Why did the BJP get badly defeated in Telangana? What are the lessons the party needs to learn from this defeat?

The following article was written for MyInd Makers. Pasting it here for reference: 

While many analysts are busy delving into the reasons for losses of the BJP in the three states where they lost power, it is my strong belief that the biggest lesson for BJP lies in its severe drubbing in the Telangana election. You may wonder what lesson is there to learn when the party was nearly non-existent there? That is precisely the lesson the party has to learn from the woeful performance in Telangana. Allow me to elaborate.

What did the BJP have in its favor ever since Telangana was formed? Or what points could it have used to gain in strength, and at least try to relegate Congress to third position?

• It was the first national party that declared its support for a separate Telangana state (even before the TRS was born)
• When MLAs from all parties were flocking into TRS, BJP was the only party whose MLAs stay put. None of the 5 MLAs joined TRS.
• Many central schemes for which they could have duly taken credit. Or even challenged when KCR was appropriating the credit for sharing of some schemes.
• Active participation in Swachh Bharat.
• A dwindling Congress across the country. Could have sensed a great opportunity to relegate Congress to third position.  
• A growing BJP across the country. Could use this opportunity to showcase what the party is capable of doing, if given a chance.
• Non-dynasty party
• On the forefront to protest some of TRS’s policies – for example: crackdown on media and protestors.
• Seriously analyzed the jolt it got during the GHMC elections (Won only 4 (+1 TDP) corporator seats out of 150).
•  It should have fought for correction of electoral rolls. (For more on this, read this: https://myind.net/Home/viewArticle/the-election-commission-of-india-faces-some-serious-questions-about-the-issue-of-electoral-rolls-in-telangana)

Instead, during these four years, what did the party choose to do?

• Focus excessively on MIM (and Razakars).
• Focus on celebrating September 17th as Hyderabad Liberation Day
• Focus occasionally on family rule of the TRS party
• Almost always react very late to any event in the state
• Near negligent use of the social media for messaging – it’s almost as if they thought SM didn’t even exist.
• No articles in the media, a very placid screen presence in TV, no captivating orator to rouse the crowd!
• Didn’t learn anything from GHMC drubbing

During the elections, what was the party associated with?

• Razakars and Hyderabad Liberation Day.
• Name change of a few places.
• Multiple rallies by almost all big leaders of the party.

From the results, it is quite evident that the party leadership has woefully failed on many fronts. At multiple public meetings, the example of how the BJP was once a 2 seat party in Karnataka and Tripura, and how the party in Telangana will reach to the same heights *in the future* is mentioned. However, the leaders seem to have forgotten that there must have been stupendous hard work AND strategizing that made BJP rule in states that it never thought of before!

Telangana presented the biggest opportunity for BJP to grow. If not to power, at least to the main opposition party. If not to the main opposition party, then at least to double digit numbers. The state unit does not keep pace with the central unit. The speed, the efficiency and the urgency with which the central units work is in total contrast to how the state unit works.

Is all lost? What can be done now?

• In the words of Arun Shourie – bombard the headquarters! The party needs a fresh face; a rousing orator; an inspiring organizer to take it forward.
• The election has unearthed many leaders – it is high time they take the center stage.
• Differentiate your leaders in TV debates – it’s very difficult to tell the BJP spokesperson apart from the others. For example- always wear the party flag/symbol on you – makes it so easy to identify.
• Go bombastic on a positive message of Modi’s achievements – you will easily find lakhs of MUDRA and Standup India beneficiaries – bring them to the limelight. 
• Create catchy and attractive slogans. For example, the candidate from Kalwakurthy gave a slogan – “KCR ka maaya, koi nahi paaya” – I wonder why that slogan wasn’t popularized?
• STOP talking about Razakars. No one cares.
• Write articles in the print media; question the government *before* other parties react; be in the media every single day.
• USE SOCIAL MEDIA; I repeat again – USE SOCIAL MEDIA! And by this I don’t mean just twitter. Make small video clippings of the points you make in TV debates; small clippings on key speeches by many of your leaders; graphics that show case specific benefits Telangana has accrued because of Modi’s policies.
• Learn from your counterparts in other states.

During the various exit polls, when someone predicted that the BJP’s strength will go up from 5 to 7, there seemed to have been jubilation in the leadership. I was aghast – is this something to be jubilant about? An increase from 5 to 7 seats? If this is the kind of planning the party is doing, it will take another generation to even reach double digits!

I know the central unit likes to think big – but in Telangana, the BJP must first think of usurping the Congress space. The defeat to Congress is a huge blow to it. Their leaders are down, tired and exasperated. That space is available for grabs – if the party misses this great opportunity, then it will continue to remain a single digit party!

The Election Commission of India faces some serious questions about the issue of Electoral rolls in Telangana

The following article was written for MyInd Makers. Pasting it here for reference:

Sometime early this year (2018), Congress leader M. Shashidhar Reddy held multiple press conferences accusing that nearly 20 lakh voter names have been deleted from the electoral rolls. Many figured that this is one of those vague conspiracy theories of the Congress party. So while media covered the pressers, it didn’t look like they were taken to any logical conclusion. Also, at that point of time, no one was worried too much because elections are scheduled in 2019, and when the 2019 revised list is out, this can be taken seriously.

Come September, the Telangana Assembly was dissolved. Elections were scheduled for December. Very strangely, the Election Commission insisted that the cutoff date for 18 years of age is January 1, 2018 (for an election being conducted in December 2018)! That’s a full one year!

Announcements were indeed made announcing the revision of electoral rolls, and also urging people to reapply if there is a discrepancy. Once the final list was published, the completely opaque manner of the functioning of the Election Commission has come to the fore.

The first issue is the duplication of names. Allow me to present a couple of examples for Electoral booth number 96 in a constituency from Hyderabad (I have blacked out some information). By the way, believe it or not - The “PDF Electoral” rolls available on the EC site are not searchable via “CTRL+F!! So if you have to wade deep, you actually need to go over the rolls one by one! Am sure if you make this searchable, then more skeletons will tumble out easily.

These are not isolated instances – I have personally known folks whose names have been duplicated in the *same* booth! It is one thing for duplication to be available at different booths (given how many folks reapply once they change their constituency), but what explains duplication in the same booth? Well, today’s newspaper even had a report of Triplication in a booth !

Under these circumstances, how do we trust the Election Commission number that only 48% of Hyderabad voted? Why should we get bombarded with silly comparisons when the base data itself is very wrong? These are not isolated instances, but have been reported on a widespread manner. What recuse would the citizens have once the “final electoral rolls” have been published? Where is the corrective mechanism for the Election Commission to remove these duplicates and triplicates?

The second issue and a much bigger issue is the deletion of names from Electoral rolls. And yet again, no one has any idea why names got deleted! People who have voted for 30 to 40 years from the same constituency have visited to polling booths only to find their names deleted. They had no other recuse. Imagine the sincerity of these citizens who have voted for 30 to 40 years. Now imagine the pain of these citizens to be told that their names have been deleted. Imagine the pain of 92 year old, Sri Y Chenna Reddy whose name was deleted from the electoral roll.

Initial media reports on the polling day focused on how some important people lost their votes – the biggest one being a serving IPS office of DGP rank!

Then came the shuttler Jwala Gutta. And then many many instances of citizens not finding their names in the electoral rolls came to light. The number was slowly touted to be in the 1000s. Today, that number has been rumored to be in lakhs! Well, that is what the telugu media is reporting. Exaggeration or not – it is a fact that thousands of citizens have had their votes deleted from the “final” electoral rolls. You can safely lay the blame on the citizens themselves – why didn’t they check before? Why didn’t they reapply before? And so on. But please ask yourself, how fair is it to blame 92 year old Y Channa Reddy? Or is it fair to blame an IPS officer if the name is deleted from the *final* rolls. There is nothing, absolutely nothing that you can do once the *final* list is out. No one knows the rationale behind deletion of votes, addition of votes, duplication & triplication of votes.

Why should I keep checking multiple revisions of electoral rolls and reapplying from time to time. The Election Commission tells us that legal notices were served before deletion of rolls. Nothing can be farther from truth on this – instead of accepting their lax role, the commission is continuing to behave as if this is a small aberration.

The third issue is the official declaration of the voting percentages. On the evening of the polling (7th December), an indicative figure of 67% was given. We were told the number is in line with 2014 elections, and any revision of this number will not be too significant. After a whopping 28 hours, yes 28 hours, the election commission releases the final figure – 73.2%. Now, do anyone of you recall such a high percentage gap between the initial figure to the final figure? How can such a huge variation be even possible?

And the icing on the cake is that the voting percentage in Hyderabad has been reduced by 2% compared to the initial estimates!

The Election Commission has a lot to answer for, from these Telangana elections. An apology has been issued with a promise to correct these discrepancies for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. However, this issue is more serious than a mere apology. The Election Commission must come clean on how this mess has happened in Telangana. , and how exactly they plan to correct this.

G Kishan Reddy's report to the people

The following article was written for rightlog. Pasting it here for reference:

When Narendra Modi first visited USA in the capacity of the Prime Minister of India, an old photo of him started doing the rounds on social media. This picture was apparently taken in the year 1994, in which PM Modi is seen standing outside the White House as a visitor.

Leftmost in the photo is a familiar face for the people in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh – G Kishan Reddy, who has now completed his third term as an MLA from the Amberpet constituency in Hyderabad. He had also served as the president of the state BJP but today we shall talk about the MLA Kishan Reddy! I was reminded of this photo while listening to him speak at his “REPORT TO THE PEOPLE” function, which he dutifully submits at the end of each term. The packed hall was thoroughly impressed by the many things done by him as an MLA but also by his attention to the details at this function. 

The moment anyone says CCTV, one of the first things that comes to my mind (unfortunately) is the ecstatic reaction of the social media fans of the AAP about their leader’s revolutionary promise of installing 1000s of CCTVs across Delhi. Many years into his tenure, the leader is yet to achieve what he set out to do; and instead is heavily focused on blaming the Modi government on this topic too. Unfortunately, this was yet again the first thing that came to my mind when Shri Kishan Reddy, through his slide show, told the packed hall, how he helped install a total of 77 CCTV cameras in his constituency. And not only that, the report lists out all the 77 locations, lest we think he went the Kejriwal way!

Kishan Reddy may have well gone the Kejriwal way – blame the government, the police, and the weather – but instead chose to focus on his duty as an MLA and worked alongside with the police to ensure safety of his constituents and this is paramount.

Another topic under constant debate is Swachh Bharat. While social media debates on how to keep the constructed toilets clean, very calmly, Shri Kishan Reddy has arranged for a unique “Toilets cleaning vehicle for Government schools” in his constituency. This vehicle goes to all the government schools in Amberpet daily and clean all the toilets by using the appropriate chemicals and not merely throwing water on the floor and sweeping it away. I found this approach unique and quite result-oriented. While most of us are keen to criticise politicians, it is unfortunate that in this media jamboree we lose sight of these small, yet important things like MLA Shri Kishan Reddy and what they do for their constituents. Even more unfortunate is that all MLAs in the state haven’t learnt and picked up such a unique initiative in their constituencies too, which they should have done by now.

Speaking of government schools, he told us that he constructed 11 new government schools in Amberpet; meets with the headmasters so as to understand the problems (and solutions); provided RO water facilities to the schools and also helped in fixing of drainage issues etc.

One of the biggest successes of the Narendra Modi government is the humongous improvement in electricity situation of the country. When Shri Kishan Reddy told us the details of the various sub-stations he successfully installed in Amberpet (worth ~200 crores) so that uninterrupted power supply is a reality, yet again struck to me as it became only possible because of such dedicated efforts at the ground level, that today as a country, Indians have better access to electricity.

Today, citizens of the country are witness to opposition parties simply going into the well of the house and taking pride in disrupting the house. Shri Kishan Reddy told us that in his entire 14 years as an MLA, he went into the well only once (when an unsavory comment was made on PM Modi), and the first thing he did the next day was to apologize to the Speaker and the House for this! He has moved a record number of adjournment motions and is amongst the top most speakers (time-wise) from the opposition parties (despite the party having small numbers).  I have seen some of his speeches earlier, and they are well researched and are very impressively delivered too (not the first time I am saying this).

The 80-page report is replete with many such success stories – how Kishan Reddy’s fight ensured that Home Guards now earn Rs. 20,000/- as opposed to a mere Rs. 3000/- (And also that Kishan Reddy is the President of Home Guard association); 67 new community halls built for various wards; legal victory to stop the auction of a prominent park + construction/development of new parks, bus shelters, dhobi ghats, crematoriums etc; medical camps and upkeep of various hospitals; laying of new pipelines; skill development camps for the youth; meetings with various sections of the society; and last but not the least, the various agitations he took part in!

Telangana CM KCR conducted a survey (well, all parties conduct multiple surveys, but this one was leaked comprehensively to the press) in the year 2017. In this survey, MLA Kishan Reddy was ranked amongst the top 5 performers out of the entire 119 MLAs of the state. Remember – this survey was commissioned by the ruling TRS whilst BJP was in opposition.

I am well aware that this article might sound one-sided. However, I have no qualms in mentioning that I only wish my MLA to do the exact same thing that Shri Kishan Reddy did – present his report. I have no qualms in mentioning that the citizens have a right to know what their representatives have done and such reports have to be encouraged more, not less. It is important that we know the nitty-gritty of the workings of our representatives, so that we make an informed choice. After all, don’t we want to elect the right log?

There is Zero Ground Level support for TDP’s unholy alliance with Congress.

The following article was written for MyInd Makers. Pasting it here for reference:

A couple of days ago, Congress leader and former Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Ashok Gehlot visited Vijayawada to meet new ally Chandrababu Naidu (CBN). This was about a week after Chandrababu Naidu met Rahul Gandhi and announced an alliance with the Congress party. During this one week, not a single Congress leader from the Andhra Pradesh Congress has met CBN. One would assume that perhaps they waited for some senior leader to come to Andhra Pradesh and the regional leaders can tag along.

However, when Ashok Gehlot met CBN, not a single AP Congress leader accompanied him. It was only Ashok Gehlot and a whole  bunch of TDP leaders who were eager to be photographed with CBN and Gehlot. An on November 12th, the AP Congress President categorically stated that the only direction from the High Command is to strengthen the party, and there has been no talk of any alliance! Unfortunately, the news I saw (ETV, 12thNovember 8pm news) is not available online. However, there are a few newspaper reports that quote the AP Congress President telling us that “In AP, Congress will decide the fate of regional parties.” The arrogance of Congress aside, doesn’t it strike as odd to you that ground level leaders of the dead Congress party are unable to fathom the deal Rahul Gandhi and Chandrababu Naidu made? What else explains their reluctance to meet CBN till date? Have you ever heard of regional Congress leaders not accompanying Central congress leaders? The level of opposition between the TDP and Congress is very strong and therefore this reluctance is on full display.

Meanwhile, telugu media is parroting and amplifying CBN’s every statement, where he is claiming that he is uniting all parties in an anti-BJP coalition. After meeting Rahul Gandhi, CBN went and met H.D.Kumaraswamy. He then went and met M.K.Stalin. And the entire media was celebrating CBN as the great unifier. And this clamor provoked an interesting response on Social Media. JD(S) and Congress are already in alliance. DMK has been in alliance with the Congress since more than 10 years. Why is CBN mysteriously going around claiming that he is stitching an already stitched alliance? The Congress has already stitched up alliances with the SP in addition to JD(S), RJD, SP, and DMK – what exact role will Chandrababu Naidu play with these parties? Will he now sit and resolve seat sharing issues between these parties?

Earlier, CBN had met Arvind Kejriwal and Mamata Banerjee. Are we to assume that the Congress and AAP will contest elections together in Delhi? And hope to really win? Mamata Banerjee hasn’t committed anything yet. As of today, Mayawati hasn’t even allied with the Congress in states like Madhya Pradesh CBN is making a lot of noise about meeting these leaders and inviting them to a conclave type of meeting. A lot of leaks are being put out saying CBN is the great unifier. All these silly attempts and statements by CBN are very amusing. By meeting allies of Congress and claiming that he is unifying them with Congress, what exact message is he trying to send?

I had earlier written on how disappointing it was to note that CBN chose to ally with this Congress party. Many old videos were released where he had attacked the Congress party. However, the most revealing videos have been of CBN’s speeches on the floor of the assembly - praising Prime Minister Modi as the as the only PM who bought name to the country; an assembly resolution thanking the PM for granting special package to the state; a challenge to parties to explain to him how special status is better than special package! Just two years back, there is also a TV interview where CBN has called for a permanent boycott of the Congress party! CBN’s current strategy is as disgusting as Arvind Kejriwal’s 2013 strategy of taking help from Congress party to run his government.

While it remains to be seen how this alignment will impact 2019 elections, as of today, there is zero ground support for this unholy alliance that CBN has formed. And there is all around amusement of CBN meeting allies of Congress and claiming he is unifying them!

A Fantastic panel of three Chief Ministers and an ode to Cooperative Federalism

The following article was written for MyInd Makers. Pasting it here for reference:

About three week ago, Hindustan Times conducted their annual Leadership Summit. This easy interview of Rahul Gandhi hogged all the limelight. However, just a couple of days back, thanks to YouTube’s recommendation, I viewed this awesome session with the Chief Ministers of three states – Punjab, Maharashtra and Karnataka. The session was very enlightening, and I would like to share with you some of the very salient points shared especially by the Punjab Chief Minister, Captain Amarinder Singh.

The anchor’s first question to this esteemed panel (starting with Capt. Amarinder Singh) is – “Is it easy working with the center?”. Pat comes the reply from Captain Amarinder Singh – “I have no problems. I am getting full co-operation”.  The shocked anchor continues to prod – “But there are issues”. Captain Amarinder Singh responds saying, “Well, which state doesn’t have issues.” He then goes on to cite financial issues that will arise after 2022 because of GST and how because of a Supreme Court ruling, the states have lost the power to appoint a DGP of their choice. Infact, he had to clarify that the DGP problem is because of the SC ruling and not because of the central government.

Later, during the interaction, Devendra Fadnavis had also endorsed Captain’s view that the states must have the power to choose their own DGP. This is a very good point that both the Chief Ministers (belonging to different parties) have bought out. However, since this is not a news worthy debate, we will never hear about a solution for this problem!

A question from the audience to Capt. Amarinder Singh was regarding the crop burning by the farmers of Punjab. Captain’s answer in its entirety is a treat to listen to. He explains how nearly 10 lakh of the 17 lakh farmers have less than 5 acres of land holdings, and how they cannot be asked to do a 3rdoperation in one season (because each operation costs 2000 rupees). Capt. Amarinder Singh has asked the PM to give an additional 100 rupees per quintal so that the farmers can use that money to dig up, and not burn. The Prime Minister had sanctioned this amount, but for a different purpose – and that is to buy machines that dig better and therefore help enable one of the solution for this problem. I am fascinated by the kind of conversations that would have happened between the CM and PM on this topic – the nitty gritty of the policy to solve a long pending problem. However, our media can never be bothered to headline such important decisions and discussions! It is a real pity that these policy interventions by various government are never highlighted.

Since GST on petroleum is the flavor of the month, the eminent panel was asked this question. Capt. Amarinder Singh was very straight forward in saying that putting fuel under GST will further burden states because a very important source of revenue for the state is gone. H.D.Kumaraswamy agreed with him. So, a Congress Chief Minister and a Congress ally have both publicly disagreed with the continuous rant of Congress President Rahul Gandhi. Yet, the English media didn’t find this tidbit newsworthy. By the way, even Devendra Fadnavis has partially agreed that source of revenue for states will be dried up, but with appropriate safeguards, it can be bought under GST.

While watching this interview, I was reminded of this interview of Kerala Chief Minister, Pinarayi Vijayan. Despite all that clamor of social media during the Kerala floods, he has publicly said “it shows how supportive the Centre has been towards Kerala”. In this session, H.D.Kumaraswamy had also claimed that he had no problems working with the center. I had mentioned earlier too that co-operative federalism is one of the biggest achievements of the Modi government. Equal credit must also go the Chief Ministers of states ruled by the opposition parties, who have acknowledged this relationship. Perennial rabble rousers like Arvind Kejriwal and Chandrababu Naidu can be ignored. Infact, for the first 4 years in this term, CBN was gung ho about the center too.

This session in the leadership summit must rank as one of the best sessions ever. Three Chief Ministers belonging to three different political dispensations discussed state specific issues on a wide range of topics and giving credit where it is due, is a rarity in today’s noisy newsroom. This session should have made headlines and should have been the talking point across newsrooms. Instead, what we got was, yet another hyped up interview which Rahul Gandhi himself found so easy!

After 36 years of anti-Congress legacy of NTR’s TDP, Chandrababu Naidu joins hands with Congress

The following article was published in MyInd Makers. Pasting it here for reference:

“NTR is equivalent to an icon for me, and CBN is someone I very deeply admire and like” – this is something I wrote in the year 2012. But of course the admiration was much older than 2012. Chandrababu Naidu was one of my childhood heroes. It was devastating to watch him lose the 2004 elections. I have had many debates on twitter with many folks who had tried to devalue the role Chandrababu Naidu has played in the growth of AP.

In my 2012 blog, I had identified 3 watershed moments in TDP’s history – the 1984 Lok Sabha elections; the 1995 coup when CBN took over NTR; the tectonic policy shift in 2008-09. The 4th watershed moment was today, November 1st, 2018, when Chandrababu Naidu joined hands with the Congress party. The very birth of TDP was against the Congress party. Every single moment of TDP’s 36 year old existence has been spent fighting the ideology of the Congress party, tooth and nail. The TDP cadre was built on an anti-Congress platform. TDP cadre have given up their life fighting this Congress party. For many, the iconic image of NTR leading a procession of a slain legislator to the Raj Bhavan remains etched in memory. Chandrababu Naidu himself got emotional many times, speaking about how his cadre are being killed by this Congress party. The Congress party has also accused the TDP of killing their cadre too!

This Congress party has no vision for the country. No vision for the state. No vision even for even a gram panchayat. This Congress party epitomizes corruption. Epitomizes nepotism. Epitomizes laziness. Epitomizes arrogance. Epitomizes ignorance. A part of all this opinion was formed because I saw my childhood hero in action, trying to show us a vision. Trying to lead us through extreme hard work. Trying to be amidst people, shedding arrogance.

And it is with this very Congress party that my childhood hero has today joined hands. TDP folks have tried to invent a new theory – the TDP’s fight has always been with a high-handed Delhi party and today it is the BJP that is being high-handed. I wonder how they want us to forget all those acrimonious assembly debates between CBN and YSR. I wonder how they want us to forget all those acrimonious exchanges of TDP and Congress MLAs over the years. I wonder how they want us to forget the fat booklets TDP has printed telling us how the corrupt Congress party has looted the entire state of Andhra Pradesh.

For folks outside of the telugu states, this might look like another day in politics. This might look like yet another political party doing what they do best – change their stance. However, please allow me to clarify that this is not a mere change in stance. This is a blow to the very foundation of TDP. This is a blow to the very strength of the TDP. For the entire 36 years of TDP’s existence, the only thing consistent about them has been the anti-Congress stand. Am sure there are a lot of folks who are angry and shocked with Chandrababu Naidu joining hands with Rahul Gandhi.

Let’s for a moment keep all this emotion aside, and look at this electorally. The Congress is a spent force in Andhra Pradesh. They have performed disastrously even in local body elections. The TDP has no say on any political formation outside of the telugu states – they don’t bring any electoral advantage outside of just one state.

Rahul Gandhi and Chandrababu Naidu have claimed that they have joined hands to “save democracy”. The continuous rants of CBN in recent times against the BJP have reached nauseating levels. A series of articles on this issue have been published in MyInd Makers too. Chandrababu Naidu needed a big villain to make him look like a hero. He chose Modi to be that villain. However, in making that choice, he chose to ally with a poison called Congress. Looking at what TDP was going through in 2012, I had then wondered if TDP was being Nai”doom”ed. Today, for me, it has become devastatingly Nai”doom”ed.

Rahul Gandhi’s interview which was easy by even his standards

The following article was written for MyInd Makers. Pasting it here for reference:

I watched Rahul Gandhi’s “interview” at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit and was left fuming at how meek the interviewer was. Even before I finished watching  the interview, I asked on twitter if the interviewer was on twitter. At the end of the interview, Rahul Gandhi himself told the interviewer – You asked me easy questions.

Can you imagine how easy an interview would have been if Rahul Gandhi himself said “You asked me easy questions?”. Since I took the pain of watching the interview and would not want you to go through the pain, I will share some of the “easy questions”.

Q: They say it is very lonely at the top. Do you have anyone special in your life?

A: I have many special people in my life. My mother, my sister and many others.

Q: There is no one special person?

A: haha, no.

Or sample this:

Q: What is the difference between the working styles of you and your mother

A: She goes by feeling and I go by thinking.

If you thought that these were some passing questions and the rest of the interview had a lot of content, then let me reveal something to you. I am purposely placing my statement in capitals. THERE WAS NOT A SINGLE QUESTION ON RAFALE LIES. NOT A SINGLE QUESTION! Can you imagine someone getting a chance to interview Rahul and missing out on Rafale? No wonder Rahul himself said – You asked me easy questions!

Rahul Gandhi’s condescending attitude towards problems was on full display too. For example, he thinks that the Indian farmer will be content, if the political leadership goes, listens to him, hugs him and says “I can’t do anything about your problem!”. This is *actually* what he said. He thinks it is ok if you don’t solve problems, but it is enough if you have a “conversation”. Indian farmer apparently is merely content with someone listening to his/her problem. Do we really want a political leadership that takes this kind of pathetic approach towards our problems?

Till about a couple of years back, everything Rahul Gandhi said centered around women empowerment. The answer to every question ended up in talking about women empowerment. That has now changed. Today, the answer to any and every question is “We should have a conversation”. That’s his solution to all the problems he himself is tom-toming regularly. Apparently, all we need to do is have the farmers and the industry have a conversation. All we need to do is have the small enterprises have a conversation.

His monologue on GST went unchallenged. His monologue on demonetization went unchallenged. His monologue on “building new institutions” went unchallenged. For example, he called AIIMS an 1950s institution. And then he told us that we don’t need more AIIMS, but we need more 21st century institution. Nobody knows what he even means by that. He himself doesn’t know what he means by that!

While commenting on UPA, he refers to his mom and says, “The boss is here”. This is the respect they have towards the post of the Prime Minister. Speaking of which, he was asked that question too – Would he be the PM? He goes on to say that if all allies agree then “Sure, why not”. The casual and condescending approach towards such important queries is simply outstanding.

We have written many times as to how Rahul Gandhi escapes serious scrutiny. In this interview, he boasts about how he is always open to taking questions and Narendra Modi is not. Even here, he was not challenged on the many number of interviews that Prime Minister Modi has given. No wonder he himself was patting the interviewer that she asked him easy questions.

Through twitter I came to know that the interviewer was the daughter of K.K.Birla who owns the Hindustan Times. She was appointed to the Rajya Sabha by “the boss”, Sonia Gandhi in the “literature” quota. Through this interview, it seems like she has repaid her debt.

Fact checking the Fact checkers on UDAN! How selective facts are being used to negate some unique programs.

The following article was written for MyInd Makers. Pasting it here for reference:

A site www.factchecker.in published an article that another site named www.boomlive.in copied on their site, and then this story started to show up on my timeline because some AAP and Congress members started sharing it. The story is about “Were 35 Airports Built Over The Last 4 Years As PM Modi Claimed?

And the “fact check” concludes that “No more than seven airports were made operational over the last four years, according to official data.”

Now, that’s some disturbing detail. It propelled me to do some searching, and I have found out some very interesting facts (actual facts) that I would like to share. Let’s first take a quick look at the summary of this “fact check” based on various official documents (annual reports and replies to questions in Parliament).

• In 2014, Airport Authority of India (AAI) owned 125 airports  out of which 31 were non-operational.

• In 2018, Airport Authority of India (AAI) owned 129 airports out of which 28 are non-operational.

In summary, 7 new airports have been operationalized. The “fact check” sites used PM’s tweet in which he claims 35 new airports were added (exact Hindi word he used was “jhud gaye”). The tweet also talks about how 9 airports per year got ready, since 2014. Let’s get back to this speech later. For now, let’s discuss the search results!

One of the first results I get is based on a reply by the Civil Aviation minister on April 28, 2016 in Parliament, as duly reported here - there are “25 airports across the country … were technically operational but did not handle a single scheduled flight”.

25 airports that are “technically operational” but did NOT handle a single scheduled flight! So that would effectively mean a total of 31+25 = 56 airports that are not being used. The terminology you want to use for this is left to you,  but according to the same official sources that the “fact check” sites are basing their reports on, we had 56 airports *owned by AAI* that are NOT in commercial use!

The next obvious question is if we can find out the list of these airports. Some more searching yielded even more interesting results. As of 2016, India had 16 “Underserved” airports (Annexure 1A). Underserved, as the name suggests, the frequency of scheduled commercial operations is very low.

 India has a whopping 398 “unserved airports/airstrips”. Yes, Three Hundred and Ninety Eight (Annexure 1B). What is as unserved airport? Typically it is referred so, if there are no scheduled commercial operations. We have 398 such airports/airstrips! Not all of them are owned by the AAI. Many of these would lie in dilapated conditions for sure. Many of them may just be airstrips.

So an airport that exists can be termed “operational”, and yet not have scheduled commercial flights thus making it “unserved”, or may have extremely low commercial flights, making it “underserved”. Therefore when ministers are asked questions on “List of Airports owned by AAI and the list of non-operational airports”, information pertaining to unserved and underserved will not be provided. If we were to follow only the Parliament speeches, then our base should be 56 and not 31 in the first place.

Let’s take a couple of examples. The airports in Kadapa (AP) and Bhavnagar (Gujarat) are owned by AAI (as indicated here) and are technically operational (because they are not present in this list here), but are “underserved”. Ludhiana and Jalagaon are “operational” airports but are “unserved”. All these airports got included into the RCS-UDAN scheme, thereby increasing the connectivity of residents of these towns. If the “fact check” sites simply did a search for “UDAN scheme” in the Lok Sabha website, they would have come to know that as of Sept, 2017, five airline carriers will operate from 43 airports (12 underserved + 31 unserved).  Regular flight services have begunfor 27 such airports (as of June 2018).  As of August 2018, 31 airports have been added to the RCS-UDAN scheme.

Wait, I keep mentioning the RCS-UDAN scheme, but don’t give any details regarding it. Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) is a unique and revolutionary scheme that has been introduced by the Modi government. The broad objective of the scheme is that the common citizen of India can fly (UDAN -Ude Desh ki Aam Nagrik). To achieve this (amongst other things) – airports that show commitment shall be included (Page 6, Guiding Principles), irrespective of whether they are owned by AAI. Irrespective of ownership!

So the basic premise of the “fact check” site (that when the Modi government is talking about airports, they automatically refer to the ones onwed by AAI) is fundamentally flawed! Let’s come back to original headline – “Were 35 airports built”?

I heard the speech too. The Prime Minister has said “35 airports have been ready for flying”. Elsewhere, he had also said that 35 new airports were ready. He had also used the hindi “ban gaye” might have led some to believe that he is talking about building airports from scratch. The PMO tweet clearly refers to “jhud gaye”, meaning they got added/integrated.

Should the PM have been more extra careful with the choice of his words? Before you answer that question, answer this: Is this what we want to debate? Would a Prime Minister use simple terminology to explain achievements or the exact legal terminology to sound politically correct?! Would you want to ignore the actual rapid strides we are making in aviation - Nearly 120 new routes are operational; nearly 30 airports have scheduled regular commercial flights. In the year 2017, the number of people travelling in flights was more than the number of people who travelled in AC trains! Domestic aviation has been witnessing a consistent month-on-month increase. All this can only point out to a robust economy and an equally robust connectivity – propelled by unique schemes such as UDAN.

 Or would you want to haggle over terminology based on limited “fact checks”?

Shekhar Gupta is the most pusillanimous and unimaginative master of propaganda India has ever seen

The following article was written for OpIndia. Pasting it here for reference:

We had earlier discussed how Shekhar Gupta’s multiple rants have displayed his repelling hatred towards Prime Minister Modi. So I wasn’t very surprised when the headline for his latest rant read as follows – “The Modi government is the most faceless, nameless & talent-averse India has seen.”

While trying to decipher what is it that was bothering him so much, I stumbled upon another of his vacuous pieces– “Rafale deal is no scam. It’s just a glaring example of the BJP government’s pusillanimous, unimaginative, over-cautious and unsuccessful handling of defence purchases”

Pusillanimous. Unimaginative. Over-Cautious. Unsuccessful. Faceless. Nameless. Talent averse. Impatient.

That’s quite an exhaustive list of adjectives he has pulled out from his dictionary. Tucked away in his tirade, was a crucial line that perhaps explains Shekhar Gupta’s incoherent rants – “I do not believe I have seen a cabinet minister admonish and tick off journalists as this defence minister routinely does”.

One is forced to wonder whether this is the root cause of his anger. Now, if the Defence Minister of India is “routinely” admonishing journalists, shouldn’t Shekhar Gupta (who doubles up as Chairman of Editors Guilt, oops Editors Guild) intercede “routinely” on behalf of journalists and seek clarifications from the Defense Minister? Or is he merely content with making sweeping generalizations and passing the buck to nameless and faceless journalists?

One might be tempted to ask if that is the only basis for his splendid assertion of the nature of this cabinet. No, he has more serious reasons. Apparently when he goes to “public speaking interactions”, he asks his audience to name India’s ministers for Agriculture, Health, Chemicals and Fertilizers, Heavy Industries, Science and Technology, and MSME. And nobody from the audience can name any of them, and voila!

By this same yardstick, every previous government was as “faceless, nameless and talent-averse” as this one. But then Shekhar Gupta has a solution for that logic too – bring in the appointment of Dr C. Subramaniam as Agriculture minister by Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. Well, as is his wont, he goes on to credit Indira Gandhi also for appointments Lal Bahadur Shastri had made, but let’s give that a pass.

After being able to recollect the only “talent” from nearly 50 years ago, he is now left wondering who will lead India’s march towards Green Revolution 2.0? No one in government has spoken about Green Revolution 2.0. Shekhar Gupta is coining that term equating it to the PM’s goal of doubling farm income by 2022. Does Shekhar Gupta suggest an alternative name to Radha Mohan Singh? No, he doesn’t. Instead tell us this – “Indira Gandhi too ran her government from her office, but think of the talent she collected around her.”

Going by Shekhar Gupta’s yardstick, you would assume that his “diverse audience” would be able to name all “the talent she collected around her”. Unfortunately, he provides no such insights on this list and it is left to the reader’s imagination.

His article on the “pusillanimous, unimaginative, over-cautious and unsuccessful handling of defence purchases” is another treat to read and gives great insights into the hatred that seems to be building up within him.

Irked with the government not disclosing the exact price of Rafale jets, he tells us that “Today’s arms bazaar carries almost no secrets about platforms, weapons and accessories.” Then, isn’t Shekhar Gupta’s job very easy? He just has to go to the arms bazaar and get us an exclusive? Ok, let’s assume he is too busy to go the bazaar and needs to get the information from someone else. He tells us who that someone is –

“If you are buying the Meteor missile to go with the Rafale, not just the Pakistani and Chinese air forces, but any teenaged defence nerd with a smartphone can give you a tutorial on it.”

All you need is a “teenaged defence nerd” or a trip to “arms bazaar”. Shekhar Gupta does neither, because he doesn’t tell us what the actual price is. But he also tells that “What you can, and must, keep secret in this is sensitive electronics and tactics.”. Come on, Shekhar Gupta! That’s what the Government of India has been saying too – an itemized billing cannot be provided. It only sounds like he is very upset that Rahul Gandhi’s demands are not being met by this “pusillanimous” government.

Shekhar Gupta recently tweeted that the “deification of HAL” is the “worst damage” caused by this Rafale storm. In his article though, he tells us “Any reasonable person would know that HAL would still be better equipped for licenced production than any other company…” Now is Shekhar Gupta calling himself unreasonable? He goes on to say that HAL had a monopoly and has not done things “particularly efficiently”.

If your argument is that HAL is “not efficient”, then why would you call a government “pusillanimous” for not awarding a hypothetical contract? If in your belief, “HAL is an opaque, profiteering, license-production PSU monopoly”, then why would you call a government as “unimaginative” for not awarding a hypothetical contract? Because in Shekhar Gupta’s own words – “But nobody would diss a defence PSU”. So HAL is very bad but Modi is “stupid” to have ignored HAL, according to Gupta.

All of Shekhar Gupta’s rants are riddled with such contradictions. All of his rants cite an example here, an example there to make rank generalizations. And all of his rants contain so many lies that it is just difficult to keep track of them. Sample this for example – “Surely the prime minister is brilliant, has travelled through every district of the country as he says,”. The Prime Minister has never claimed this. In an interview with Zee News, he has claimed that he has spent at least one night in 80% of districts in the country before he even became the Prime Minister. Shekhar Gupta conveniently twists this fact to make sarcastic comments against Modi. Elsewhere, he blames the Modi government for the “cease and desist” notice that Anil Ambani has sent. Surely, we all must ponder who is being “unimaginative” here!