Most nations act in their own self-interest.
Ours is probably one democracy that is at constant political conflict and uses
every opportunity to paint patriots as fascists, as killers and bribe-givers.
On the flip side, traitors and separatists are glorified by our MSM and some
are even decorated by the GOI. For nearly a decade that has been the job of the
Indian Congress party and their crony media happily picks up the song and plays
it over and over again.
Remember Charlie Wilson? He was a specialist in Pakistan strategy for the
US. I say ‘was’ because Congressman Charlie Wilson died in 2010. Apart from his
colourful life, Charlie is most famous for ‘Operation Cyclone’ which involved the funding of Afghan
Mujahideen against the Soviets. Some of the funding has also reportedly involved
illegal lobbying by the CIA. It is famous as ‘Charlie Wilson’s war’. While
Wilson may have succeeded in arming the Afghans there isn’t any doubt a lot of
crumbs and benefits were also picked up by Pakistan. When the Soviet occupation
ended late 1980s it is public knowledge where the attention of leftover
warriors and Pakistan too turned to. It’s also now known that a good amount of
Charlie’s funds went to Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a senior Taliban leader and a
supporter of al-Qaeda since the Soviet exit. Wilson is celebrated as a
patriotic American hero.
So lately, when a group of US Congress
members are on a visit to India, particularly Narendra Modi, the same machinery
of the media started claiming the three US
lawmakers were bribed to visit Modi, speak highly of him, speak highly of
Gujarat, were bribed to give Modi an invitation to the USA and get him an entry
permit. Who are these dumb people? It is one thing for dumb spokies to utter
rubbish but quite another thing for the media to repeat such garbage like a box
of parrots. That’s why the sign in a previous post says “Never trust an editor”.
The profession of most editors is dead or at least their conscience definitely
is. Let’s sample some comments from an Outlook Magazine report:
Rashid Alvi (Congress): "Shame that the Congressmen were paid for getting a visa and
certificate of development for Modi… One feels ashamed over this kind of news.
It is an insult to a nation. The Congressmen were given Rs nine lakh each so
that America can give him (Modi) visa and a certificate of development... This
is unfortunate. If the money had been spent in Gujarat for the poor and
development, then it would have been much better". Even if we buy
the argument that the Congressmen were paid a total amount of 27 lakhs it is
amazing to think that Congress spokie like Alvi, whose party has guzzled lakhs
of crores in scams, believes 27 lakhs would dent development in Gujarat. This
amount is less than even peanuts as bribes for even a low level political broker
in Delhi. And then he makes the assumption that the Americans too are servile
parrots and slaves of their party’s king or queen and make statements they don’t
even believe in. Outlook quotes another:
AICC Secretary Praveen Davar
hit out at the US delegation for inviting the Gujarat CM describing it as
"thoughtless" move. "I strongly condemn the three Republicans
for inviting Modi to the US. Have Americans forgotten who masterminded 2002
Gujarat genocide? Repeated victory at the hustings does not absolve Modi of
alleged crimes against humanity. Lawmakers must withdraw their thoughtless invite.
Can you ever imagine an American
lawmaker talking about their elected representatives in the manner that this
guy Davar talks in reference to a foreigner? In my book this is the language of
anti-nationals. First of all he makes a foolish statement. Then, by what logic
or entitlement does he believe he has the right to condemn the American
visitors? Even if the group was not an official one from the US govt this Davar
demonstrates the kind of foolishness with which we handle our foreign relations
issues.
Look at it from another angle. If the US
Reps were indeed bribed to invite Modi and get him a visa then who were the
people and parties who bribed the US authorities to deny entry for Modi in the
US? Surely, a lot of money must have been spent on the lobbyists who urged the
US govt to deny entry to Modi. This was around 2005. Your guess is as good as
mine on who spent a helluva lot of money for the anti-Modi campaign with the US
govt. Who knows! Maybe the anti-Modi
clause has been used as “leverage” in many deals and with many institutions.
This is one thing the GOI has never learnt from the US. That nation comes
first. That no matter what Charlie Wilson is celebrated as a patriot despite
some future unfortunate events supposedly being outcomes of his funding. Wilson
has never been blamed for such outcomes.
So where did all this screaming of “bribery”
start from? From a community news site called “Hi India” in Chicago. The very nature of the report itself
is laughable and not surprisingly no editor or reporter in the Indian media has
questioned it. It has no source whatsoever to report on except a printed “invitation” card which is nearly a
public document. The rest is a background story on the sponsors organising the
trip. Seriously, are the reporters at Hi-India suggesting that bribes were
offered by printed invitations? Please
note though that Hi-India itself does not mention “bribery” anywhere. This
is an invention of the Congress party and Indian media. Is that such a
surprise?
Here’s what I estimate and consider most
appropriate: Three US Reps were invited by a BJP supporter or a sympathiser on
a trip to India and a meeting with Modi too. Given that, the sponsor is
certainly not going to invite US Reps who are anti-Modi or anti-BJP to lead the
tour. He used their prominent names and position to rope in other businessmen
or investors for a package cost options
of between $3000 and $29000 per person or couple as the case maybe. Since the
US Reps were not travelling as “couples” the news site concluded their cost
would be $16000 (the highest rate for individuals in the highest class) which
in turn is inferred as “bribery”. Very smart, isn’t it? On being questioned,
one of the US Reps has offered clarification which is carried in the Outlook
report but while you may read that, it is not even relevant to the whole case.
Just for the record, a US Rep’s annual salary is reportedly $174000, just under $16000 pm. So,
imagine our media implies that for just over a month’s salary they can be
bought. Even Indian politicians can’t be bought for that.
If a sponsor is using the lead team of “prominent
lawmakers” to invite others to join the trip at a price then how exactly does
it amount to a bribe to the lead-team? Given
that the Reps were “invited to lead” it is not even unnatural that their
expenses would be borne by the sponsors. It is not confirmed that is the
case though. Since I quoted India Today’s headline earlier let us consider
Narendra Modi was invited as key note speaker at their recent Conclave and
there would have been expenses. Now, we don’t know who bore the expenses of
Modi. But supposing India Today had borne the travel, commuting, stay and food
expenses of Modi amounting to say Rs.2 lakhs, would that be considered a bribe
paid to Modi for speaking at their event? This is the stupid inference ‘Hi-India’
makes which our media editors then repeat like parrots.
As for the political statements coming
from the Congress, the less said the better. Their hatred for Modi and their
funding of anti-Modi media and NGOs is all too well known. After 11 years even Madhu Kishwar who had earlier bought the media arguments has now written nearly a
whole book about the hateful campaign against Modi funded by Congress and other
vested interests. Not surprisingly, this blog and many others have been saying
this for years now.
And since we are on it, why not go
another step? What exactly is this ‘Hi-India’? While the Indian media quoted
their “bribery” source as a community news site in Chicago most of them did not
even mention the name “Hi-India”. Because if they did, you would read and
discover how farcical the story is. That would defeat the purpose of the lies,
eh? Well, it’s published by a man named Hemant Bramhbhatt. Not much is known about him except that he has been doing a
‘South Asian’ community service news site for many years. Okay, what next? He
also publishes something called “Sandesh”. And who helped him getting into this
publishing business? Ah well, it’s family friends from the second-highest sold
news newspaper from Gujarat called “Sandesh”.
This is published from many cities in Gujarat. Sandesh does not have a
reputation of being Modi-friendly but we don’t need to make any assumptions. It
is important to merely know the connections of ‘Hi-India’.
That the US Reps came and spoke highly
of a State within India seems intolerable for many politicians and media
houses. Ever seen such shameful conduct? In July 2011 the GOI announced it
would investigate activities of many journalists and activists who were
frequent guests of an anti-India campaigner like Ghulam Nabi Fai. He operated liberally with ISI funds and
the participants, including Dileep Padgaonkar, Kuldip Nayar, Gautam Navlakha
and many more, were beneficiaries of his doles. Why doesn’t that constitute bribery yet? That too by a known enemy! These are not Americans who can’t be
investigated. Is it any surprise that these people are glorified in our media?
The Gujarat 2002 riots campaign of lies
failed to stick and win elections. They then turned to some lame corruption
charges. Then they turned to fantasies about malnutrition in Gujarat being the
worst in India. Having failed in all that, the media now clings on to fantasy
of any kind that drops their way, including fantasies of bribery for praise and
visa.
