A critique of The Hindu's Readers' Editor

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

Recently, my Twitter timeline was abuzz with an ombudsman for NDTV. Former Attorney General, Soli Sorabjee was appointed as the ombudsman of NDTV and one conversation he had with a viewer on the Radia tapes set the timelines on fire. In this context, I want to bring forth some views on the ombudsman office of The Hindu. Established back in 2006, this office is called the office of the Readers’ Editor.

Recently, when questioned on the newspaper’s blatant slant against Narendra Modi, the current RE had this to say: “In its opinion pages, the newspaper helps to contextualise and provide a variety of opinions, and some of them are critical of Modi.” Some of them? Really? Does he take the reader to be so naive as to believe that some of the articles in opinion pages of The Hindu are critical of Modi? Where do we begin to counter this point?

The RE also has this to say: “These are not just opinions but are backed by facts and figures. So far, nobody has been able to find factual mistakes in what was carried.”

I found a factual mistake in this article by Justice Katju. Justice Katju repeated the lie that 2000 Muslims were killed in 2002 post-Godhra riots. The Hindu carries it without any problem. I sent more than 10 emails to this RE. I sent mails till April 29, a full two-and-a-half months after the article was published. He did not respond. Nor did he print any clarification regarding the query I had.

I asked him to clarify in this news report as to where and when Modi claimed he rescued 15,000 people. No response. No clarification. I found another factual mistake in this article by Shanti Bhushan. No response. No clarification.

Or take the latest rant by Harish Khare - “…He (Modi) has already scared sober and sensible middle-class Indians.” I wonder what the RE feels about this blatant passing off of an opinion as an irrefutable fact?

Addendum: The RE responded to my query on Harish Khare. And not the others. 

Not just the opinion page articles, even the news reports are heavily editorialised when it comes to the BJP or Sangh Parivar. In another one of his recent columns, the RE told readers about this code. “The editorial code of this paper says that “The Hindu shall, as a rule, maintain a clear distinction between news, critical analysis, and opinion in its editorial content and shall not editorialise or opinionate in news reports.”

The context was an opinionated front page article on Rahul Gandhi’s recent incoherent outburst. The RE has indirectly declared that the article was indeed editorialising a news report and therefore, is a wrong thing to happen. The RE goes on to explain that it is difficult not to editorialise but one should be careful before editorialising! One lost track of whether the RE was supporting or opposing the idea!

 Before you suggest that the “editorial code” need not be taken seriously, I strongly urge you to read the responses of the then Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu, N Ram, to a variety of queries that the then RE forwarded it to him. Prominent amongst them is this reply to a query by Gopi Maliwal: It is true that Neena Vyas and some others used to do it (editorialising). I am opposed to editorialising in the guise of news — in all daily newspapers and on television as well. We have done our best to eliminate editorialising in the garb of news.

This response was in 2006 (barely two weeks after the first RE took office). So for quite some time now, various reports in The Hindu have been editorialised in nature – more so if the report had anything to do with the BJP or Sangh Parivar. The editor himself has agreed to it, and yet the practice continues. We are reminded that the paper has an editorial code NOT to do it. Yet, they are forced to do it. Why bother advertising this code if it is anyway being broken on a regular basis? However, the articles of the RE were not always so bland.

The concept of an ombudsman was welcomed by one and all when it was introduced in 2006. The office of the RE was set up by The Hindu, and some of the key terms of reference were:

1. “To write a regular column addressing one or several aspects of readers’ concerns, suggestions, and complaints,”

2. “To use this column as a platform and forum for readers’ views.”

3. To publish clarifications as deemed necessary (am paraphrasing this, because a ‘clarifications’ column appears four days a week in the paper. Many a time, factual errors are corrected in this column. Even grammatical errors are corrected some times).

The first RE of the newspaper used to follow these guidelines on quite a regular basis. His weekly (and later bi-weekly) articles had many queries and comments by the readers. One of they key examples is the discussion quoted earlier. Another link here, where the RE tries to answer questions posed by churumuri. The key point to note is that the first RE did make attempts to address concerns raised. I have sent him nearly 40 emails on various issues, and most of them were addressed promptly (including some doubts on grammar, context, and definitions).

At times, he agreed with the readers and at times he agreed with the editor. In fact, I even remember reading that N Ram once was not happy with the RE giving too much importance to ‘counter’ views of the readers – but couldn’t do much except to tell the RE – It’s your column! (I am not able to retrieve the article in which the RE said this.).

The downfall of this office started during the term of the second RE. He turned out to be exact opposite of the first one. His columns were laced with how the media in general covered a particular event.

I had sent nearly 12 mails to the RE over a period of 12 weeks asking why he doesn’t discuss readers’ concerns (as envisaged in the terms of reference). Most of his articles ended with complimenting The Hindu on their fine coverage. I asked N Ram on twitter, on this sea change in the approach. He had this to say:

1. The Readers’ Editor is an independent, critical, reflective voice. The remit is not to parrot or ‘reflect’ other voices!

2. If an RE confines his or her role to providing excerpts from readers’ mail or currying favour with them, I won’t applaud.

3. The RE’s role under the terms is decidedly not to serve as a lightning rod for ideological homilies, slant or flak!

I’d urge you to take a look at the entire conversation to get a full context of the conversation. Regular followers and serious observers of the RE since its inception might have easily noticed the sea change in the approach of the first and second RE.

The reader knew his concerns regarding slant of the paper were also being addressed by the first RE. With the second RE, all we got was factual clarifications. And N Ram provided enough material for us to arrive at the conclusion as to why the change in approach has taken place! The RE should also follow the newspapers slant, and yet be independent!

The third (and current) RE’s approach is not very different to the second RE. Prominent space in his weekly column is provided to give us a quote by some intellectual and an explanation of why the quote is relevant. It is not just my personal observation — other readers too have felt the same. The RE had this to say about the concern — “They felt that it was a digression. It was a conscious decision. A free, independent, vibrant media was the product of nearly three centuries of struggle and commitment by countless men and women.”

In the few times that this RE has decided to respond to readers concerns at length, he has emphatically taken the side of the newspaper (sample another one here.) It is safe to conclude that the future occupants of the RE office will continue to justify the slant of the newspaper, while the editors might be busy deriding the slant of the readers!

The concept of the RE is a very good one — even today, many factual, grammatical and statistical errors are rectified and published. What is sorely disappointing is the approach of the RE in discussing the slant and ideology of the newspaper. One would expect the RE to view the paper critically, not parrot the ideology of the paper often.

Sonia’s reconstituted GoM makes things worse

 

The following article has been written for Niti Central. Reproducing it here for reference.

 

On October 4, Sushil Kumar Shinde told us that the Group of Ministers on Andhra Pradesh birfurcation will submit it’s report in 45 days. On the night of October 8, we get the news that the GoM has been “reconstituted”! The original GoM, according to the Cabinet note, had 10 members in it. Members were supposed to have been chosen according to the Ministries that will get impacted – Home, Finance, Law, Water resources, HRD etc.

 

The “reconstituted” GoM now has six members in it, plus one Minister who will be a “special invitee”. Let’s take a look at this reconstituted GoM now:

 

1. The GoM is supposed to study and advise on legal matters. The original GoM had the Law Minister. The reconstituted GoM does NOT have the Law Minister.

2. The GoM is supposed to look into water-sharing. The original GoM had the Water Resources Minister. The reconstituted GoM does NOT.

3. The GoM is supposed to look into power-sharing. The original GoM had the Power Minister. The reconstituted GoM does NOT.

 

I guess you get the picture – Ministers of HRD, Transport etc have all been asked to stay away from the “reconstituted” GoM. So who are the new members?

 

1. Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad

2. Oil Minister Veerappa Moily

3. Defence Minister AK Anthony

4. Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh

 

What, pray will a Health Minister do in a GoM that has to decide on modalities of splitting up of a State? Or the Oil Minister? If the Rural Development minister is a part of the GoM, then why is the Urban Development Minister not?

 

Ghulam Nabi Azad and Veerappa Moily have been chosen primarily because they have been Congress general secretaries in-charge of Andhra Pradesh! Their Ministries have nothing to do with the modalities of splitting the State. Why is the Congress hell-bent on giving this whole thing a political colour? Why can’t they follow the recommendations of their own Cabinet? Is this the value they accord to the institution of the Cabinet? What does “special invitee” status to Minister in PMO, Narayanaswamy even mean?

 

It has been the norm that these 10 Ministries will be part of a State reorganisation, but then why is Sonia Gandhi not allowing that to happen? Why this contempt towards Andhra Pradesh? And before you accuse me of over-reacting, please note that her own Ministers and elected representatives are disappointed at the manner in which she is going about splitting up the State.

 

Meanwhile, the honourable Digvijay Singh released two letters to the media. One by the TDP in which they have explicitly given their support to the formation of Telangana. Another by YSRCP that said it is only the Centre that has the power to decide, and YSRCP respects the sentiments of Telangana. ‘National’ media played up these letters as if it was a brand new revelation by Digvijay.

 

The fact of the matter is that these letters have been in public domain from a long time. Every single person in Andhra Pradesh knows about the stand that TDP has taken. Chandrababu Naidu himself read the letter out in 2008, when the party decided to support Telangana. Why then is Digvijay resorting to such dramatics? Neither the TDP nor the YSRCP are leading the protests in Seemandhra. They are merely reacting to the outpour of anger.

 

The constant refrain of Sonia Gandhi’s office-bearers has been that the TDP has declared support to Telangana thereby paving way for a easy decision by the Congress. If the Congress needs TDP’s help with every single decision, they might as well transfer power to the TDP!

 

The anger amongst the people is because of the manner in which the split is being carried out. This simple truth seems to be missing the intellectuals of the Congress. The State is still reeling under massive power crisis because of strike by electricity employees. Buses have been off roads for 70 days. Seven lakh Government employees and two lakh teachers have been on strike for more than 60 days. Not one step that the Congress has taken since the CWC announcement 72 days back, has inspired any confidence. It is scary to think of the future of Andhra Pradesh.

It's getting dark, it's getting violent...

 

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

 

On October 4, the Home Minister of India Sushil Kumar Shinde told us that the GoM on AP bifurcation will submit it’s detailed report and recommendations within 45 days. It has been three days. There is no word on the members of GoM, when they will be meeting, when they will be visiting AP etc. We have 42 days remaining for the report promised by the Home Minister of India, and we have no clue on something as basic as the members of the GoM.

 

This is not the first time Shinde is blurting out random deadlines. In December 2012, he promised to give a decision on Telangana in one month. As the deadline was nearing, we were told (by Ghulam Nabi Azad and Shinde) that one month does not mean 30 days, it might also mean two months! Recently, Shinde said that the Cabinet note on Telangana will be ready in 20 days. It took more than 30 days to come up with the note (that turned out be a clumsy one). So should we take this 45-day deadline with a pinch of salt too?

 

It has been 69 days since the CWC resolution was announced to the world. Sixty-nine days since lakhs of Government employees from various departments went on strike. To compound the woes of the citizens, the electricity employees in Seemandhra have now joined the strike. With this, thousands of villages have plunged into darkness. Many districts went without power for a whole day yesterday.

 

The Railways (and thereby the passengers) was also severely affected. Power cuts in hospitals across the regions further compounded the problem. The employee unions have been unrelenting so far. Their only demand — keep the State united. If this strike continues, it is being estimated that there will be a problem with the southern grid too. This sad turn of events is depressing to note. Many people are sincerely hoping that the electricity department unions will call off this strike in view of the hardships being faced by just one day of the strike so far.

 

One of the hotbeds of this agitation has been Vizianagaram district. The primary reason being that this is where the PCC chief, Botsa Satyanarayana comes from. Almost every day, there have been attempts to gherao his house and other properties. With every passing day, the participation in this dharna/gherao also increases. The situation got out of control after the Union Cabinet decided to go ahead with the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. Suddenly, there was an outpour of anger against Botsa for his ineffective leadership. He is being seen as someone who is toeing the line drawn by the high command in Delhi whilst announcing support for a united state in Hyderabad at the same time!

Agitated crowds have resorted to stone-pelting. Police have had to strike back with lathis.

 

The situation only went from bad to worse. The RAF was called in to rein in the stone-pelters. For the first time in the history of the town, a curfew was imposed and shoot-at-sight orders were issued. The commonfolk of the town got very agitated because of this and came out on the streets to vent their anger agains Botsa. Colleges owned by him were vandalised too. Some of his properties were set on fire. The police went on an overdrive and started forcibly closing shops and vegetable markets. Central police forces randomly beat up women and youth. These acts further fuelled the situation. Visuals of Central police beating up a young man and the local police stopping them from doing so were very telling.

 

Botsa has alleged that this is a conspiracy by leaders not of his caste! He has indirectly blamed the Chief Minister of the State for these attacks on his properties. It is depressing to note that the PCC chief and the CM are not even on the same page when the State is engulfed in such a severe crisis. The infighting in the Congress is nothing new for the people of the state, but in times of such extreme crisis, it is frustrating to watch them still trying to make petty gains.

 

A Congress MLA and brother of the Finance Minister of the State Anam Vivekananda Reddy has castigated Digvijay Singh in the strongest possible terms. He called him a man who destroyed MP and is now out to destroy AP! Meanwhile, the honourable Digvijay Singh has announced that during the 10 years that Hyderabad will take to become the common capital, it will be governed either by the Governor or by the Central Government. The Government does not say anything but the party spokesman goes about announcing decisions that have no value! If Digvijay Singh knows everything, why bother with the GoM?

 

Our worst fears have started coming true. It’s getting dark, it’s getting violent, and we still have to put up with Digvijay give us sermons.

Most clumsiest Cabinet note on AP!

 

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

 

Where there is a will, there is a way.

 

An old saying that resonates well for any age. On October 1, the Prime Minister of the country told the media that he will seek to know from Rahul Gandhi why his outburst “had to be done in the manner in which it was done”. There was no inclination of him consenting to the withdrawal of the ordinance. Rahul Gandhi met the PM on the morning of October 2, for 25 minutes. Then the wheels started moving very fast! By the evening of the same day, a special Cabinet meeting was called and within 20 minutes the Ordinance was withdrawn.

 

Within 24 hours, we were witness to the spectacle of the Prime Minister going out of his way to convene a special Cabinet meet only to withdraw this ordinance. You might argue what’s wrong with that? Here’s my point — there was another Cabinet meet scheduled on October 3! The Prime Minister could not wait for just one more day to withdraw this ordinance – that is the power of having a strong will – in this case, his will was to impress the Gandhi scion!

 

So why are we talking about will and way? The Union Cabinet met on the October 3 and discussed

five different issues.

 

 

One of them was ‘Creation of a new State of Telangana’. Maybe because I am from Andhra Pradesh, I feel this way – but shouldn’t there have been a separate Cabinet session where only the bifurcation of the State was discussed? Isn’t it important enough to have an exclusive meet devoted to it?

 

For 65 days, Andhra Pradesh has been burning; 65 days since CWC resolved to ask the Government to form a separate State of Telangana. As always, the Congress gave very little clarity on the modalities of the bifurcation then. We were told that a Cabinet note will go into great detail on the nitty gritty of the bifurcation.

 

Because the Central Government was taking forever to come up with the note, we figured this note will be as comprehensive as it can get. Sixty-five days is surely enough time to come up with a detailed note on such an important subject. Let’s take a look at the Press release after the cabinet meet ended. The full text is available here (not that there is too much to read). The summary of the text is as follows:

 

A Group of Ministers will be set up to go into various issues that will need to be tackled.

 

Believe it or not, that’s it! That’s what Sushil Kumar Shinde took 65 days to come up with! It took them 65 days to merely cut and paste portions of the CWC resolution and reword them? Because the incompetence of this Government is incredible, I started searching for the full note of the Home Ministry. It is not yet available on their website (or maybe I couldn’t find it). Telugu newspaper Eenadu though, has reproduced key portions of the note. The brief summary is this:

 

1. Historical perspective

2. Sharing of resources (Doesn’t provide modalities, just mentions what resources will have to be shared. Says that it has to be decided how these resources will be shared. Genius!)

3. Public representatives (Number of seats for MPs, MLA etc)

4. Service rules for employees and officers.

5. Grants from the Centre (doesn’t tell how much the Centre will give. Merely says Centre will decide later. Genius again!)

6. A Group of Ministers to be formed. The GoM to recommend on various modalities, including how Hyderabad will be governed as a common capital, financial resources for new capital, sharing of various resources etc.)

7. Various statistics (split of resources, split of population, split of Assembly seats etc.)

 

There is not a single new thing that we learnt after 65 days. It took them 65 days to merely assemble already publicly available data. The only point which was decisive in the note is this: “The new State will be named Telangana”. From the past 65 days, lakhs of people have been demanding clarity on various topics. Even the Chief Minister has publicly chided his own High Command and demanded clarity on various topics. After 65 days, the only clarity we get is that a GoM will decide!

 

There is further confusion on the timeline by when the GoM will submit its recommendations. The note apparently says 90 days. The genius that is Sushil Kumar Shinde apparently said it will be six weeks. Really? Does he really expect us to believe that after taking 65 days to merely consolidate publicly available data, he will now lead the GoM to actually resolve all issues in six weeks? Now we have to wait for 45 to 90 more days to get clarity.

 

Sushil Kumar Shinde also says that the whole process of State-formation will be complete in six months – which means by April 2014. Elections to the State Assembly are due in May 2014. Under such a surcharged atmosphere, why does the custodian of law & order of the country want to push something so serious so close to election date? Or is that the gameplan? Somehow postpone the formation and then (as they always do) blame the Opposition parties for the delay? Either way, it is absolutely pathetic to note that the planning of such an important subject is being handled in this deplorable manner.

 

There is no clarity on whether the Cabinet decision last night will be sent to the Assembly. We were earlier told that the Cabinet note is the first step. After the President signs it, the note will be sent to the Assembly. Once the Centre receives the recommendation back, the GoM will work on the Bill. That Bill will again come back to the Assembly. The Cabinet note does not mention any of this now! It merely says a GoM will look into all issues. Is the UPA afraid of sending this to the Assembly? Does it really want to split the State without even consulting the Assembly?

 

What happened to the famed Anthony committee which was billed as the solution to this problem? The Prime Minister himself told us that the Anthony Committee will look into all issues. Has it even bothered to start writing a report? Why was this charade imposed on the Congress leaders of the state? Why hasn’t the committee not visited the state yet? At one point of time we were told that the Cabinet note will come in only after Anthony committee submits its report! Hell, Sushil Shinde himself told on the afternoon of October 3 that Telangana note will not be discussed in the Cabinet!

 

There is definitely going to increased widespread anger at this arrogance of UPA. Forty-eight to seventy-two-hour bandh calls have already been given, and there is near total shutdown yet again. The resignations drama has again begun. A few MPs resigned to the party. A Few Ministers are “contemplating” quitting. The Chief Minister apparently has now taken a stand that he will make no more trips to Delhi.

 

For 65 days, most of the Rayalaseema and Andhra regions have been shut down. Seven lakh Government employees are on strike. Two lakh teachers are on strike. Various other Government unions are on strike. Buses have not been plying for nearly two months. Governance has nearly come to a complete halt — with ministers only discussing this issue day in and day out. Lakhs of people are out on the street daily — protesting in various forms. For the past 65 days, not a single soothing statement from either the Prime Minister or Sonia Gandhi.

 

From the Cabinet note yesterday, we expected some semblance of clarity; some acknowledgement of the protests erupting in AP; some soothing words; some assurances and above all some leadership. Instead, what do we get? A “detailed” note that details the various details the GoM will have to decide upon!

 

Extraordinary situations call for extraordinary responses. For example, Why doesn’t Sushil Kumar Shinde find time to visit AP and try to assuage the fear of various people? Why doesn’t the Prime Minister or Sonia Gandhi find it fit to do the same? Why can’t one of them stay put in Andhra Pradesh for a week and try communicating to the people of the State? We have seen how the PM and Sonia Gandhi responded the extraordinary situation of Rahul Gandhi’s outburst. That’s why I remembered the old adage at the beginning of this article.

 

The clear lack of will is costing the people of the Andhra Pradesh dearly. These are the same people who sent 30 MPs in 2004 and 2009 so that Sonia Gandhi may rule supreme.

60 days, Sonia forgets about AP !

 

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

 

Ever since Kiran Kumar Reddy was appointed the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh by Sonia Gandhi, the Opposition has been constantly criticising him as being a “sealed cover Chief Minister”. As is the norm with the Congress, the CLP then took a decision authorising Sonia Gandhi to take a decision, thus giving rise to this criticism first. The several trips that the Chief Minister made to Delhi to have discussions with the high command only reinforced this criticism. Day before yesterday, the deputy Chief Minister of AP had this to say about the Chief Minister: “He is a sealed cover CM. What difference does it make if he stays in office or not?“! This serious outburst by the deputy CM was triggered by a long Press conference the CM addressed two days back.

 

Hours after Rahul Gandhi’s “daring” act of “defiance” against his mother, the AP Chief Minister displayed another act of defiance that went unnoticed by “national” media. The defiance was so strong that rumour mills are abuzz with talk that he will be replaced after the PM is back in the country.

 

In this Press conference, the Chief Minister has again raised various issues that he considers will be huge impediments in bifurcating the state of Andhra Pradesh. He explained about potential water-sharing issues that may arise (which the pro-Telangana groups have trashed); potential employee resettlement issues that may arise (currently one of the prime bones of contention); potential power sharing issues that may arise; potential revenue-sharing and generating issues that may arise; and various other issues. He insisted many a time that the CWC announcement was merely a “political” announcement. He said that when Digvijay Singh says “Everything will be looked into”, it is merely a political statement. It is the duty of the Government of India to address all the concerns he is raising in detail.

 

The views of the Chief Minister on this issue are quite well-known. He merely reiterated that he will forever fight for a United AP, even if that means giving up the post of the CM. The defiant tone expectedly set off a storm. However, in my opinion, what’s even more concerning is that the Union Government has still not bothered to address various concerns that are being raised by people and leaders of Rayalseema and Andhra regions!

 

The Chief Minister has been having regular interactions with the powers that be. He then addresses a presser in which he implies that the government has not yet thought about addressing major issues such as the ones mentioned above! Either the Home Minister of the country is keeping him in the dark on any progress or the Home Minister himself has no clue on how to go ahead! Either way, this lack of clarity is seriously concerning.

 

The Home Minister tells the Press that the Cabinet note is ready and he merely has to read it. Days after he said so, leaders of all three regions of the State met him. All of them came out saying the Home Minister told them that the Cabinet note is not ready yet. Why does the Home Minister give such conflicting versions of such a simple thing? Even before there was an inkling that Sonia Gandhi will decide in favour of splitting up of AP, we asked some basic questions that need to be addressed. It is fair enough to assume that the Chief Minister is in the know and is therefore urging that the Union Government put in more mind than it is doing right now.

 

Today marks the completion of two months — more than 60 days, since Sonia Gandhi announced her decision to split Andhra Pradesh. Two months since the State plunged into utter confusion and chaos. Not a single soothing message from either Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh or Rahul Gandhi has come. We continue to hear from discredited Congress leader Digvijay Singh that the Anthony Committee will submit a report after which there will be forward movement. He does not provide any timeframe for when this report will be submitted. In fact, various Congress leaders are urging the committee to visit the State at least once! Nearly 50 days after the committee was formed, it is a real shame that it has not thought fit to visit the State.

 

We have mentioned earlier the details of various departments under the strike. Not one of them has relented yet. Lakhs of employees are on strike. Lakhs of people are on roads daily. Thousands of buses are off the streets. While people are being pushed into hardship, political leaders are busy trying to figure out a good time to resign! One Minister met the Governor and urged him to accept his resignation. The Governor forwarded the resignation to the Chief Minister who okayed it. However, other Ministers have also met the Governor and then decided not to go ahead with the resignations! It is unclear why they need to meet the Governor and decide on resignations.

 

The pro-Telangana parties and organisations have upped the ante too. They are insisting that Hyderabad belongs to only Telangana and therefore any attempt to make it a Union Territory or a shared capital beyond 10 years is not acceptable to them at all. There is no clarity yet on what the status of Hyderabad will be. All we are told is to wait for the Cabinet note, without any clue on when it will be ready. These groups are also demanding the immediate sacking of the CM and are even urging Sonia to impose President’s rule in the State.

 

Meanwhile, Jaganmohan Reddy was granted bail. He has upped the ante on the United AP agitation — even asking the governor to convene the Assembly. Leaders of the Congress are worried that many of their ilk will join the YSRCP bandwagon.

 

The Chief Minister is urging MLAs not to resign, because only if they stay in office would they be able to defeat the resolution in the Assembly. Defeat of the resolution in the Assembly will set off a Constitutional crisis but that depends on the wording of the resolution. The Seemandhra MLAs quite expectedly outnumber the Telangana MLAs, so chances are very high that the resolution to split AP will be defeated in the Assembly. Though it’s not mandatory, would the Government go ahead with splitting the State when the Assembly is against it? Would the process be as smooth as Digvijay Singh says it will be? After all, sixty days hence, even the Cabinet note is not ready. How do they propose to finish this process in the next 120 days?

51 days of unrest, no clarity yet!

The following article has been written for Niti Central. Reproducing it here for reference. 

It has been 51 days since the Congress Working Committee announcement favouring the splitting up of Andhra Pradesh was made. We were then told that the whole process can even be completed in 180 days! We were told that the first step in this process was preparing of a Cabinet note but even that step isn’t complete yet!

Over the last 50 days, in various articles, we have explained to you in detail how Sonia’s Congress is compounding confusion prevalent in the minds of the people of Andhra Pradesh. Instead of trying to assuage and soothe emotions, Congress still continues to operate on the same modus operandi — leak randomly, stir a discussion, and then disown the leak!

The latest in this leak saga is that the Cabinet note will recommend that an empowered GoM will take a final decision on the various contentious issues being raised! Now we are just waiting for the next leak which will say the exact opposite of this leak!

There is a Cabinet meeting scheduled for Friday and the bifurcation of AP is not listed in the business. There was another leak which said that the Cabinet will discuss the issue before the PM leaves for US on September 27. Now, we are left in the lurch again on when this will happen.

One newspaper reports that Ahmed Patel told leaders from Seemandhra that perhaps this decision was taken in haste! The Home Minister tells us that they are examining 2-3 options regarding Hyderabad. One week the leak says Hyderabad will become a Union Territory; the next week another leak says the proposal has been dropped! Is this the manner in which we expect the Government to tackle the issue? Change decisions every week?

Ever since this announcement was made, the Rayalaseema and Andhra regions have been burning. Nearly 7 lakh Government employees have been striking for more than a month. The Andhra Pradesh High Court took a very serious view of this strike. It has even questioned the Government as to why it is being very lenient on such a serious issue?

The basis on which the High Court posed this query to the Government has very strong foundations. The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister (who is from Congress), Kiran Kumar Reddy, has himself raised a banner of revolt against his own high command. In the few instances that he decided to communicate with the people, he made it more than clear that he is dead against the bifurcation. Various news reports have also told us that he is scheming to defeat the motion to split the State when it comes up in the State Assembly! And because he supports the United AP agitation, there is widespread criticism that this is the precise reason why he is going easy on those who are on strike!

Day in and day out, we see lakhs of ordinary people out on the streets protesting against Sonia Gandhi and her decision to split the State! Schools and colleges have pretty much remain closed for this duration. Thousands of buses are not plying. Recently, employees of electricity department went on a 72 hour strike, plunging many villages into darkness!

Starting September 23, agitators want to intensify this struggle and have called for various types of bandhs (some even lasting for a maximum of seven days!).

The much-hyped Antony Committee is yet to visit the State. It looks to be sitting in Delhi and meeting a handful of Congress leaders, the committee is content with writing out whatever these leaders are telling them! All we get to hear is more leaks from Government committees!

Such a turmoil is something the State has not seen in a long long time. Extraordinary situations call for extraordinary leadership. Instead, we get a mute leadership content with just leaking random ideas to the media. Please remember that the issue has been hanging in balance now for 51 days. FIFTY-ONE DAYS!

"Accuracy" loving Karan Thapar lies

The following article has been written for Niti Central. Reproducing it here for reference. 

At first, I wanted to scan various newspapers and news channels to understand what new points they will pick up to oppose the candidature of Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister of India. But to my surprise,Karan Thapar made my job easier by summarising all those arguments in his latest interview with Arun Jaitley in Devil’s Advocate.

The repetitive arguments of Thapar and his ilk have become boring now. However, his style of questioning or in fact, his style of being judgemental over the questions is equally irksome to say the least. Much has been written about his style, so we will skip over that part. However, his assertions at various instances are troubling and need rebuttals. Because these assertions are pretty much resorted to by members of ilk, on a regular basis.

After his touching concern at Advani being sidelined (we analysed earlier on the media’s sudden found love for Advani) and then espousing shock at the BJP not being able to win enough seats under Modi, Thapar moves on to say: “The problem that you face is that the concerns about Narendra Modi… don’t stop with the NDA, they don’t stop with the numbers, they don’t stop with LK Advani’s anger. There are many and multi-fold concerns”.

The TV journalists many a time resort to phrases like “many think so”, “many people believe”,”many leaders disagree” with no quantification of what this “many” even means? For example, if we tell Thapar that “many” people outright dislike his show, would he blindly accept it as a fact and cancel all remaining episodes of Devil’s Advocate? For TV journalists, even a single member of a political party sulking implies that ‘many’ are not happy and therefore, the decision is the worst possible decision ever to have been taken!

To justify his ‘many’ and ‘multi-fold’ problems, what issues does he bring in? DG Vanzara’s letter! Upon being snubbed, he reels out another gem, “If more people like Vanzara come out with such letters, the people of India will smell something fishy.”  If? So now, Thapar implies that political parties take decisions based on ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’? Or is that the plan of this ilk? Make other accused release such letters periodically and embarrass Narendra Modi? This old trick has been done to death. Perhaps, it is time that these journalists come up with fresh ideas!

The best part of the interview was when Thapar tries to correct Arun Jaitley on ‘inaccuracies’ regarding the sequence of events the latter had laid out with respect to the appointment of the SIT and the amicus curiae.

“The Amicus did not support the SIT”.

“Your (Jaitley’s) words about what the amicus had to say about the SIT’s report is little inaccurate, because Ramu Ramachandran confirms….”

“The SIT overlooked that. They included Ramu Chandran’s report with their report but rejected his viewpoints.”

Thapar’s great attention to accuracy and detail seems to have failed him when he got the name of the amicus curiae, Raju Ramachandran, wrong twice! An earlier blog post details  the Amicus curiae’s report and how he did indeed agree with most of the conclusions of the SIT (which Karan Thapar is obviously aware of too). The amicus did not agree on the SIT’s conclusion (arrived at after detailed investigation) regarding Sanjiv Bhatt’s claims. Based on that, he also concluded that ‘if’ Narendra Modi is guilty of any of the charges, then the court can proceed to take action against him under various sections. Isn’t it an elementary argument? But the likes of Thapar twisted it to their convenience. It is one thing to say that if you cheat, you will be punished under section 420 is one thing. Based on that, arriving at the conclusion that you are a cheat is a totally different league!

There was no direction to the SIT on whether to accept or reject the report, so, this insinuation by Karan Thapar is amusing to say the least! To this ilk, the court-appointed SIT’s investigative report has lesser value than the opinion of the court-appointed amicus curiae’s opinion! Moreover, to round up the interview, from the 16 minutes onward, Karan Thapar comes to the key question that “many” of his ilk ask, “Why doesn’t he apologise and regret for 2002 and once and for all bury that ghost.”

Jaitley gave a fitting answer to this shameless demand. Narendra Modi himself has given a fitting answer, many times to this shameless demand. Shameless because this ilk believes Modi to be guilty of killing people and is ready to be content with a mere apology/regret from Modi! Nothing can illustrate more the depths to which this ilk will plumb to, to satisfy their ego.

And then Thapar resorts to the biggest lie ever, “You know, if Dr Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi can apologise for 1984 is Narendra Modi to arrogant, too big to be able to apologise”. This ilk has no shame in spreading this canard that Sonia Gandhi apologised for the 1984 pogrom. They hare shameless and feel proud that a mere apology will assuage the kith and kin of those dead. And they have no shame in eulogising Sonia Gandhi for something she has never done – seek an apology.

Left with no choice, Thapar resorts to another irrelevant argument – the BJP believes in one man, one post. Why is Modi holding three posts? Brushing this argument aside, Jaitley aptly said  that if these are the kind of objections, then they are happy with the decisions they took!

At one point, Thapar argues that the message the BJP is sending out is that the party has reduced itself to a ‘comic entity’ merely because Advani did not agree to this decision. I’d urge you to watch this brilliant interview of Madhu Trehan with Thapar, to know who has been reduced to a ‘comic entity’!

At the end of the interview, Arun Jaitley said, “I am very happy if these are the main concerns with Modi’s candidature, because this means we took a very good decision!

Why I changed my mind about Modi.

The following article has been written for Niti Central. Reproducing it here for reference. 

At his massively attended rally in Hyderabad recently, Narendra Modi told his listeners an interesting factoid. September 17 happens to be both his birthday and Hyderabad’s Liberation Day from the Nizam’s rule. I made a mental note of this so that it will be easier to remember his birthday!  However, at that point of time, none of us in the crowd had an inkling that by the time his birthday comes, he will have been crowned the Prime Ministerial candidate of the BJP — an honour that only Atal Bihari Vajpayee and LK Advani have had so far.

The rise and rise of Narendra Modi in the BJP is exceptional. It must have been an overwhelmingly emotional moment for many people within the BJP to see the journey of Narendra Modi from being a part of the cadre to being their leader. We read about such stories in novels, but this is reality. Reams and reams have been written about his rise; his achievements; his vision; his habits; and even his kurtas!

This article does not aim to revisit those points, but will be a more personal account of how, over the years, my skepticism with regard to Modi changed to overwhelming support for his model of growth. I strongly believe there must be hundreds of people out there who have undergone a transformation like me in how they viewed Modi then and how they view him now.

Before the 2002 riots in Gujarat, I guess Modi was not well-known outside of Gujarat. Post those dastardly riots, Modi became the topic of discussion everywhere across the country. The allegations against him flew thick and fast. He was portrayed as someone who deliberately allowed the riots to take place and did little to stop the violence. The allegations just never stopped coming.

Those were the days when ordinary, gullible students like me relied more on the existing big players in the mainstream media than anyone else. We believed almost every single allegation to be true and could not figure out how Modi managed not only to stay in office but even win an election by a two-thirds majority. Even at dining table discussions, I used to argue that Modi doesn’t fit into the larger scheme of things of our country (don’t ask me what that even means — it just sounded fashionable then!). His 2007 election victory in the State broke some myths about his governance model, but did not shatter any of the serious allegations that gullible folks like me still continued to believe. I always had one question on my mind — Of what use is this development if there is no security?

The influence of blogs started picking up during this time (2007-2008) and that’s when gullible folks like me, for the first time ever, started to read about the counter view-point. I still found it hard to believe these arguments. I always wondered how big media could be so wrong. How can they deliberately cheat their readers or viewers?  Then I started hearing Modi’s speeches. Most of the times, I found them to be full of content, as opposed to rhetoric. This content ranged from his views on specific developments in agriculture to power sector reforms to strong leadership in the country. Though impressed, and sometimes inspired by his achievements, the question of 2002 still hung heavy on my mind.

In 2009, I wrote in my blog that Modi can never be the Prime Ministerial candidate because of the 2002 riots. I wrote this while admitting that he was the best administrator in the country. My assessment then supported Sushma Swaraj. Then social media happened. First, the lies of charlatans like Teesta Setalvad were beginning to get exposed on these platforms. The SIT report explained in detail that every single allegation against Narendra Modi by this ‘cottage industry’ (one of the many famous coinages by folks on social media) was outright false. That SIT report brought to closure so many doubts I had in my mind (and am pretty sure, the minds of hundreds of people).

Narendra Modi started interacting more with people and started listing out his Government’s achievements in detail. There was little rhetoric and more substance when he spoke. It amazed me to see one leader have such great command of the nuances of the implementation stage of various projects. Some called it micro-management, some called it dictatorship, but for those who enjoyed the fruits of those projects, all this didn’t matter. Their lives got better, not worse!

Then the Congress Government in our State (Andhra Pradesh) started imposing two to fourteen-hour power cuts in Andhra Pradesh in various areas. At one end, Modi was declaring to the world that he provides 24-hour power supply to all households in his State and on the the other, here we were, enjoying up to 14 hours of power cuts every single day! Now the speeches made more sense to us. There is development in Gujarat, and more importantly, there is security too. There has not been a single riot in Gujarat since 2002. In a State torn by such strife for long, to have no riots for 11 years is no mean feat.

Looking back, Narendrabhai’s persistence and patience amaze the likes of me. What does it take to have such a single-minded focus for development amidst such a vitriolic atmosphere? How does one get the perseverance to wait for such fantastic results to counter (many baseless) allegations? However, there was this small doubt that I had in mind — is this pro-Modi wave limited to social media?

I had the opportunity to visit his Hyderabad rally where I was bowled over by how one man can inspire so much participation, enthusiasm and hope! Coming from a State where film stars (with two films) are accorded demigod-like status, I found it hard to swallow that nearly one lakh people turned up and celebrated the arrival of a political leader, that too in today’s age of political cynicism (the ‘all politicians are bad’ argument).

Is he perfect? Obviously not. No one is perfect – everyone makes mistakes. Everyone says things they shouldn’t have. He would have had his share of goof-ups and failures in developmental governance, but from what we have seen, he learns from them. He is very receptive to feedback and tries to make the best of the resources. A case in point would be the malnutrition campaign against him by these charlatans. Modi has given them a befitting reply in one of the media conclaves recently.

He has himself asked to be hanged if he is found guilty of the crimes the likes of Teesta Setalvad and the ‘cottage industry’ accuse him of. One cannot disagree with Modi’s statement – if he is found guilty, he must be punished. If not, the people of this country have a right to be administered by a man of fine acumen. Is this a fan mail? Perhaps. But I have no qualms if you wish to classify it so. Narendra Modi has transformed people like me through his sheer willpower, development work, and achievements. The transformation in our thought process is not because a few bloggers have tried to interpret a few reports. It is because Narendra bhai has actually achieved substantial results, making it easier for us to take a decision.

Happy Birthday, Narendrabhai! In whatever small way I can, I will put in my earnest efforts in helping you and the BJP win the 2014 election. That is the least I can do for a man who has taught us so much. Happy Birthday once again!

Flawed media narrative of Muzaffarnagar riots

The following article has been written for Niti Central. Reproducing it here for reference. 

Most of us woke up to the news of nine people killed in riots in Uttar Pradesh. One of those killed was a journalist from IBN7. From the past few hours, only one question has been nagging me – would the media have covered this riot if the IBN7 journalist was not killed? You might wonder, what is the basis of this doubt?

Let’s take a look at some of the tweets from media celebrities since last night. First off-the-block is this tweet from Editor-in-Chief of IBN networks, Rajdeep Sardesai.

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Not to be left far behind, editor of IBN7, Ashutosh shared his two piece gyan through a series of tweets

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Not to be left behind, Group Editor of NDTV says this:

Did you know that riots were happening in UP “for last few months”? Rajdeep Sardesai is talking about Lucknow, Faizabad, Bairelly – does any of you know what even happened there? Ashutosh also enlightens us that “small riots are engineered all over UP” – here’s an open challenge to him – Can he point out to detailed reports on IBN7 over the last few months that expose this blatant transgression of law and order in the State? Barkha Dutt talks about a “series of recent religious riots” – are there series of programmes on NDTV where we can watch and get enlightened on these riots?

What does Ashutosh even mean by “attempt to repeat Gujarat in UP?” Is he trying to incite passion? Does he want something bad to happen in UP so that he can pinpoint it to Gujarat? What kind of cheap mentality is this, where the stupendous failure of one Government is interlinked to an event that happened more than 10 years ago? And no – I am not exaggerating when I used the phrase “blatant transgression of law and order”. One of IBN’s reports said that over the last one year, at one point of time or other, 22 districts in UP have been under curfew! 22 districts!! And yet not a squeal from these editors during the last one year.

And on top of all this, these editors somehow blame this transgression to the “abuse on the net”? Don’t believe me?

Look at Rajdeep’s tweet on Sunday -

And then the best excuse of all – politics and political parties are being blamed. IBN’s reporting is just based on politics. They don’t even care to explain to us in detail about the politics. In fact, Ashutosh goes a step further and asks us to think!

It always beats me as how these people would want to get away with such escapist explanations! For the past few months, riots are being engineered and these people are obsessed with hatred on social media? The “we” in his tweet should point out only to the journalistic community – do they really care? The report tells us that there was a conglomeration of people to discuss how to handle recent incidents of “eve-teasing” in a village and that spiralled into these fresh riots. What exactly is this “eve-teasing” problem? These same editors continously lecture us on the need to maintain restraint in reporting clashes. So much restraint that “100s of communal clashes” go unreported!

This Indian Express report tells us the Akhilesh Government has officially agreed to 27 riots in its tenure so far. Then why is Ashutosh resorting to rumour mongering of “100s of communal riots”? What is the source of his ‘Government records’?  The Government also says the three major riots have happened in Mathura, Bairelly, and Faizabad. I bet none of the viewers watching these news channels would have had any clue on these riots when they happened.

Back in 2011, NDTV claimed that their coverage of 2002 riots helped in the quelling of the riots.

One can’t help but wonder why they have stopped playing such a proactive role in quelling of riots after 2002? Especially in the present instance, their group editor herself has enlightened us that there have been a series of riots in UP in the last one year. These same editors do not get tired of talking about how “2002 riots were the first one to be covered live on TV”. What these people fail to tell us that those were the last ones to be covered live on TV too! Everything starts and ends with 2002 – no riots and TV before and after that!

This is precisely, why I strongly think that if not for the unfortunate and sad death of IBN7 reporter, the media would not have bothered to pick up this round of violence in UP too. Why else would any responsible media in any country ignore more than 100 communal clashes in one year? In Ashutosh’s own words, think!