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 !

This Dog Bites!

Not so long ago Ninong Ering, Congress MP from Arunachal Pradesh, reportedly called him an ‘Indian Dog’! That was because Baba Ramdev had raised the issue of black money and the corrupt Congress leaders in one of his meetings. Digvijay Singh of the Congress then wanted Ramdev to certify that every donation received by him was not black money. In the drama that unfolded today, there were ministers rushing to welcome Baba Ramdev in an attempt to persuade him to call off his indefinite hunger strike scheduled to start from June 4. I wonder where Digvijay Singh is now and why he didn’t prevail upon his party’s ministers to not accord a red carpet welcome to a man he implied was receiving black money as donations.

Well whatever it was, the media had a great day with all the drama surrounding Ramdev. Not a single channel failed to remind us that Ramdev had made a U-turn on his previous statement. He had made comments about including the PM and CJI under the Lokpal’s jurisdiction but nothing that can be seriously called a conflict with Anna Hazare but the media had a field day describing events as a clash between the Ramdev group and the Hazare group. The media was seeking sound bites from Kapil Sibal and Ramdev to report something dramatic after their 2-hour meeting at the airport.

The sixties and seventies had great gold smugglers in India. Among the famous ones were Haji Mastan and Sukur Narayan Bakhia. In most movies the smugglers were the villains. All that changed starting the late seventies. The politicians started being portrayed as villains in the movies. Smuggling, murders, kidnappings, bribery, you name it and there was some politician or the other involved. Contesting elections was not just to seek power to rule a constituency or a state or to make laws. It became an exercise in acquiring more and more illegitimate wealth to fight more elections and generate more wealth. Wealth here obviously means black money. With economic reforms being brought in since 1991 the opportunities to generate black money grew exponentially. As did our GDP. Much of the wealth, of course, stayed in the hands of a small percentage of the population. Despite all the laws, the RTI and so on, black money generation and transactions came to be accepted as normal. The first to start the major black money revolution has to be the real estate business. Naturally, there had to come a time when the dam would break. This is that time.

Raja, Kanimozhi, Kalmadi and many more are behind bars being denied bail. Media celebrities were indulging lobbyists and planting stories and even meddling in cabinet formation. The Congress and UPA government have brought corruption and black money transactions to its pinnacle. The black money figures today far exceed the loot the Britishers got away with. And instead of having acted, or still acting on disclosing names, putting offenders behind bars and recovering the money stashed in foreign banks the government seeks to mollify people like Baba Ramdev to call off his hunger strike. As of today, even Dayanidhi Maran, the former telecom minister, is reportedly involved in illegitimate money transactions. Telecom being the most growth oriented industry it almost looks like it was outsourced as a domain to one party to loot and make a killing as part of 'coalition dharma'.

So what is it about Baba Ramdev that scares the Congress so much?  Here’s a list:

1.   Ramdev is no Anna Hazare, he has a very large base and following and has the potential to mobilise crores of people just like Jaiprakash Narayan once did.

2.   He wears ‘saffron’ clothes. And that is a bad omen for the Congress.

3.   Unlike Hazare, Ramdev can generate a lot of funds to battle the Congress.

4.   Ramdev is headquartered in Uttarakhand but has tremendous influence in UP as well which goes to polls next year.

5.   Any misadventure can lead to Congress playing into the hands of a bumbling BJP.

6.   He is not burdened with any sidekicks like Anna Hazare who can be manipulated or targeted.

7.   His demands genuinely echo the sentiments of the people – they want the names of black money hoarders disclosed, no amnesty, funds stashed abroad declared national assets. What is wrong with these demands?

Under the UPA not one area of public responsibility has been corruption-free. Sure, there are good things that have happened. But this UPA will surely go down as the most corrupt government in the history of India. All the queen’s men may not be able to put the kingdom back together if they do not act now. Even areas like IPL and cricket, headed by none other than the likes of Sharad Pawar, have featured in the domain of corruption and black funds.

The UPA had promised to act on black money within 100 days of its office. Far from acting, the skeletons just keep tumbling out on various scams. The extra-constitutional body called the National Adversary Advisory Council is busy making communal laws in the guise of Communal Violence Bill. Laws are being proposed to suppress voices on the internet and the press.

The audacity and stupidity of Digivijay Singh asking Baba Ramdev to certify that each of his donation isn’t black money was the height of Congress arrogance. This was preceded by arrogant statements from Kapil ‘Zero Loss’ Sibal and the Manish Tiwaris and Abhishek Singhvis. They should have strongly condemned the incident where one of their members called Ramdev a Dog and shown greater humility in attending the scams that were popping up everywhere.

The Congress MP Ninong Ering and Digvijay Singh have never learned one important lesson in their life. Let sleeping dogs lie! Unfortunately, they woke him up and now he’s gonna bite!