjiv Bhatt. The second lie that Barkha peddles is that she makes it appear that online people approved of the thrashing of Bhushan. On the contrary a very huge majority of people online condemned the attack while also stating that his comment was bad. Even Sachin Tendulkar, God of cricket, would have received severe condemnation had he made the same statement as Bhushan. And yes, no one would approve of beating up Sachin either had such an incident were to happen.

How can anyone explain Mallika Sarabhai as a panellist in the case of tolerance? She lies profusely and her own lawyers have exposed her lies. Yet the media insults the public’s intelligence by hosting her frequently. That, dear Barkha, does anger people. NDTV frequently hosts Teesta Setalvad who has been exposed for fake affidavits. That, dear Barkha, does anger people. When Radiagate broke the first response of Barkha Dutt was not “argue your case”… it was a threat, probably of legal action. Barkha also forgets, that it’s the social networks that brought pressure on the MSM to discuss her Radiagate episode when her Hammam friend and others tried desperately to bury it. The media has gone overboard with the case of Bhushan. The same media didn’t find time to discuss the death of a woman called Rajbala who was a peaceful protester and following police atrocity was paralysed and later died. I suppose Rajbala’s death falls within liberal tolerance for the likes of Barkha Dutt.

While Barkha complains about online ghosts and calls them trolls she forgets that like Vicky (Bachchan in the movie Sharabi who has chamchas “wah-wahing” his stupid Shayari) she too has her followers who wah-wah everything she does. Be grateful for that and stop sermonising the trolls. Some of her fans even cite the awards she has won. Well, I did point out the case of Janet Cooke who was awarded a Pulitzer for a fake story. Media awards in India are more of scratching backs than anything else. As far as I am concerned Barkha Dutt is just a Telly troll… who trolls a lot more than any of those online ones she constantly complains of. She is, on TV, the queen of trolls!