Is the media partial against the BJP?

On February 1, 2009, In Politics, By

It is very easy to observe, even for a layman that the media in general and news channels in particular are becoming more and more pro government. In each and every media report, analysis, story, debate or interview it is found the media is adopting a very partial response against the BJP.

For e.g. if we take up two issues that affected the nation last week:

1. Chief Election Commisioner, N Gopalaswami, recommended the removal of his colleague, Navin Chawla. He has thoroughly documented the “partisan” functioning of Chawla.

But the news channels have started a criticism of Gopalaswami without taking into account the merit of the document. There was no mention of the charges – What are the contents of the letter submitted to the President of India? Did the CEC’s NGO did actually take money from the Congress party MP’s?

2. Recently a group of activists barged into a pub, assaulted women. On the same day Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) workers went on the rampage disrupting Republic Day celebrations at a school in Nashik. The workers assaulted parents and beat up participants. They didn’t even spare posters of the martyrs of 26/11.

The media completely ignored the later issue .Whereas the former was sensationalized as an assault on women’s independence. They even said it was an attempt to Talibanize India.

For the incident it directly involved the BJP government in Karnatka. But in a similar issue coincidentally happening the same day involving the attack on North Indians by MNS, it did not criticize the Congress government in Maharashtara.

There are numerous instances where the Indian media has taken a partial stance.

What is the agenda?

Why are there double standards?

Why are all news channels behaving the same way?

Is it because of the contract for pro government advertisements like “Bharat Nirman” or “Minority scholarship” that are likely to barge us before the general elections.

Maybe but the credibility of fair journalism in India has certainly taken a backseat.

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India – A country without a Prime Minister!

On January 26, 2009, In Politics, By

In 2008 we all suffered from poor governance in India by the UPA government. Now they have gone step further and removed “governance”. The prime minister will be out of action for a minimum of 4 weeks. How can a nation as complex as India be governed without a prime minister? But as Supreme Court said – even god cannot save India.

First there was no home minister, then they shifted finance minister and now there is no Prime Minister. Can’t we even select a prime minister from 1.2 billion people? As it is there are very few elected representatives occupying higher posts in cabinet.

Or does the decision making power lie else where and it doesn’t make a difference whether we have a prime minister or not.

As usual the mainstream media will not cover any lapse of UPA government and be a good prompter for the ruling congress government. Elections are approaching fast and the media will try its best to embarrass the BJP. Instead of focussing on this issue of national importance they are busy covering frivolous stories of some boys beating girls in a bar.

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The Gandhi’s & the Art of Keeping India Poor

On January 19, 2009, In Politics, By

Sarojini Naidu once remarked – “it costs India a great deal of money to keep Gandhiji in poverty. His consumption of fresh fruit, increasingly his staple diet, would have bankrupted many a middle class household”.

Similarly India has had to pay a very heavy economic price for twisted socialist policies of the Gandhi family.

Recently Rahul Gandhi indulged in slum tourism and was accompanied by Miliband the visiting foreign secretary of UK. According to the host, Shivkumari, “It was their sudden visit to my hut. The arrangements of mattress and pillow etc were made by the Trust (Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust) people. After their departure, a vehicle came and took those items”.

The entire exercise was a great experience in looking at Indian poor people as a museum exhibit. Doing anything to remove poverty is a separate subject . Reducing poverty in India would also reduce the vote bank of the Gandhi family. This practice of “breeding poverty” has been passed on from generations.

Under Indira Gandhi, economic policies were used as a powerful tool to increase control of government over trade, industrial production, and credit allocation. It expanded her power exponentially at the cost of nation.

It was only when P. V. Narasimha Rao became the Prime minister that we saw the dismantling of the license raj. The situation was so bad that economic reforms were adopted to avert impending international default in 1991.Rao’s finance minister was coincidentally Manmohan Singh, who played a central role in implementing these reforms.

The impact of those reforms was huge and it improved all sectors of our economy like foreign investment, manufacturing, banking, trade and the nascent software sector. All of them grew by leaps and bounds. India’s image also changed, from a beggar state to that of an IT hub.

There has been growth but their is a problem of inequity. The number of poor people in India is very large. In villages basic facilities such as drinking water, electricity, sanitation and medical facilities are lacking. But poverty cannot be removed by lip service or sloganeering like”Garibi Hatao”. It can be removed by generating wealth and that can only be done by rapid industrialization.

Lessons can be learnt from Gujrat, where even in times of global recession investors have promised to invest a phenomenal Rs 12,000 lakh crore. No wonder leading industrialists are praising the Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and suggest that he could be the prime minister.

Today,India has been growing economically not because of but “inspite” of the Gandhis.

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The Israel & India Connection

On January 11, 2009, In Politics, By

India and Israel established diplomatic relations as late as 1992.The previous BJP led government initiated several efforts to form close strategic ties with Israel mainly on account of the fact that both nations suffered from Islamic terrorism. The goodwill was always reciprocated from Israel which during the Kargil war provided India with advanced military hardware, at the most crucial time.

Over a short period, India & Israel ties have progressed rapidly:

There is a major defence partnership between India & Israel in process and it is India’s second-biggest arms supplier.

Trade between India and Israel is expected to reach eight billion dollars. Israel is also a source of technology collaborations for several Indian companies especially in sectors such as horticulture, bio-tech and medical equipment.

Both India and Israel have been victims of savage by Islamic militants. As recent as last month, in Mumbai attack, Islamic terrorists from Pakistan targeted and specifically killed Jews.

Every sovereign nation has the right to defend the security of its citizens. Fed up with daily rocket attacks from Hamas terrorists, Israel launched a war on Gaza.

As expected, the Indian government expressed strong condemnation of hostilities in Gaza and reiterated support to the Palestinian cause. The present Indian government is unable to take a balanced stand on war. The UPA government headed by the Congress party is shy of associating itself with Israel as it will loose the Muslim vote bank. Going a step further minister of state for external affairs E Ahamed’s of IUML has demanded snapping of ties with Israel. The drama in all Muslim dominated areas has also started where anti-Israel slogans & demonstrations by politicians is a way of show offs.

There cannot be durable peace without a strict implementation of cease fire by all neighbours. There are too many parallels between Indo-Pak and Israel-Hamas affairs to be ignored. On both sides countries have been hijacked by Islamic terrorists and governments are unable to take action against those non state actors.

Certain states may be ungrateful, but Israel is fighting our fight too. Since India and Israel are both fighting a war against Islamic terrorism, we need to have close cooperation with Israel and reciprocate the help they offered during Kargil war.

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Clash of Civilizations in India

On January 4, 2009, In Politics, By

Last week, hundreds of people, including women and children, gathered in Srinagar (J&K) in a protest march. They were not protesting against rising prices, militancy or any domestic issue. But the protest was against Israel’s aggression against Palestine. So why are people living thousands of miles away concerned with an issue that has least effect on them? This question was answered by Professor Samuel P. Huntington.

In the summer of 1993 the journal Foreign Affairs published an article by Harvard Professor Samuel P. Huntington titled” The Clash of Civilizations”. That article, according to the Foreign Affairs editors, stirred up more discussion in the three years than any other article they had published since the 1940s.

The article successfully shifts the discussion of the post-cold-war world from ideology, ethnicity, politics, and economics to culture–and especially to the religious basis of culture, a subject generally ignored in contemporary political science.

Huntington talked about the increasing threat of violence arising from renewed conflicts between countries and cultures that base their traditions on religious faith and dogma.

This theory has enormous implication for India.

Partition was a grim reality. The two nation theory was successful and geographical borders of India were decided on the basis of religious bias.

Even after decades of partition local politics in India is easily swayed on the basis of religious differences. Politicians have successfully developed vote banks along religious lines.

Unable to implement the uniform civil code is our single biggest failure. Also continuation of policy of special status for the J&K state prevents the state from integrating into the country.

India is unable to take strong measures on Pakistan just because it will affect the local Muslims. Inspite of repeated provocations from Pakistan we are unable to come up with a single strategy. Even simple steps such as cutting off trade relations & stopping of issuing of visas are not being implemented.

The UPA government is pulling all stops to consolidate the minority votes before the next general election. It is crossing all limits in minority appeasement and is disregarding the constitution feature that ensures equality to all citizens.

Professor Huntington, who passed away in the US on Dec 24, must have gone to his grave a contented man. His theory has survived the test of time and is very relevant to the peace & stability of Indian subcontinent. Fundamentalist Islam will be the primary source of conflict in most parts of the sub continent.

In India, we seem determined to prove him right since as a nation we are more divided on religious basis now than ever before. And it will only end up weakening India as a nation state.

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Mumbai Attacked – What’s Next?

On December 7, 2008, In Politics, By

India is burning with rage. Everybody wants some action on Pakistan. But our government is quiet. There is absolutely no political leadership or direction in our country. While we are able to produce highly rated professionals in software development, management, finance etc, why do we have such dumb people in politics?

Meanwhile the media has slyly shifted the anger of average citizen from those in power (UPA) to politicians in general. For once Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi was right. The society in general is trivializing the most important issue facing the country today, i.e – SECURITY.
We must understand the enormity of the problem and not deviate from the main issues.

Some of the main questions me must ask are:

  • What happens if there is another terrorist attack?
  • What is being done to eliminate Dawood Ibrahim’s gang?
  • How are people getting houses on rent or sim cards without proper verification?
  • Why are we not using our technical skills in software development, space etc on security?
  • Why is the Pakistani society living in denial & how to handle them?

Instead of asking the above difficult questions, the media is covering sms messages, candle light vigils, secular rants. While asking for accountability is good there are some who are exhorting citizens not to vote, don’t pay taxes etc. These issues are not only trivial but dangerous, if implemented.

Instead of beating around the bush we all should launch an initiative to recall the ineffective UPA government before it is too late.

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The War On India – By Cold Bloodded Terrorists

On November 30, 2008, In Politics, By

At least 200 people including 25 foreigners have been killed in attack by terrorists in Mumbai. It was the most violent terror attack on India and struck at the city’s most high-profile targets including the landmark Taj Hotel at the Gateway and the luxury Oberoi Trident. The attacks have also taken a tragic toll on the Mumbai’s top police brass and the high-profile chief of the anti-terror squad (ATS) Hemant Karkare was killed.

The target – Indian Economy
India is not a third world country anymore. Yes it is a developing economy with several poor people, but in an atmosphere of gloom and doom in the global economy, India is one of the very few countries with over 8% growth rate. The terrorists have struck at main symbols of prestige and targeted the elite business community. The impact on the minds of the Indian Industrialists, business community and investor would be enormous but short lived because Indian economy is not too globally integrated.

The perpetrator – Pakistan
As usual all leads point to Pakistan. The terrorists came from Karachi and were constantly in touch with their bosses in Pakistan. The victims were profiled and killed especially Jews. The terrorist caught has confessed to being from Faridkot, recieved training in Muzaffarabad and came from Karachi city in Pakistan. Also satellite phone, ammuninations and mobiles recovered from Terrorists are from Pakistan.

The operation – Army Way
There are 3 ways to solve a problem – the right way, the wrong way & the army way. There may be several armchair critics who would argue that it could have been planned better, but in such a tight situation, it was executed very methodically. During the entire operation there was no argument, no discussion, no, hostage, no ransom – just action. The NSG commandos came, completed the assignment and moved out. Yes, they acted as though they had no hostage situation but then they were dealing with cold blooded Mad Animals.

Our government – Absolute Failure
Also it is a complete failure on the part of the UPA government. Instead of giving pseudo secular statements the prime minister must now act. The Home Minster, Shivraj Patil is treated as totally incompetent by all sections of the country. There have been so many bomb blasts since the UPA government took over that it seems there is no central intelligence and police working at all.

(more…)

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Top 5 Anti-Hindus

On October 12, 2008, In Politics, By

The media industry in India is very competitive. In order to grab maximum viewer attention TV Channels organise interviews, debates & TV shows on controversial subjects. Some of the popular TV shows are big fight, devils advocate etc. These TV shows are manipulated cleverly by TV channels to grab highest TRP’s. Instead of raising the issues as right vs wrong, the moderator talks on Hindus vs Muslims or Hindus vs Christians. There are invariably some people in the debate and audience who have pathological dislike towards Hindus and openly represent the views of terrorists, evangelists and separatists.

Some of the prominent loonies are:

  • Shabana Azmi – is one of the leading actresses of Indian Cinema. Recently in an interview she said that she could not buy a flat in Mumbai due to religious discrimination. She should have gone ahead and named the reason (lack of trust) on why it is happening, rather than blaming the overall society. Almost all the Indian Mujahadin terrorists caught by police are highly educated Muslims. This reflects an inherent problem in their own mindset and not discrimination in society towards minorities.

  • John Dayal- is a Christian activist. He quotes the constitution every time on freedom of religion issue. But never raises the issue of discrimination within the Christians & Dalit Christians. The fact is Dalit Christians have segregated churches, cemeteries, services and even processions. Conversion to Christianity does not free Dalits of the bondages of caste system. Today discrimination is a class not birth or caste problem and it can be resolved by change in their economic status.
  • Teesta Setalvad – is a Mumbai based civil rights activist. Highly aggressive and talks in such a shrill voice that she even forgets the issue the debate is about. She is a classic case of a person indulging in majority bashing in the name of secularism. Her replies are so crass that even if the debate is on gender equality she raises the issue of Gujarat riots! Her organization Communalism Combat receives funds from the Congress Party & the Communist Party of India.

  • Mahesh Bhatt – is a prominent film director, producer and screenwriter. He has had some personal problems with his dad. And he removes all his frustration on Hindus in general and views every Hindu as a fundamentalist. Always taking the so called secular stand, he doesn’t know that the dictionary meaning of the word secularism i.e, ‘not connected with religion’. When you talk about fundamentalism in India you cannot talk in exclusive term, but compare it with the minority rights and privileges in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Israel, Vatican etc.

  • Arundhati Roy – is a writer and activist. She is an anti-national roaming around freely. Recently she was in news for advocating freedom for Kashmir. She is unaware about its consequence on the rest of the population of the subcontinent as the devastation will be nothing short of partition. It is very tragic that she chooses to use her intelligence and analytical abilities on unsound, irrational and anti national issues such as condemning USA, Israel and conducting trial by media on issues such as parliament attack and recently the Batla house encounter.

The main problem with such people is that they don’t convince but confuse people. The above loonies don’t realize the harm they are doing to their own community. They don’t take a balanced stand and never mention contentious issues such as partition, persecution of Hindus in Kashmir, Haj subsidies, gross exploitation of Muslim women. All their arguments revolve around Gujarat riots, Babri Masjid, alienation of minorities, constitutional privileges for minorities etc.

They are openly promoting anti Hinduism & anti nationalism in the garb of secularism and democracy.

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Is the Indian media – Partial?

On October 5, 2008, In Politics, By

Media is the most powerful tool to reach a large section of audience and inform them about the latest happenings.

However organized media is easily converted into propaganda. That is sending a concerted set of messages aimed at influencing the opinions of large numbers of people. As opposed to impartially providing information, propaganda in its most basic sense presents information in order to influence its audience.

Propaganda often presents facts selectively to encourage a particular synthesis, or gives loaded messages in order to produce an emotional rather than rational response to the information presented.

The desired result is a change in mindset of the target audience to further a political agenda.

The mass media in India was generally considered as autonomous, impartial and fair in reporting. However in recent times it has lost a great deal of respect especially after the parliament vote for cash – tapes issue. The media has become judgemental, partial and to a large extent controlled & influenced by a certain group of people with vested interests.

There are several instances where it has not played an fair & objective role:

1. Our parliament was recently witness to the most shameful act in democratic history. MP’s were being bought by the UPA to stay in power in the recent trust vote. Rajdeep Sardesai was aware of the scandal and betrayed those who were managing the sting operation. He is the managing editor of the channel CNN IBN that was conducting the sting operation and he personally ensured that the tapes were not telecast that day.

2. Suicide of a Muslim man who married a Hindu girl received huge coverage. It sparked of candle light vigils, discussions etc. But a murder of a Hindu man by his muslim In-laws exactly during that time, received absolutely no coverage.

3. Thousands of Kashmiri Hindu’s were killed and millions displaced from their homes.They are forced to live like refugees in their own country. There is a shocking silence on this issue with absolutely no media coverage, interviews etc to tell their side of story.

4. In almost every exit poll before election results, the media portrays BJP as a loser. It has become so repetitive that most pollsters and journalists have lost credibility. Even a roadside Chai Wala is able to predict the polls better that our so called election survey experts. It appears to be a direct attempt to influence the voter.

5. All news involving Dalits or scheduled castes are shown as symbols of Hindu caste oppression. Whereas most such ghastly acts are simple cases of criminal intent with economic status and not caste being the major issue. Similar acts of discrimination within other religions are never taken up by the mainstream media.

6. M.F Hussain is glorified by liberals to attack and portray Hindus as fanatics. But there was no media noise when an absorbing Hollywood movie – Da Vici Code was banned and there were several violent protests across the country.

The main reasons for the selective propaganda by Indian media could be:

  • Most leading journalists and media barons are Christians ( Pranoy Roy )

  • They are educated and indoctrinated in Christian run institutes like Stephens college (Rajdeep Sardesai)

  • The media companies in India are completely in control by western companies through cross holdings (CNN, NBC, Viacom).

  • The media is advertising driven and almost all leading Ad companies in India are foreign subsidiaries of global Ad companies.

The propaganda unleashed by the Indian media can be countered by supplementing the existing media channels and using internet as a tool to spread truth. Already in most western countries, TV and newspaper viewings are rapidly shrinking. Using Internet, ordinary individuals now have the same tools of potential exposure on a scale comparable to large media companies.

So switch off your TV remote and start blogging!

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The new face of Terror

On September 28, 2008, In Politics, By

Mushirul HasanThere has been a shootout in Delhi and spate of arrests recently related to the bomb blasts that spread terror and grief across the country. Unlike the general perception the terrorists caught are not poor madrasa educated Muslims but highly educated professionals belonging to well off families. They are Muslim software engineers, MA economics, electrical engineers, & MBA’s.

In a shocking action the Jamia Millia Islamia Vice-Chancellor, Mushirul Hasan had stated that the university would bear the cost of legal aid of its two students who were arrested by Delhi Police in connection with the Delhi blasts.

There is no problem in providing legal aid, but is it his money? No, Jamia Millia is a central government university and has been funded by hard working citizen & tax payer’s money. If the vice chancellor is actively funding and supporting terrorists, then how will the students behave? In his single misguided step he has castigated the entire University as a terror sponsoring organization.Also it is the first time in the history of nation state that a ruling government is funding terrorists.

What is next – will Prof Mushirul give the JM university students, bomb making training?

Pl. comment.

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