How the ‘opposition’ has extraordinary powers that they use to scuttle voices of dissent as ‘journalists’ rejoice or look the other way

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

“If any media writes against Telangana and its culture, we will break their necks and bury them 10km deep”. This is a statement made by Mr. K. Chandrashekhar Rao, as Chief Minister of Telangana. He often makes fun of reporters and their questions in his press conferences; interrupts them in a commanding tone; once wished that journalists get COVID, and awards friendly media owners with Rajya Sabha seats. 

“Behave properly,” said Mamta Banerjee, Chief Minister of West Bengal, to the media. Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee once walked out of a town hall conversation, accusing the students questioning her on rape incidents, to be from the Left parties. The Supreme Court of India had to step in to stay the FIRs against the editors of OpIndia even as their editor-in-chief had to move out of Bengal due to threats and state intimidation. The list of incidents from an intolerant TMC government is simply too long to delve into in one article. 

“Don’t forget your limits” warned Bhupesh Baghel in a tweet addressed to the media, just because a comment was made against the boss Rahul Gandhi.  We have all seen recently how the Ashok Gehlot government does not think twice before filing FIRs and jailing journalists – even trying to ignore the Court orders! 

“You used to be a broker for the Congress. Now you are doing the same for Modi” thundered Arvind Kejriwal, Chief Minister of Delhi. His government also threw out 7 journalists of Hindustan Times from a WhatsApp group because they were critical of his government. We can spend time and dig out the multiple instances where Kejriwal has abused the media. After all, when Kejriwal was not in power, the Editors Guild could muster the courage to ask him to control his tongue. Why couldn’t they muster the courage again after Kejriwal came into power?

In fact, for all of the instances mentioned above (and many more not mentioned in this article), you would expect Rajdeep Sardesai to be fuming (and not musing) on his nightly debates; you would expect an “Editors Guild has released a statement” tweet from the Editors Guild; you would expect running commentator Shekhar Gupta to “cut the clutter”; you would expect an eloquent editorial from Malini Parthasarathy’s The Hindu deriding the authoritarian attitude; you would expect Sreenivasan Jain to separate out the truth and hype; you would expect YoYa to wax eloquent in front of a mike irrespective of where he is speaking; you would expect an angry Nidhi Razdan demanding apology after apology, and you would expect a quirky only liner tweet from the boss of all – Rahul Gandhi. 

Now, why am I suddenly talking about these intolerant traits of our leaders? Because a lot of headlines these days are along these lines – Opposition slams Modi. Opposition plans joint protest. The opposition said this. The opposition did that. 

And who is this Opposition that gets often referred to? The Chief Minister of West Bengal, the Chief Minister of Telangana, the Chief Minister of Delhi, the Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, the Chief Minister of Rajasthan, the Chief Minister of Kerala and members of the ruling coalition of Maharashtra. Almost every single “opposition” party is in power in some state or the other.

It then stuck to me that the “Opposition” that the media keeps referring to, actually holds extraordinary power that is often used to scuttle voices of dissent; that is often used to settle scores with opponents; that is often used to dole out freebies to the media – and all of this without any repercussions when things go south. 

Instead, at almost every instant, the media became largely compliant with the ruling party in many states, judging by their coverage or in fact by the lack of it. Adjectives that are freely employed in describing Narendra Modi are strangely absent when similar comparisons have to be made with the Chief Minister of “opposition” parties. 

We can never forget how Arnab Goswami’s arrest was actually celebrated by the famed members of the English media. You could sense that they must have sent Thank You messages in their WhatsApp groups. If any incident of intolerance by these leaders picks up traction, the media will then try to make this an “All politicians are bad” debate instead of garnering the strength to focus on the incident at hand. 

In pursuit of their biased agenda, the English media has often attempted to shield “opposition” leaders when they exhibit the very same traits they claim to detest. Fortunately for the country, the people are smart enough to see through this charade.   

While media projects Telangana CM KCR as a conquering hero after his ‘national tour’, here is the truth of the overhyped Delhi visit

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

The first indication and excitement of a “national tour” of Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao (KCR) came from NDTV’s local editor. Many analysts brushed it aside for two reasons – One, NDTV is often excited when it comes to KCR & his family. And two, KCR has done “national tours” before. You might be thinking that “national tour” means that he will tour multiple states one after the other and meet his political friends there. You are mistaken.

KCR’s “national tours” are always staggered; often to the same states because he only meets leaders from non-BJP parties; and often with the same issue – formation of an alternative front to BJP and Congress. To this end, “Desh ka Neta KCR” posters keep propping up in different parts of the country, often by someone called “Telangana Sai”! Also, we are often not told the duration of the “tour”. We know when KCR will leave but at that point of time we will not know when he will go back or what his full agenda is.

The last time he was in Delhi, the Telugu media was abuzz with how he is going to camp in Delhi till he “bends the neck” of the central government and make them procure paddy directly from the farmers in Telangana. While his ministers were trying to “bend the neck” of the central government, he also got an operation done on his tooth (people back home wondered why in Delhi when Hyderabad has world class medical facilities too!) and didn’t appear in public for a couple of days. He then sat on a dharna against the central government and the only “leader” who visited him that day was Rakesh Tikait, who has been expelled from Bharatiya Kisan Union for playing politics! None of his other friends from all those parties he keeps seeking support from, bothered to even turn up at this dharna.

The first stop in this leg of the “national tour” was again Delhi. He met Akhilesh Yadav in Delhi. The TRS cadre told us that this is the most significant meeting ever because KCR is meeting the leader who was responsible for reducing the seats of BJP in UP. If you didn’t know better, you would actually think that BJP lost in UP because of Akhilesh Yadav! And then came the most intriguing picture of all time – KCR met with Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy.

KCR with Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy in Delhi

While the entire excitement of NDTV made a lot of sense now, it was really baffling as to why a sitting Chief Minister of a state would go to Delhi and meet the owner of a news channel whose viewership has been on perpetual decline? Just about a month ago, NDTV ran a 30-minute program on “Telangana – A phoenix rises” without telling the viewer that the Telangana government paid for the program. The choice of the phrase – “In partnership” – is also intriguing. NDTV isn’t telling you that they are paid for it, but they actually partnered and worked with the Telangana government to prepare this program!

Many wondered back then also as to why KCR is investing money into NDTV; many are wondering now why KCR is investing time into NDTV too! The only logical explanation available so far is that these sudden overtures to NDTV are happening after KCR’s multiple meetings with his “best friend” Prashanth Kishor (PK)!

KCR next met Arvind Kejriwal and as expected they went to a school and a clinic to see “Delhi model” of governance. And then they all left and went to Punjab. Here is where KCR stumped everyone yet again and is also facing a lot of flak back in Telangana. The tour to Punjab was limited to one program – distributing of cheques of Rs. 3,00,000/- to each of the families of the alleged 700 farmers who died during the alleged farmer agitation. KCR instigated the farmers of Punjab to continue agitating

.

Farmers of Telangana haven’t heeded to his call for protests when the farm laws were introduced. He did a U-turn and supported the farm laws, in a series of tweets from the Telangana CMO handle. KCR seems to have lost a grip on the needs of the farmers of Telangana but isn’t hesitating to go to Punjab and instigate farmers there for more agitations!  It was baffling to folks back in Telangana as to why KCR is distributing cheques in a different state when there are enough issues related to farmers that are bothering his state itself.

After reading all of this, you would assume that this was perhaps a 1 day or a 2 day tour. Turns out that his was a four-day tour. The English media started projecting his return as that of a conquering hero when all he did was to meet Akhilesh Yadav and Prannoy Roy in Delhi; met Kejriwal and his team in Delhi and then went to Punjab – 4 meetings in 4 days, that’s it!

KCR is now back in Hyderabad and scheduled to meet H.D.Deve Gowda and his son H.D.Kumaraswamy tomorrow (May 26th). The date May 26th is important because this is the same date on which the Prime Minister of India is coming to Hyderabad to participate in ISB’s 20th anniversary celebrations. KCR has stopped receiving the PM and meeting him when he comes to Telangana. Last time, he said two people in his house got COVID and so he didn’t come. This time, he will simply say he is not in Hyderabad. For an astute politician like KCR, it is really surprising how he cannot see that the people of Telangana can easily understand which meeting is more important – meeting H.D.Deve Gowda or meeting the Prime Minister of India.

KCR thunders at the Congress but doesn’t hesitate a bit to go and meet parties that are in alliance with the Congress. He once said the nation has to get rid of both BJP and Congress. He slowly modified his ambitions to saying that the present danger to the country is BJP and so he is fighting against BJP only! We haven’t heard a single concrete proposal as a result of all the tours he has done so far in his 2nd tenure. Will we ever hear anything, time only will tell!

The tale of two conclaves over the weekend: Ideas for India and India Ideas

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

Towards dinner time on Friday, 20th of May, social media was abuzz with video clippings of Rahul Gandhi’s now-familiar ramblings. He was repeating these while speaking at an “Ideas for India” conclave in London. At around the same time on Friday, nearly 400 delegates had just finished listening to a few scintillating presentations at the “India Ideas Conclave” in Bengaluru. 

The “India Ideas Conclave” did not just stop there. It continued on Saturday 21st of May and Sunday 22nd of May. And after each presentation/discussion/session that was held on a variety of topics, I couldn’t help but continuously think about the stark contrast between the two conclaves – The “India Ideas Conclave” happening in India and the “Ideas for India Conclave” that happened in London. 

The theme for the 7th India Ideas Conclave was “India 2.0 – Rebooting to Meta Era”. While Rahul Gandhi was busy plotting against his own nation (or “Union of States”) in London, a serious conclave was going on in Bengaluru on immense potential India has and what we all need to do to tap this and become a much greater nation. The conclave was spread across 3 days, with an illustrious list of speakers sharing their detailed thoughts on a varied set of fields – economy, industry, science, religion, politics, commerce, connectivity, history, spirituality – in which India has to focus to leapfrog into the Meta Era. 

We heard India’s Communications minister on a 20-year outlay to make India a preferred destination for semiconductor fabrication; how exactly we are invested in building full end to end stacks for 4G and 5G solutions; and to be on the forefront to create Ips for 6G! While on the topic of connectivity, India’s Civil Aviation minister, in another session, explained in great detail the pace with which airports are being enabled in our country. Another Cabinet minister, Hardeep Singh Puri spoke about how India is working very fast on energy efficiency towards achieving many of its goals (and in some cases, even beating the goals!). 

If you are thinking that this session was all about ministers and bureaucrats outlining government programs, then you are heavily mistaken. Some of the best discussions and presentations were in sessions such as Technology 2.0; Commerce and Industry 2.0; and Economics 2.0. Leaders from various leading companies in the countries such as TCS, Infosys, Facebook, BioCON, General Atomic Global etc gave us fascinating presentations laced with data on how they are all working towards leapfrogging India into the Meta Era. In fact, the company Meta (earlier called Facebook) literally demonstrated to the audience the “Meta” experience taking the audience by surprise! One of the keys to achieving everything that the leaders of the industry were outlining is to capacity building of our population. We heard from Hemang Jani, who is the secretary of the Capacity Building Commission, outline many great specifics on how we are building this capacity (with a focus on training, potential, teaching and the challenges associated with them). 

Climate Change is very intrinsic to the growth of our economy, and it was fascinating how these two topics were linked and explained to the audience. We heard from Jayant Sinha, first on the challenges of climate change and the great rapid strides India is making in enabling climate change. We had the commerce secretary also explain to us how aspects of climate change are the biggest challenge for us to leap into the 2.0 era. 

If you are now thinking that the conclave was all about Economy and Industry, you are again mistaken! I thought the “Politics 2.0” discussion will be about Modi, Rahul etc. However, I was pleasantly surprised when most of the panellists were delving into details on how the next era of politics should evolve into effectively using technology better and being more connected to people. The session on “Media 2.0” was not a ranting session on how biased today’s media is but was totally focused on how various social media platforms can be used for better education; meaningful discussions; encouraging different narratives and so on. The session on “The future of social activism” was not a ranting session on how screwed up we are but focused on what we can do to further the cause of various social issues. 

There was a poignant session by Vijay Kumar of the India Pride Project. His presentation showed us how our gods end up being smuggled and sold, and the relentless efforts they have done to bring back these back home. And when he showed to us pictures of how villages welcomed back their idols, the room simply erupted with Joy. 

I am sure I missed talking about many more speakers and topics that they spoke about. I am sure I missed mentioning the achievers in the audience themselves. Each of these sessions deserves a separate article – Not a single presentation was based on rhetoric or bordered on the peripheral.  Experts gave detailed presentations on what is being planned; how it is being implemented; and how we can overcome challenges to achieve greater heights for the nation. 

Rahul Gandhi’s repeated assertions that India is not a nation but a “negotiated peace of Union of States”; that India is just a spark away from blowing up (from the kerosene he is trying to pour!); that it is concerning for him that Indian officers are representing the Indian voice instead of foreigners voice (He got schooled by Dr. Jai Shankar and how!) ; that India is just doomed for the times to come – are all simply ramblings of a mind that is totally out of tune with an aspiring and a young nation. That he was accompanied by luminaries like Sitaram Yechury who represent the most outdated philosophy (the Communist philosophy!) in the world only reflects the paucity of ideas and friends he has. 

While the “Ideas for India Conclave” gave a platform to known doomsayers from India to spew their venom on foreign land, the “India Ideas Conclave” gave a platform for 100s of minds from across the country to ideate; implement and inspire. 

The India Ideas Conclave heavily focused on the challenges, solutions and outcomes for an aspiring and a young India. The Ideas for India Conclave refused to even accept that a young India has aspirations in the first place! During the same weekend, it was therefore no surprise that we had to wonder about the stark contrast between the futuristic India Ideas Conclave and the ramblings at the Ideas for India conclave.

Telangana CM KCR, son KTR claim VAT on fuel prices has not been increased since they came to power. They lied: Know the truth

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

The Telangana Chief Minister, Honourable Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao (KCR garu), in his press conference on 7th November, had emphatically claimed that he has never increased the VAT on fuel prices ever since he came to power. In his own trademark thundering style, he asserted that he didn’t increase even a single paisa VAT ever since he came to power. He even claimed that he cannot lie on this matter because if he increased it, it will be part of government records anyway. 

Ever since that has been the party line when they were criticizing the central government on fuel prices. The party line was marginally changed on April 27th, when the TRS party was celebrating its 21st formation day. Honourable KCR again thundered that he never increased the VAT in Telangana except for only once when officials suggested him to round off 16 paise to 20 paise. He has asked Prime Minister Modi to feel ashamed for asking states to decrease VAT. 

His son, the TRS party Working President, holder of multiple portfolios in the Telangana Cabinet, Mr KTR, then went on a rampage on Twitter. “Telangana hasn’t increased VAT on fuel since 2014 & rounded off only once”, he thundered. 

KTR tweet

And when Union Minister Hardeep Puri tweeted out statistics regarding taxes by the Telangana government, KTR went to the extent of pasting a graphic with a lot of numbers in it – the gist being that Telangana was charging the same VAT rate in 2014 and in 2022 too. 

The graphic shared during press conference

So now it is very natural for anyone to assume that all this information is really true, given the emphatic confidence with which father, son, daughter, and nephew are thundering this day in and day out. And then you have the compliant media which amplifies the messages of the First Family of the TRS unquestionably. 

All one has to do is a simple google search and you are flooded with results on how the Telangana government actually increased VAT in the year 2015. Since no one wants to even believe factual media reports these days, we take a look at the actual Government Orders (GO) issued back in 2015. 

On January 17th 2015, the Telangana government issued a GO increasing the tax on Petrol from the existing 31% to “31% + 2 rupees per litre”; and the VAT on Diesel from 22.25% to “22.25% + 2 rupees per litre”. 

Telangana notification

At that time, there was widespread outrage at this increase, so the order was modified to remove the 2 rupees increase but simply increased the actual tax component. On February 2, 2015, the Telangana government issued a GO increasing the tax on Petrol from the existing 31% to 35.20% and increasing the tax on Petrol from the existing 22.25% to 27%.

Telangana notification

If you are wondering how come the First Family of TRS is daring to lie so outrightly, then don’t. All political observers are very used to such outrageous statements from this family now. This arrogance stems from the fact that they enjoy a largely compliant media that is often in awe of the Family and seldom questions the family! 

There is another topic I would like to discuss here, and that is the choice of the language by the First Family of TRS. MKTR often used the term “loot” to refer to the central taxes. For example, in one of his thunderous tweets, he claims that – “In the form of Cess you are looting 11.4% from the state & we are getting only 29.6% for FY23”.

If tax by the central government is a loot, then what is a tax by the State government – a largesse? The state of Telangana has benefitted immensely from the ~4% increase in the tax because each time the price of the barrel goes up, the tax component also goes up! So, can we now call this sophisticated loot? Doesn’t the Telangana government also spend this money for the public good? 

Elsewhere, he once thundered that the central government looted 26 lakh crore rupees from the people of this country through cess and tax on fuel. Yesterday, Union Minister Shri Hardeep Puri put out a tweet telling us that Telangana earned nearly 70,000 crores in the last years through taxes The state government has also increased tax on registration of properties (a report indicates this has led to a slowdown in registration); has increased ticket charges of the state buses – Should we also start classifying this as a “loot” by the First Family of the TRS party?

KTR was recently challenged to resign if he was proved false with a statistic he put out – Telangana gave 3,65,000 crores to the Government of India but got back only 1,65,000 crores. He was referring to the fact that the Direct taxes collected by GoI from people & companies based out of Telangana was 3,65,000 crores and through 41% devolution of those taxes, the Telangana government received 1,65,000 crores. He spoke as if the Government of Telangana gave 3,65,000 crores to GoI – exposing an utter lack of understanding of taxation and devolution. His claims were proved false when works worth nearly 4,00,000 crores were shown as part of GoI initiatives. 

Bereft of issues to pick up, the First Family of TRS is resorting to emotive issues such as “We never increased taxes” or “We didn’t anything from GoI” to mislead people. With compliant media in place, they are being largely successful in spreading this message. It’s time to counter these lies with equal aggression. 

Time to help heal the wounds, not rekindle them: Need for a sensitive media discussion on Covid mortality numbers

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

All these discussions around WHO’s fallacious reports that claimed nearly 47 lakh Indians died because of Corona bought back many memories from the dreaded phase of April-May-June of 2021.

While the indications of a second wave started in early March in 2021, it was only towards the end of March that we were coming to know about the severity of this variant of the virus. We first started hearing dreadful stories from Maharashtra – about the shortage of Remdesivir; about the shortage of beds; and about the fast rate of increasing cases. The scam involving hoarding of Remedisivir should have alerted us but somehow many of us just figured that this is restricted to Maharashtra and will not impact the rest of the country as severely.

The severity of the situation was first understood when Delhi started reporting, in the first two weeks of April, that the shortage of beds is leading to a shortage of Oxygen availability to those who desperately need it. And therefore, we started to hear horror stories of people dying at their homes because of shortage of hospital beds. The numbers then started increasing across the country at a very fast rate, and the same horror stories we heard from Maharashtra and Delhi were coming in from many parts of the country. And soon these horror stories started becoming personal too – there was practically no home left in the country that was not impacted.

During this harrowing time, I was also making daily hospital visits in the city of Visakhapatnam (Vizag). Vizag has this concept of Health city – so we have this large area which has 10s of Hospitals, big and small. As the crisis was increasing, most hospitals were getting converted into COVID hospitals. I saw 10s of anxious relatives bringing in patients with shortness of breaths; 10s of anxious relatives making frantic calls to get hold of Remdesivir, Tocilizumab etc.; 10s of relatives hopping from hospital to hospital searching for a bed. I saw nurses and other health care workers walk into that ICU every single day knowing very well that they may end up there one day too. I saw desperate relatives just waiting outside the hospital for any update that they may receive from the doctor. I heard from others how the acute shortage of staff in some ICUs meant that family members themselves tended to their loved ones.

Our country never faced a situation where Oxygen was required at such high quantity right in our homes too. Faced with such a situation, many of us had to fall back on those who were supplying Oxygen at exorbitantly high rates. I also had to make trips to plants that were producing medical oxygen. And I did see that the governments were really making an outstanding effort to produce this oxygen – literally the only Oxygen that was going out from even commercial plants was just medical oxygen. However, the availability of Oxygen also meant heavy black marketing of the same too. We all had to pay exorbitant amounts to get hold of cylinders, but the process to refill them was sorted out pretty soon.

And then when I also went to the crematorium (twice that too), I cannot even begin to explain what I saw and felt. Even while we were grieving, it was most devastating to see families bringing in their young ones for cremation. Some loved ones were bought in the black bags and bodies were not allowed to be taken out. No words will ever be enough to express that intense personal moment of grief. And that is also why it was very difficult for me to fathom why sections of the English media made hay out of this misery.

While I saw the best of humanity, I also saw the worst of humanity during this time. Hospital managements competed head over heels with each other to make money out of this misery. The hoarding and black marketing of medicines; the black marketing of Oxygen cylinders; and the hoarding of Oxygen cylinders was simply unfathomable to me.

We cannot but wonder if many of these lives could have been saved. We cannot but wonder if we could have done something more; cannot but wonder if we could have made more calls; used more influence; been more careful; used social media more; shifted hospitals; arranged for better treatment and what not. Families were put in some impossible situations and faced untold tragedies they would not have imagined a month ago.

We are now left with no option but to move on and honour the memories of the loved ones we lost. We cannot honour these memories if governments announce that no one died due to lack of Oxygen; if governments put strict conditions on what death can be classified as a COVID death and what is not; if the hospitals that looted people are let off scot-free; and if international organisations seek to exaggerate numbers through unscientific reports. Empathetic communication and compensation will go a long way in helping people cope up with their losses.  

I do not believe 47 lakh people died as WHO claims. Neither do I believe 4.7 lakh died as our state governments and Union Territories claim. I believe the number will be 2 to 3 times more than this claim.  This is the time to help heal the wounds, not rekindle them.