Childish behaviour from Congress on Children's day!

The following article was written for Niti Central. Pasting it here for reference. 

Often during the past six months, I have wondered when the bankruptcy in the thought process of the Congress will end. The petty issues they have picked up, the undignified language they keep using against the party in power keeps exposing this bankruptcy. However, what I read today in the newspapers gave me absolute clarity on why Congress will continue down the path of self-destruction.

On of the front page of The Hindu today “Anxious Cong. keeps PM out of Nehru meet“.

However, what’s striking is the quote above it. It is attributed to Anand Sharma, spokesperson of the Congress.

“We have invited all those who truly believe in democracy and Nehru’s ideals.”

The Congress just called the democratically elected Prime Minister of India someone who does not believe in democracy! The party wants to commemorate India’s first Prime Minister and refuses to call the current Prime Minister of India to this function.

Words fail me! With such complete lack of respect for the democratic verdict of the people of India, it beats me as to what the Congress’s plans might be to revive itself in the future.

The story doesn’t end here. The news report accompanying the headline exposes the party even further.

“…the Congress fears that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will either appropriate the first Prime Minister or attempt to reduce him to a mere children’s icon.”

A mere children’s icon? The Congress named his birthday as Children’s Day, and celebrated it as such for the past 50-odd years. Why did they dedicate the day to him if they did not mean for him to become an icon for children? The usage of the word “mere” is so demeaning to the children – these people grow up to become responsible citizens of the country, so what exactly is the problem if Nehru is portrayed as their icon? Beats me!

What is their justification for this fear?

“The Modi Government, on its part, had confined the initial commemoration to observing a children’s cleanliness year and promoting scientific temper among children, sources said. The move has given rise to the fear that the government is trying to reduce Nehru to a children’s icon. “

Read it twice – the Congress is afraid that the children will be taught cleanliness and scientific temper! Which party in a responsible democracy fears such a thing? Congress-Mukt Bharat seems a bigger necessity now than in May 2014!

Now for the killer statement from Congress:

“This government is trying to usurp our leaders without subscribing to their values. [Mahatma] Gandhi isn’t just about cleanliness.”

First of all, Gandhi isn’t “their” leader. Second – this fear of “usurping of their leaders” is laughable. Pity that they have been reduced to this state.

These arguments are also proof of why Prime Minister Modi connects so well with the people. Cleanliness is something that affects us daily. I know what exactly I can do to contribute to #SwachhBharat. But if you give me lofty gibberish of “intellectual statesman”, “growth engine” – I can’t just connect with it! I know exactly who gets benefitted with Jan Dhan Yojana and how our banks are able to get more money deposited. Instead, if you tell me about the need for “inclusive growth”, I cannot imagine why I would want to continue listening to what you have to offer.

Or let’s take this latest example – 125 year celebration of Nehru. Another report in The Hindu tells us the plans Congress party had in mind, when it constituted a committee last year:

“Plans for the year-long commemoration included a coin and a stamp on Nehru and various chairs in universities, sources said.”

A coin? A stamp? Chairs in Universities? Whom does this reach? Who cares whose picture is there on a coin? How many outside the university care if a Chair is named after Nehru, Gandhi or Sonia?

Contrast this to the plans Modi has in mind:

“…to extend the Clean India drive to school and anganwadis and to inculcate scientific temper among children.”

This gets so identifiable with everyone – the children will enjoy participating in community events; they will develop a scientific temper; they will discuss this with their parents; and will go on to become responsible citizens of India. Commemoration and celebrations must mean that we get meaningful outcomes – not meetings and stamps! The day Congress party gets this, is the day they will start coming out of this abyss. Until then, enjoy the fall!

PS: The last line in this report cracked me up:

“The Congress had also planned a film on Nehru’s life on the lines of Richard Attenborough’s biopic Gandhi. A Congress leader said it would now have to be shelved for lack of funds.”

Bankruptcy of Congress thought process...

The following article was written for Niti Central. Pasting it here for reference.

“Where the overall economic situation of the area/society better – conditions of Muslims are also better”.

You would assume that this statement was made either by the BJP, Narendra Modi or some supporter of Narendra Modi. Because this has been one of their key arguments all along. But the above statement came from Union Minister of Rural Development Jairam Ramesh, who belongs to the Congress! The irony of this statement is so stark – the same Congress that seeks to segregate the Muslims as a vote-bank and keep them backward so that they can use it in elections, now has a Union Minister neatly implying that focus on overall situation, Muslims will automatically get better!

This statement was in response to a query posed by Rahul Kanwal on a chat show on AAJ TAK. Rahul Kanwal got Jairam Ramesh and Amit Shah on a panel to discuss about the Gujarat Model. And as always the discussion veered to the state of Muslims in Gujarat. At this point, Rahul Kanwal cited data from Sachchar Committee report that Muslims in Gujarat are in a better state. And then Jairam Ramesh made the above statement (at 10:37 in this video) clearly validating what Narendra Modi has been saying all along! Would it be a fair assumption to make now that the where the Muslims have fared badly, the overall economic situation is also bad, and therefore one cannot segregate the two?

The chat show is interesting on many levels, because it also exposes the vacuum in the Congress’s campaign strategy. Amit Shah was talking about the 24×7 electricity to villages, road connectivity to 98 per cent of villages, building of schools etc. Jairam Ramesh suddenly interferes and says this (at 4:40 in this video). “But this is all commercial”! He actually used the word “commercial” to describe building of roads, buildings, and supply of electricity! Is this how our Rural Development Minister thinks? That providing better infrastructure to rural areas is a “commercial” activity?

And of course, there has to be a discussion on 2002 riots. Jairam Ramesh refutes the clean chit given by SIT by claiming to be reading from the SIT report itself! He picks up a paper, saying that he bought along the SIT report along with him, and read out thus at 2:20 in this video:

“The SIT has held, while there is evidence, that many allegations are true and correct, in its own assessment, this evidence is not prosecutable.” I transcribed exactly what he told, and then pasted it on Google. Because I read the SIT report and don’t recollect seeing this. And guess what the first site Google showed up? Teesta Setalvad’s website with the exact same wording. Exact same words. Second link is an article by Sitaram Yechury with the exact same words. It looks like Jairam Ramesh merely printed from one of these blogs and read it out at this forum as if this is the truth. I’d urge the reader to go through the preliminary report of SIT here, and the final report of the SIT here. An earlier series of blog posts summarises the findings for easier reading. All the allegations have been refuted in a detailed investigation. If we were to believe the likes of Jairam Ramesh, then the gospel truth has to be Teesta Setalvad’s blogs and not the actual report itself!

This whole approach of the Congress reeks so much of the bankruptcy of their thought process. Equating infrastructure to being commercial in nature; continuing to spread lies on riots; continuing to stress on 25 year old “achievements” of Rajiv Gandhi; failure to engage in a healthy and informed discourse – all this will hurt the party a lot, there is little doubt about it. The media also has to take part blame for the fall in discourse. Sample this interview itself – Rahul Kanwal, despite getting a detailed clarification from Narendra Modi himself on malnutrition in Gujarat, brings up the 2011 figure in this interview again! While expectedly, Amit Shah has explained that efforts to improve are ongoing, the twist lies in Jairam Ramesh saying (at 8:30 of this video) that there are improvements happening to social indicators in Gujarat too!

Bye-Elections in AP: The politics over deaths

The above news item was published a day after Jagan Mohan Reddy was arrested by the CBI. This was published in Sakshi newspaper, that is owned by Jagan Mohan Reddy himself. The headline roughly translates:

"Hearts of 18 people stopped". 

The report details how 18 people died after hearing the news of Jagan's arrest. 

The next day, we had the below news item. 

This news item increased the number of dead to 48. 48 people died in the state of Andhra Pradesh (either suicide or due to depression/shock) because Jagan Mohan Reddy was arrested by the CBI. 

These two news items pretty much summarize the "politics of deaths" that Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy and his ilk are playing in the state of Andhra Pradesh. 

We (people of AP) are not new to this kind of politics. After YSR died, Sakshi flooded us with news of how 100s of people died out of shock. The last we heard, the number was pegged at about 600 people. We don't know the real number - it kept varying from 10s to 100s. 

And those were the days when Jagan Mohan Reddy was still in the Congress. He promised to meet the families of all those people who died "out of the shock/depression". He wanted the Congress High Command to give him permission for the same. Quite obviously, the permission was "denied" and he was advised to meet all the families at one place only. Jagan Mohan Reddy said it was against our culture (yes, he is the torchbearer of our culture too) to do so, and defiantly announced that he will visit the families. 

So far so good. How did he visit the families? 

Suppose he had to go to a village X in a district. He will first visit the district headquarters. From there, he will traverse all along villages A to W, before reaching the actual family in village X. Yes - he will stop at every single village. He will address a public meeting, and will formally open to the public a statue of YSR. In that public meeting, he will deride the current rule of Congress (of which he was still a member then). 

An entrouge will follow him. We will hear in Sakshi paper and channel that people are forcing him to stop at every village (A-W) before reaching X. Over a period that will range from anywhere between 1-4 weeks, he will have traveled the entire district and would have "consoled" maybe 10 families. 

This strategy will repeat in every single district. Maybe he even visited the districts twice (we would never know, for it is impossible to keep track of these visits!!). YSR died in Sept. 2009. Believe it or not, Jagan Mohan Reddy's "Odarpu Yatra" (Consolation Tour) is not yet over. He is still touring the state under the name of consoling the dead, and he is doing the exact opposite of that. 

Now, the Congress started getting uneasy. It tried to create a rift in Jagan Mohan Reddy's family. It was successful in doing that, and therefore Jagan quit the party. And from then on, there was no stopping him. And since every person who is outside the Congress automatically becomes corrupt, the law was unleashed on him. 

Jagan started using these "Odarpu Yatras" to generate sympathy for himself! The irony was stark - he was supposed to console families of those who apparently died for his father. The show was going on and on and on and on... 

In between he even resorted to 1 day and 2 days fasts on issues concerning farmers etc. Those events became a stage for him to showcase the support he has amongst MLAs. Once that purpose was achieved, another "Odarpu Yatra" was launched in another district. 

Meanwhile, a Congress minister (Shankar Rao) files a case in the High Court. The High Court orders a CBI enquiry into Jagan's wealth (the growth of which has been documented here and here). And since then, we have seen the CBI arrest Jagan's relatives, auditors, business partners, IAS officers, and ministers also! (All details about those cases, arrests are here and here). 

Jagan was accused number 1 in the chargesheet CBI filed. They arrested accused number 13 too, but not number 1! After facing flak, the CBI finally arrested him on the night of May 27, 2012. And that's what lead to 48 more deaths, which would mean Odarpu 2.0 will start when Odapru 1.0 will end (if and when it ends). 

The timing is suspect - no doubt about it. He was arrested just about 2 weeks before a crucial by-poll in AP (details of which are here). That is not my concern though. His disgusting politics over the dead is one of the worst things to happen to the state of AP, but then that doesn't seem to concern too many. They are busy with sympathizing with Jagan (for being a "victim" of politics, while all he merely did was to loot the state). They are busy eulogizing YSR for making the lives of the poor better (though they were looted too). 

Finally, the below snapshot in Sakshi newspaper exemplifies the depth to which Jagan can plunge: 

"7 year old stops eating because of CBI investigation of Jagan". 

Copying their reporting style...

Inspired by how NDTV framed this report, I am making an attempt to write a similar report on the recent blows to Congress in Andhra Pradesh :). The NDTV link is just one such example. Many channels/newspapers follow the same template. Following is the report.

Bad news all around for Sonia Gandhi and the Congress party. In a big blow to their government in Andhra Pradesh, the CAG has unearthed a multicrore scam in which it was claimed that undue benefit worth Rs. 1,784 crores were given to private parties that were close to former congress Chief Minister Y.S.Rajashekhar Reddy. This report was tabled on the last day of the budget session of the assembly. The opposition parties claimed that they stand vindicated by this report. The opposition has been continously fighting with the Congress government over large scale corruption charges. 

In a further blow and dent to the congress party, the CBI has filed a chargesheet and named Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy, son of former CM, late Y.S.Rajashekhar Reddy as accused number 1 in a disproportionate assets case. CBI investigated this case based on directions from the High Court. CBI has also included the names of 12 other people/firms in their chargesheet filed two days back at the Nampally court. The CBI has accused Mr.JaganMohan Reddy of misusing his father's office to get undue benefits. The CBI also implied that officials were pressurised by none other than the then CM. 

Just a couple of weeks earlier, in another body blow to the congress party, the Supreme Court has issued notices to 6 ministers of Andhra Pradesh asking them to explain the reason behind issuing 26 GO's during YSR's time. These 26 GO's have benefitted companies that are close to YSR's family. It is widely believed that YSR was given a free hand to run the administration in AP by Sonia Gandhi. Many analysts believe that Sonia Gandhi has turned a blind eye to this looting by YSR and the congress party, and is now having to face the heat. 

PS: For the record, following are the news links on NDTV for the above mentioned three recent cases. 1 (note that this is a PTI report. search yielded only this link), 2 and 3. 

The 26 GO's...

Update 1 on May 25, 2012 - One congress minister arrested by the CBI last night. The minister blamed the then Congress chief minister YSR, in his resignation to the current congress chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy. The arrests were based on GOs 29, 30, 31, 1110, 1115. 


The Supreme Court of India has issued notices to 6  ministers and 8 IAS officers in Andhra Pradesh, asking them to explain why they should not be interrogated by the CBI in GO's issued by them, that purpotedly favoured Jagan. 

Jagan is the son of YSR. YSR was the Chief Minister when these GO's were issued. Telugu newspaper Eenadu has published details of the 26 GO's and how they benefited Jagan. Earlier blogs on this blog detailed the corruption in AP and also how only the IAS officers are being made scapegoats. Today's GO's vindicate again why the ministers are the main culprits. 

I translated the details in english. Below pictures give you the details. Please spread this post.

The Hindu wrote today that :

"As per the present rules, a proposal for any land allotment would have to be approved by the Cabinet even if it was a small piece."

And therefore we now know that the cabinet has okayed the land deals above. I am just wondering how long the government can brazen it out! 

That's all, your honour! : Jan 22-28

1. An earlier blog here details the full sequence of the Antrix-Devas deal. Basically, Antrix Corporation (which is the commercial wing of ISRO) entered into a deal with a company called Devas Multimedia (which had many former ISRO scientists as its officers) and sold 70MHz of S-band spectrum at just Rs.1000 crores in 2005. The Hindu broke this story. At that time, the CAG even estimated the worst case loss because of this deal to be ~ Rs. 2 lakh crores too. As always, at that time, the Prime Minister said he did not know details of the deal. It didn't matter that this deal was cleared by the Cabinet and the then minister in PMO, Mr. Prithivraj Chauhan was directly incharge of the Space department. More details in the old blog here. 

The government declared then that the deal with Devas will be annulled. There was confusion about that too, but that's ok because with the UPA, we are all used to such confusion. And then there was a lull period. Everyone forgot about this deal and the massive loss. Out of the blue, the government announces that the former ISRO chief, Mr. Madhavan Nair and three other top scientists of ISRO are banned from holding any more government positions! Another bizzare addition to the already long list of such decisions by UPA. 

This is not to say that those 4 are absolutely not guitly. The point is we don't even know how this decision was arrived at. Dr. Madhavan Nair even told us that he was not even given a chance to respond to charges against him. This decision was as arbitrary as it can get. This deal was cleared by the Prime Ministers Office too. Were officials and the minister in-charge Prithvi Raj Chauhan sleeping then? This deal was further cleared by the Cabinet too. Was the Prime Minister and the other ministers sleeping? Many former scientists have already pointed out that this unprecendented bizzare action is an insult to the organisation as a whole. Scientists have also pointed out that this is the same Madhavan Nair to whom the government awarded Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan. With this unilateral action, the UPA government will again be dragged to the court on matters that could have been handled outside it. 

If the chairman of ISRO is guilty, then why not the minister in PMO? Because the then minister, Prithvi Raj Chauhan is now the Chief Minister of Maharashtra. Therefore he has to be kept out of this! If the top 4 scientists are guilty in this scam, then so is the current Chief Minister of Maharashtra. If the top 4 scientists are ineligible for holding any position in the government, then so is the CM of Maharashtra. By this logic, even this Prime Minister is not eligible to hold that post, given that the cabinet cleared the deal that was forwarded by the PMO itself! 

A bigger shame is that Dr. Madhavan Nair had to file an RTI application to get details of the enquiry commission report! (Adding this link on Jan 30 - Dr. Nair says the government knew about the deal at every single step. Another of the PM's lies has been nailed.)

2. Mumbai police announce this week that they cracked the 13/7 case! I am sure most of us would be confused with this date, given the multiple attacks that happened in Mumbai. This case was about the bombings on July 13, 2011 in Mumbai which killed 26 people and injured 130. So Mumbai police come and announce that they cracked this case. Delhi police however are baffled by one of the arrests made in the case. They say that the Mumbai police have arrested one of their informers, who was leading them to a location to nab "some people". This open war between the Delhi Police and the Mumbai ATS (Anti Terrorism Squad) is yet another embarassment to the security investigations in the country. This riveting account by Toral Varia in rediff, gives a blow by blow account of how this unwanted rivalry cost us the mastermind of this 13/7 terrorist act. Please read that to understand how we screw up seemingly simple stuff :(. 

3. The previous week, the Congress government in Rajashtan invented a plot to stop Salman Rushdie from coming to the Jaipur Literature fest. And since he was not able to come at all, organisers thought of having a video conference with him. Who would imagine someone would have a problem with that? But Muslim groups did not want any of that too. The Congress government was more than willing to oblige them - so guess what - even his video conference was not allowed!! However, Barkha Dutt of NDTV interviewed him and this interview was aired on NDTV. The same Muslim groups had absolutely no issue with the interview airing! One of the most prominent leaders who was opposed to Mr. Rushdie coming was Owaisi. Mr. Owaisi is a regular in NDTV studios - will he now stop going to that studio? This whole episode smacks so much of hypocrisy by many sections - the "liberals" for not calling the bluff of the Deoband and other Muslim groups; the "national media" for not calling the bluff of Congress party; the "writers" who wax eloquent on the need to fight for freedom of expression; and finally the Congress party itself. 

4. Finally, there is this ad war between The Hindu and Times of India that has captured the attention of netizens and print readers alike. At first, after seeing the ads, many were pretty impressed with The Hindu's ads and were promptly decrying the TOI for its content quality. But then some folks made another interesting argument. This was about the op-ed page of both the newspapers. The Times of India gives space to ALL kinds of views in its op-ed page. The current editor of The Hindu has once worked in the Times too! The Hindu seldom gives space to views that anti-left, pro-right etc. Leave op-ed space for articles, The Hindu does not publish enough letters to the editor that are against its views! So while The Hindu wins on the basis of its overall content, it loses out on space to views. That's all, your honour! 

"...but what are the BJP's views?"

"....but what is the BJP's view" is the new latest fashion question to ask. Any contentious issue that comes up on UPA's plate on which the Congress is divided, almost immediately it places the onus on the opposition to decide! An attempt is made to show that there is no "all-party" consensus, and if such a thing exists, then the party has no problem (never mind, that it actually has no views/divided views!) Few examples since 2009 below.

Caste Census

When the census 2011 exercise began, there was a demand by some political parties that a caste census also be done. Primarily parties like RJD, SP, JD(U) demanded that caste be included in this census. To cut a long story short, the Congress party and BJP haven't taken any decision at this point of time. The PM as usual appoints a GoM, which was not able to take a decision given the deep divide withing the Congress party and therefore wanted a written assurance from all parties (putting the onus on BJP and others) about caste census. The BJP then gave a written consent (despite RSS opposing). Guess the only party that didn't give in writing - the Congress. When asked, Pranab Mukherjee said there is no need for the party to give in writing because he represents the party in the GoM. Indian Express reported that a deeply divided congress agreed for the caste census. A decision was taken just because the ruling party had no view, but all other parties had a view on this! The Congress party expected BJP (or any other significant opposition party) to say no, and then pass the blame perhaps!

Nuclear Liability Bill

I am sure most of us would have forgotten about this government's pathetic attempt to bring in a nuclear liability bill by stealth. This article in The Hindu gives a good summary of the events back then. The government made every damn effort to bring in language that was to the advantage of the supplier. Reports in The Hindu created enough awareness and the BJP now came into the picture big time. Without BJP's support the bill would not go through. And this time, the government rhetoric of "this bill is in national interest" did not work either. The BJP ensured that the deal got better and was beneficial to the country rather than the supplier. It was only after "Union government ... took on board most of the suggestions made by the Bharatiya Janata Party" that the bill was passed. Arun Jaitley severly criticised the government for trying to rush through this landmark legislation, but all was forgotten by evening!

Second Gen reforms

It was one of those rare moments when the Prime Minister decided to speak to the press. He invited TV editors and one of them had the common sense to ask him why reforms were not taking place. Guess what his answer was? The BJP was stalling the Goods and Services Tax bill, and therefore the second generation reforms were not taking place! He said that the BJP wants the govt. to go easy on a "Gujarat minister". Some state governments of the BJP have been opposing GST from like 2009. Amit Shah (the Gujarat Minister) was arrested somewhere in 2010. What link does passing of GST have to do with the arrest of a minister? Is GST the only reform that he has envisioned? If so,has he tried to address the state governments concerns about this proposal? If not, what are the other reforms he plans to usher in? What is their status? No - nothing of this sort is discussed later in the day. The onus is all the BJP's to get the reforms (I guess we should not use a plural form here, given that there is only one law that the govt. intends to bring!).

Telangana

Well, here nothing was specifically asked about BJP. But let's have a quick look at how Sonia Gandhi arrived at her decision. In early December, K. Chandrashekar Rao started a fast unto death demanding a separate Telangana state. On December 7th, Sonia Gandhi ordered the CM of AP to call for an all party meet. In the all party meet, opinions of all the parties were elicited. Guess which party did not give a concrete opinion? Congress! At about 11:45pm on the December 9th, the Home Minister announces that the process of formation of a separate Telangana state will begin! Later ofcourse there was public outcry and he had to withdraw this decision. But even till date, he refers to this all party meeting and says they took a decision only because all the parties agreed to it! Never once did Congress give out a categorical view on this subject.

Terror Attacks

Each time a terror attack happens, guess what media will be waiting with bated breath? How will BJP react? According to many pundits in the media, BJP is not supposed to criticize the government after terror attacks, no matter how many times various cities in this country are attacked. BJP must be a mature opposition party and exhibit bi-partisan spirit when it comes to dealing with terror. And how exactly should it exhibit "bi-partisanship" - not one pundit will even care to elaborate. No pundit will ever ask the Congress why we are being attacked so many times. No questions are asked on why so many attacks under this Prime Minister; no specific questions to ministers concerned - All they care is about BJP's criticism and therefore the "politicisation" of the attacks. Never has there so much onus on the opposition to not point out the deficiency in the government!

The row about death convicts

Recently, Tamil Nadu assembly passed a resolution recommending to the President to commute the death sentence of 3 convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi +18 others assasination case. This resolution was passed after the President gave the order to hang them. Almost immediately, J&K Chief Minister asks if the reaction would have been so muted if J&K assembly passed a resolution recommending clemency to Afzal Guru. BJP criticizes this statement by Omar. Meanwhile, Shiromani Akali Dal party in Punjab renewed it's demand to grant clemency to Bhullar. And so now our CM from J&K jumps again and asks what is the BJP's view about this. Folks on twitter showed him articles in national newspapers, in which BJP clearly said they do not agree with Akali Dal on this. Not bothered about these facts, he goes on to ask Barkha Dutt the same question, and the diva thinks it is an "good" question. So now you see, it is all about "What is the BJP's views". Not one question on the Congress party's views on these topics (to think of it, they revere Rajiv Gandhi. They should atleast have a view on that right?). No one even bothered to debate what the ruling party of this country thinks about these controversies on death row. The entire debate was centered around BJP and it's stand, despite repeated clarifications. Infact, BJP clarified on NDTV channel that all death convicts must be hanged. And despite that both Omar Abdullah and Barkha Dutt have not yet clarified on BJP's position.

The Jan Lokpal agitation

Events are too recent to recount them all here. A full account of the 11 day fasting by Anna and the massive support he got is here. It all started with the pre-emptive arrest of Anna Hazare. Arun Jaitley gave a spirited speech in Rajya Sabha, detailing how BJP is opposed to some povisions of the Jan Lokpal bill, it supports the right of the citizen to protest and the government killed that right. Everybody praised the speech, said wah wah and some said they'd even vote for the BJP if they can sustain such clarity. Meanwhile, however the Congress is dragging it's feet. the fasting enters into its 4th day, 5th day. Suddenly, again they ask, .."but what is the BJP's view on Lokpal". The BJP has put forth it's views on Lokpal much much earlier, many times (not able to find it, but their website has a draft version). They are again elucidated and again everyone is satisfied. Again the Congress drags it's feet. Now, after 10 days, again people ask " .... but why is BJP not doing anything." That's right - the onus suddenly shifted on to the BJP now! The congress party, which had no freaking clarity on what to do, tried to pass the onus on to the BJP saying, they might not agree and vote on this etc!

I have not gone into too much detail on each of the issues presented above. No discussions on whether we agree with the BJP's view or not - but what is certainly disturbing is the fact that never before has then onus been on the opposition to take policy related decisions! Never before has the ruling party been so callous in it's approach towards important policy matters. And with a compliant media to help it out, the congress party has ensured in seeding the argument that it is helpless because the political class as such is to blame!

That the ruling Congress party can talk on so many issues with different voices and still get away with it is disappointing to say the least. The Congress won a resounding 206 seats on its own in 2009 against the 116 won by the BJP. Pretty much every small party was more than eager to support the congress. Despite such a clear mandate, all we get to see is the government dragging it's feet on every possible important decision. Whilst it is good that we are getting a very good insight into what the opposition's views are, on policy matters, isn't it concerning that the ruling party's incoherence is never the subject of intense debate?

The Great Loot of Andhra Pradesh...

• The above banner headline reads: Rs. 45Cr + 3 1/2 years = Rs. 3,053.90 crores!
• The caricature is Y.S.Jagan Mohan Reddy, s/o late CM of Andhra Pradesh from Congress, Y.S.Rajasekhar Reddy.
• This headline was in the telugu newspaper, eenadu.
• This headline is not a recent one.
• And most importantly, this loot of Rs.3,000 crores is not the only loot that has been perpetuated on the people of Andhra Pradesh in the past 7 years. This is just a sample.

Let's briefly look into the math of the above headline before proceeding further to explain the growth of the YS empire. Raghuram Cements was bought over by a new company called Bharathi Cements. Bharathi is the name of Jagan Mohan Reddy's wife. The YS family gets about 4.5 crore shares alloted to them at Rs.10/- per share. Companies like India Cements, Dalmiya Cements suddenly bought premium shares for much higher amounts and invest about Rs.250 crores for a 31% share! The YS family owns 69% of the company with an investment of Rs. 45 crores. Others invested about Rs.250 crores with 31% share, into a company that hasn't even begun manufacturing! The article later goes on to explain how this 69% share holding rose in its value to about Rs. 3000/- crores in just 3 1/2 years.

The detailed math and financial transactions are way too complicated for my understanding. The route used by the companies of YS family is so circutous, it makes your mind go into a tizzy. Simple example. The company that invested 69% into Bharati Cements is Jagati Publications. Jagati Publications (named by combining Jagan's name and his wife Bharati's name) owns Sakshi newspaper. Shares were alloted to YS family in this company too, for Rs. 10/- !! Deloitte values this company for Rs.3,500 crore, and therefore the value of YS family shares jumps to thousands of crores!

Let's leave all the math jargon aside. Let's assume that all this is a propaganda by the opposition and a media that is against the Congress. Let's just go by facts present in the public domain (the charts presented below have been picked up from TDP's website, who in turn have picked it up from documents available in public domain).

Y.S Family in 2004.

YS Family ownership in 2005 (1 year after YSR became CM of AP)

YS Family ownership in 2006

YS Family ownership in 2007 (when Bharati cements also got added!)

Let's also for a moment assume that the above material presented at TDP's website is also bogus. Jagan, in his 2011 election affidavit said he has ownership in the following 11 companies!

• Sandur Power
• Saraswati Power
• Carmel Asia Holdings
• Bharathi Cement Corp
• Kealawn Technologies Pvt Ltd
• Marvel Infrastructure
• Classic Realty
• Silicon Builders
• Swasti Power Engineering Ltd

First post also mentions that Sandur power has 4 subsidiaries atleast:

• Classic Realty
• Harish Infrastructure
• Capstone Infra
• Silicon Builders

Is your mind in a tizzy now? Has it been blown away by the complications of companies, percentages, ownership, subsidiaries and the wealth discussed above? Here's more official information:

Jagan declared the value of his assets as Rs.365 crore in 2011. Another ~Rs47 crore in the name of his wife. He is the richest MP in the annals of Indian history, with no close competition in sight in the near future! Guess how much his declared earnings were in 2003? ~Rs.9 lakh!! In 2009 - it was Rs.77.40 crores. From a mere 10 lakhs in 2003 to tens of crores in 2009 to hundreds of crores in 2011 - this is one musical journey for Jagan Mohan Reddy and YSR's family!

Almost every company mentioned above received some largesse or the other from the government (both the centre and the state were ruled by the Congress during this time). Each of these investors have recieved some largesse (in terms of land, investments, loans, rules etc). Now, are you wondering how come no media highlighted this? Take a look at the snapshot below.

The above snapshot is a small collection of headlines from the popular telugu daily, eenadu. Eenadu, along with another newspaper Andhra Jyothy, has revealed many such corruption sagas by the YS family and the other members of the Congress government. Slowly, a momentum was built saying both these newspapers were partisan; never exposed corruption in TDP regime etc

When TDP and other opposition parties discussed the share holding details in animated debates in the Assembly - guess what YSR and his stooges replied? They asked Chandrababu Naidu why he was jealous if other companies were making money! The ruling party rubbished pretty much every allegation. YSR even appointed some judicial commissions with retired Judges heading them - ofcourse we know the result (almost none of them submitted any report)! Not satisfied with that, they went on to open a newspaper and a TV channel to counter the "opposition" propaganda!

Sakshi newspaper and TV had two goals in mind - glorify YSR and demonise Chandrababu/Eenadu. If eenadu stories had details about corruption by YS and family, Sakshi would immediately resort to stories of "corruption" by eenadu etc. As if corruption by one group justified corruption by the other! And now suddenly the debate in the state turned to the "media war". The debate was never about corruption anymore - just about how cunning these media people are blah blah.

Even by now, if you are not convinced that public money and power were not misused, here's a minor fact revealed by CAG. Governments are not supposed to place ads in new newspapers, unless they publish continously for six months. Guess for which newspaper this rule was broken?? Full page ads in Sakshi newspaper right from day one! That's your money down the drain there! Sakshi paper was established for government propaganda and on top of that - full page ads!

The above mentioned details are just of THE empire. We have not even discussed the mammoth corruption in various government schemes and programs, that went on unhindered. Jalayagnam, the pet project of YSR involves construction of "30 major and 18 medium irrigation projects at a cost of Rs. 46,000 crores to provides irrigation to an extent of 73 lakh acres ". From the official website (which incidentally still has a picture of YSR and not the current CM!), "Eight of these projects were to be completed before the kharif season of 2006". Till now, only 12 projects have been completed. Project costs were escalated, tender process was rigged - what not! Even Sonia Gandhi was forced to order an internal probe into this! It was even labelled as "Dhanayagnam" by the opposition! No news about that. Scams unearthed ranged from industries (which involved the current PCC Chief)to education department, and yet not a squeal from the "national" media.

I am sure you people must have heard about "Reddy Brothers" from Karnataka. I am sure you would have assumed by now, given the awesome coverage that they are the epitome of corruption in this country. You must have also heard that through their Obulapuram mining company, the Reddy brothers have manufactured an unprecedent loot of natural resources of this country. Quiz Question - in which state in Obulapuram located? Andhra Pradesh!

This same Obulapuram Mining company also owns "Brahmani Steels" which - hold your breath - reportedly made profits even before it started manufacturing any steel! 10,000 acres of land was alloted to it in Kadapa (Andhra Pradesh) after a cabinet decision by the Congress government in AP in 2007. We were also told that the plant will start manufacturing within 18 months (without any bank loan!) and will beat Vizag Steel Plant in no time (according to latest TOI report, the plant is nowhere close to manufacturing!). Amidst lot of criticism, a successful foundation laying ceremony was also held. I very vividly remember, YSR playing a Quiz master here and asking the Reddy brothers all the questions that the opposition was asking, and the Reddy brothers "refuted" them point by point. And therefore, amidst public, it was decided that this steel project is the awesomest idea ever.

The USP is always the same. Allot shares for yourself at the cheapest price possible. Lure investors to buy shares at a more higher price. Give these investors largesse in terms of land, concessions etc etc. And get away with all the loot.

What has been mentioned in this blog so far is not comprehensive - only because the loot is so large, it is impossible to cover everything in one go! A mining lease was issued to YSR's son-in-law Brother Anil Kumar, which was later cancelled by the centre, very conveniently in 2010. I am sure if we start digging into Brother Anil Kumar's business details.

Please remember, all this loot happened when Jagan was a member of Congress party and his father YSR was heading the Congress government in Andhra Pradesh. Please also remember that YSR was one of the favorite Chief Ministers of the high command led by Sonia Gandhi.

The reason I am mentioning the Congress party so many times is because there has been a concentrated campaign to try to convince people that this loot by the Congress party led by the father-son duo had nothing to do with the Congress party itself! And now, after Jagan Mohan Reddy has resigned from Congress, many leaders from Congress are openly accusing him of misusing power. Many are openly calling him as very corrupt. And when pointed out that all this corruption took place under the guidance of YSR, they went on to say, Jagan misused his father's powers!!

The Andhra Pradesh High Court directed the CBI to investigate these cases. Minor fact that media won't tell you - this case was filed by a Congress minister, Sankar Rao! (a second case was filed by TDP leader, Yerran Naidu). So now, the corruption accusations are no more a opposition and media conspiracy. Have you ever seen a near unanimity amongst all major political parties on such a contentious issue? Leaders of the same Congress party who enjoyed the spoils of power under YSR are saying there was massive corruption; PRP, the party whose main plank was to take on this corruption merged with the Congress because YS family is not in power anymore; TDP, Left, and BJP (the state unit) have been crying hoarse from a long time too!

The regional media, has been shouting from the rooftop of the loot being done in the name of business acumen. From about 6-7 years, they have been very vociferous of the corruption and robbery the YS family has been resorting. This "national" media was no where to be seen or heard. There was one obscure "Devil's advocate" interview by Karan Thapar in which YSR had only one answer - Go the court if you think it is wrong! Other than that, no "exclusives". No stories of the phenomenal growth of THE empire. Atleast, if they thought this was a media war - no story about that either!

The closest any newspaper came was this article in livemint. Just that article is enough to confuse us with the machinations used.

Anyways, Jagan owns two palaces. One in Hyderabad. It is a 74 room palace! The second is in Bangalore. Take a look below

Bangalore palace:

Hyderabad palace:

And what did B.S.Yedyyurappa do? Alloted some government land under CM's discretionary quota to his family members. Remember the outrage by the "national" media? I rest my case.

PS: I would welcome any fact based rebuttal. Please resist from labelling this article as Anti-jagan, anti-congress blah blah. We have crossed that line long back!

Part-2 of this series is here.
Part-3 detailing how YSR won despite this loot is here. 

That's all, Your Honour! : Aug 14-27

Apologize for not filling in last week...I was not keeping good health. However, the single news that dominated last week and the previous one was this - The indefinite fast by Anna Hazare, demanding the passing of his version of Jan Lokpal bill.

An earlier blogpost, written when Anna first fasted on this issue, has detailed links on the background of the bill. After the government agreed for consultations, Anna Hazare called off his fast. After that, the government of India and members of Anna Hazare's team met several times to come up with a joint draft. However, apparently there were 7 differences (strangely, am unable to find the list of these 7 items, but an extensive list is here ) between both the parties, and the government of India was unwilling to incorporate these demands. This led to breakdown of talks, and to the beginning of confusion.

The government first said, we will present both versions of the bill to the Cabinet and whatever cabinet approves, we will present it in Parliament. And then we are told that only the government draft will go the cabinet. Meanwhile, protests erupt intermittently, demanding that both versions be presented. The government suddenly realises that the opposition was not included in any of the deliberations. It suddenly realises that all this while, it has been talking about supremacy of elected representatives, and it has not consulted those very representatives! So, as is the norm, an all party meeting is called. And in this all party meeting, all opposition parties were unanimous in condemning the unilateral action of the government ignoring the opposition in the first place. Some sanctimonious UPA partners derided Anna, asking who the hell is Ann to dictate terms, at which point they were reminded that their own government was talking to Anna all along!

After taking the government to task at this meeting, it was proposed that the government should first come up with a draft, introduce the bill in Parliament, send it to standing committee, debate it further and then pass (in accordance with the established procedure). The draft bill approved by the Cabinet is presented in Parliament on the 4th of August, 2011. Meanwhile, Anna Hazare had long back announced that he will again begin fasting on August 16th, if the Jan Lokpal is not passed in this session. The government was adamant that passing the bill is impossible, we will introduce the bill and according to established procedure, send it to the Standing Committee to study it further, and then pass the bill. This process is due to take some time, and therefore the demand that the bill be passed this session is unreasonable. Fair enough.

However, the mood against the bill presented by the government was agitative. Immediately after the bill was presented, Sushma Swaraj (BJP), leader of Opposition stood up and said, the BJP wants the Prime Minister to be included in this bill. She wondered why the government is not willing to have the Prime Minister when the previous version of the bill, presented in 2001, included the PM. And she also reminded that the standing committee that went over this bill was headed by Pranab Mukherjee. Pranab reminded her that that version of the Lokpal bill was not passed. And the discussion ended there. The bill was sent to the Standing Committee.

And with this, the government washed its hands off, saying the ball is now in the committee's court. Meanwhile, the hyping up of Anna Hazare's impending fast began in all earnest. The arrogance of the government was slowly showing too. First, they refuse permission for this fast. Then they put in the most unreasonable conditions for giving permission (stuff like, you can have only 5000 people at the venue, you can fast only for 3 days and worst - only 50 two wheelers and 50 four wheeler will be allowed to park!!). The government then goes on an overdrive saying Anna is breaking the law blah blah. Anna Hazare declares that he will start his fast on the 16th of August, despite these conditions. "Supremacy of law" was played in a loop by the government. And then their biggest blunder.

The government arrested (yes arrested) Anna Hazare on the morning of August 16th, from his house!! Not just the arrest, they took him to an "unknown location". The ensuing confusion was unprecedented. Suddenly it was not about the Jan Lokpal bill anymore. It was about a citizens right to protest against the government (and Parliament). Anna's demands might be unreasonable but none can snatch away his right to protest. And along with him, the rights of thousands of his supporters. Home Minister P. Chidambaram tells in a press conference in the afternoon that he does not know where Anna is. All he knows is that Anna will be presented at a Magistrate soon! He along with Kapil Sibal and Ambika Soni reel out standard answers (they could have gone to court if demands were unreasonable blah blah). And then the next blunder happened.

The Magistrate ordered that Anna Hazare be sent to Tihar jail (along with Kiran Bedi and Shanti Bhushan). This was laughable beyond comparison. We have media highlighting that Anna is sent to the same jail that houses the epitomes of corruption. Even the worst critics of the JanLokpal Bill and the methods Anna chose to undermine the government, were shocked at this decision. TV media then suddenly flashes that the saviour of this country, Rahul Gandhi has stepped in and now Anna Hazare will be released from jail. Suddenly, all those platitudes of law taking its course and government having no hand in the arrest was blown to pieces. Now, Delhi police get orders to release Anna.

Anna refuses to come out of Tihar jail. He wants the government to relax all conditions set for his fast. He wants to fast at Ramlila maidan, and unless the government relents on conditions set for this fast, he will not leave Tihar jail. This whole arrest drama is where the government lost the entire plot. The moment the Congress government stifled the right of a citizen to protest, there is no way out of that quagmire. Ultimately the government had to relent to all these conditions, and the fast continued from the Ramlila maidan.

And the response only began to grow. In many cities across the country, protest marches were organised. Thousands of people joined these marches. Critics countered saying these thousands did not know about the draconian provisions of the Jan Lokpal bill. Critics argued that this kind of blackmail will not work, and must not be encouraged. Critics argued that this fast is setting a path towards anarchy. And with each such argument, the crowds just began to increase. Congress party even called Anna Hazare a corrupt person and used harsh language against him(only to apologise later)

The anger is real. We have seen monumental and unprecedented amounts of corruption these past two years. The breaking point of people's patience was reached. Previously, when we opened newspapers, there was news of murder everywhere. These two years, all we see is news of corruption. This massive corruption by the Congress government and the Prime Minister's stellar contribution to the rise of corruption in this country was the sole cause for this anger. It did not matter what the provisions of the bill are - all it mattered was this movement was against corruption. That's all it mattered - and this Congress government is entirely responsible. The valid arguments of blackmail were drowned in this massive support, and frankly it didn't matter if this was blackmail or not.

The outpouring of emotions on the street was a good thing. That most of them who joined these protests, at one point or the other broke some rule or the other is a fact. However, if their participation will lead to a better society, where traffic rules are not broken, bribes are not paid to get things done in the parliament, then the movement has achieved something.

Each passing day only increased the participation. People braved rain and sun, applied leave to their offices, took a break from their work - and announced they supported Anna. All this while, negotiations were on. Prime Minister also wrote a letter, in which he says "your and our object is identical"!! Finally, Anna said that if three of his demands are accepted, he will end his fast. He wanted lower bureaucracy to be bought under the ambit of Lokpal; a citizen's charter to be displayed at all offices; and establishment of Lokayukta at state level.

The government again began it's bungling here. One day, the Prime Minister says he is ready to discuss these. Next day, Rahul Gandhi is given an out of turn chance to speak in Lok Sabha and he says JanLokPal is not the solution and gives a "I believe in" kind of speech, which frankly revealed more about his stupidity than anything else. Anyways, the confusion was much more evident now. The fast entered into the 11th day and the government was nowhere close to finding a solution.

With active intervention from BJP and other opposition parties, the differences in the resolution were ironed out. The congress party was still continuing it's confusing gameplan. On thursday, we are told there will be a debate on friday. On Friday, Rahul Gandhi delivers his magnum opus at 12. More confusion. At 2:10, government says debate is at 2:30pm!! Without consulting parties on what kind of resolution, they announce a debate at 2:30. BJP objects, and more time is bought now. Finally Parliament agrees to meet on Saturday, in which the opposition tore into the government and also into some of the unreasonable demands of the members of Anna Hazare's team.

After a day long debate in Parliament (details on that later :) ), the House agreed in principle to the three demands of Anna Hazare, and sent its recommendation to the standing Committee. Anna agreed to end his 13 day fast.

Phew - that was a very long post :) Apologies, but wanted to document all at one place. That we continue to suffer from this tragic Congress regime is unfortunate. Will end this post now - and will continue later :) Before ending, hats off to the 74 year old Anna Hazare. Hats off.