Like Sonia Gandhi, Brinda Karat Also Ends Up in Praising Prime Minister Modi

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

The Hindu remains the only publication where the voices of the leftover leaders of the Communist parties are provided space for writing something. Today, it is Brinda Karat’s turn. Today’s article is titled “Utilise MGNREGA to the fullest capacity” and the byline for this article is “The scheme should not be diluted in the name of the Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan”

This sounded eerily familiar to Sonia Gandhi’s recent outburst that the Prime Minister is “diluting” MNREGA by linking it programs that build houses and create Swachh Bharat infrastructure. Sonia Gandhi ended up praising Narendra Modi in her article. Brinda Karat dutifully follows suit!

Brinda Karat first mentions that the “number of households who got work in April 2020 was the lowest in several years at 95 lakhs”. Duh! I mean, there was complete lockdown till about the 20th of April. Relaxations were introduced only a couple of days later, which obviously means that April 2020 will have the lowest workers “in several years”! Does Brinda Karat mean that even during the complete lockdown, governments should have risked bringing out people to work under MGNREGA? So that then she can write how COVID increased because of allowing these people to work?

After presenting us with the most obvious statistic, she goes on to praise the Modi government. Don’t believe me? Read for yourself what she writes next. “ ..in May the number went up to 3.05 crore. Till the third week of June, 2.84 crore households had got work, much higher when compared to the same months last year”. 

Do you see that folks? In May and June, according to the icon of the Communist party, the Narendra Modi government provided employment to nearly 3 crore households that is “much higher than last year”! This is in fact awesome, right? Surely, am not the only one confused whether or not Brinda Karat is praising Modi, right? Now, the confusion compounds upon further reading.

She tells us that the center released INR 38,000 crores so far and 70% of this has been utilized. In the same paragraph, she also tells us that “The remaining Rs. 8,000 crore fund available to the States is clearly insufficient.” If 8000 crores are remaining, an obvious conclusion is that 30,000 crores out of the 38,000 crores have been utilized. That is a whopping 79% and not 70% as Brinda Karat happily mentions. It beats me what exactly do they want to achieve with fudging numbers that are so basic. Did they really think readers cannot make these basic calculations and arrive at more logical conclusions? Despite 8000 crores available, Brinda Karat says the amount released is insufficient and centre should immediately release more money! Available funds are not spent but there is a demand for more funds - Have you ever heard of a logic like this? Why don’t logic and communists go together?

So, what do we know by now? Crores of households provided record employment; INR30,000 crores already disbursed. With this background, what is the next section titled? Believe it or not – it is titled “Work provided to few”

The mind boggles at these interpretation skills. We are not told that in this fiscal year, 8.07 crore people demanded work and 6.25 crore workers were given work. These are numbers provided by Brinda Karat herself! 6.25 crore people provided work in just 3 months and yet, in her view “it is extremely disturbing that as many as 1.82 crore workers who demanded work were turned back.” Does the law mandate that everyone who demands work actually gets the work? There obviously would be some eligibility criteria, right? Instead of doing homework on this front, Brinda Karat makes a desperate attempt to whip up some controversy when there is none!

Brinda Karat now has a problem with the new scheme – “PM Garib Kalyan Rozgar Yojana”. Why? Because it is a new scheme that is aimed at providing employment to the migrants. How can someone have a problem with this? Because she says MGNREGA should have been modified to accommodate these migrants instead of turning them away and introducing a new scheme. I am not sure whether to laugh or cry at this abject loss of logic from the pen of the communist icon.

And then she asks why the new scheme is implemented only in 116 districts across the country. It is time to remind her that the MNREGA was first introduced in 2006-2007, it was implemented in 200 select districts. It took 2 years to implement this across the country. And Brinda Karat was very much part of the ruling coalition that implemented this. Did we see articles from anyone asking why only 200?

Brinda Karat herself answers the question – “The scheme is primarily meant for migrant workers in those districts where their numbers are 25,000 or more.” She goes on to invent more convoluted arguments on how this will exclude women also. The summary of multiple paragraphs she writes on this topic is this – this scheme should have been part of MGNREGA, because MGNREGA is being implemented by Modi in the best possible way ever!

She concludes by saying the law must be modified to now include every member of household (as opposed to one member), increase number of days from 100 to 200 and give allowance to everyone who is “turned away from work”. Sure, why not! Writing utopian ideas is the easiest thing to do. Working towards making them a reality is the hardest things to do. The communists choose the easiest path. Always.

Rajiv Gandhi Foundation: Rahul Gandhi must explain why RGF has so much money but no impact via these 8 dud projects

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

Shocking revelations over the past couple of days have shown us that over the past many years, the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (RGF) had continuously received funds the Prime Ministers National Relief Fund (PMNRF); from various governments from around the world ranging from China to Ireland to Luxemburg; from various central ministries; from industries ranging from Reliance to TVS to GVK; from banks ranging from SBI to Standard Chartered; from private individuals; from private trusts; and what not!  

With such a humungous network and funding, I was very interested to check out the work that the RGF had done over all these years. Their website has a lot of verbose and little numbers. Since I don’t want you to go through the yawning verbose, allow me to walk you through their projects, timelines and numbers. 

Program 1: INTERACT Scholarships

The aim of the program is to provide scholarships for children affected by violent conflict in various part of our country. The claim is that since the year 1993, across 11 states and 2 UTs, a total of 2,115 children were provided scholarship at their school level & 134 of these pursued higher education and vocational courses. With all the donors at their disposal, the RGF thought it fit to support 80 students a year, starting in the year 1993! 

Program 2: Rajiv Gandhi Access to Opportunities Program

The aim of the program is to “Award specially designed vehicles” for the physically challenged young people. The claim is that since the year 1992, across 25 states and 5UTs, 2900 such vehicles were awarded. That’s about 100 per year. With all the donors at their disposal, the RGF thought it fit to award ~100 vehicles a year, starting in the year 1992!

Program 3: Rajiv Gandhi Cambridge Scholarship (ha!)

Through this program, they collaborated with another trust (oh the maze!) – Cambridge Commonwealth Trust. What did they do since 1994? The sponsored tickets (fancy name – “travelling scholarships”) to 140 students of UK universities to visit India! And then they funded 60 Indian students to pursue a 2nd degree in B.A (Honors). And since 2014: they provided full scholarships for 6 PhD students who got selected from India to Cambridge. You would think that’s awesome. The catch is that this cost is shared by three different trusts! There are no details available on how the cost has been split. 

Program 4: Natural Resource Management

According to their website, this was established in 2001. And then they immediately jump to what they did in the year 2011. So that should only mean that this program did nothing till 2011 (Yes, 10 full years! I wonder how the donors feel about that). They then decide to be 1 of the 3 donors of “Gram Gaurav Sansthan” NGO working on the Rajasthan-Madhya Pradesh border. Their site claims that 1760 families have been impacted. But they give no clarity if this is the NGOs overall impact or just the families impacted by RGF’s funding alone.  

Program 5: Heritage – Archives & Gallery

The purpose is to maintain “Archives on Shri Rajiv Gandhi’s life and work.” All his photos, videos, speeches have been archived. No one has any problem if they did this on their own dime. Instead, they get government money to do what is essentially a family project!

Program 6: Schools program

Click on their link that reads “Schools program” and you get “Coming soon”!

Program 7: Wonderoom

This is a library-cum-activity centre in Jawahar Bhavan, Delhi. They claim that they have over 6000 books for children to read. Their FB page shows activities facilitated by this program and claim that over 400 children and parents attend these programs. The only meaningful statistic in this is the 6000 books in the library! 

Program 8: Relief and Rehabilitation

The confusion created in this page is mind-boggling. There is no proper timeline or details of relief efforts carried out. There are details of some disasters that have rocked India since 1991. After all this, we are told that 5000 families have received help. And that free medicines have been provided to 9000 patients. Oh, and 1200 blankets also. With all the donors at their disposal, the RGF couldn’t even give out 1 blanket a year? With all the donors and power at their disposal, RGF could not even support 200 families a year?

Who will answer for Rajiv Gandhi Foundation?

Take a look at their donor page of Rajiv Gandhi Foundation for just one year. With such a massive reach, not even 200 students per year benefited from RGF; not even 500 families per year benefited from the RGF. Many of us would have easily known smaller NGOs with lesser funding that have created a bigger impact. Their financial statements show us that crores are spent on these projects. Is this the impact one can see with crores of money at their disposal? Instead of doing juvenile videos, perhaps Rahul Gandhi must explain why RGF performs so disproportionately to the funds they receive! 

The Swinging Moods of Telangana Chief Minister, K Chandrashekhar Rao

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

Telangana Chief Minister KCR on March 7, 2020: “Why do we need a mask? Without wearing any masks, me, my ministers, my MLAs – we will all work on the field to combat Corona if at all it comes to Telangana. A scientist told me that all you have to do to chase away Corona is to “use a Paracetamol; and that Corona will die at temperatures greater than 22C.”

KCR on March 14, 2020: “We should not remain mute spectators to Corona. It is a crime if we remain mute. Masks will be needed. Full body suits will be needed. We will obviously give statements that will seek to improve confidence in people and not scare them.”

TS Government decision on March 14, 2020: All schools, colleges and malls closed till March 31st.

A mere 7 days after questioning the need for masks and telling us that he thinks Corona will die in temperatures greater than 22C, KCR takes a key decision of shutting down schools, colleges and malls till March 31st. People realized that KCR perhaps has learnt that his utterances were wrong and he is resorting to a much-needed course correction.

KCR on March 21, 2020: “I am requesting the DGP to arrest all the idiots who are criticizing the Prime Minister’s call to clap on the evening of Janata curfew.”

Did you hear a squeak at least from the masqueraders of free speech? Did you see hour-long, day-long, week-long debates in the studios of the usual suspects on this? Would they have maintained the same silence if a BJP corporator made that statement?

KCR on March 22, 2020: “I thank the people for the successful conduct of the Janata Curfew. We are now extending the lockdown till the 31st of March.”

That’s right, he has imposed a lockdown even before the national lockdown was imposed by Prime Minister Modi. His press conference made all the right points – how people have to be careful; how the government is geared up for the fight; and details on what stays open and what stays closed during the lockdown.

KCR on March 24, 2020: “Many people are not following lockdown. In other countries, there have been shoot at sight orders issued. Do we want such a situation here?”

This statement quite expectedly blew up. WhatsApp was agog with messages that KCR had issued Shoot at sight orders. It didn’t even take 20 days from telling us that paracetamol will cure Corona to hinting at a shoot at sight situation and creating a panic like situation! No other CM or central minister has indicated this type of a response, even in passing.

KCR’s subsequent press conferences on March 24th, March 27th, March 29th, and April 6th, were all broadly hailed by the people of the state for being informative, suggestive of what needs to be done, and some dose of humor. A 1500 bed new hospital was also built in record time. The period from April 6th to the next two press conferences on April 19th and May 18th is when it started going downhill for KCR.

His jibe at a reporter who asked him about Wine shops became very popular. His jibes at many reporters for asking “silly questions” slowly started to get boring. He somehow thought offense is the best defense, so much so that he wished that reporters writing negative news should be infected with Corona! You would of course not see the alleged liberals take up this crass statement by an elected CM.

What changed the story for Telangana was the continuous low testing despite an overall increase of the same across the entire country. For many days, the government just wouldn’t even release the testing data. At the beginning of this crisis, we had a “we are not testing enough” chorus being sung by the usual suspects. It is but obvious that testing will not be in the lakhs on day-1. Every single country needed some time to ramp up their testing.

However, as time progressed, while the rest of India started increasing their testing, mysteriously Telangana chose to look the other way. Take a look at the below graph for yourself (sourced from covid19india.org). Notice the flat lines for many days? That’s because the government just refused to release this data.

There has been a total of nearly 78 lakh tests done in the entire country by June 26th. Telangana contributed a mere 75,000 to this. KCR started the fight against Corona saying there is nothing to worry about. Within 20 days, a full lockdown was announced by him in the state, even suggesting a shoot at sight situation. For a very mysterious reason, he decided not to increase testing whilst the rest of the country did it. The low numbers that Telangana saw were touted as a significant achievement. No reporter was allowed to ask the critical question (even in the May 18th presser) on testing. Only after there was widespread criticism across all other platforms, did he decide to increase testing and release the data on a daily basis (as is evident from the curve above).  And with increased testing, the surge in cases has begun, thus creating more panic.

The swinging moods of KCR will remain one of the big mysteries during these COVID times!

The Curious Case of the Cabal Going Hammer and Tongs After Arvind Kejriwal

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

The co-ordination of the Left ecosystem marvels me. It’s amazing how they work together as a pack while dishing out articles on any topic or leader. It’s like they have a topic of the week to bombard readers.

This week’s target was very unusual though. And it exposed some very serious cracks in their ecosystem. They now chose to attack their demi-God – Arvind Kejriwal. The attack first begun in The Hindu. In an op-ed titled “The emergence of the real Kejriwal”, the author went hammer and tongs on Arvind Kejriwal. For those who are unaware, Arvind Kejriwal has been the poster boy of The Hindu ever since he entered into politics. The massive coverage AK got so far is perhaps next only to what China gets! So, what explained the end of the bonhomie?

In the author’s own words - “Deployment of Hindu symbolism is near universal in Indian politics these days, and Mr. Kejriwal paraded them with panache, ahead of the 2020 Delhi Assembly election.” How did Kejriwal accomplish this? Apparently by saying that the CAA favours Pakistan Hindus but is against Indian Hindus! Amusing how anything remotely related to “Hindu symbolism” gets to the goat of these alleged liberals. I believe Arvind Kejriwal’s politics are of the worst nature, but this cabal backed him entirely through his chicanery – his alliance with Congress to grab power; his ministers and MLAs indulging in brazen corruption; his anti-India utterances during certain key events in the 2014-19 period – everything was happily lapped up by this cabal. But the moment “The AAP’s 2020 manifesto promised patriotism courses in schools”, these people are up in arms! Because “sedition charges against JNU students were signed off by his government”, these people are not able to digest how their demi-God had stabbed them in the back!

We are told Kejriwal has put “people against people” because of his myopic decision of asking Delhi hospitals to attend to only residents of Delhi. But this action was taken a couple of weeks ago, so why was this cabal silent? Why didn’t these people raise their voice against Kejriwal and praise the Lt. Governor for restoring sanity? Why the sudden outrage now? We are told that Kejriwal “feigns humility and claims to listen to the people”. But he has always followed this approach only – do sham surveys on the net and claim that he is doing what people want. What explains this sudden outrage?

Because, in the authors own words, “The intelligentsia, including feminists, might find such positions detestable, but Mr. Kejriwal no longer needs them.” I don’t have to tell you how these people label themselves as intelligentsia. So, it seems that Kejriwal has now dumped them and in their opinion is listening to the people of Delhi instead of them. Ouch, that must hurt! But that also shouldn’t come as a surprise. Only those blinded by love would not have been able to see Kejriwal’s use-and-throw policy. Now that their turn has come, the “intelligentsia” is hurt beyond repair.

The Hindu’s article ends with “Meanwhile, his claims of efficiency in governance are under the first real life test in Delhi..”. Am astonished at how Arvind Kejriwal’s efficiency was touted as the best up until recently and now we are suddenly told no real-life test has happened in the past 5 years?! Delhi’s handling of the COVID situation was a mess (to put it mildly) but all that the author could think for the entire article is how Kejriwal is trying to be more Hindu!

The Print took over the mantle from The Hindu and we are treated to an article titled “Covid has exposed Kejriwal. He is not transparent, reformist or in-control chief minister”. Aren’t you amazed at the transition too? The Hindu has laid the base for the attack and recollected all his previous mistakes up until the handling of the COVID situation. The Print seamlessly takes over from there, like an accomplished relay runner, and tells us that Kejriwal’s handling of the COVID situation proves that he is “parochial, hypocritical, and a fumbling administrator who makes magnified claims.”

Boy oh boy! How come they didn’t see any of these qualities just 6 months back? No leader suddenly becomes “parochial, hypocritical” etc all of a sudden. Faced with an actual crisis, the supporters maybe have suddenly realised that Kejriwal didn’t have any actual work to do in his first 5 years of office and the first time he had to step up, he faltered so badly that the supporters now don’t know where to hide themselves!

“If anything, Kejriwal has revealed himself to be a hypocritical opportunist” for basically attempting to “fudge data to underplay the fatality figures”. Looks like all the words in a dictionary that are synonyms to a cheater have been used up in these two articles! It still beats me as how these people even remotely thought that a man who broke a promise he made on his own children, will not ditch them too? Amusing that they are taking out their frustration at being so naïve!

We are told that “The two pillars of the AAP’s governance have been education and health, with the latter now in complete shambles.” So, it took about 2-3 months to realise how one “pillar” is not even a pillar! How long before the low quality of the other “pillar” will also be exposed? Or will there be a truce between the warring parties and we will soon get to see articles on the resurgence of Arvind Kejriwal? Am betting on the latter!