Modi govt has completed yet another successful telecom spectrum auction and Congress is using it to wash its own 2G scam sins

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

The Modi government has completed yet another successful telecom spectrum auction. Through the auction, the government will be getting a whopping INR 1,50,713/- crores. This immediately prompted our opposition leaders and sections of English media to justify Sonia Gandhi’s government action in the 2008 Spectrum allotment. They claimed that the then CAG flagged at a loss of INR 1,76,000/- crores in 2008 for 2G, but even in 2022 and that too for 5G, the actual spectrum auction fetched only INR 1,50,713 crores! 

First, let us quickly analyse the spectrum auction over the years. When a spectrum auction is announced, the government invites companies to bid in different frequency bands (units in MegaHertz or GigaHertz). For example, here is a snippet of the notice issued for the latest auction:

We can equate a Frequency Band to a road highway. Companies bid for different lanes on that highway – some buy all lanes; some buy few lanes. You cannot buy the entire highway, nor can you buy one lane for the entire country in one go. India is divided into 22 Telecom circles – companies have to bid for slots allocation in different bands in each one of these circles. 

The government will decide what frequency bands to put up for auction. It is not necessary that everything that has been put up for auction is sold, quite naturally. The cost of bidding is very high because the resource available is scarce. With this background, let’s begin analysing the table below. This table has multiple columns, which we will discuss further. 

The first big auction happened in the year 2010, after a massive uproar in the country over the illegal 2008 allotments. Two types of spectrum were put up for auction and a whopping INR 1,06,261/- crores were earned by the government of India. Only one band was put up for auction and 7 companies bid for various slots in that band only. 

You would have by now seen the very low amounts in the 2012 and 2013 auctions. This was because of a lot of issues between the companies and the then UPA government. You can also see in the table that 3 different bands remained unsold in these auctions. Even with such a poor performance, no one accused the UPA of a scam in these auctions, simply because unsold bands don’t indicate a scam! 

The 2014 auction for 2G spectrum only and the government earned good money from that auction – INR 61,162 crores! This auction was necessitated because the spectrum licenses that companies first got in the year 1994 were expiring. So, from auctions during the UPA time, a total of INR 1,80,469 crores was earned by the government of India! 

The first auction in the NDA government happened in 2015, and a new frequency band, 2100 MHz, was also put up for auction for the first time. This was yet another successful auction, with GoI earning INR 1,09,874 crores from the auction. For the 2016 auctions, we can also see that the government approved the auction of many more bands. This is very natural because now your existing highways don’t have enough lanes, so you open up new highways and lanes for auction! If all the frequency bands that were put up for auction were sold, the expected revenue was nearly 4.5 lakh crores! The bulk of this revenue was expected just from the 700MHz band (nearly 3.5 to 4 lakh crores!). 

You can see in the table that the 700MHz band went unsold both in the 2016 and 2021 auctions – quite obviously because of the very high reserve price for this band. The 2021 auction also saw no bids for a new band, 2500MHz. And you can also see that the GoI was able to earn INR 77,814 crores, making this yet another successful auction! 

The recently concluded 5G Spectrum auction was by far the highest amount that the GOI could earn – a whopping 1,50,713 crores! You can also see that some slots in the 700MHz were sold this time (Reliance bought it for nearly 40,000 crores!), but the new 600 MHz found no bidders, yet again because of a high base price. With all the information at our disposal, we can understand the trend too – some bands with high reserve prices will go unsold in the first auctions because companies need to weigh the pros and cons of investing so much in those bands. 

Thus far, the auctions under the NDA government fetched a whopping INR 4,04,190/- crores, as opposed to the INR 1,80,469/- crores under UPA. Together, GoI has earned a whopping nearly INR 6,00,000/- crores from the auctions of these spectrums, over the last 12 years. 

Now, did you know how much we earned under Sonia Gandhi’s watchful eye in the 2008 2G Spectrum allotment? We earned just close to ~12,000 crores! In the year 2008, Sonia Gandhi’s government allotted 2G spectrum to 9 companies. Each company paid INR 1650 crores, a rate that was decided in 2001! One such company, Unitech, sold 60% of this stake to Telenor for INR 6120 crores. So simple math suggests that if 60% value is 6120 crores, then 100% is 10,200 crores. Yet another simple math suggests that if one company is valuing this at 10,200 crores, then the total expected from 9 companies is 10,200*9 = 91,800 crores! 

The CAG report in 2010 took sales of 3 such companies into account; it took into account recommendations of various government bodies; and it took into account the successful 3G auction (shown in our table above). And came up with a range of “presumptive loss” – from a whopping INR 57,666 crores to a whopping INR 1,76,645 crores! For obvious reasons, it is the 1,76,645 crores number that garnered the most attention. 

Such was Sonia Gandhi’s hold on the government that the then Telecom minister, A.Raja could ignore advice from the Law and Finance minister and defy orders even from the Prime Minister of India! A total of 122 licenses were allotted to these 9 companies – 85 of them to ineligible companies! 

The Supreme Court declared the entire allocation of 122 licenses illegal and cancelled all the licenses! An illegal allotment was done in 2008 and yet sections of English media want us to believe that what Sonia Gandhi’s government did was perfectly alright! We have seen how valuable the spectrum is (6 lakh crores in 8 auctions) and yet the English media wants to argue that the mere ~12,000 crores earned by GoI in 2008 was the right decision at that point in time! 

It is indeed true that the CBI was not able to prove a financial scam in the courts, but for us to ignore the illegality of the 2008 allocations as confirmed by the same courts; and for us to ignore the huge earnings through spectrum auctions all these years, only amounts to deceiving the people of the country. 

A Spate of Resignations Rock Telangana Congress

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

In the 2018 Telangana Assembly election, we all know that KCR won by a landslide, winning 86 out of the 119 seats. The Congress party emerged as the main opposition party by winning 19 seats. Immediately after winning the election, KCR appointed his son KTR as the Working President of TRS. And mysteriously, the topmost priority of KTR was to start splitting the Congress party!

KTR went about this task methodically. MLA after MLA was joining the TRS, only by accepting a shawl by KTR. They all didn’t join at one go. They were taking their time to meet KTR and announce their intention to join TRS. None of them resigned from their membership too. Within a couple of months, 12 out of the 19 MLAs of the Congress joined the TRS party. 12/19 is still not 2/3rd of the party. The Speaker can only announce this split as valid only if 2/3rd of the party legislators shifts to another party.

One of the MLAs who stayed back with the party was the then TPCC President, Uttam Kumar Reddy. He was asked to contest as an MP in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Uttam Kumar Reddy won the MP seat, thereby prompting a byelection for this Assembly seat.  So now, the Congress party has 18 MLAs. The 12 MLAs that shifted to TRS now submitted a memorandum to the Speaker in June 2019 saying they are “merging” the Congress legislature party with the TRS, given that they now have 2/3rd members joining them!

We can debate what was the need for KCR and KTR to snatch MLAs away from the Congress party, but the problems of the Congress party didn’t end with 12 out of their 18 MLAs joining the TRS. While these internal rumblings were going on a weekly basis, the elections for GHMC were held in December 2020. Such was the disastrous performance of the Congress in these elections (winning 2/150 seats), that Uttam Kumar Reddy immediately resigned as the President of the TPCC.

Enter the great central leadership of the mighty Congress party now. They took their own sweet time of 7 months to appoint a new TPCC chief. They chose another MP of the Congress party, Revanth Reddy for this post. Revanth Reddy joined the Congress party in November 2017 and was made one of the “working presidents” of the party almost immediately. And within just 4 years of him joining the party, he was made the state unit President – which upset many of the long-timers in the party.

While the Congress was going through defeat after defeat, dissidence after dissidence, crisis after crisis – the BJP was gaining strength – winning 2 key assembly by-polls and upsetting the TRS in the GHMC elections. Survey after survey was also indicating that the BJP’s vote percentage is increasing in the state. Amidst this growth of the BJP, dissident voices also began increasing in the Congress party. A prominent former MP to leave the party was Konda Vishweshwar Reddy, who eventually joined the BJP recently.

One MP, Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, strongly urged Rahul Gandhi to step in and solve the problems of the Congress. Rahul Gandhi promptly stepped in, called for a meeting of many key leaders, and after about 4-5 hours, he declared that Revanth Reddy is the boss and everyone should listen to him.

Komatireddy Venkat Reddy’s brother Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy is an MLA. And he is one of the 6 Congress MLAs who stayed back with the party. Rajagopal Reddy finally decided that enough is enough and he cannot work with Revanth Reddy anymore. Rajagopal Reddy resigned from both the Congress party and as an MLA. He has now joined the BJP and will fight the impending byelection.

While this drama was happening, a long-time spokesperson of the Congress party, Dr. Dasoju Sravan announced his resignation from the party! In an explosive press conference, he talked about the details he presented to Rahul Gandhi in great detail, on the problems he is facing with Revanth Reddy; how he is not able to take the sidelining anymore and how he will contribute to the fight against KCR and TRS!

In summary, the Congress party lost 13 out of the 19 MLAs from 2018; 1 out of the 3 MPs is sulking on being sidelined, and many constituency-level leaders are leaving the party to join other parties! As always, Sonia and Rahul Gandhi aren’t really bothered about the exodus and the crisis hitting the Congress party here. The rise of the BJP and the fall of the TRS is also coinciding with the fall of the Congress party. Elections are still nearly 1.2 years away, so it remains to be seen if this trend will continue or if it will bounce back to a 3-way fight between these parties. As of now, the Congress is clearly facing a crisis.

The Hindu wilfully misrepresents what Kishan Reddy said about #HarGharTiranga program to insert China, KTR furthers the propaganda

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

On August 1^st, 2022, The Hindu published a report with a headline – “Kishan Reddy defends flag import”. The accompanying tagline attributed the quote ‘Country’s khadi industry cannot meet demand for Har Ghar Tiranga scheme’.

As expected, Telangana CM KCR’s son, KTR, who holds multiple portfolios in the cabinet, picked up on this report and tweeted that the reality of Make in India was that our flags are being imported from China.

Now, nowhere in the report is China mentioned so people just figured out that this was one of those KTR’s half baked tweets with loads of misinformation. This piqued my interest further though and I went through the video link of the press conference, only to realise the cunning and deadly game that The Hindu has played.

The conversation between the Journalist (from The Hindu) and Minister Kishan Reddy happens from 37:45 to 38:42 in this video link. Am reproducing the conversation below for ease:.

Journalist: You amended the flag code. It is benefitting China only.

Kishan Reddy (with a clear gesture indicating “No”): We only are stitching flags in our villages with self help groups.

The journalist cuts short the minister and rephrases his question:

Journalist: Because of the import of polyester cloth, the khadi industry is getting affected severely.

Kishan Reddy: We have given orders to all the Khadi industries. However, we cannot manufacture so many crores of flags with the Khadi that we have. That you have to understand.

Journalist: You are planning from an year.

Kishan Reddy: No, we weren’t planning this from an year. This idea came recently

Journalist: You did not have this thought before?

Kishan Reddy: No, we didn’t. People like you gave this idea <smiles>

We now revisit KTR’s tweet in its totality. The Hindu’s report, that severely misrepresents Kishan Reddy, does not mention China anywhere. It looks like KTR picked it from the journalist’s question and simply used it in his tweet to further his meaningless propaganda. KTR also tweeted that though the Modi government knew that the 75^th year is in 2022, it couldn’t plan for flags for all homes. This argument is again directly from the playbook of the journalist who asked the same question, for which Kishan Reddy has given a clear-cut answer.

Whilst it is understandable that KTR is playing politics with even something like #HarGharTiranga program, it is completely unfathomable as to why The Hindu would resort to such mischief? The journalist’s question was about the impact to Khadi industry because of polyester, for which the minister had categorically stated that there is no impact because the industry is flooded with orders. At no place has he defended a “flag import”. He had infact categorically denied any import from China (Note how only The Hindu cares about China!). He has only explained the need to amend the flag code for usage of polyester in addition to Khadi. While the interaction is so clear-cut, how did The Hindu manage to think that in today’s day and age, they can get away with such wonton mischief that will aid the minister KTR in furthering his propaganda?

The original flag code says:  “The National Flag shall be made of hand-spun and hand-woven wool/cotton/silk khadi bunting”.

The revised flag code says: “The National Flag shall be made of hand-spun and hand-woven or machine-made, cotton, polyester, wool, silk khadi bunting”.

The amendment was done on 30 December 2021 to include machine-made flags and also that polyester as a material can be used for making these flags. There are many huge flags that are flown across India, including one in Hyderabad. These hand-woven flags often get damaged because of the wind, and so they are very often changed. Infact, the TRS government spends huge amounts of money to maintain the huge flag that flies in Hyderabad. Using machine-made polyester material will help prevent these frequent damages. This is a common practice world-wide. The Modi government made a very logical amendment to our flag code, to enable longer lasting huge flags.

At no place in the revised flag code is the word “import” used. The English media woke up very late in the day and simply concluded that this change implies that machine-made polyester will only be imported. KTR’s own party tweeted that the flag code was amended because Ambani is the largest manufactured of Polyester in India! Only KTR and his party can explain how can both Ambani and China get benefitted at the same time on the same issue!

The Hindu’s original report was published in the “South” section in the Hyderabad edition on August 1^st, 2022. Kishan Reddy’s OSD sent a stinging clarification letter to The Hindu. That clarification was NOT published in the “South” section of the Hyderabad edition on August 4^th, 2022. Instead, it was published only in the “Andhra Pradesh” section.

After the clarification from the office of Kishan Reddy, The Hindu has slyly changed their headline in the online version. The headline now reads – “Kishan Reddy brushes aside criticism on procurement of national flags”. Remember how the original headline talks about imports of the flag? The Hindu’s report starts with “Even as a controversy rages”. The only controversy is this willful misrepresentation of the Q&A with Shri Kishan Reddy solely intended to mislead the reader.  

 

How The Hindu tortured data to claim ‘consumer sentiment weaker in Rural areas’: Here is an analysis of 5 graphs they misrepresented

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

“Data Point” is a regular feature in The Hindu’s newspaper. As the name suggests, this section deals with data on a particular topic almost every day. At first glance of one such “Data Point” published on July 27th, 2022, it looked like there is a gloomy scenario in the country today. 

The choice of the headline – “Consumer sentiment weaker in rural areas” tells us the situation is bad in rural areas. The colour Red also gets prominence, giving you the impression that the situation is not quite good. Until you read the details of each of the graphs. You are then left stunned by the innovative interpretation by Team Hindu to make things look gloomy when they are the exact opposite!

Let’s proceed to study 5 of these graphs. 

Graph#1:

70% of Urban and 55% of rural folks were able to “save substantially for their future needs“, last year. 70% of Urban and 55% rural – these numbers are simply phenomenal by any standards. For the past 2 years, we are simply bombarded with articles on how bad the handling of the economy has been. You look at the response to this graph and your mind immediately begins to wonder if these numbers would have been possible if the handling of the economy was bad.

Graph#2:

A whopping 94% Urban and 88% of Rural people have said that their “current financial situation these days is better or about the same” compared to last year. Can you even begin to imagine the scale of this response? You look at the response to this graph – nearly 90% of those surveyed say their situation is actually better or the same –  and your mind immediately begins to wonder if these numbers would have been possible if the handling of the economy was bad?

Graph#3:

A whopping 90% Urban and 85% Rural folks are confident that they “will be able to systematically save, more or about the same as last year“. Not only have nearly 70% saved substantially last year (as seen in Graph#1), but nearly 90% of folks are confident of either saving better or the same as last year. Would this confidence have stemmed if the handling of the economy were bad? 

Graph#4:

We move on to Graph#5 because of the vagueness in the question of Graph#4 (which you can still see in the full graphic). Yet again, we see some positively astonishing numbers. The “ability to meet regular monthly expenses as compared to a year ago” has either improved or remained about the same for a whopping 84% Urban and 81% Rural folks! Would this have been really possible if the handling of the economy was bad in the last 2 years? 

Graph#5:

    

A whopping 96% of Urban and 94% of Rural folks are very confident that their situation will either be better or remain about the same one year from now. Would this confidence have stemmed if the handling of the economy were bad? 

The scale of numbers across the various questions put forth very clearly gives out a very positive picture of the economy. It is a generally accepted colour code to use Red for bad data and yellow/orange for neutral data. The Hindu has surreptitiously chosen to use Red for neutral responses, coupled with a gloomy headline, to give an utterly false impression to the viewer/reader. Unfortunately for them, once the reader gets to the details, he/she can easily see through these machinations. 

How three bizarre articles published on the same day reflects the pathological anti-Modi bent of The Hindu

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

The weekend seems to have been a very difficult one for The Hindu. They seem to have spent many hours trying to figure out new ways to find anti-Modi/BJP content to fill in their newspaper for Monday. Despite those long hours, they didn’t find worthwhile content to be published. So, they chose 3 bizarre ways to come up with such news and print it in prominent places in the newspaper. 

The headline of their primary Op-Ed thunders as follows “Two messages from three photographs”. 

If you are wondering, why there is only one photograph whilst the headline says three photographs then please join the queue! The author has a problem with the picture that is published because the Maharashtra governor is “stuffing sweets” into CM-elect Eknath Shinde’s mouth! What exactly is the problem? That, so far no other governor has “stuffed sweets” into new office bearers it seems! The author Peter Ronald Desouza was so disturbed by this photograph that he just went all over the place – “In our zest to decolonise like we did when we replaced ‘Abide with me’ with Aye mere watan ke logon…”. What exact link does that decision have with the Maharashtra governor offering sweets to the CM-elect? What exact link does decolonization have with the Governor offering sweets? It was at this point that I figured out that it is better to shut our brains and simply view these arguments for entertainment purposes! Remember, we are to talk about three photographs, and we are still discussing the first one! 

The second photograph that the author has a problem, with is actually not a photograph. It’s a video of MLAs dancing on the tables when Eknath Shinde was announced as the CM! It is apparently an “unusual expression of our democratic culture”. Doesn’t it really amaze you how these folks somehow bring democracy into every argument they want to make? Dancing on the tables is now a serious threat to our democracy – can it really get any more entertaining than this! Yes, it can

Let’s discuss the next photograph. 

The author actually has heaped praises on the Electoral officer for sitting in his chair and accepting the nomination of Droupadi Murmu from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Apparently, this indicates “conformity with constitutional propriety”. The mind simply baffles at the small things these people get happy about. Going by this (rather absurd) logic, is the electoral officer in this picture below transgressing “constitutional propriety”?

Did the author write about this grave attack on our democracy back in 2012? Or was it not kosher back then to talk about dangers to our democracy? If you thought this was the only unusual article, then you are mistaken. 

Since The Hindu still needed a lot of material to cover their pages today, they had Dushyant Dave thunder: “Preserving Democracy in India”. 

He picks up on Prime Minister Modi’s “Congress-mukt Bharat” argument and extends it to “Opposition mukt Bharat” by citing Karnataka, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh as examples. 

The Karnataka assembly verdict of 2018 was crystal clear in booting Congress out of power. Congress and JD(S) formed a post-poll alliance to prevent BJP (the single largest party). People spoke overwhelmingly in favour of the BJP in the 2019 LS elections. 17 MLAs rebelled, resigned and won elections again from the BJP ticket – thus completing the democratic necessity. A similar story happened in Madhya Pradesh too – those who rebelled have resigned and gone back to the people and won elections. The Maharashtra example is even bizarre – in fact, the 2019 mandate is restored in 2022. What happened in 2019 was a travesty and what happened in 2022 is a correction of that travesty. Yet our analysts somehow want to paint this as an attempt to make an “opposition-mukt” Bharat! A basic fact check will tell us that there are still so many states where the BJP is not in power, but clearly, analysts are not interested in such mundane facts. 

Dushyant Dave ends his article with – “Mr Modi and his party have a responsibility to ensure that India doesn’t turn into an undemocratic republic”. Such fancy statements may get approval in WhatsApp groups of English media journalists but how exactly is it Modi’s responsibility to strengthen the opposition? Mr Modi has won every election fair and square till now, yet these people keep coming up with bizarre articles that put an unnecessary burden on him to strengthen others!

Not content with two articles on how our democracy is in danger, The Hindu mysteriously figured out that they must get a member of the Congress party to write about RSS and BJP. 

Apparently, RSS’s strict code wouldn’t have allowed BJP to move MLAs to other states, so democracy is in danger! No, really. That’s what the article is about. In fact, the author says that “Democracy requires the elevation of the political realm” – whatever that means! The irony of a member of the congress waxing eloquent on changes in governments is not lost out on the reader. However, it was lost out on the management of The Hindu!

On a more serious note, it’s one thing for the newspaper to print bizarre arguments in their Op-Ed space. But it’s a whole different thing to have come up with this graphic on their front page. 

On a day when India covered 200 crores of vaccine doses (highest in the world by a wide margin), The Hindu thought it absolutely prudent to sound despondent instead of celebrating India’s achievement. This level of hatred for anything good that happens in today’s India is unparalleled even by The Hindu’s standards. All that can be said to them is – Get well soon!

With his Derisive Remarks KCR is Denigrating the Dignity of the Office he Holds

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

Minister KT Rama Rao tweeted that there is so much to learn from the nearly 2 ½ hour press conference that Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao conducted on Sunday evening in Hyderabad. Many commented that we have to be careful with what we learn because if someone uses the exact same words that Chief Minister KCR used on KCR himself, chances are high that they will get arrested! NDTV, which is in an official arrangement with the Telangana government to telecast pro-Telangana government schemes, termed the press conference as “politically explosive”. What the likes of NDTV won’t actually tell is the exact language that Chief Minister KCR has used in the press conference.

KCR called Yogi the “man with a lungi from UP” whose state’s per capita income is less than Telangana and therefore he has no right to comment on Telangana. KCR says that in fact Sikkim’s per capita is higher than UP and this is a fact worth committing suicide on. While on per capita, KCR says that Telangana’s per capita is higher than the national average and therefore BJP has no right to talk about their “munda mopi” policies. “Munda mopi” is slang that roughly translates to a “widow”.

KCR then referred to a purported statement of TN BJP President, Annamalai, that there are many Eknath Shinde’s waiting to bring down governments in TN and Telangana. KCR called Annamalai a “daddama” and “sannasi”. Both these terms roughly translate to “fool”.

Continuing his tirade, he said that BJP has become so arrogant, so arrogant that they got some "random", "sitting idle in a corner" "foolish" retired four judges and dared to write to SC against serving Judges who commented against Nupur Sharma. From where does BJP get this "balupu", "khanda khavaram"? he thundered. These two words roughly translate to "arrogance".

One of the biggest controversies in recent times in Telangana was on the issue of paddy procurement. At that time, Telangana ministers claimed that minister Piyush Goyal told farmers of Telangana to eat raw rice. KCR reiterated the same and called him Piyush Golmaal and termed him a “nethi leni sannasi” which roughly translates to a “brainless fool”.

He referred to the Agniveer controversy and referred to some purported statements on some leaders who apparently said “Army needs young josh”. KCR then asks that if Army needs young people, doesn’t BJP need young people? He says that if Army needs young people, then we must remove Narendra Modi from power because he has gotten old!

Ever since I tweeted a thread on this language by KCR, TRS folks went berserk on my timeline and started hurling abuses at me. Some asked why I was ignoring the main points of the press conference and focusing mainly on the language only. Some questioned why I have not dared in writing or countering the facts that KCR spoke in his press conference! It is another matter that several articles have been written on factual claims by KCR and TRS.

In this particular press conference, KCR gave the logic that Sikkim’s per capita is high because its population is very low. By his own logic, it makes total sense that Telangana’s per capita income is higher than that of UP. It’s not that KCR or cadre doesn’t understand this – their main grouse is that there is no BJP leader worth his or her salt who can criticize KCR’s governance because of higher per capita income. KCR himself cites examples of UP, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh as examples of failed BJP governance (citing per capita again) but skips mentioning Karnataka and Gujarat for the same parameters.

KCR is well within his rights to question the competence of any political leader in questioning him. He can choose which statistics to make his point. It is a mystery though as to why he finds it compulsive to use abominable language to describe his opponents. One of the reasons TRS cadre claims is that his opponents in the Congress and BJP also use similar language against him. That still doesn’t explain why KCR will call the soft-spoken Union minister Kishan Reddy a “randa minister” (roughly translates to widow) or accuse retired SC judges as being fools.

KCR’s aggressive posture does indicate a growing frustration towards a growing BJP in the state.  The BJP has been able to electorally defeat TRS in various elections since 2018. Will this translate to them winning the 2023 elections is really difficult to tell at this point in time, but KCR’s language definitely is a giveaway that BJP’s rise is not something that can be ignored by the TRS. The English media which went bonkers when the Prime Minister coined the term “Andolan Jeevi” are totally silent when leaders of non-BJP leaders heap abuses. It is time for other media to highlight the deplorable fall in the standards of our discourse.

Venkaiah Naidu not being NDA’s President candidate becomes excuse for Telugu channel to ask for secession of South India: Delusions, lies, desh-droh

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

On the evening of June 21st, when the news came out that Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh and JP Nadda went to meet Vice President Venkaiah Naidu, a couple of Telugu media channels started speculating that he will be made the next President. By night, we knew that the NDA has announced Droupadi Murmu as the Presidential candidate. 

One of the staunch Pro-TDP (and therefore anti-BJP) Telugu newspaper/channel, ABN Andhrajyothy, was severely upset that Venkaiah Naidu was not the chosen one. They printed a story on how Modi has consistently ignored him despite Venkaiah Naidu standing by Modi during his toughest times. Not content with just printing their baseless story, they hosted a debate on their prime-time show – “Is the dominance of North-Indian political parties crossing all limits?”

There were a total of 5 people on the panel, including the host, the popular Venkata Krishna (VK). The only political party representative invited was from the BJP. VK and the other three apolitical panellists all held the same views – views that have been baselessly parroted by a tiny but loud minority for over 5 years and that is basically calling for dividing India into two – North India and South India.  

The program begins with a monologue from the host, VK. In a very sombre tone, he asks what use Nationalism is if inequalities exist in the country. He changes tone and now exhorts that “excellent resources of some states are being looted by some particular states”! And because you are now left wondering who looted what, he asks us specifically “who is getting the gas resources from Andhra Pradesh’s Krishna-Godavari basin?” And then emphatically claims that “Andhra Pradesh should be getting a royalty of 2 lakh crores per year. Is anyone giving that?” Before you can digest this information, he jumps topic and asks why Karnataka and Tamil Nadu should continually fight for the Kaveri waters (apparently, this is a North-South problem because the central government hasn’t solved this so far!

While you are still trying to make a connection to the various points that he has listed in just under 3 minutes, he goes on to introduce his loaded panel, 3 of whom repeatedly and angrily expressed the same views, most of the time filled with lies. It is worthwhile to note that all through the program, this map kept flashing on their screen.

Two of the panellists were severely upset that “South India’s son”, Venkaiah Naidu, has not been made the President of India and termed this as a deliberate insult to South India by North Indian parties. You would expect the host to tell them that six sons of South India held the post of the President of India (2 of them were even from the erstwhile state of Andhra Pradesh). 

One of the panellists even questioned why North Indian politicians didn’t make Droupadi Murmu the Vice-Presidential candidate instead of the Presidential candidate. You would expect the host to tell him that Droupadi Murmu is from Odisha, which by no stretch of the imagination in North India. 

The panellists also fell back on their oft-repeated rants on Gujarat and Gujaratis, yet again forgetting that Gujarat is by no stretch of imagination neither a North-Indian state nor a Hindi state! One of them thundered “Why will they spend 3000 crores for a Gujarati’s statue and not for a Telugu’s statue?” You would expect the host, VK, to tell them that 90% of the costs of the Statue of Unity project were borne by the Gujarat government and not the Government of India

The panelist continues – “They are only now spending 3 crores for a 30 ft statue of Alluri Seetharama Raju. This discrimination by North Indian parties is startling”. You would expect VK to thunder and ask what stopped the state government of Andhra Pradesh from building similar memorials for our heroes?

Another one thundered “Why is every policy in this country being formulated with only Adani and Ambani in mind? Are the resources of this country the exclusive property of Gujaratis?” You would expect VK to list the long list of great industrialists from South India who have contributed immensely to our country. Instead, VK joins them in spreading more lies – “75% of posts in this government are occupied by Gujaratis. 25% are by the remaining”.

Panellists after panellists were simply going all over the place in trying to sound intellectual in their arguments. “Why can’t the country have 5 Deputy Prime Ministers for 5 different regions?” shouted one of them. “Why has the Supreme Court not established benches in 5 parts of the country?”, continued the other. You are still left wondering what this has got to with North Indian politicians. You would expect that VK would actually tell these clueless panellists that the current CJI is from South India and that the country has had Prime Ministers who were from South India, but then you realise that VK is also as clueless.

About 25 minutes after the “debate” begins, the BJP spokesperson was given a chance to speak. And within just a minute, he gets interrupted. He is never allowed to finish anything he begins to say. He wants to cite the improvement in Railways in Southern states (because VK explicitly brings in Kanimozhi’s recent ill-informed comment in Parliament on Railway allocations) but he is shouted down. He calls the premise of this whole debate wicked and evil, and immediately VK bursts out – “How dare you call this evil? We are in a democracy; I can have feelings of suffocation and want the division of the country. But you cannot and should not call this evil.” Yes, he actually said that. 

We all remember PM Modi’s famous jibe comparing Renuka Chowdary’s cackling in Rajya Sabha to Soorpanaka. VK asks if Modi was implying that a South Indian female politician belongs to the “Community of Rakshasas”? Well, doesn’t VK know that it was Venkaiah Naidu who was presiding over the proceedings when this happened? Given the whole premise of this debate was around Venkaiah Naidu, how does VK get away with such nonsense?

However, the seeds for this illogical debate have been planted back in 2017 by English media such as The Wire and The News Minute. They claim that South India is superior to everyone else in the country because “After all, 20% of the population contributes a full 30% of India’s tax revenues.” By this logic, the humungous infrastructure development in the North-East should not have been taken up by the Government of India because you see, they don’t contribute much to the tax revenues. “The South also delivers a fourth of India’s GDP.”, we were told. So what? Should every state start making this claim now? Should Maharashtra go and say that it contributes more than Madhya Pradesh so it should be made a separate country? Or just within South India, should Karnataka say it contributes more than Kerala and therefore should be a separate entity?

“It is becoming almost untenable for Tamil Nadu and Kerala to thrive in the Indian union as rational, self-interested sub-units.”, screamed the author in The Wire in the year 2018. Almost all of these articles bring up the point of population control that was effectively done by the Southern states as compared to Northern states and therefore South states are suffering for actually doing good work. The panellists in yesterday’s TV debate also screamed at the top of their lungs about this point. 

Well, guess what? The Modi government made significant and far-reaching changes to the devolution formula in “proposing measurable performance-based incentives for States” in the 15th Finance Commission report (applicable for 2020 to 2025). A total of 9 parameters were decided on which such incentives will be decided, and this included “Efforts and Progress made in moving towards replacement rate of population growth”. A very detailed article on the revolutionary changes bought in by the 15th Finance Commission can be read here. And it is also significant to note the very derisive tone of the English media in criticizing these same changes.

Politicians and media affiliated with TDP in Andhra Pradesh picked up these articles back then and made a lot of noise around them. Pawan Kalyan was at the forefront in furthering these illogical pieces (he is now in alliance with the BJP!). The panellists in the TV debate also bought up the manner in which the state was bifurcated by the “North Indian” parties – none of them could get to bring themselves to criticize the Congress and Sonia Gandhi directly for this. In fact, the debate didn’t even have politicians from any party except the BJP.

Going by these debates, we will even tend to forget that the East and West cease to exist! Recently, Prashant Kishor emphatically claimed that the “Hindi heartland has now extended to Gujarat, Maharashtra and Karnataka”. The TV panellists in the debate included Odisha and Gujarat in North India. Your mind really boggles at how the analysts are altering basic concepts of geography, language, and common sense! 

All these “analysts” also make the fundamental assumption that the 5 southern states (they always exclude Puchucherry) function as one entity and the role of the BJP and Congress is negligible. Tamil Nadu has a problem, they want to make it a South India problem. Kerala has a problem, they make it a South India problem. Both the national parties (and also the Communists) are big players in some of these states – do the analysts really think the people are so ignorant that they cannot see through this basic fact? 

While the program was on, the host VK got upset with live comments that said what he was doing amounted to Desh-Droh. He derisively asked if any of those commenting like this even know what is “Desh”? This arrogance and know-it-all attitude is so very typical of editors and self-declared intellectuals. It is time we expose and shame these charlatans for furthering a divisive agenda in our nation. 

దేశాన్ని విడగొడతారా రాధాకృష్ణ గారు?

భారత రాష్ట్రపతి గా వెంకయ్య నాయుడు గారిని ఎంపిక చెయ్యలేదు అని మన ఆంధ్రజ్యోతి వాళ్ళు చాలా బాధపడ్డారు. మోడీ కి ఎంత అండగా నుంచున్నా సరే వెంకయ్య కి మొండి చెయ్యి చూపారు అని పత్రిక లొ విశ్లేషించారు.

ఇది సరిపోదు అన్నట్టుగా, "ఉత్తర భారత రాజకీయ పార్టీల ఆధిపత్యం శ్రుతి మించుతుందా" అని పెద్ద పెద్ద పదాలు వాడేసి, టీవీ లొ ఒక చర్చా కార్యక్రమం కూడా పెట్టేశారు! 

ఎడిటర్ వెంకట కృష్ణ గారు, ఇంకో ముగ్గురు "మేధావులు" కలిపి, ఒక అరిగిపోయిన రికార్డ్ లాగా చెప్పిందే చెప్పి విసుగు పుట్టించారు. భారత దేశాన్ని రెండు ముక్కలుగా విడగొట్టి, దక్షిణ భారత దేశాన్ని సృష్టించాలి అంట. ఎందుకు?

ఎందుకు అంటే, తెలుగు వాడైన వెంకయ్య నాయుడు నీ ఉత్తరాది పార్టీలు కావాలి అని విస్మరించి, ఓర్రిస్సా రాష్ట్రం కి చెందిన ద్రౌపది ముర్ము నీ ఎన్నికున్నారు అంట. ఈ "మేధావులు" కి కనీసం ఒరిస్సా రాష్ట్రం ఈశాన్యం కింద వస్తుందని తెలియదా? ఉత్తరాది పాలకులు ఈశాన్యం నుంచి ఒకళ్ళని ఎన్నికుంటే, అది దక్షిణానికి అవమనామ? భారత దేశ రాష్ట్రపతి గా దక్షిణ భారతం నుంచి ఇప్పటి వరకు ఆరుగురు ఎన్నిక అయ్యారు. మరి ఇంకా వివక్ష అసలు ఎక్కడ ఉందో ఈ "మేధావుల" సెలవు ఇవ్వాలి.

దేశం అంట గుజరాతీ గుప్పిట్లో ఉంది అంట. సర్దార్ వల్లభాయ్ పటేల్ విగ్రహం కట్టడానికి 3000 కోట్లు కర్చుపెడతరు కానీ, అల్లూరి సీతారమరాజు విగ్రహానికి 3 కోట్లు పెడతారు అని ఒక "మేధావి" సెలవు ఇచ్చారు. సదరు మేధావి కి పటేల్ విగ్రహం కేంద్ర ప్రభుత్వం కాదు, గుజరాత్ ప్రభత్వం కట్టించింది అని తెలియదా? మన రాష్ట్ర ప్రభుత్వం నీ ఎవరు ఆపారు అండి, అలాంటి పనులు చేయడానికి? 

దక్షిణ భారతంలో ఉన్న రాష్ట్రాల సంపద వేరే రాష్ట్రాలు దొచేస్కుంటున్నాయి అంట. ఎవరు? అది మాత్రం సెలవు ఇవ్వలేదు మన "మేధావులు". PV గారికి అన్యాయం ఎందుకు చేశారు అని బిజెపి నీ అడుగుతారు ఈ మేధావుల.

అసలు ఎంటి ఈ దుర్మార్గపు ఆలోచన అని ప్రశ్నిస్తే, వెంకట కృష్ణ గారు ఊగిపోయారు- నన్ను అంత మాట అంటావా? ప్రజాస్వామ్యం లొ ఉన్నాం, నేనూ నా ఇష్టం వచ్చినట్టు మాట్లాడతా కానీ నా ఆలోచనలు దుర్మార్గం అనే హక్కు ఎవడికి లేదు అని ఊగిపోయారు! ఇదేం విడ్డూరం! 

రేణుకా చౌదరి వెకిలి నవ్వు ని శూర్పణఖ తో పోలిస్తే, దక్షిణ భారతం వాళ్ళని "రాక్షస జాతి సంతతి" అని అర్థం అంట, వెంకట కృష్ణ గారు సెలవు ఇచ్చారు! ఇదేం విడ్డూరం!

"మేధావులు" బాధ పడే ప్రతి సారి దేశాన్ని విడగొట్టడం మీద దృష్టి ఎందుకు పెడతారు? మనోడికి పదవి ఇవ్వలేదు అని పనికిమాలిన చర్చలు పెట్టీ రెచ్చగొట్టడం ఒకటే పనా? దేశం అంటే ఎంటో మనకి తెలీదు అని వెంకట కృష్ణ గారు సెలవు ఇచ్చారు. ఇంత అహంకారానికి కారణం ఏమిటి? 

ఆసలు దక్షిణ భారతంలో ఉన్న రాష్ట్రాలు అన్నిటికీ ఒకటే సమస్య ఉంటాయా? ఆసలు ఈ పార్టీలు అన్ని కలిపి ఏమైనా కొత్త దేశాన్ని నిర్మిస్తాయా? అర్థ రహితం లేని చర్చలు పెట్టీ విద్వేషాలు రెచ్చగొట్టే పనులు ఆంధ్ర జ్యోతి మానుకోవాలి.  

భా. ర. సా. పై ఎవరికి భరోసా?

తెలంగాణ రాష్ట్రంలో పలు సమస్యలు ఉన్నా, ముఖ్యమంత్రి గారు మాత్రం ఇవేవీ పట్టనట్టు గా తన లోకం లో మునిగి తేలుతున్నారు. భారత రాష్ట్ర సమితి (భా.రా. సా) పేరు తో జాతీయ పార్టీ పెడుతున్నట్టు, ఢిల్లీ కి వెళ్ళి చక్రం తిప్పుతారు అన్నట్టు పత్రికల్లో వార్తలు వచ్చాయి. గంటల తరబడి ముఖ్య నేతల తో చర్చలు జరుపుతున్నారు అని, మంచి ముహూర్తం కోసం ఎదురు చూస్తున్నారు అని కూడా మనకి చెప్పడం జరిగింది. 

ఇంతకీ ఇలా కొత్త పార్టీ పెట్టాలి అని ఎందుకు అనిపిస్తుంది? 2018 లో భారీ మెజారిటీ తో ఎన్నికలు గెలిచిన తరువాత, ముఖ్యమంత్రి గారి ఆనందానికి, ఆశాలకి హద్దులు లేకుండా పోయాయి. రెండు జాతీయ పార్టీలు దేశానికి చేసింది ఏమి లేవు, ఇప్పుడు తాను వచ్చి దేశాన్ని బాగుచేస్తాను అని చెప్పడం జరిగింది. 2019 ఎన్నికల్లో సొంత రాష్ట్రంలో 9 స్థానాలు మాత్రమే గెలవడం తో, ఈ ఆలోచన కొంచం వెన్నకి పెట్టడం జరిగింది.

2022 లో రాష్ట్రం లో భారతీయ జనతా పార్టీ గణనీయంగా పుంజుకోవడం తో, కెసిఆర్ గారు మళ్లీ తన జాతీయ పార్టీ కలలు మీద కసరత్తు మొదలుపెట్టారు. ఢిల్లీ కి 4 రోజులు వెళ్ళి, కేవలం 4 మీటింగ్స్ పెట్టుకొని వెనక్కి వచ్చారు. బెంగళూరు వెళ్ళి దేవే గౌడ గారి కుటుంబాన్ని కలిసి, ఆ తరువాత పత్రికా విలేకరులు తో మాట్లాడుతూ దేశం త్వరలోనే సంచలన వార్తలు వింటది అని సెలవు ఇచ్చారు. 

రాజకీయాలకు దూరంగా గ ఉండవల్లి అరుణ్ కుమార్ నీ పిలిపించుకుని 3 గంటలు ఆయనతో చర్చలు పెట్టారు. ఒక్కప్పుడు "సన్నాసి" అని తిట్టి, ఇప్పుడు పార్టీ పెట్టడం పై సలహాలు తీసుకున్నారు! 

అయితే ఇప్పుడు అందరి మదిలో మెలిగే ప్రశ్న ఏమిటి అంటే, ఈ భారాసా పార్టి మీద ఎంత మందికి భరోసా ఉంటది? కేసిఆర్ గారు ఏమి 2001 లో తాను తెరాస పెట్టినప్పుడు కూడా ఇలాగే అన్నారు, కాబట్టి నేనూ ఇవి ఏమి పట్టించుకోను అంటున్నారు. ఒక ఉద్యమం చేస్తునప్పుడు చాలా ఏళ్లు శ్రమ పడాలి అని చెప్తున్నారు. తెలంగాణ లో చేసే పనులన్నీ ఇప్పుడు దేశం లో కూడా చేస్తున్నారు అని చెప్తున్నారు. 

కాగా ఇలా చెప్పే పర్వంలో కేసిఆర్ గారు ఏదో ఏదో మాట్లాడుతున్నారు. రైళ్లు వేగంగా పరిగెట్టాలి అంటే భారత రాజ్యాంగం మార్చాలి అని; కేంద్ర ప్రభుత్వం అసలు ఊర్లల్లో రోడ్లు వెయ్యకూడదు అని; అసలు కేంద్ర ప్రభుత్వం ప్రజలకి డబ్బులే వెయ్యకూడదు అని; ఇలా ఏదో ఏదో మాట్లాడుతున్నారు. ఇప్పటి వరకు ఏ ఒక్క పార్టీ కూడా తెరాసా కి మద్దతు గా నిలుస్తుంది అని చెప్పనే లేదు. 

కేసిఆర్ గారు ఎప్పుడు ఏమీ మాట్లాడతారో తెలీని పరిస్థితి. సొంత రాష్ట్రంలో గెలుస్తారో లేదో తెలియని పరిస్థితి. మరి భారాస మీద ఎవరికి ఉంటుంది భరోసా? 

తెలుగు రాష్ట్రాల్లో చర్చలు!

క్రిందటి వారం, ఆంధ్ర ప్రదేశ్ లో 10 వ తరగతి ఫలితాలు వెలువడ్డాయి. గత 20 ఏళ్లలో ఎన్నడూ లేని విధంగా కేవలం 67% మంది మాత్రమే పాస్ అయ్యారు. ఈ పరిస్థితి కి దారి తీసిన పరిణామాలు  అనేకం, కానీ ఆ కారణాల గురించి చర్చ మాత్రం శూన్యం. పరీక్షలు నిర్వహించే సమయానికి ఆంధ్ర ప్రదేశ్ లో అత్యంత చర్చనీయాంశం - కొత్త సినిమా రిలీజ్ కి టికెట్ ధర ఎంత ఉంచాలి? సోషల్ మీడియా లో అత్యంత చర్చనీయాంశం - ఏ హీరో ఎంత గొప్పోడు, అవతల హీరో ఎంత తిక్కొడు. 

పిల్లలకి ఇంగ్లీష్ మీడియం లో చదువు నేర్పించాలి అని జగనన్న చెప్పాక, ఒక నలుగురు విద్యార్థులను తీసుకు వచ్చి, వాళ్ళతో అమెరికన్ యాస లో మాట్లాడించి జేజేలు కొట్టించుకోవడం జరిగింది. అదే స్కూల్ లో 57% మంది పాస్ అయ్యారు 10వ తరగతి. 

ఫెయిల్ అయిన విద్యార్థుల తో zoom మీటింగ్ పెట్టారు లోకేష్ బాబు. ఆ మీటింగ్ కి వైకపా ఎమ్మెల్యే ఇద్దరు వచ్చి రభస చేద్దాం అని ప్రయత్నించారు. ఇప్పుడు చర్చ అంతా మళ్ళీ ఈ ఎమ్మెల్యే ప్రవర్తన మీదే! 

ఈ ఒక్క విషయమే కాదు... ఇలా ప్రజలకి సంభందించిన ఏ విషయం పైనా చర్చించడం చాలా కష్టం అయిపోయింది. ఆంధ్ర ప్రదేశ్ అసెంబ్లీ లో చర్చలు విందాము అంటే, బూతులు తప్పించి వేరే వినిపించవు. రాజధాని ఎక్కడో ఎంటో తెలియని అగమ్య గోచరం లో ప్రజలు ఉంటే, అసెంబ్లి లొ వీళ్ళు ఒకరిని ఒకరు తిట్టుకోవడం లో బిజీ అయిపోయారు. 

చాలా ఏళ్ళ తరువాత విద్యుత్ కోతలు వచ్చాయి. పరిశ్రమలకు "విద్యుత్ సెలవు" ప్రకటించాల్సిన దుస్థితి మళ్ళీ వచ్చింది. ఇదేదో చరిత్ర తిరగరాసే నిర్ణయం అనుకున్నారు వైసీపీ మిత్రులు. "జగన్న మార్కు పరిపాలన" అని సోషల్ మీడియా మీద కాసేపు నోరు జారారు కూడా! కానీ ఈ విషయం మీద కూడా మళ్ళీ చర్చ శూన్యం. ప్రజలు ఏదో ఆగ్రహం కి గురి అవుతారు అనుకుంటే, వాళ్ళు ఆగ్రహించిన విషయం ఏమిటో తెలుసా? కోనసీమ జిల్లా కు  పేరు మార్చి అంబేడ్కర్ కోనసీమ జిల్లా అని పెట్టినందుకు ఇళ్లని తగలపెట్టరు. 

దేశం మొత్తం లో పెట్రోల్ మరియు డీజిల్ ధరలు అత్యధికంగా ఉన్న రాష్ట్రాలు, మన తెలుగు రాష్ట్రాలు. కేంద్రం తగ్గించినా , 23 రాష్ట్రాలు తగ్గించినా, మన తెలుగు రాష్ట్రాల మొండి ఘటాలు మాత్రం ఒక్క పైసా కూడా తగ్గించలేదు. ఎందుకు తగ్గించాలి అని మళ్ళీ ఎదురు దాడి కీ దిగారు! 

కెసిఆర్ గారు అయితే ఏకంగా నేను అసలు ఎప్పుడూ పెంచలేదు అని పచ్చి అబ్బద్దం కూడా చెప్పేశారు. 2015 లో 4% పెంచారు కదా అని చూపిస్తే, అది అసలు పెంపే కాదు అని దబాయించి తప్పించుకున్నారు. జగనన్న అయితే ఏకంగా పత్రికా ప్రకటనలు చేశారు - కేంద్రం ఎంత సంపాదించింది చెప్పారు కానీ, రాష్ట్రం ఎంత సంపాదించింది సెలవు ఇవ్వలేదు. 

ప్రజల మీద పడుతున్న భారం సరిపోవటం లేదు అని అనిపించింది కెసిఆర్ గారికి. వరసు పెట్టి వివిధ రకమైన టాక్స్ పెంచుతునే పోయారు. ఈయన పెంచిన ప్రతి సారి, మోడీ ని తిడతారు అదేంటో! మోడీ నీ మాత్రమే కాదండోయ్, బీజేపీ లో అందరికి తిట్లు పడతాయి కెసిఆర్ నుంచి.  నిజంగానే తిడతారు అండి -  కుక్కలు, గాడిదలు, సిగ్గులేని బ్రతుకులు, మేడలు నరుకుతాం... ఇలా అడ్డు అదుపు లేకుండా తిడుతూనే ఉంటారు. కేంద్ర మంత్రి కిషన్ రెడ్డి నీ అయితే "రండ మంత్రి" అని కూడా సంభోదించారు మన సారు! 

పలు రంగాల్లో అభివృద్ధి లో ముందు ఉండే తెలుగు రాష్ట్రాల్లో చర్చలు మాత్రం ఎందుకు అధోగతి లో ఉంటాయి? ఎందుకు మన మీడియా లో చర్చలు తక్కువ, అరవడం ఎక్కువ ఉంటాయి? చేపల మార్కెట్ లో ఉండే గోల కంటే టీవీ స్టూడియో లో ఉండే గోల ఎక్కువగా ఉంటది ఎంటో! ఈ పరిస్థితి మారాల్సిన అవసరం చాలా ఉంది. లేకపోతే పరీక్షలు పాస్ అయినా సరే, సమాజం లో ఫెయిల్ అవుతారు పిల్లలు! వాళ్ళకి సరైన దారి చూపించే బాధ్యత ఇకనైనా మీడియా మరియు ప్రజా ప్రతినిధులు తీసుకోవాలి!