Debate or driving a wedge?

This post originally appeared here.

That our TV and newspaper debates have become didactic is increasingly apparent. But are they without any purpose? Without any motive? Why do opinion makers feel compelled to lead people in a certain direction? And does this direction lead people to a certain political choice while steering them away from others? The answer can be found in what transpires in these debates.

Baba Ramdev started a campaign against corruption. This campaign gathered so much momentum that the government sent four union ministers to meet the Baba. Things did not go as the government had hoped. The Baba’s campaign acquired a deeply Saffron character. Soon after that we heard TV studios sing in chorus disparaging the Baba and his campaign. We saw TV studio invitees echoing exactly the same thoughts as that of the anchors who themselves echoed thoughts of the government. Switch to a debate in another TV studio and one could not help but think one was hearing an echo of the debate in the other TV studio. This was in sharp contrast with the almost approving nod Anna Hazare’s campaign received. The difference between the two was that Anna’s campaign was strictly “apolitical” while Baba’s was “political” and not just “political” but “Saffron” too.

Take a more recent example. The Karnataka Lokayukta came out with a report on mining scams. Yeddyurappa of BJP was the Chief Minister heading a majority government. Congress and JDS are the political opposition. Yeddyurappa and his family find mention in the report and every TV studio asked for his ouster. Yeddyurappa resigned. A similar thing happened in Delhi. Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit of the Congress party has a more serious involvement in the Commonwealth Games corruption. The Shunglu Committee and CAG reports have listed the scam in detail and questioned her role in the same. An equivalent level of campaign for her ouster is nowhere to be seen in TV studios or newspaper columns. The reaction has been disproportionately muted. It was said that the BJP would strengthen its moral standing against corruption by making Yeddyurappa resign. Now we hear the CAG had exceeded its mandate in indicting Sheila Dikshit and that its findings are not final but must be put under scrutiny.

These are but two recent and more popular examples. Scores such examples can be witnessed if one go through most of our debates. The resulting narrative of such debates disadvantages a certain political formation and by default this benefits the grand old political formation. The political formation at advantage has been given the highly desirable character of being secular. With secularism being spoken of favourably and rewarded in TV studios and columns, parties associating themselves with secularism enjoy good word of mouth.

With such debates it becomes difficult for anyone to put the favourable political formation under scrutiny and not attract criticism. The result of such debates is to drive a wedge between the fence sitters and political formations not identified with secularism. Such debates consolidate the committed and make it difficult, almost impossible for the uncommitted to choose anything but the secular choice.

Some popular myths revisited

This post first featured in Centre Right India.

Manmohan Singh is a paragon of honesty.

That was true in 2004. But boy, does this sound ridiculous now or what! He was a very clever choice for the Congress party high command that could not become the Prime Minister herself. But as the past 7 years have proved, he has worked wonderfully well for his party leaders alone. The incessant scams getting exposed with each passing day under his watch means cheerleaders can no longer chant “Singh is King”.

Congress ka haath aam aadmi ke saath.

This slogan is quite funny. It is also quite brazen. The Congress party’s record on this count is dismal to say the least. It’s fetish for socialism in the early days had driven millions to poverty. And it’s policies are no better now. Millions still continue to suffer. None of it’s “garibi hatao” slogans or programs have actually worked. The only garibi they ever managed to eliminate is that of the partymen. NREGA is the latest name of one such scheme which has wrecked havoc with the rural economy. Thousands have died on account of terror, runaway inflation is robbing food away from the poor and all the party has to show for it’s 7 year rule so far is gargantuan scams. In light of all this and more, the slogan needs to be re-calibrated as Congress ka haath aam aadmi ke gaal par.

Rahul Gandhi is our destiny deliverer.

When Rahul Gandhi first flashed his photogenic dimples for the cameras you had to see the raptures in secular media to believe it. Fawning media coverage and gushing columns continue to this day. And Abhishek Manu Singhvi would have you believe that Rahul Gandhi is indeed divine. But what does the alleged “destiny deliverer” have to show for his 7 years in public life so far? Nothing. Much of this was covered in an earlier post. Not only is Rahul Gandhi not a destiny deliverer but his dangerous cluelessness will cost us dear. And the soundness of his mental faculties too is being questioned as seen through wikileaks.

Sonia Gandhi is the most benevolent leader.

A yet another assiduously crafted image of a person who is anything but that. Please do readearlier post on this topic from the archive and this one by friend S Sudhir Kumar. For an alleged benevolent leader, Sonia Gandhi is surprisingly callous to the sufferings of her aam aadmi voters. She doesn’t even deign to spare a few minutes facing the media and the public.

“Inclusive growth” with a human face.

This is a rather funny coinage. This marketing technique worked very well in 2004. But what has transpired since then is hardly “inclusive growth”. Perhaps the only growth the Congress party has achieved since of that of the UPA coalition itself. Crores of Rupees have made way to the UPA constituents and they still haven’t burped yet. “Inclusive growth” is the mother scam. All other scams are a result of this.

Criticising the Congress party is communalism.

This is one of the funniest ploys the self declared champions of secularism resort to. When you cannot defend your own record, when you find yourself facing inconvenient questions, when you are caught red handed in an inconvenient act, it is always useful to use the “communalism” charge. This allows the Congress party to escape scrutiny of it’s record and deflect all debate to the secular versus communal cacophony. What is missed in this theater is that the Congress party itself is rabidly communal.

Tangential journalism

You would think that when a political party assumes power promising inclusive growth with a human face and fails miserably to do so, the media would hold those failing their promises accountable. You would think the media would ask tough questions and demand explanation of the party’s leadership for its failures. But apparently that is not the right way to think. Instead we are lead to believe the entire political class is a failure. The ruling party could not be held accountable because, again, all politicians are bad. What are we to do in such a situation? Apparently we must watch prime time TV news shows disparaging all politicians. We must light candles at national monuments to show our disgust. We must write lengthy columns expressing similar sentiment. But what we must absolutely not do is politicize any issue in an electoral democracy. We must not encourage people to be more aware politically and urge them to participate in the electoral process. This logic is at play in large, influential sections of our mainstream media.

Every time there is a raging issue confronting the nation we find our newsmen asking exactly the wrong questions. Rather than question the ruling party for their failures, political opponents are pitted against each other and we are expected to watch this believing this is serious debate. These scenes are repeated with unfailing regularity each day. A typical scene involves a newsman posing cagey questions to a member from the ruling party. The ruling party member promptly shifts goalposts to the opposite end without losing any time and the opposition party member is left defending himself.

This script works very well in a wide range of situations. It is a template that fits everything. Take terrorism for example. The perpetrators of terror harbor no illusions on what and why they are doing. They are quite upfront and candid about it. But it would be unsecular and inhumane of investigating authorities to carry out any profiling, to carry out any serious investigation simply because it involves a disproportionately large number from a certain religion. It is only a minor inconvenience that perpetrators of terror happen to be in disproportionately large numbers from a certain religion. But prime time TV newsmen tell us it is abominable to carry out logical investigation and that we must feel guilty for doing so. To drive home this point shows are conducted posing such existential questions as “are we unfairly targeting minorities?” or “has the majority failed the minority?”.

Lets take corruption. That the issue has hit the roof is an understatement. And again here a certain political party has a disproportionately large share in it. Now see the questions being posed by our newsmen. See the pattern?

But it should not surprise anyone who has observed the media and our homegrown opinion makers. Over the years a convenient equation has been bandied about. A certain political party by the virtue of a certain type of characters being at the helm are automatically secular. Something very desirable, something young people should aspire for we are led to believe. And then of course what is left is very undesirable. A certain other political party naturally falls in this category. A very communal party, highly undesirable trait, we are told. Now when you have your very desirable, very secular political characters getting caught in seriously compromising cases it becomes well nigh impossible to criticize them squarely having cheered such characters for decades. Thankfully we have the other undesirable party to direct all the public anger at. So we have this strange situation where the secular party - in face of never-before-seen-in-history mismanagement - claim the moral high ground and question the communal party for its failure to check all ills while it was briefly in power. While all this happens almost none on the media puts things straight.

One cannot help but notice that most of our star journalists seem to consistently miss hitting the mark. Instead our media is a willful facilitator helpfully taking viewers and readers on the tangent lest logical questions be asked leading to obvious, inconvenient answers.

Sonia Gandhi and her carefully crafted saintly aura

Sonia Gandhi entered politics with a touching story of how she could not let herself escape the inevitable responsibility of leading the Congress party. After all it was crying to be led by the only family divinely ordained to do so. The way in which her declaration as party high command came about and what happened to the immediate predecessor is but a matter of fine print.

Her being a rank outsider, both in politics and nationality, a woman, widow of the assassinated Rajiv Gandhi meant she was the proverbial underdog in Indian politics. Thirteen years later she has proved she is no underdog. In fact she is in the top 10 of the world's most powerful list. Nine places ahead of the Prime Minister (PM) of the world's largest democracy. And the political opposition could only be wishing if only it did not make the mistake of underestimating her.

One would think that after having been at the top of the Congress party for over a decade and having manufactured a convenient power center for herself under the United Progressive Coalition (UPA) chairmanship for about 6 years now, our media would take some time to evaluate her leadership, her politics. But try as you might an honest, independent review of her years in public life is impossible to come across. Instead what we have is some fawning soft focus features in mainstream media commemorating such momentous occasions as her 10 years in politics.

The only image of her that is allowed is that of a suffering, reluctant person who was forced to bow to public pressure to lead the nation. Election posters of course follow a carefully crafted image. But what has happened under her command, what has transpired in both the UPA governments is completely ignored by opinion makers. That cronyism, nepotism is prevalent in Congress party culture is not news but one of the identifying characters of the party. Sonia's leadership since 1998 has done nothing to change that. Instead she appointed her son, Rahul Gandhi, to important post in the party. The son too has been lending sound bytes of trying to change the rotten system of ours but little has come of it since his entry into public life seven years ago.

Under Sonia Gandhi's leadership we had the bad precedent of the unelected Manmohan Singh being appointed as our PM. Our democracy is being subverted ever since. Playing with gubernatorial appointments in states ruled by opposition parties, intimidating non-Congress rules states through the federal government, using extra constitutional routes for law making have been happening since 2004. Analysis, scrutiny of such acts however is missing. Instead we have the curious coincidence of only benefits accruing to Sonia Gandhi and all criticism being absorbed by other Congressmen. When the erstwhile "honest" Manmohan Singh was chosen for our PM, Sonia Gandhi was hailed for her sacrifice and excellent choice. Now that Manmohan Singh is being severely criticized for raging scams on his watch no questions are being asked of her. When her appointees like ex Chief Minister of Maharashtra Ashok Chavan get caught in scams, again no questions must be asked of her. When UPA coalition partners are accused and being investigated for severe scams Manmohan Singh should shoulder blame. No blemish should ever reach Sonia Gandhi.

Then we have the case of her being personally involved in scams. Bofors is perhaps the longest running scam story. The brazenness with which Bofors cases were closed was open for all to see. Personal allegations against her may have been in the realm of conspiracy theories in the past but that may no longer be the case. Almost every major scam hitting the headline these days has some link tracing to Sonia Gandhi. The Commonwealth Games scam has a Robert Vadra link. The 2G spectrum scam has links going to her. Yet stories in media on such links are no where to be found.

The other image of Sonia Gandhi is that of a caring, sensitive leader who has the aam aadmi's interests close to her heart. Yet victims of the horrific 2008 attacks on our soverignity on 26/11 are yet to see justice being done to them. PM Manmohan Singh promised that to the nation in his televised address immediately following the attack. But now we have him trying to make peace with the nation that blatantly refuses to take responsibility in face of a mountain of evidence. The UPA power center is unmoved. A nation housing vast numbers of poor people suffers continued price rise burden. Inclusive growth promise that apparently has a human face is not questioned here.

Sonia Gandhi herself and her inner circle seems to have carefully crafted a certain image of her. She has the habit of maintaining complete silence when the going gets tough, instead letting some members of her inner circle do the dirty job of discrediting all criticism. But when there is a slight opportunity for media worthy sound byte we have the benevolent, saintly Congress high command get out of her meditation and let a few words of wisdom out. When more questions are raised she conveniently goes back to her meditation.

No opinion maker worth his/her salt has shown the courage to question and hold Sonia Gandhi accountable of all that is wrong in the Congress party and the UPA government. She is allowed to enjoy leadership without the accountability that should go with it in a constitutional democracy. This continued mismanagement is doing incalculable harm to our nation's interests. But when wanting to be seen on the right side of power holder trumps need for honest scrutiny, such abominable cruelty will go unnoticed.

Sceptical of success expected of Baba Ramdev

There is some excitement about Baba Ramdev's Bharat Swabhiman movement. It is easy to understand this and was articulated recently in this post at Centre Right India. However I am sceptical of this.

One of the reasons for this scepticism, double dip cynicism due to probable failure of Baba Ramdev's movement has been written about by Gaurav again at Centre Right India. Such a failure will be a severe setback and will further disappoint middle India driving it further away from participating in the policial process.

But there are other reasons as well. The Congress party can never be underestimated. It is the oldest political party in India and has seen many ups and down, has gone through many political turmoils and yet has managed to retain it's massive footprint on electoral politics. It may be tempting to dismiss Digvijay Singh's charges against Baba Ramdev's movement. But we must not forget the Congress party knows it's politics in and out. Better than any other party in India.

It senses the futility in taking on Baba Ramdev on his turf. So it may have deployed Digvijay Singh in laying a trap for Baba Ramdev in drawing him into something it is most adept at. Politics and dirty tricks. It may be trying to bury the Baba under an avalanche of controversial charges. If it works, Baba will be left expending most of his energy in fighting these charges just to come out clean, just to retain his credibility among people. If that does not work, Congress will draw him into the world of politics where it fancies will be easy to defeat him. And it will. Like I said, no one knows politics better than the Congress party. The Baba seems to be dangerously unarmed here.

Baba Ramdev is the ace in the Bharat Swabhiman movement. There are risks in exposing your aces in such a high stakes games against such players as the Congress party. A possible defeat will be detrimental to opposing forces, middle India's psyche.

"Inclusive growth" is a scam

Back in 2004, the Congress led UPA came to power criticizing the NDA's ill fated "India shining" campaign. Upon gaining mandate to govern the nation, the UPA sought to differentiate itself as a government that cared for the people who did not benefit from the economic growth yet. It came up with a common minimum program that purported to carryout out development with a "human face". "Inclusive growth" has been the buzzword since then. And to add credibility to their claims, the Congress party installed Manmohan Singh over us.

To carry out their "inclusive growth", the UPA came up with many social benefits schemes. The mother of them all is the NREGA, their flagship showcase. This scheme aims at providing 100 days of guaranteed employment to the poor. It was launched in Feb-2006. The UPA has been touting the program's success ever since. Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, especially the latter, have hardly missed an opportunity to sell the story to us. But audits do not agree with such claims -

NREG fails to deliver [Link] (2008)

Punching a hole in the UPA government's campaign of Bharat Nirman and other flagship schemes, its official auditor, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) said in a report released on Friday that the government had been overstating the expenditure [Link] (2009)

A conservative estimate of the disappearance into thin air of money meant for the poor NREGA recipients in 2007-08 is about two-thirds of the money spent on the programme. Disappearance means money not accounted for by receipt, by the poor or the rich. It is unlikely that corruption in the NREGA has decreased in the last three years while having increased in all sectors of the economy. Which means that scam money in the NREGA, in just one year, 2010-11, is upwards of Rs 25,000 crore. [Link] (2011)

So a noble sounding social benefit scheme has quickly degenerated into a giant scam, a hallmark of the Congress party. Many things could be said of this but the fact remains that the Congress party is only continuing it's money making ways at the expense of the same poor it purports to help under a new name, "inclusive growth".

This abominable cruelty is not limited to social schemes. Anywhere there is money to be made, there is a scam to be pulled off. Take the current rage for example, the 2G spectrum scam. First seen here. The monumental scam is now know to one and all. Similar is the case with our highways. Since the regime changed hands from NDA to UPA in 2004, highway development activity has slowed down to a halt. Tall claims were made by UPA ministers. But 6 years later they have nothing to show for those claims. In fact this report will give you a glimpse of the rot that has set in the NHAI. Between 2007 and 2008, there were as many as 5 changes to to the NHAI chief post. And you would think with all the scams hitting the roof, the Congress party would have learnt it's lessons, but to the contrary dubious characters continue to be considered for the NHAI office. The agriculture ministry under Sharad Pawar is another case of gross mismanagement. Poor PDS infrastructure, rotting grains, farmer suicides are rampant under a Maratha strongman who comes from the farming belt in Maharshtra. Apparently, multitasking is not Pawar's forte, what with him heading the ICC as well.

We had to live a horrific nightmare under the incompetent beyond imagination Shivraj Patil. For a party with heavy socialist tendencies, they have failed at almost all human development indices. The story is same everywhere. Railways, 26/11, Pakistan, ISRO, Maoist manace, police reforms, defence, border disputes, Kashmir are no exceptions either. Six years have passed since development with "human face" began but all we have is a cargo load of scams. Each bigger than the other. "Inclusive growth" has a very limited scope than claimed by the Congress party. Only their inner members have grown significantly, others continue to be robbed of their destinies. "Inclusive growth" is a scam.

Rahul Gandhi is no leader

This piece was written for Centre Right India. Also posting it below -

It is impossible to miss the name Rahul Gandhi if you are reading, talking, discussing India . His appointment within the Congress party was not by employing any democratic means, but simply because the Congress president, his mother, chose him. This in the world’s largest democracy and in a party that never tires talking of democratic principles. And now, he is being presented as our future Prime Minister sans any debate. With the Congress chief deciding this, the nation’s talking heads have busied themselves endorsing and selling him as our ‘destiny deliverer’. We are destined to have Rahul Gandhi lord over us and we simply must accept this.

Only in our nation could someone be hoisted over us without merit. We were born that way. Our first Prime Minster was appointed ahead of Sardar Patel who enjoyed the most confidence within the Congress party. From then on the trend has continued and sustained to our current Prime Minister. And all indications are it will in the future. Because our national media will not take the time to examine Rahul Gandhi, we are left to ourselves to size him up. Let us begin with his background.

Education

Rahul Gandhi comes from the most high profile political family yet his personal background is not very well known. He is entitled to his privacy of course, but a potential national leader will attract some scrutiny. His educational background is mired in controversy. So too are his claims on election affidavits. It seems strange that our future leader cannot seem to get his story on education right or is unwilling to set the record straight putting all doubts to rest. Very little is known of his professional life before joining politics.

Political career

Rahul Gandhi was elected to Lok Sabha from Amethi in May 2004. He has not held any political office yet and has mainly concentrated on party building activities, especially the youth wing. His pet project, bringing democracy to Congress, is not yet a success. Internal elections in youth Congress and his youth leader appointees have not exactly been controversy free. He took up party building responsibility in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. While he enjoyed moderate success in UP, he is still far from breaking Bahujan Samaj Party’s hold on the state. His Bihar attempts were a disaster as evidenced in recent elections and his visits to other states, especially Gujarat, have had little impact on his party’s fortunes there.

After having spent over 6 years in domestic politics, travelling overseas, interacting with foreign leaders and having the best political minds within the party to support and mentor him, there is very little Rahul Gandhi espouses or articulates. His sporadic attempts at making political sounds have resulted in more controversies and have done very little to add or give direction to political debates. Rather they come across as manipulative and aimed at exploiting short gains. Leaders he has hand picked have failed to deliver.

For someone who purports to be concerned of the nation’s wellbeing, he is remarkably detached from parliamentary proceedings. He only goes there about half the time and for the limited time he spends there, he almost never participates in debates.

Discovery of India

A couple of years ago, Rahul Gandhi embarked on his very own ‘discovery of India ’ to understand the country better and gain political maturity. When he was touring, not a day went by when a doting national news media did not report his encounters with the unwashed masses, especially during the last general elections. Visiting dalit houses, tea stalls, road side vendors, his jumping the security cordon and shaking hands with the crowds featured fondly in national news space. This discovery phase now seems to have ended. It is only natural for us to expect Rahul Gandhi to list his learnings, summarize them for us, articulate them for the nation. But nothing of the sort has happened yet, which leaves us to wonder if he has learned anything at all. One might cite his speech in the parliament during the Indo-US nuclear deal debate. But that too was a half baked, disappointing attempt. The debt ridden Kalavati he spoke about is still waiting for better days and had to travel to Delhi to remind Rahul Gandhi of his unkept promises.

Photo-ops

In an interview to NDTV, Arun Jaitley was asked for his advice to Rahul Gandhi. In his answer Jaitley said, Rahul Gandhi should make constructive political interventions and participate in debates more. Politics could not be “an endless series of photo opportunities”. That was very well put and summarizes Rahul Gandhi’s political life so far. No astute observer will miss this coincidence. Glance through our national media and you will see nothing but favourable coverage of Rahul Gandhi. Critical reports of him are hard to come by. Prominent television news editors have been at the forefront of this. Rahul Gandhi is found missing every time the nation faces crisis but will emerge to exploit any and every convenient photo opportunity.

In the 40 years of his life so far, Rahul Gandhi has not exhibited any leadership traits. Over 6 years of his political stint have only yielded in often banal and sometimes controversial utterances. He has not added to or defined any political debate and still cannot speak extemporaneously. Despite the stage managed, carefully choreographed tours, when faced with unscripted events he has had to beat a hasty retreat on more than one occasion. He is reluctant to face harsh, inconvenient questions without any safety net. There is very little he espouses or articulates. His ‘youth icon’ or the ‘destiny deliverer’ facade is built on the strength of fuzzy op-eds and fuelled by exploiting photo opportunities.

Secular props

It is pretty much well known among independent bloggers and twitter users which side of the political divide do the homegrown secularists lean towards. And it should not be a secret to the others either for they have hardly done it subtly. On every possible occasion the secularists have done all they could to prop up and sell us a secular lemon for our leader.

Their joy knew no bounds when the UPA formation took oath to office in 2004. Sonia Gandhi, the quiet suffering, all sacrificing widow was anointed the undisputed queen of secularism. Manmohan Singh, an allegedly honest man, was foisted on us as our PM. One need not recount the suffering our nation has been going through since then. Both of these secular props have failed every leadership test there is. It didn't bother them that Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi employed questionable means to survive no confidence motion in 2008, a grinning epidemic swept national TV studios and Singh was anointed "King". Omar Abdullah's hate filled speech in the parliament didn't stop them from declaring him "India's Obama". The prince, Rahul Gandhi too threw his weight behind him making him CM for J&K. This "Indian Obama" too has failed miserably and Kashmir is now slipping away from our hands.

The nation has been facing countless grave challenges since the secular props took office, but they continue to dither. Political calculations trump national interest. Many ovaries burst in excitement every time Rahul Gandhi exploits a photo-op, but editorial comments are missing on his absent leadership. Shady characters continue in youth Congress even after Rahul Gandhi promising to change the system. And there's hardly anything to write home about the young Congress leaders. There are countless other examples.

Every single "leader" sold to us by the secularists has been a spectacular failure. Lemons all.

Indoctrination works

When the Wall Street whiz kids, the doctors, the engineers or what are otherwise called the cream of the society tend to think of Rahul Gandhi as the deliverer of India's destiny, we know that the secular indoctrination that begins with our primary schools has worked wonders. When our children set out of schools the only names with the highest recall value are Gandhi and Nehru. That is further reinforced by breathless secular cheerleaders breaking us news and non-news alike 24x7. And the result is, the Mahatma and the other Gandhis are indistinguishable.

The much publicized visits to the poor by Rahul have led to many gush filled praises by those who find much virtue in such tokenism. It bothers none that Rahul's party pretty much has a monopoly on governance. His is the party that has been winning elections on empty slogans. 'Garibi hatao', 'Congress ka haath gareebon ke saath' are the pertinent ones. Yet India continues to have one of the largest population of absolutely poor people. The involvement of some of the most significant freedom fighters with the Congress and the continued rule of the party by the Gandhi family is still yielding dividends. And visits, such as the ones by Rahul, only reinforce that.

In a country - touted as the largest, most vibrant democracy - dynastic stranglehold on politics and governments is given a free pass. Debates, especially during the elections, are a telling example of how secular parties obfuscate issues. At the slightest hint of being evaluated on governance record, the discussion is hijacked into a communalism and secularism debate. Existential questions 'how can you not support secularism?' are posed. And with enough canards raised and reinforced by newsmen secular parties become the automatic choice.

And no effort is spared in retaining control. When popular mood turns contrary, discussing facial features resembling past leaders, invoking nostalgia are not out of bounds. Once that works, it is business as usual for the next term and the same facial features will only be invoked when needed next.

One only has to take an objective look at Indian politics, particularly the secular parties and their governance record, their continued dynastic dominance, the remarkable congruity in the views expressed by the media and it will be clear that secular indoctrination has worked.

Joint statements don't matter

International relations are governed by what two nations agree upon and state the same jointly. The same is then formalised in form of treaties. But astonishingly, a man who served as an under-secretary at the UN and with much international exposure came up with this ridiculous defense of Manmohan Singh's betrayal of India in Egypt -

[...] MoS for external affairs Shashi
Tharoor on Thursday downplayed the significance of the controversial
India-Pakistan joint statement and said it was a "diplomatic paper" and not a
legally binding commitment.

[...] "It (the joint statement) is a
diplomatic paper that is released to the press different from legal papers,"
[Link]

If that's the logic, how can Singh claim victory at Pakistan's mere admission of it's involvement in Mumbai attacks. It could very well amount to nothing since it's not legally binding.

And that's exactly how the Indo-US Nuclear deal too is playing out. The deal that was eventually sold to us ordinary folks was far from what the joint statement of 2004 mentioned.

This doesn't reflect well on a whole lot of things. Tharoor himself, the Congress's intentions, the UN and the general functioning of bodies like the UN. If this is the thought, then the UN and similar bodies are completely ineffective (not that they have been for long).

India’s interests betrayed in Egypt

The Prime Minister of the Union of India is oath-bound to uphold the sovereignty and integrity of the nation. And also to faithfully discharge his duties towards all manner of people in accordance to the Constitution and the law without fear or favour, affection or ill will.

Now India is no stranger to terrorism. Terrorists have been ripping us apart for decades and thousands of innocent lives have been lost under jihadi attacks. These only increased in intensity and frequency in the last few years. Bomb blasts became a routine and the people, appalled at our leaders' inaction, accepted it as a fact of life. Then 26/11 happened. This attack on Mumbai was no routine bomb blast. But we had professionally trained fidayeen attackers wrecking havoc in India's commercial capital. They held the city hostage for over 60 hours and by the time they were neutralised over 300 innocent lives had been lost. Landmark buildings were in flames, many lives were disrupted. People were enraged at this assault on their lives and the PM addressed the nation. Condemnations and promises were a part of it -

The dastardly terror attacks that took
place in Mumbai last
night and today leading to the loss of many precious lives and injuries to many
others have deeply shocked the nation. I strongly condemn these acts of
senseless violence against innocent people, including guests from foreign
countries. I offer my deepest condolences to the bereaved families and
sympathies to those injured. The Government will take all necessary measures to
look after the wellbeing of the affected families, including medical
treatment of injured.

[...] We are not prepared to countenance
a situation in which the safety and security of our citizens can be violated
with impunity by terrorists.

[...] We will take the strongest possible
measures to ensure that there is no repetition of such terrorist acts. We are
determined to take whatever measures are necessary to ensure the safety and
security of our citizens.

[...] We will take up strongly
with our neighbours that the use of their territory for launching attacks on us
will not be tolerated, and that there would be a cost if suitable measures are
not taken by them. [Link] (Emphasis added)

In the seven months since then, all we saw was a bunch of files exchanged between us and Pakistan. Leave inflicting costs on our neighbour aside, even diplomatic measures weren't forthcoming. When Singh and Gilani met in Egypt last week, this resulted -

Both Prime Ministers recognized that
dialogue is the only way forward. Action on terrorism should not be linked to
the Composite Dialogue process and these should not be bracketed. Prime Minister
Singh said that India was ready to discuss all issues with Pakistan, including
all outstanding issues. [Link] (Emphasis added)

We had Singh assuring the nation, all the while, no dialogue would take place unless Pakistan acted credibly on ending terrorism. And now we have the same Singh agreeing to de-link terrorism from discussions with Pakistan. It gets even worse -

Prime Minister Gilani mentioned that
Pakistan has some information on threats in Balochistan and other areas. [Link]

Balochistan featured in the joint statement. When it is India that is among the worst affected by terrorism in the world and clearly was the victim in the Mumbai attacks, thanks to Singh, Pakistan manages to paint itself as a victim. It was Singh's responsibility to ensure keeping pressure and onus on Pakistan. But what really happened, in his presence, was that both the nations came out as equally aggrieved parties. It is astonishing that images of destruction and innocent blood did not come to Singh's mind when he met Gilani and issued the joint statement in Egypt. And this is the same person who is known to have lost sleep on at least one other occasion. So much for guarding India's interests. Singh's attempt of passing the buck and seeking refuge under "bad drafting" is juvenile to say the least. It lends all the more credence to the fact that he was not being diligent in Egypt.

Singh, being the PM, ought to realise the responsibilities of his position and the potential implications of his actions on nation. He has demonstrated an inability to do so on multiple occasions. This particular joint statement has grave implications. Singh's judgement is a suspect. Until he proves otherwise, it must be concluded that Singh is incapable of keeping our national interest above all else.

Some thoughts on elections-2009

The seculars have defeated the communals. The people's verdict must be respected and the Congress party must be congratulated. While the secular cheerleaders are in rapture, the communal folks seem to be completely disheartened by their inability to win a mandate. Varied reasons are being put forward by one and all for the lesser than expected results for the communals. Some are even resorting to conspiracy theories. But the true ones will only be apparent when a thorough analysis is carried out.

Random listing of my thoughts below -

1. The communals were ineffective in taking their message to the masses.

2. In debates, they let the focus shift away from their message and got tricked into defending themselves against various allegations.

3. The communals were playing by the rules set by their opponents, were never able to turn the tables on the seculars.

4. Party spokespersons were similarly ineffective.

5. Never countered any myth spread by the secular media allowing the urban youth to be drawn away from the communals.

6. Ran a negative campaign and were unable to defend when faced with inconvenient questions.

7. Allowed the media to keep focus on communal issues rather than highlight their development manifesto.

8. Support from RSS and other organisations does not seem wholehearted.

9. Infighting hurt the communals in quite a few constituencies.

10. Strayed away from their core beliefs and distanced their core support base.

11. Bending over backwards to seek the secular approval repudiating the very beliefs that helped them rise to national prominence.

12. Unable to expand their support base beyond their strongholds.

13. Content with playing second fiddle to coalition partners.

The communals should not fall for the trap being set for them by the secular opinion makers who are now urging them to reinvent and adopt a "center right" approach. Not for nothing did they win a series of elections in the last couple of years and were able to retain strongholds. Instead any reinvention must be on the lines of falling back to their roots, regain the core support base back, gain ground in more states and look after the interests of the support base by not reneging on promises. The communals must strengthen themselves and refrain from seeking the secular approval. Koenraad Elst has analysed the communal failure to capture power -

Right-wing parties all over the world have a common trait:
Once in or near power, they betray their own support base. The BJP is no
different. It is needlessly described as a ‘Hindu chauvinist’ party which it is
not. To prove its ‘secular’ credentials, the BJP chose to become the ‘B’ team of
the Congress. And was rejected by the voters

Do read it in full here.

Sonia's "development"

Sonia in Chattisgarh -

"We have taken the country on the road to development. The growth rate under the Congress led government has been historic," [Link]

Priyanka in Rae Bareli campaigning for Sonia -

"The entire country looks at Rai Bareli and Amethi. The way you brought about change by continuing to vote for development will show the path to the entire country," [Link]

Ground reality in Rae Bareli -

"aage sadak nahin hai" (there is no road ahead) [...] "farzi udghatan hua hai" (This inauguration is fake).

The road that was supposed to run till another village, Beena Kheda, ends barely 500 metres after the highway.

"We hardly get power for 4.5 hours," says Ajay Awasthi from the village, not before adding, "and we are still better off. Our neighbouring village has no connection at all even 15 years after poles were pitched, despite its inclusion in Rajiv Gandhi Rural Electrification Project now." [There's more, read here]

The aam aadmi has become even more aam. But Sonia maintains -

"When the common man (aam aadmi) becomes prosperous, the country will automatically progress," [Link]

Priyanka says development is an election issue, the nation agrees and hopes she can convince Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi.

G-20 assessment of Indian measures against terrorism

Cheerleaders won't take the "communal" folk's word on Congress' laxity towards terrorism. Well, then here's the G-20's assessment. India fared poorly against these key measurement criteria -

1. Number of terrorists listed under
UNSCR 1333/1390 for which a freeze order has been issued: NIL

2. Number of other terrorists under UNSCR
1373 for which a freeze order has been issued: NIL

3. Amount of assets frozen for all
terrorists: ZERO

4. Specific risk-based measures in place to ensure that
non-profit organizations cannot be abused for the financing of terrorism?: NO

Even an Islamic country like Saudi Arabia fared better than us. For the complete listing click here. Because this report by the G-20 is inconvenient to the "secular" party and gives more fodder to the "communal forces" no mention was made of this by any news media covering the summit.

It is time the "voice of the people" media shunned its slant and start taking matters concerning our national interest seriously. Reducing the debate on terrorism to a yelling contest only takes the focus away from the grave dangers facing the nation.

Election histrionicses

With the growing number if television news channels, in addition to the print media, this election season seems to have got a lot of exposure. The quality, though, is sub par. However the exposure has brought on record things we already knew happened.

Hours before the elections, police on
Wednesday seized more than Rs 15 lakh cash including Rs 2.80 lakh from an MIM
leader who was distributing money to voters in his house at Toli Chowki. A Praja
Rajyam Party candidate was also arrested for violation of the model code of
conduct.

[...] Police arrested Moinuddin and
recovered Rs 2.80 lakh cash from the house.

In another instance, Cyberabad police
recovered Rs 1.80 lakh from a former TDP Councillor who made a vain attempt to
avoid being caught by fleeing in an RTC bus.

[...] Police recovered Rs 1.80 lakh with
him. [more here]

If only these cashlords had dispensed half their duties, they wouldn't need to be doing this. Now, they lost their money and their face. Besides, voters have gotten smarter. They realise most have failed them, so they'd rather take the money when it's raining and vote whoever they deem fit.

[...] Voters often take money from many parties and finally vote
for the one they support. [Link]

Even as the media scrutiny has helped expose malpractices, the debate leaves a lot to be desired. The primary debate during elections ought be on the incumbent government's performance. None of the prominent media houses cared for an audit on the UPA's governance. Instead we had them parroting the same talking points presented by the various UPA members. What we have witnessed on TVs these last few weeks is the same old "secularism" vs "communalism" debate.

Every such debate is futile because it is an diversion from real issues and more importantly, neither "secularism" nor "communalism" is clearly defined. Even before it's proved, it is readily accepted "communalism" is evil and "secularism" is noble. And the media has made it more than clear, BJP is communal and Congress is secular. That tilts the scales heavily in favour of the "secular" parties even before any debate.

The television debates are also ineffectual for another reason. Participants almost never stay on issues being discussed. Instead any question or issue raised is sought to be diverted so opponent bashing can be carried out rather than answer one's own performance. So, for instance, when faced with a question on terrorism, we have the Congress slamming the BJP by questioning attacks during the NDA regime rather than explain it's own failure. The BJP too is incapable of articulating its criticism of the UPA effectively and demolishing canards about its record. Similar is the case for every other issue. No party can see its mistakes. Every debate is reduced to faulting the other than staying on message.

Another quite intriguing aspect of the media is the slant and bias in its reporting. If you were to scan the election coverage news, you'll notice the favourable, indeed fan like, coverage given to the Gandhi dynasty. It seems the dynasty is beyond scrutiny and the Nehru-Gandhi progeny can never do any wrong and the divine powers have ordained them to rule our nation. The favour is also extended to the Congress party. Contrast that with the unfavourable coverage given to the "communal" parties and anyone who's opposed to the "secular forces".

The "voice of the people" media has failed miserably in holding the UPA accountable. While the UPA goes about faulting the NDA's record, it never cares to explain it's own failure in correcting them. After all it has been in power for the past 5 years, enough opportunity to correct the alleged mistakes.

The 100 day plan that Singh forgot

Manmohan Singh is to visit Assam tomorrow and today this happened -

Terror struck Assam on the eve of Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh's visit when the state was rocked by three blasts and a
grenade attack in the space of five hours on Monday killing seven persons - all
in the Maligaon area here - and injuring 63. [Link]

This in a state represented by Singh himself in the upper house and on the eve of his visit there. Speaks volumes of his complete laxity on terrorism. Assam has been experiencing blasts and terrorists activities have only increased in the past 5 years under Singh's leadership. Yet Manmohan Singh fails to realise the danger posed by terrorism to our nation.

When he visits Assam tomorrow, the people should remind him of this -

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday
suggested setting up of a task force to initiate a 100-day plan to address
"emerging challenges" in the areas of terrorism, Naxalism and insurgency.

"I suggest establishment of a task force
which would initiate a 100-day plan to develop an integrated capability to
address emerging challenges in areas such as left wing extremism, terrorism and
insurgency," Singh said addressing the conference of the country's top police
officers. [Link]

Singh delivered that sermon on 23 Nov 2008. It is now well past the 100 day mark and yet bombs continue to rip our cities apart. Much like everything else, nothing came of this promise.

Returning the favour

Not for nothing did the nation's prominent mainstream news editors win the various padma... titles. Their fierce protection of the warped secularism practiced in our nation has impressed their far from secular political masters. This favour meted out by the Congress lead government is more than being returned by the news hounds in this election (not that any other election is any different). Integrity has become redundant in editorial ethics.

Measurement criteria differ when it comes to the "communal" or "saffron" folks. While a doctored video (which took about 10 days to produce) is passed off as evidence of hate speech, actual hate speeches by patron parties do not have to pass the "secular" test. It simply is enough to belong to a convenient political party. National editors turn a blind eye over all that is inconvenient. Here are instances that will not make prime time debate or proportional to "communalism" coverage -

RJD chief Lalu Prasad on Monday said he
would have ‘crushed’ BJP candidate Varun Gandhi under a roller for his
anti-Muslim speeches if he had been the country's Home Minister. [Link]

The Congress had organised a rally near
the Jama Masjid ground, supported by 23 Muslim organisations. While addressing
the largely Muslim gathering, Kidwai had allegedly said, “Main mufti nahin hoon
iska mujhe afsos hai, kyunki Mufti log hamare yahan fatwa de sakte hain. Aur
agar main mufti hota to sirk ek fatwa deta ki musalmaan ka BJP ke sath jana kufr
ke barabar hai. (I regret not being a cleric as only clerics can issue a fatwa.
If I were a cleric I would have issued only one fatwa that for Muslims to vote
for the BJP is a sin.)” [Link]

Senior Congress leader and former
minister Kagodu Thimmappa, who had stirred the hornet's nest by allegedly
instigating partymen to 'chop-off the hands of Hindu chauvinists' in an election
campaign meeting recently, today charged that some vested interests had twisted
his statement. [Link]

Mines Minister Sis Ram Ola has winked at the court judgement, transferred department Secretary Shantanu Consul, ignored suggestion of the nation’s Cabinet Secretary, paid no heed to his Cabinet colleague Ram Vilas Paswan’s claim that the national mineral company NMDC should have the mining right at Ramandurg and bulldozed his way through in granting mining right to the PSU trading company, MMTC, which has set up JV with a private company, India Bulls, with the steel czar LN Mittal as the ultimate beneficiary. And all these have been done when the model code of conduct has been in force and the Government led by Manmohan Singh is just a caretaker one. [Link]

A 45-year-old rickshaw puller was beaten
to death allegedly by an acquaintance and his accomplices when he objected
to
them passing lewd remarks at his daughter at Bawana in Outer Delhi on
Saturday.
Three of the accused have been arrested.

The tragic incident took place around 10
p.m. when Harpal went to meet his neighbour Rasool and warned him against
passing vulgar comments at his daughter. This led to an altercation between
them, following which Rasool and his friends allegedly beat up Harpal.
[Link]

Police today imposed prohibitory orders
under section 144 at Kayathamaranhalli extension here, after a clash between two
groups last night, in which, many vehicles and houses were damaged.
Police
said today they resorted to tear-gas to disperse the warring groups. Two
Assistant Sub Inspectors and four constables, were among others, who were
injured in the incident.
Four temples were damaged. The miscreants also
attacked the house of the former Mayor H N Srikantiah and ransacked furnitures.
[Link]

This blog chronicles the molestation and
abduction of Hindu
girls my Muslims in Bengal. [Link]

I just returned from a month in India
during which time an incredible number of significant events were occurring. My
primary mission in going was to document and raise awareness of the ethnic
cleansing of Bangladeshi Hindus. I found plenty, including evidence of ongoing
attacks on them both in Bangladesh and in West Bengal, India. The border between
the two is so porous that terrorists and contraband move freely with and without
the help of India's Border Security Force or West Bengal police. But I also
witnessed the tragic beginning of the end for Pakistan's Hindus. Once one in
five Pakistanis, they have been reduced to one percent of the population.
[Link]

In connection with indulging in rampage
in a banana plantation belonging to Babbukatte Nityadhar Church and trying to
disrupt peace in the region, Ullal policemen arrested seven persons on Wednesday
March 18.

They are Jayson Verghese (23), Vijit
Sunny Rozario (21), Araki Alfred (20), Roshan Cutinho (26), all from Nityadhar
Nagar and Ronald Roshan (22), a resident of Kuttar Prakash Nagar. They were
produced in the court on Wednesday.

On Monday morning, the banana plantation was found to have
been damaged heavily to look as if people belonging to a particular community
had barged into the plantation, and a saffron flag had been planted there,
signifying that Hindu outfits had been involved with the destruction. The
incident took place at a time when Hindu Samajotsav was being organized in the
city. [Link]

The internet is replete with scores more of such incidents. Yet only the convenient ones get reported and debated.

One by one most of the Vadra family members have dropped dead. Mysteriously all of them died either in an accident or committed suicide. Something is clearly not right. But the CBI will not investigate them. Political masters will rein it in. And we will also not see national editors debating this. The media, we are told, only expresses public opinion. However, a majority seems to be excluded from the "public".

Telling it like it is

Paul Sheehan, a columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald sees something every dhimmi secularist fails to all around the world. The prejudiced "secular" mind is a prolific myth making machine. Outcomes are already decided and countless hours are dedicated in justifying them. "Secularists" couldn't be bothered with objective analysis, rather inconvenient facts are ignored so existence in denial can continue.

What about proving that Islamophobia
exists at all? That would be the logical, ethical and scholarly starting point. But it appears the outcome has already been decided. This would
fit the prevailing orthodoxy in academia that the default position for
Muslims in Australia is victim. The jargon, "Islamophobia" is part of
this ideological construct. Literally, it means fear of Muslims. [Link] (Emphasis added)

Actually, the Muslim victimhood theory is prevalent all around the world, not just Australia. Our own PM, Manmohan Singh seems to think so. So pained is he at the plight of Muslims in India that he awarded them the right to lay claims on our national resources before anyone else. Every "secular" discussion or column in our news media applies this theory when talking of "social justice". Highly typical of the "secular intelligentsia". However, they seem to forget that it is their same patron "secular" party that has ruled our country for over 5 decades since our independence.

A look at reality presents a completely different picture -

On March 8, the night of the Sydney Gay
and Lesbian Mardi Gras, police say a group of about 100 young Muslim men,
allegedly members of a loose gang called MBM - Muslim Brotherhood Movement -
moved through the centre of the city intimidating, harassing and beating
bystanders.

On March 15, Abdul Darwiche was murdered,
shot to death in a shopping centre in the latest hyper-violence involving two
warring Lebanese Muslim clans.

[...] Channel Nine obtained a copy of a
video surveillance tape which shows the former mufti of Australia kicking in a
door, then returning soon after in the company of police. Apparently he called
police over vandalism which he committed, blaming others who are engaged in a
power struggle at the mosque [...]

A few days later, yet another rape
sentence was handed down to one of the K brothers, three of whom, during their
various trials for gang rape, claimed they were victims of an anti-Muslim
conspiracy. Between them, four K brothers have been convicted of gang-raping
five girls.

This sentencing followed closely on the
conviction of seven Sydney schoolboys for the aggravated sexual assault of a
13-year-old girl in a toilet block in Yagoona in 2007. According to police, the
ring-leader was on his phone speaking in Arabic during the assaults and most or
all of the boys are of Muslim background.

If this is so, these latest convictions
produce a morbid tally of more than 30 young Muslim men involved in serious
proven sexual assaults of non-Muslim girls in Sydney [...] Because sexual
assault is the least reported crime (about 15 per cent of incidents are reported
to police) this particular phenomenon was certainly much broader. [Link]

This behaviour, the "secularists" would have us believe, is demonstrated by "oppressed victims". Non-Muslim girls in our own country are suffering the same crimes and far worse fate than reported above. The magnitude, again as noted in the report, is bigger than apparent because of the nature of crime. Apparently, Jihad can be waged in ways not necessarily involving guns/bombs. Social costs prevent majority of rape victims from actually reporting them. This, somehow, escapes the "secular" radar. However, the advocates of "social justice" howl to their capacity should the "communal forces" raise these issues.

Our media seems to cover its spectacular failure is putting things in the right perspective by raising enough non-issues to drown out the real ones. There is a need to tell it like it is.

A whole lotta noise, very less news

News reporting is fast becoming extinct. Instead slanted reporting peppered with liberal doses of personal views is now the norm. Political correctness demands conformity to the "secular" construct.

Shrieking opinion manufacturers raise enough din to drowns out real issues. Karnataka seems to be getting an awful lot of attention lately. It seems the "saffron brigade" breaching the south, much to the chagrin of the "seculars" predicting a Congress majority, has something to do with this. If one were to go by the reporting on Karnataka in the mainstream news media, one would think all troubles started only after the BJP came to power. A saffron connection is sought in every incident in the state. The alacrity shown in dragging the entire Sangh Parivar into controversy is sharply contrasted with the complete silence when facts turn inconvenient.

Any mischief involving anyone else but the "communal" folks is given a miss. Matters of grave importance such as illegal occupation of temples and historical structures, the growing threat of home grown terrorism, unscrupulous churches etc. are deemed unworthy of "secular" attention. Similarly, the serious threat to national security posed by unchecked Bangaldeshi infiltration, their aggression towards local people and take over of local lands, Churches dictating politics in the North East, foreigners becoming MPs are either only mentioned in passing or met with silence.

The Varun Gandhi incident is a good example of "secular" noise winning over issues. The BJP candidate made some serious claims during his alleged "hate speeches" in his constituency. His claims included molestation of underage girls, mass slaughter of cows, an unfair local administration. These are serious enough issues not to be sidelined. Yet no media house seems to have invested any time in verifying and unearthing the issues. The whole "hate speech" saga began after a convenient 10 to 11 days after the "communal" Gandhi said something "unsecular".

The Election Commission seems to have fallen for the "secular" trap in reaching to its conclusion. Apparently, it seems unwilling to go through the rigours of justice. It formed an opinion without verifying the allegations and without giving a fair hearing to the matter. However the Kidwais of the Congress seem to get away with their blatantly communal meeting with Muslim voters. This, perhaps, is a precursor to things under Naveen Chawla.

Optical illusion

While Manmohan Singh is the declared PM candidate for Congress, look who's being projected prominently -

The stand alone campaign of the Congress is
centred on Rahul Gandhi who, the hoardings say, will bring about the
seamless transition from a glorious present to a spectacular future.

This is what makes the Congress campaign an
optical illusion. The proclaimed candidate for PM is, as Punjabis say,
a good man di lalten but the person being projected is Rahul.

The question naturally arises: is Singh the
mukhauta who will quietly step aside for the real prime ministerial
candidate after the election is won? Or is he just a night-watchman? [Link]
(emphasis added)

That was Swapan Dasgupta in TOI. We are really being sold some snake oil here. Congress quackery is legendary. Hope the gullible masses are wiser than commonly perceived by the pundits.