Phase II: Media PsyOps in progress

(click on images for a larger version)

Nov 26, 2008: At 9:30 PM the operation started. By midnight, the damage control was already well underway.....

They were out there in large numbers. The secular barbies of prime time TV. The attacks were so sudden that there was no clear directive from the control centers. They ran helter skelter, camera crew in tow. They showed the carnage. From all possible angles.

Pretty soon the enormity of the situation became evident. This was much bigger than anyone would have contemplated in their wildest dreams. Meanwhile news of the ATS chief's death came in.

Don't politicize terror attacks:

The media stumbled upon a stop gap solution while the headquarters started figuring out a strategy. The secular party has expensive PR agencies at its disposal. So do the media houses. Within 24 hours, the political strategy was already in place. The media strategy was more difficult - the end points were known but it is a tough straight line to draw from the burning Taj hotel to the ultimate recipient of the blame.

Visit politics:

Day II provided an easy exit for the media. Narendra Modi visited the sites on his own. L K Advani soon followed. These events were played way up while the media hosts lamented how these "politicians" were exploiting the situation. Media managed to find onlookers who expressed disgust. By this time the branding of the incident was complete. It was India's 9/11, all cops who had died at the event were total martyrs (unlike Mohan Chand Sharma who died an ignominious death in Delhi - more on that later). People must rise above politics. It was India's tragedy. For a blow by blow account of what really happened, please read this account. As a side note, the media also attempted an Indian version of 9/11 widows. The talking heads claimed that Karkare's widow had turned down compensation from Narendra Modi, this turned out to be untrue.

By this time the marine commandos and NSGs were fully engaged and the media had lot of grounds to cover.

Diffuse:

The enormous potential political price must have sent the media honchos into a frenzy as it would have sent the strategic heads of the secular party. An operation of this scale requires meticulous planning.

The first thing to remember in asymmetric warfare is not to take direct blows. By day III, the operations were happening in contained zones. By this time, the political strategy had been fully worked out. Since that forms the basic of media strategy, the talking heads were much more composed by this time.

The secular barbies were thronging the sites now and letting people vent. Within a few hours, a new enemy was created - "politicians". Suddenly public forgot that they had been electing these politicians for six decades. People expressed their anger - some articulate, the others not. Those who were not, spit more on the microphone.

Scapegoats:

Before we come to the scapegoats, we must dwell upon the objective a little bit. The objective of any warfare is to save the most precious assets. First you send out the infantry. When they go down, you launch artillery. Then you send tank batallions. But you must never ever endanger the queen.

Public wrath demanded scapegoats. They wanted names and faces on the newly created enemy - the politician.

The easy scapegoat was of course Shivraj Patil. A relic of the past with little political leverage, he was thrown out of his office without much fanfare. Public demanded more. An obvious choice is Maharashtra CM Deshmukh. Unfortunately the dude has strong local support. So they focused on his deputy R R Patil. They twisted an unguarded remark by Patil and played it repeatedly. But Patil wouldn't budge - strong local support. It is highly possible that this is a red herring, but we are not sure.

Then comes the highly comical part. Deshmukh went to visit the busted up Taj hotel, with his actor son in tow. Now, anyone who has even the slightest knowledge about Indian politics knows that Ritesh is one of the well behaved political scions (contrast with Lalu's kids - eve teasers, D P Yadav's kid - murderer or H D Kumaraswamy's high school dropout spoilt brat). Now, the film director Ram Gopal Verma happened to be with the party when it went to Taj. Notice in the picture above, how media has not only managed to find Ram Gopal Verma but put a red circle around his head.

The media wouldn't stop talking about it. It creates pressure on Deshmukh. The entire thing may have been designed to deflect attention. Remember, you must not let any stray bullet hit the queen. Launch decoys.

All Party Meet:

Now we come to the hypnosis phase. The queen safeguarded, it is time to go on the offensive.

By now the secular party announced the bogey of an "All party meet". Now, an all party meet makes sense when you need to reach a consensus across party lines. The only point of contention here is the POTA, which the UPA will never agree to and which the BJP leaders will strongly insist upon. At this stage of lame duck Government, whose legislature met on only 32 occasions so far this year (out of which 3 were spent on the cash for votes scam), only now announces an "all party meet".

A bit of background: last year, L K Advani happened to meet Rahul Gandhi at an airport. He gushed about it to reporters. The junior Gandhi gave him the royal snub. L K Advani does not realize that he is not dealing with gentlemen. The rules of engagement are very different here.

Anyway, so the all party meeting was convened and Advani and Rajnath Singh were not present. This is being treated as an unpardonable sin by the media. The media is insinuating that they are playing politics and missing such an event of national importance for the sake of attending political campaigns.

It is hard to come across such straightfaced lie and vile propaganda. Given the back story with the prince, it is likely that the said all party meet was convened at a time it was not possible for Advani to attend it. Here is the real story:

NEW DELHI: BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate L K Advani and party chief Rajnath Singh skipped the all-party meeting convened by the Prime Minister on Sunday to discuss the terror attacks in Mumbai, as they were campaigning for the assembly polls in Rajasthan. Expressing his inability to attend the meeting, Advani called up the Prime Minister to say he was busy campaigning in Rajasthan and would meet him on the issue soon after returning to Delhi, BJP sources said. BJP's Deputy Leader in Lok Sabha V K Malhotra and Deputy Leader in Rajya Sabha Jaswant Singh represented the party at the meeting. [link]

The message is being reinforced with images of the queen (see above, a special frame totally distinct from other politicians) and ticker messages. The idea is that the queen is really above politics and Advani is the bad dude here. So finally we have a name and a face for the bad politician the public must direct his anger at.

So, what really happened at the "all party" meet? Well, the PM announced a Federal agency to tackle terror, four NSG units in place of the only one right now and better maritime security. Details are here. As to the highly original and daring plan of a federal agency to tackle terror, this is the background:

The proposal [to set up a federal agency] has been in the pipeline since 2000 when former Home Minister L K Advani, asked the K Padmanabhaiah Committee on Police Reforms to examine the feasibility of declaring certain crimes as federal offences "to enable a central agency to undertake investigation, without any loss of time."

The Padmanabhaiah Committee then opposed the creation of such a body, warning that it could affect federal balance.

The proposal was once again taken up in 2003 when the Justice V S Malimath Committee recommended that the time had come for setting up a ''federal investigating agency with an India charter.''

In a bid to soothe federal sensitivities of states, the Malimath Committee said the proposed agency should have ''concurrent jurisdiction'' over federal crimes.

Home Minister Advani could not push through the federal agency proposal and his successor Shivraj Patil was confronted with an adverse recommendation from the Administrative Reforms Commission headed by Congress leader Veerappa Moily. The Moily-led commission then recommended that crimes of a federal nature could be investigated by a specialized wing of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). [link]

Flashback

[channel jingle]

Sagarika Ghose:

Yes it is 10 pm and it is time to face the nation. J&K was peaceful today but the peace is deceptive for the first time in a decade openly separatist slogans
are being shouted out in Srinagar:

[chewing every syllable, relishing every word]
Jeeve jeeve Pakistan
Long live Pakistan
Bharat teri maut aayi ... Lashkar aayi Lashkar aayi
India your death has come, Lashkar is coming
[Lashkar is LeT, the group believed to be behind the Bombay carnage]

An almost 5 lakhs turned out at the United Nations office at Srinagar. Shouted these slogans the central government is looking helpless ... Kashmir is drifting ... dangerously away from India ...

Hatch your own conspiracy theory

The best one so far:

Our worst fears have come true. It is clear that Mossad is involved in the whole affair. An entire city has been attacked by Mossad and probably units of mercenaries. It is not possible for one single organization to plan and execute such a sophisticated operation. It is clear that this operation was backed by communal forces from within the Indian State. The Home Minister Shivraj Patil should resign. The RSS-BJP-VHP-Bajrang Dal should be banned. Advani and others ought to be arrested. Today is a day of shame for all Indians and all Hindus. Muslims and secular Hindus have been proven right. RSS type forces and Israel are all involved in not only destabilizing but finishing India. India should immediately snap all relations with Israel. We owe this much to Karkare and the brave ATS men who had shown the courage to arrest Praggya Singh, Raj Kumar Purohit, the army officer and several others. [link]

Another interesting piece of news came in [via a comment on Offstumped]:

BANGALORE: In a landmark judgment, 11 of the 23 persons convicted in the bomb attacks on churches in Bangalore, Gulbarga and Hubli in mid-2000, have been awarded death sentences.The special court headed by Justice S M Shivannagoudar in its order on Saturday also sentenced the other 12 to life imprisonment.All the 23 are activists of the banned Deendar Anjuman outfit which seeks to make India an Islamic state.They had carried out bomb blasts at churches in Wadi in Gulbarga, Keshavapura in Hubli and Jagjivanramnagar in Bangalore.

[...]

Three of the 11 sentenced to death are from Bangalore: Mohammad Ibrahim, Abdul Rehaman Sait and Amanath Hussain Mulla; six are from Hyderabad: Sheikh Hasham Ali, Mohammad Sharfuddin, Mohammad Akhil Ahmed, Ijahar Baigh, Sayed Abbas Ali, Mohammad Khalid Choudhary.The other two are Hasnuzama of Nuzwid and Sayed Muneerudin Mulla of Hubli. [link]

Who needs GPS when you have NDTV, CNN-IBN and TimesNow TV?

Terror planners, save a bundle in your next endeavor.

From a comment on the previous post:

rc has left a new comment on your post "The script changes little ...":

News just in, the medias live coverage of the helicopter airdrop at Nariman house really pissed off the police. It showed clearly :

1) How many commandos were airdropped
2) What kind of weaponry they possessed
3) Which door on they roof they made their entry
4) How many made their entry and how many were providing backup and at what locations.

At other locations, Media showed sniper locations clearly, what building and what windows. Showed location of fire personnel (so they would set fire on the opposite side). All this was being followed by the terrorists. I claim the media is responsible for the losses suffered by the commando units.

What took the cake was the anchors in Bangalore and Bombay who HAD to zoom in on the parents of commandos who were killed. Never mind that these families need to grieve in private and not be hounded by OB vans, what about exposing their identities.

Keep in mind the media was officially asked by the police and NSG not to show live coverage. The media worked this around by introducing a few minutes lag!

Also read this post on retributions about media insensitivity. On another occasion when after interviewing a survivor, Rajdeepji asked him one more last question Sir (isn't there always one) - how exactly did it feel when you hugged your toddler son for the first time after being rescued? Barkha Dutt was describing the devastation at the Taj. Camera, show here - look look, broken glass. Oh my, the princess room - totally busted up. And here - ugh rotting corpses. Then a beat cop rudely threw her out.

A few months ago India's media honchos grouped together (perhaps in a five star hotel similar to the ones destroyed) to develop a code for self-regulation.

The script changes little ...

Onlookers near a residential area under siege (not in frame) in Bombay, November 27

So, within a few hours of all hell breaking loose over Bombay, Sagarika Ghose unilaterally announced a new rule - terror must not be politicized. Then like a dishonorable general breaking her own armistice, she invited Rahul Dholakia (the fat filmmaker of Parzania, India's Michael Moore) to a show. She also badgered various BJP leaders with questions like - are you still beating your wife (its Hindutva variant really)? Of course she got a mouthful in return but that is unlikely to help the Hindu leaders. Sagarika Ghose discussed ways to solve the terrorist issue. Her attempts at keeping voting out a certain political party from the realm of a possible solution was comical. She concluded the show by saying if ordinary citizens stop paying bribes and start wearing seat belts, terror attacks can be prevented.

"Terror must not be politicized" is right up there with "Terror has no religion". An interesting post summarizes what else you are not allowed to politicize.

We have been through all this before. There is one entity and only one that is above all criticism in India and it is the secular party. When it miserably fails, it is "Governance". When its cities are laid to waste by handful of gunmen, it is the fault of our "political class". On other occasions it is the fault of the judiciary, globalization or George Bush.

The media's nervousness is palpable, being the bastard child of the feudal order that has been ruining India for 60 years and with elections coming up, the attacks are being elevated to levels comparable to the WWII bombing of London. The attackers are being elevated to the level of indestructible zombies.

Meanwhile the only people who will make out like bandits form all this are the secular media and intellectuals. Mahesh Bhatt was asked to comment on the attacks. He asserted that even the almighty America can not prevent terrorism (i.e. do not blame Congress). Then he said India is just waking up to it and you ain't seen nothing yet. You ain't seen nothing yet - he said again, chewing every syllable. Ok, dude, whatever.

One can not help wondering after watching the chaotic, erratic, cacophonic coverage of some of our secular media that perhaps the dynastic factor is leaving out some of the able reporters on the street. Surely among the many young women reporters of CNN-IBN who braved any number of hazards out on the streets, there are some who are more articulate and more intelligible than the shrill Sagarika Ghose. But they do not enjoy the legacy, a paternal handout from the DD days and some tapes that may exonerate or provide belated alibis to senior Congress leaders in their alleged complicity in the ghastly 1984 riots.

Barkha Dutt was outside Nariman House when the operation there ended. She was pointing out the NSG commandos waiting in buses. She pointed out people congratulating the troops and how people were saying Jai Hind. How people were raising anti-Pakistan slogans. Sadly, she added. After three days of near non-stop coverage, her voice hoarse, her footsteps faltering with fatigue, her politics was still crystal clear.

Advisory

Some of you may be tempted to forward many anti-Pakistan/anti-Congress SMSes that will inevitably make rounds in the days to come. We strongly recommend that you refrain from doing so, unless you are self-employed, politically well connected or otherwise empowered to take care of your own ass.

Why? Because of the Balakrishna episode (original post, follow up).

If you are a BJP supporting Hindu living in a Congress/secular neighborhood, you might want to consider hiding your political affiliations for a few months.

Vote for change

Please go out and vote for change. Rahul Gandhi is India's Barack Obama. Why vote for him? Because you as an Indian deserve the very best.

Jai Rahul Baba.

Dude, where is my country?

Just a matter of time.

Shocking!

Now you are ready for a more advanced course in West Asia. Let me stress that the following is not typical but it is revealing. On November 12, 2008, MEMRI published its video clip No 1903 which you can see at http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1903.htm. It is from a television show aired on October 31, 2008. First, I will tell you what it says, which is profoundly shocking. But then I will give you reasons why it is far more shocking than you thought.

The person being interviewed proposes that Arab men sexually harass Israeli women as a new means of resistance against Israel. “They are fair game for all Arabs,” the interviewee explains, because they “rape the land” by their very existence.

Might this cause a legal problem if an Egyptian or Jordanian rapes an Israeli tourist? No problem, the interviewee explains, "Most Arab countries do not have sexual harassment laws. Therefore, if (Arab women) are fair game for Arab men, there is nothing wrong with Israeli women being fair game as well." [link]

Do read the full article and be sure to watch the linked video to understand just how grave is the implication.

What could go wrong?

What could go wrong in the scenario described in this report?

Hint.

Our intellectuals

In his latest post, blogger realitycheck mentions an article by Ram Guha, who is no stranger to this blog or its readers. Guha is always interesting to read, so we read the Guha article linked from the post.

Guha writes:

Enough of nostalgia, I will be told. Forget the past — who now, in present-day India, is the politician who is not wholly unremoved from the style and strategies of the remarkable Barack Obama? Here again, there is an unacknowledged precursor, if at first glance a somewhat unlikely and unprepossessing one. Nitish Kumar has no Harvard degree (perhaps no degree at all). He dresses in a crumpled kurta, not a well-pressed suit. He is an indifferent orator. Still, he too speaks of, and in some measure, practises, a politics that is non-sectarian. When the National Democratic Alliance said that it would project the “Gujarat model of development” to the whole country, Kumar asked them instead to showcase the Bihar model of development, since it was “inclusive”. (The last word, as used by the Bihar chief minister, was an euphemism for “not anti-Muslim”.)

This paragraph vividly illustrates the sheer brazenness of our intellectuals. They do not even bother to do a basic fact check. Nitish Kumar has a Bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering. He was the railway minister before Lalu and although the media does not give him credit, he strengthened the railways. Lalu merely added froth and public relations.

This is the nature of political discourse in India. Sound bites - yes, substance nil. All you need to do is add a sprinkling of the magic keywords - social justice, secularism etc. No need to do any fact check. No need to do any research.

Given that Guha elevates Nitish Kumar to the stature of India's Obama, he simply can not be excused for not looking up the man. Makes one wonder about Guha's widely celebrated book on India's contemporary history - India after Gandhi.

Hindu? It will cost you

The French philosopher Pascal once argued that believing in God has a net positive value. Well, it turns out that believing in certain Gods can actually be quite harmful - it could cost you your career.


As we noted in the previous post, there is intense competition for the attention of the American President elect, Barack Obama. A Hindu American woman, Sonal Shah (pictured), happens to be a member of the Obama transition team. This created a ruckus like you wouldn't believe! A quick google news search reveals the extent of the trouble Ms. Shah is looking at.

Ms. Shah has to go to absurd lengths to assuage the world that she is Kosher. She issued a denial in the current web issue of Outlook. Several eminent Indians have also penned a column in the same issue, savaging the "baseless innuendoes" against Ms. Shah. The funny part is, the column itself is full of innuendoes about two political organizations.

Unfortunately for Ms. Shah, it may be too late. It is not going to help that the eminent Indians who penned the column are all Hindus (except one).

The Sonal Shah episode reminds us about the Balkrishna incident (original post, follow up) - only it is much more sinister and needless to say way more prominent at an international level. This also speaks of the level of paranoia the secular buggers in India suffer from. They are constantly whining how the Hindu outfits are growing strong in the US, yet it is Narendra Modi who gets his visa denied. Meanwhile rabid Mullahs, harcore leaders like Ahmadinejad et al have no trouble getting to the US or Eurozone.

Basically this is a harbinger of things to come, once seculars gain a threshold strength in India. With unchecked infiltration and industrial scale conversions, that day may not be far.

Obamas 'R' Us

Right about now there is an intense competition for the Obama mindspace in the media/intellectual sphere. There are hundreds if not more intellectuals desperately fighting to outdo each other. Who liked Obama first? Who wrote the most frothy article? Who can suck up the most? Who is the mostest uberest super liberalest of them all?

Predictably it is leading to a lot of jealousy as well, almost like the multiple concubines of Mughal Emperors. They have even unearthed info that a Obama transition team member (a female economist) has RSS roots! Everyone panic! CNN-IBN posted a news story explaining how L K Advani is copying Obama by creating a website. This was a bit bizarre, this wasn't his first website and he couldn't possibly time his birthday to match the Obama victory. Neither is Obama the first politician to use websites - Narendra Modi has had dozens for years now (since before anyone knew there was such a dude called Barack). But then those were deemed as propaganda tools for fascist ideas - hence bad for mankind.

All this is leading to some pretty bizarre situations. It almost seems like Obama could do away with his PR team since Indian intellectuals are defending his every supposed gaffe even before they are made into issues by Obama's rivals in America. For instance a TOI article defended Obama's gaffes in his very first press conference. A critical post from Obama's rival quarters can be found here.

Perhaps the most amusing Obamania article came out in The outlook, the current lead story on the website.

First, let's look at the article in the spirit in which it is written, i.e. a farce. The article is very short for The Outlook standard and even compared to the past articles by the same author. Written up in a rambling tone, it profusely mixes up issues. Numerous articles in the past invariably compared Mayawati to Obama (correct contextual comparison) and concluded niet. This is the first time the situation is analyzed in the religious context (politically incorrect, shrouded with denial context by the dude himself - Freudian slip?).

It is quite clear that the author doesn't really believe or particularly want a Muslim as a PM of India. His main aim is to provoke. If you want a people to accept a leader they do not consider their own kind, calling them bigots is not, repeat NOT a good way to start.

(.....to be continued)

Hindu Terrorists found! Can we please hang Afzal now?

Had it not been for the American elections, the media would be abuzz with minute by minute details on the Hindu terrorism case in which almost half a dozen people (including a Hindu Sadhvi and senior army personnel) have been arrested so far. A google search reveals the frantic reporting and painstakingly written reports that are crying out for space on the headlines. A google news search on Hindu Terrorist reveals the great deal of attention this is getting on the media from Islamic countries.

There is nothing objectionable with the term Hindu Terrorist. There is a reason terrorism is treated differently from ordinary crimes. There is a strong reason to attach the ideology that causes it. The case of the Sadhvi finds its roots in the same sort of ideology that causes minorities to blow up innocent people. As the recent case of the Software Engineer (19 Lakhs per annum salary) proves, poverty etc. leading to terrorism is largely a mythical construct.

There are several things that stand out in this case.

First, there is the deafening silence from the so called Human Rights activists. We have to give them time to digest the other important news and get back to regular programming but don't hold your breath for Arundhati Roy to appear on Devil's Advocate and punch holes on the case based on conflicting media reports. No demands for a judicial inquiry either.

Second, the police have acted in pretty much the same manner in which the prior cases were dealt with - at least the recent ones. The measures included confinement, interrogation , narco analysis and forensic tests, wiretapping, cross referencing witnesses etc. There might have been some third degree involved - no loss of limb or life (except the Delhi encounter case, but a cop died too).

Given that the current course of action is yielding some success, it should be continued. Alas, if only the world was so simple.

For one thing we are dealing with a community that has a very unique way of looking at things. At least two thirds of the community globally if not more believe that 9/11 was a Jewish conspiracy. There is already demands for opening up past blast cases, even solved ones. The Shahi Imam has made statements to the effect that no Government is taking care of the community. The community leaders in Assam are all set to form a new party, riding on the sizable and growing population.

In a sense this was inevitable. Once propaganda takes root, it is hard to temper it or throttle its momentum. Clearly over the decades there has been a conscious attempt to channel real or imaginary minority discontent towards a certain political goal. Ideally the activists and secularists would want it to stop right after defeating BJP. Right about now there is no going back. The secular propaganda way overshot its original target and there is widespread discontent that does not necessarily distinguish a secular Hindu and a communal Hindu. The anger is now targeted at India Inc. as a whole. As an example, the recent IM emails excoriated the Maharashtra CM and even lashed out at Tehelka.

You can not wave the red flag of freedom and then take it away at the last moment. This beast will break through everything. The case of the Hindu Terrorist, even if dealt with a strong hand will produce the exact opposite of the intended effect.

Did you listen?

Schoolgirls in Assam don't want to talk - nobody listens to them

"Assam is facing external aggression and internal disturbance." This comment from the Supreme Court came not after the serial blasts that killed scores but more than three years ago on July 12, 2005. [...]

Both the governments paid scant attention to the ominous signals that the Supreme Court read from the November 8, 1998 report of then governor Lt Gen S K Sinha, who had prepared it after a thorough inspection of border areas and districts, discussions with the Indian high commissioner in Bangladesh and talks with political leaders. What Lt Gen Sinha’s report brought out before the apex court in 2005 was the grim ground reality of Assam. His report stated: "The illegal migrants coming into India after 1971 have been almost exclusively Muslims... Muslim population in Assam has shown a rise of 77.42% from what it was in 1971. Hindu population has risen by nearly 41.89%." [link]

Meanwhile a a funny thing came to our notice. A CNN-IBN article (one of the current headlines) reports that "according to latest official figures" an estimated 2.2 lakh illegal Indian immigrants are residing in the US. A google search reveals that similar stories came out on TOI, the Economic Times and The Hindu. Now, the actual report [pdf] appears to be dated September, 2008. The news release also came out in September.

Why then would so many Indian newspapers report it in the month of November?

What's the connection you ask? Well, if you were able to figure that out, we confer an honorary bachelors degree in Indian politics on you.

Marathi Manoos vs. the LDR and the Train connection

Seeing itself is an act of violence. For example, if you listen to the words of a homeless person
with your eyes closed, they may have different meanings. When you see people you unconsciously judge them, and discriminate against them.

- dialog from the movie Tokyo Marigold.

Shobhaa De has penned several articles on her regular TOI column excoriating Raj Thackeray's regionalism. So, her astounding volte face on her Devil's Advocate interview came as a huge shock.

Not only does she lend full moral support to Raj Thackeray's ideals (sans the violence, of course), she seems to be irked by the influx of outsiders:

Karan Thapar: You’re saying two very interesting things – it’s been hijacked in their minds and that today Mumbai is every one else’s first and Maharashtrians’ last. Are Maharashtrians being discriminated against?

Shobhaa De: I would, to some extent, agree that they are being discriminated against in terms of job applications like the Railways – we saw last week what happened there – because Maharashtrian himself/herself has not perhaps fought for their rightful position within the state or the city. I say that with a great amount of compassion, not just for Maharashtrians but a system that seems to not recognise the dreams and ideals of the locals.

Karan Thapar: Before I come to why they haven’t fought for their rights, you are really seriously saying that today in Mumbai – the capital of Maharashtra – Maharashtrains are getting a raw deal?

Shobhaa De: I am definitely saying Maharashtrians get a raw deal which does not mean that I, in any way, support violence or endorse what Raj Thackeray stands for. What I am saying is that the raw deal has a lot to do with the Maharashtrian way of asserting or not asserting themselves.

As we have argued several times on this blog, this vividly illustrates that we set out to play a game without agreeing upon the rules. Now we have fouls all around and we can't decide on a neutral referee. Shobhaa De certainly does not speak for all Maharashtrians and neither does Raj. However, it is amply evident that there is an undercurrent of strong discontent. Political parties are only too willing to exploit the situation. According to De, even the intellectuals are bound by a "conspiracy of silence".

It is an easy ruse for the garden variety secular-socialists to pin the entire blame on Shiv Sena or MNS. Meanwhile Congress and NCP has been playing soft Marathitva to MNS' hard Marathi regionalism. They commissioned the giant Shivaji statue. When a newspaper criticized the expensive move, their offices were vandalized by Cong/NCP hoodlums. Even the official order for mandatory Marathi signboard came out of the Maharashtra legislature. Of course, Raj did more than his part to enforce it. It has been alleged that Congress reacted too late before arresting Raj, thus extracting political mileage out of the situation.

Elsewhere in the interview, Karan Thapar points out that statistics does not bear out the claim of the regionalists - that Maharashtrians are well represented in jobs. Shobhaa De doesn't seem to agree - she claims to see only outsiders at construction sites.

The whole situation is one of massive denial by all parties concerned. Are Marathis really agitating for construction jobs? Having been screwed over by a system that allowed certain communities to corner the wealth, they have only one option left. Or at least the option that should be obvious to anyone with a short-term perspective. Raj Thackeray can not be singled out for blame for indulging in identity based politics when virtually every intellectual in India does the same thing. At the time of writing, the lead story on Times of India, the largest circulation paper in India laments the few percentage points Minorities are lagging behind in jobs. Recently India's best known intellectual Arundhati Roy supported freedom for Kashmiris. In the end it turned out Kashmiris didn't want freedom.

Aside from the wealth accumulation issue (that can not be helped without overhauling the entire system and not anytime soon), much of the perception of job stealing by outsiders is mixing up cause and effect. The reason there are jobs in Maharashtra is why people go there in the first place. Certainly Marathis wouldn't want to swap for Orissa where no one goes (except missionaries)?

In India we want to eat the cake and have it too. When it comes to our own state, we want domicile quotas every which way we can. As soon as the matter relates to another state, suddenly we are gloriously Indians, cheerleaders for the LDR and great fans of cosmopolitan cities. Same thing when it comes to politics. When Congress applies Sachar, it is for social justice. But Raj Thackeray is not allowed to bat for poor Marathis.

The Train Connection

In the latest incident of anti-Hindustani violence by MNS, candidates from Bihar who were about to take the Maharashtra Railway Board entrance exam were severely beaten up. Reportedly one man was killed which triggered widespread violence in Bihar - public property was vandalized and one Maharashtrian was beaten up.

Well, it turns out that the man supposed to have been killed by MNS party workers had actually died in a train accident and they have CCTV footage to prove it. Now they tell us!

The incident happened at 7:30 AM. The man was brought to a hospital by railway staff. Which part of train accident was in doubt? Surely a man looks slightly different when run over by train as opposed to being beaten up by a mob? Yet somehow the rumor that an MNS mob had killed the boy reached Bihar and triggered violence.

From Babri Masjid (Advani was arrested by Laloo and confined in Bihar when the mosque was destroyed) to Godhra to this latest incident - every murky, sordid and controversial issue has Laloo's paw prints all over it. The man camps out in Gujarat, in Maharashtra. He is certainly entitled to as Railway minister. He also can't keep his hands out of the cookie jar of public money. Even the exam in question was for the railway services - who know if rules were being violated?

Shobhaa De mentions slogans written all over the walls in Mumbai saying, 'UP hamari hai, ab Maharashtra ki baari hai' (UP is ours, now for Maharahtra). Think poor migrant laborers thought it up by themselves? Special trains bringing in thousands for political rallies have added to the claustrophobia. Sometimes the trains bring in elements that would be undesirable anywhere, not just in Maharashtra. Why would Marathis put up with it?

Yet our intellectuals find Laloo's tomfoolery charming. They can't get enough of his rustic jokes.

Laloo is a living indictment to the dishonesty of the intellectuals in our country. We are letting men like him destroy the LDR bit by bit. Raj Thackeray and his company can not hold a candle to Laloo's disruptive presence in Indian politics and our intellectuals pretend not to see any of it.

Are we there yet?

So, the lunar probe got launched successfully. For the next few days we will not hear the end of it from various news channels. So, Singh is now King of the Universe! After becoming king of the world following the nuke deal.

Perhaps this was necessary. Who knows? But we know for sure the kind of articles that would be written had this happened during the NDA tenure.

Then again there is this minor matter, which the party of the aam aadmi was supposed to fix better than anyone else:

The war-ravaged countries of Serbia and Lithuania are better off. So are people in cold deserts of Mongolia. Tiny nations such as Surinam and Honduras have got a better handle on it and so have large diverse countries like China and Brazil. India, in comparison, is failing miserably to tackle hunger.

India ranks 66 out of 88 countries on the 2008 Global Hunger Index (GHI), far behind comparable developing countries as well as smaller, less diverse and resource deprived nations.

The index, released by the International Food Policy Research Institute on Tuesday, is bound to take the hype out of UPA's talk of inclusive growth, with a review of Indian states showing that economic progress witnessed in some states has not helped improve hunger and malnutrition levels. [link]

Joke

Rahul Gandhi wants to end dynasty politics.

Lipstick on a little girl ........

Eleven-year-old Nazmeen can barely speak. She suffered 99 per cent burn injuries after her neighbour set her on fire - all because she dared to wear lipstick.

Nazmeen was attacked by the man she called nana (grandfather). On Friday, Saleem told the little girl not to wear lipstick. When she defied him, in a fit of rage he allegedly molested her before pouring kerosene on her and setting her on fire. [link]

.. can be irksome to fundamentalist pigs.

The TOI story has a shocking twist.

Previous:

Uncles and Nephews
The never ending Imrana sequels

Heads I win .....

Funny

Reva Seth, whose recent book 'First Comes Marriage' is catching the West's fancy, argues that the developed world needs a different method of finding a spouse in an age of uncertainty. There are signs that some are listening.

Elaine McCabe, 33, a physiotherapist in Michigan, USA, has just permitted her father to invite men he thinks eligible to meet his daughter with a view to their marrying. McCabe, who took her cue from an Indian friend, says, "Any of us with Asian friends know if someone could save us from all those terrible nights next-to-zero hits and nearly-all misses, it would be wonderful." But she adds, "This does not mean I am supporting the kind of marriage in which the parties are left with no choice. The word is arranged, not forced."

The funny part:

But is the arranged marriage quite as Indian as it is portrayed? History records that the West once encouraged a system of arranged marriages in order to safeguard property and inheritance. There is evidence of arranged marriages in Western societies as far back as the 1500s and in the prim Victorian era, which encouraged a union for cultural and economic reasons rather than mere love. Ask any married person and they will tell you that marriage is a unique bond, whose strength lies in commitment, responsibility and the law and it has little to do with being madly in love with one's intended. [link]

When it was bad, we invented it. Now it is no longer so bad - so we didn't invent it in the first place. Catch-22.

Cowboys and Cowgirls

Watch this video, it is great fun. The idea of a fair debate according to seculars is 2 communal vs. 5 secular panelists. Watch who screams the most, watch who blames others for using lung power. The debate is indistinguishable from a fish market. These are our intellectuals.

The video is about 40 minutes, but you can use the slider.

At around 12:50, Swapan Dasgupta calls Teesta Setalvad an overground wing of the terrorists.

Towards the very end of the video, Tehelka's Harinder Baweja reveals a startling side of her character we never knew existed. Watch the video to find out.

Civil war

Bodo women and children at a relief camp

Anther civil war is on in Assam, between Bodo tribals and Bangladeshi immigrants. The body count is about the same as Orissa, but no one seems to be interested. The story disappeared from the headlines faster than you could say "Kandhamal'.

Looks like the Bodos were at the receiving end, by a wide margin. Our sympathies, unless you people can connect it up with the secular party's electoral fortunes, you are out of luck. See if you can somehow link up Bajrang Dal or VHP into the mix - something like, because of the Hindutva parties' hate campaign the Bangladeshi people in Dhaka got paranoid and decided to invade Assam and attack Bodos. It is a stretch, but worth a try.

The burden of proof [Updated]

(click on images for a larger version)

(A) Original TOI article published Oct 3, retrieved from Google cache

(B) TOI article modified on Oct 4: Headline changed, URL remains the same

In a few months time, four poor tribal people could be sent to jail on potentially false charges. India's motley crew of Human Rights Activists, tribal welfare wallahs, seculars, socialists etc. will keep mum. In fact, they will cheer the occasion and celebrate it.

The violence in Kandhamal district of Orissa has been bad enough but the political football surrounding it has scaled new heights. Already the Center has started talking about President's rule. The center of attention is now the alleged rape of a Nun that took place over a month ago.

Given the poor record of the Indian state in matters related to safety of women, the logical course of action should be to let the state do its work. However, suspicions abound in this particular case, especially in light of politically motivated false accusations in the past. Media rhetoric about the violence in Orissa is getting shriller by the day and by now it has reached a crescendo.

First, let's analyze the TOI report in question. On Oct 3, this report was first published, headlined: Medical report suggests nun raped; probe ordered, and can be still accessed from google cache. The screenshot (A) is the cached report, which has this to say:

"The woman was medically examined and the report received by us suggests possibility of rape," Kandhamal Superintendent of Police Praveen Kumar told. According to the report of the nun's medical examination, there was no external or internal vaginal injury, but semen was found inside. The nun's clothes have been sent for tests to the state forensic laboratory.

Note the "suggests" part. Note the mention of no injuries that could definitively establish sexual assault.

On October 4, the same article was mysteriously modified. The headline now reads:
38 days later, Orissa govt admits nun's rape. It is incomprehensible that a third party can actually "admit" to something that happened between a perp and a victim, but nevertheless this "admission" has evoked euphoric reaction in the Commie circles. The screeshot (B) of the report now carries the following:

Orissa police claimed on Friday they "received" the medical report - which found injuries to the victim's private parts and pointed to sexual assault - only on October 1. But doctors have a different story. Dr Sangeeta Mishra, who along with Dr Smita Marandi, performed the examination at Baliguda government hospital on the night of the incident, have a different story.

The modified report now claims there were injuries consistent with sexual assault.

The nun did not allege rape initially, but later mentioned that she had been raped by one person, in an FIR. Various news reports now claim that she was gangraped. Initial reports suggested the possibility of rape or rather "the report did not rule out rape" and "no injuries but semen was present". By now, the Nun was brutally gangraped by a mob and medical reports incontrovertibly establishing rape have surfaced.

Predictably the victim is untraceable and taken to an undisclosed location, but the media has full access to her.

The chances of abusing the situation is mind boggling. If one adds to it presumptive behavioral patterns expected of Nuns and by implication the alternate more acceptable theory, the situation becomes too complicated.

We are not suggesting that we have the last word on this incident - the incident must be thoroughly investigated and the guilty, if any, must be punished to the fullest extent of the law, but TOI updating its story rather than issuing a new one (they have published hundreds of stories on the incident) is highly suspicious. This type of complications put further strain on our already fragile secular nation.

[Update]

The CNN-IBN video that carries the actual voice of the victim narrating the assault on her is here.

I was hiding in a house, that is a Hindu house, in [inaudible]. They came inside, about 40 to 50 people with all the weapons in their hands and they saw me there ... recognized that I am a sister. One of them gave me one slap on my face and pulled me out from there by holding my hair.. took me out back door two of them holding my neck and wanted to cut my neck.. Anyway they left there and they started pulling my saree and dragged me to the road along with father ... ah ... they found also father Chellan ...

They took us both to the road they took.. took me into the [inaudible] there over they removed my blouse, they tore out my ..my bra and they cast me to the ground and two of them were stepping my hands on both sides and one ... one raped me . one person ..and they were shouting I heard - where is that sister? Come we will rape her at least hundred people will rape and leave - like that they were saying.

Earlier I didn't know I have not seen them but now if I see I ... I will recognize them ... At that moment no police were there .. no police were there ... then ah they... told .. told me that they will hand.. hand me over to the police so I .. I .. still .. I got courage then they took me out again from there to the road by then they poured kerosene on father Chellan and they wanted to burn and they were beating him with sticks and iron bars um.. then they made us to walk to the market.

There .. in the market police were there ... dozen of police were there. I thought they will they will .. protect.. protect us but they were just sitting as ... like stones .. they were not .. they didn't even talk or move or anything.. I.. I sat in between them but then they didn't.. means no movement at all.

We have given FIR and we have not yet received also the photocopy of it. It is a safe place [probably referring to her new location] I feel now I mean pretty safe place yes. I want to get justice, yes. Also not for my sake ... for the people for whom I was working I want to say the leaders of the country and the state specially [inaudible] safety and protect our people there in Kandhamal or wherever they.. they are insecure . [transcript ours]

This incident must not be taken lightly. However, the fate of the Orissa Government hinges on this. Swapan Dasgupta of The Pioneer elaborates on this. Congress will most likely go for a kill this time.

Several things stand out from the transcript above. The victim clearly says that she was raped by one person. Meanwhile the media is playing up the "gang rape of Nun" by a "fanatic Hindu mob" way too much. Also, Police were not present at the actual location of the incident. This is quite clear from the testimony. The Police were at the marketplace where presumably the victim was taken to. While this does not exonerate the Police, it is pretty far from "the Police stood mute spectators while a fanatic Hindu mob gang raped a Nun". Of course this is really rather technical, the nature of the incident, if it happened the way it was described, is basically gang rape.

Another curious aspect is that a fragment of the crowd, three or more in number, took the victim inside a building. This means that the larger crowd can not corroborate the statement of the victim. Also, it is not clear what the victim means by earlier she didn't know, she hadn't seen them, but now she can recognize them.

Sheilaji's Delhi

A young woman, after a late shift in her job as a TV production executive, leaves for home in her car. The time is after 3:00 am. New Delhi is not known to be particularly safe for women, so she calls up her father. She would be home in 15 minutes. So the man would just have a short period of time to worry. Half an hour later, her car is found crashed against the median, with the engine still running. The woman is found slumped in the driver's seat, with a bullet lodged in her head.

Reacting to the murder of journalist Soumya Viswanathan, Sheila Dikshit had on Wednesday said: "All by herself till 3 am at night in a city where people believe...you know...you should not be so adventurous.''

Sheila Dikshit married her way into the extended family. As discussed in a previous post, unless you are cricketer or film star or a member of a social justice class, it is very difficult to gain access. Marriage is another route.

That remark of Sheilaji, aside from being juvenile and ignorant, puts her into the league of various clerics who say that women who wear immodest clothing deserve what happens to them. The victim in this case wasn't even out for late night fun, she was out earning her bread (non-members of the extended family have to work to make a living). What if she had been to a nightclub? We can only imagine what this cretin would say. Gotcha adventuress!

Granted, political compulsions have forced the CM of New Delhi to tune out the recent tragic incidents in the city. But as a leader, doesn't she even feel the need to make a strong statement condemning the assailants? Couldn't she say, we will catch you and send you to the slammers for a long long time? We know that her enfeebled administration can hardly do anything worthwhile, but a strong statement could go a long way in restoring the confidence of thousands of women in New Delhi, who must take their chances all by themselves in the late hours of night.

Such statements embolden the nasties who bring in fire arms into the city. Part of the problem is that many of these elements are what keeps the dynasty intact. They are watching and they are having a good laugh. They know that no one will go after them and the person who could really send a posse after them is a soulless puppet. So they will continue to prey on vulnerable young women. The dynasty will live on, propping up many more puppets here and there in its wake.

Indian media: in a league of their own

Manmohan Singh calls himself an accidental Prime Minister. Be that as it may, with the Indo-US nuclear deal and consequent liberation of India from the 34-year-old technology denial regime, he has secured his place in history as one of the notable prime ministers of this country.

He joins the ranks of Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, P V Narasimha Rao and Atal Bihari Vajpayee in shaping and advancing India’s progress in international politics. [link]

Well, that leaves out only one PM who served for more than one year. Come to think of it, they didn't have to add Vajpayeeji to the list. Perhaps they felt a bit shy.

Gloves off

"Hindo", eh Ms. Naqvi? Perhaps Mughalistan was better, no?

Uncles and Nephews

Most men have fond memories of a particularly favorite uncle. They often provide a buffer zone between us and the cold and distant world of relatives. They have stories to tell and more often than not are the primary source of pocket money. Well, what do you know:

Apart from three police officers accused in the case, Rizwanur Rahman in his suicide note has held Trinamool Congress MLA Jawed Khan, his uncle Sadiqur Rahman and Priyanka's uncle Anil Sarogi responsible for his death.

"....The people actually and morally responsible for my death are Ajoy Kumar, Gyanwant Singh, Sukanti Chakraborty, Jawed Khan, uncle Saduiqur Rahman and Anil Sarogi" Rizwanur's suicide note said, CBI counsel Partho Tapaswi told the city sessions court yesterday where three police officers chargesheeted by the CBI in the case had moved bail application before being remanded to judicial custody. [link]

The keepers of our moral are always on the ready to point fingers at our various transgressions, but dig enough - you always find the same pattern. Minorities are getting it done to them by their uncles and fathers-in-law. We are often reminded how the minority youth are getting radicalized because of lack of resources and opportunities. Yet it seems they are a victim of a system that eats into itself. Nothing is sacrosanct, even the Haj subsidies are squandered and looted. We have thrown enough money at Kashmir but it hasn't helped. The powerful few suck it all up.

Anyone willing to listen will hear the giant sucking sound, but no one seems to care. Perhaps we all know, but it doesn't really help the cause, does it?

Hindu life cheap

Sure, but extending the logic tsunamis and floods kill way more than riots too.

Surely the situation could be helped if the security forces devoted more time in providing security for the public instead of getting tied up in Mataji and Babaji's numerous rallies. We also hear the intelligence agencies are used to gather poll intelligence for Congress. According to a report, our National Security Adviser made a trip to Kashmir to help poll alliances for Congress.

The situation could also be helped if there was some sort of normalization based on attendance figures. But some people must be protected more than the others.

In any case, these casualty numbers really pale in comparison to the hundreds of millions socialism has killed.

Two big stampedes, both in Hindu temples, couple of train fires. Suspicious?

Dumb and dumber

It is funny that by the time our intellectuals have finished arguing over an issue, it has already lost its relevance. Now the RBI no longer has to keep worrying about keeping the exchange rate down. This is happening despite the Dollar losing value against other major currencies. Good luck with the inflation, Mr. Chidambaram.

Malthus' revenge

Thomas Malthus must be one of the most cited economists of all times. His theories were once summarily panned across the political spectrum. The Marxists had their own reasons behind their dislike of Malthus. First, if one were a believer of an impending doom because of resource crunch, there would be all the more reason to hold on to the feudal and bourgeois order. Second - Malthus' theories ran counter to the Marxist promise of plentiful supply of goods and services.

Later on, the Marxists changed their tack. They realized that Malthus' ideas can actually help their propaganda. Since resources are scarce, a few individuals must not be allowed to hog them.

Thus while on one hand the socialists had hijacked it for their nefarious purposes, a new breed of Environmentalists and "Good Earth" people were using these ideas to further their own agenda. At least the core Marxists were consistent in their approach. The crypto-commies (essentially a rabid bunch of identity mongers who call themselves liberals these days) on one hand want to preserve the good earth while violently opposing any cut on subsidies and doles based on identity politics, even when the latter result in greater strain on the good earth.

The capitalist opposition to Malthusian doomsday scenario is based on a few important assumptions, the most important being the perfect liquidity and tradability of all goods and services. The second assumption is that people will be indifferent to everything else other than direct economic consequences. The experience of recent history reinforced the core capitalistic belief - industrial revolution and post WWII reconstruction proved that the world has virtually unlimited potential.

It is easy to see how both these assumptions miserably fail under certain circumstance.

Malthus believed that after a certain threshold of population growth, the world will run out of food. This has proved to be largely false, due to technological advances, globalization and maturity of financial markets, there is no shortage of food supply. The supply shocks that do occur are sporadic and only affect victims of large Governments. The world can easily feed four times the current world population.

However, not all resources are like food that can be produced almost everywhere in some form or the other and can be packaged and sold at any retail store thousands of miles away from the place of production.

One of the primary resources that is running out fast is land. Land resources are neither particularly liquid, nor are they perfectly tradable in the sense that one acre of land in Bombay is not equivalent to another acre in say Kandhamal district in Orissa. More worrying still, the mega cities themselves are fast becoming scarce resources. Simply living in one city versus another can create a huge economic difference. Entire books have been written on this topic.

A lot of this scarcity is created by ludicrous Government policies. The Indian Government has done virtually everything to exacerbate the apparent scarcity of land resources.

The biggest worry however is demographics. Malthus' idea is as much about actual scarcity as it is about perception. As far as perception goes, India Inc. is looking straight down the edge of precipice. The number of young men and women below the age of 25 is growing at a very fast pace. In the next few decades, our megacities can degenerate into virtual war zones where armed young men and women will go on rampage. The demographic hotspots like Kandhamal will turn into infernos. The forces that are waging a virtual war against India are not likely to let go anytime soon.

The optimists point out the demographic trends which show that population growth slows down with the growth in prosperity . Under these projections the world population will stabilize around 2050. These do not take into account the asymmetrical population growth in different societies not do they factor in the competition for resources based on identity politics.

Unless things are drastically changed and a level of sanity restored, India Inc. may not even survive till 2050.

Indian Congress' Nuke Deal: US Congress approves

The Nuke deal, or technically the 1-2-3 Agreement on Nuclear Cooperation between India and US was passed by the US House of Representatives.

The deal is crony-capitalistic in nature and likely to line up pockets of slimy well connected people while providing little electricity. It will also create massive land grab for Nuclear plants and line up our horizon with ugly looking poison spewing plants. The nuke deal will seriously compromise India's security and make it a hostage to the larger agenda of a certain power bloc. It will in effect make India a client state to the United States and its Euro zone cronies.

US House of rep voting record on the Nuke Deal:

Democrats: 120 for, 107 against.
Republicans: 178 for, 10 against.

It's a deal!

It's raining "militants"

Delhi bombed - "militants" captured - Sushma Swaraj vindicated - Sonia Gandhi attended slain cop's funeral - conspiracy theories hatched - more conspiracy theories hatched - Justice Sachar becomes a journalist.

Meanwhile the stinger has written a column: Meditate, And act.

Why not just masturbate?

Six OBCs sentenced to death in the Khairlanji case

BHANDARA: A fast track court in Bhandara pronounced death for six of the eight people convicted of killing four members of a family two years ago in Khairlanji, counted among the worst atrocities against Dalits. The remaining two were given life imprisonment.

[...]

While reading the death sentence from the operative part of the judgment, his eyes grew moist and tears flowed. However, Das soon regained composure and pronounced the entire sentence before leaving for his chamber. [link]

THE ACCUSED

All residents of Khairlanji village were arrested on October 1, 2006, except Shishupal Dhande who was arrested on October 12, 2006. They were tried under Sections 120 B read with 147, 148, 302, 354, 449, 201 Indian Penal Code read with 149 IPC, and Section 3(1) (xi) and 3(2) (V) of Scheduled castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities ) Act 1989 . Gopal Sakru Binjewar, age 25 years, caste OBC Kalar. Sakru Mahagu Binjewar, 49 years, OBC Kalar. Shatrughna Isharam Dhande, 32 years, OBC Kunbi. Mahipal Antu Dhande, 40 years, OBC Kunbi. Dharmapal Vishwanath Dhande, 27 years, OBC Kunbi. Vishwanath Hagaru Dhande, 57 years, OBC Kunbi. Ramu Mangru Dhande, 34 years, OBC Kunbi. Jagdish Ratan Mandlekar, 42 years, OBC Kalar. Prabhakar Jaswant Mandlekar, 25 years, OBC Kalar. Purushottam Bisan Titirmare, 43 years, OBC Kunbi. Shishupal Vishwanath Dhande, 22 years, OBC Kunbi. Dharmapal and Shishupal Dhande are sons of Vishwanath Dhande. [link]

It may be noted that the powers that be are contemplating a constitutional amendment aimed at creating reserved constituencies for OBCs. Such constituencies exist today for SC/ST.

Previous:

Eight OBCs hed guilty, awaiting sentencing

Thirteen places

According to this year's Transperency [sic] International Report, out of 180 countries, India is the 85th most corrupt nation in the world. It's the same down-hill journey. This time India has tumbled from rank 72 last year to rank 85 this year - mostly thanks to inspired moments like the cash-for-vote scam. Country President Transperency [sic] International India, Admiral R H Tahiliani says, "When the world sees that at the highest level people can be bought what are they going to think of us." [link]

Previous:

Two places.

Remember them?

[in progress...]

Strategic Matters

What would be your strategy if you were leading in a two yacht race?

History is like a Radiohead song, long boring stretches followed by short spasms that really rock. The past few months in India (and possibly a few more to come) will etch a stronger mark on the pages of history book than most periods in recent times.

For one thing, we saw our decades old strategic paradigm changed in a mere fortnight. That the non-alignment thing was a sham and a practical impossibility was never in doubt, but at least India had a few firm principles that no one would dare violate.

It was interesting to watch the Devil's Advocate interview of Arun Shourie.

Karan Thapar: Yes. The whole of interpretation of the Hyde Act is irrelevant to the NSG

Arun Shourie: You are making assertions about the Hyde Act which are absolute bunk.

Karan Thapar: The NSG has given India fuel assurances. There is no bar on the size of strategic reserve. It gives India unlimited access under NSG concerns to non proliferation and enrichment technologies. It also allows India the right to reprocess. All of those were deemed to be deficiencies by some analysts — deficiencies in the 123 that have been taken care of by the NSG.

Arun Shourie: You are just completely fabricating things which are not there in the guidelines at all. Where is this bit about unlimited supplies in the NSG guidelines?

Karan Thapar: There is no bar. The NSG waiver permits India access to fuel supplies without restriction, it permits India to develop strategic reserves without limitation, it permits India access to proliferation technologies that are so defined to do with enrichment and reprocessing.

Arun Shourie: You are completely lying through your teeth to your viewers.

Karan Thapar: The point is — there is no bar on them. This is a waiver which is an exemption.

Basically Arun Shourie's contention was that the waiver didn't have explicit provisions for building strategic fuel reserves. Karan Thapar's view was that, the waiver didn't explicitly prohibit building of strategic reserves either!

It would be absurd to pretend that the NSG countries will act as though the US did not exist. So, it is futile to argue which item (Hyde Act, 1-2-3, NSG Waiver) supersedes what. As we see it, the point of these supposedly legally binding treaties is to ensure that if in future these countries try to impose any sanctions or take even more severe measures - they have something to fall back upon to make a pretense of being "moral" in front of the whole world. This pretense of morality is highly necessary for the North America/Western Europe bloc. We are not suggesting that they are being unfair, despite their overwhelming military and economic might - but even the mighty needs a layer of propaganda.

According to some experts, ultimately the NSG countries, whose list looks like a who's who of US client states, will act according to prevailing geo-political conditions of the world. Hence one should not get too worked up about strict interpretations of those documents.

This is an acceptable view, except that it drastically changes our strategic doctrine. From the dire and urgent need to maintain our nuclear sovereignty in view of hostile neighbors, we clandestinely moved to where we feel no need to test, i.e. hope and prayers.

We strongly recommend reading B. Raman's article in The Outlook and Shobori Ganguly's article in The Pioneer. We are willing to bet many of the facts in either article will come as a complete shock to many cheerleaders of the Nuke Deal.

Karan Thapar has a point, Arun Shourie is being pessimistic. But optimism is a poor substitute for strategic thinking.

Coming back to the yacht race, the best strategy is to exactly emulate everything the trailing yacht is doing. You can't go wrong - even if both makes the same mistakes, the lead will be maintained.

The Congress strategy is essentially the same. In a Tehelka interview, P. Chidambaram said that the BJP does not have any original economic policy. This was a remarkable statement which gave away the anxiety of the FM. Actually it is the Congress which does not have any strategy. They did, in the earlier decades of Nehruvian Socialism. We had tonnes of doctrines, principles etc. etc. both on economic matters as well as strategic. After the collapse of that regime, essentially Congress is just trying to beat others to the shore - by even making the mistakes the others are about to make. The OBC quota scheme is a case in point. It was not something they planned to do but it was an idea whose time had come. They had to beat the regional parties in the race.

The same thing is happening in economic areas also. After being a very belligerent opponent of any reforms of the BJP led NDA Government (this war was fought both inside and outside the parliament, by launching psyops and deploying a cavalry of evangelical socialists), suddenly Congress had a bad case of reform-envy. Hence the hurried Nuke deal which changed our strategic doctrine in a fell sweep.

So, our foreign policy is now held hostage to electoral politics. This in itself is a mind blowing change, whose repercussions will be felt for decades to come.

A taste of "Azadi"

Militants in Jammu and Kashmir are using torture to intimidate the people of the region. Brutal accounts are emerging of how militants are doing whatever it takes to instill fear in the community. One man told TIMES NOW how his ear was cut off after he refused to part with his mobile phone and SIM card. Another women had her ear cut off because she refused to cook a meal for the militants. Militants did not stop at that, they kept beating her and she later died of her wounds in hospital. [link]

Eight OBCs held guilty for the Khairlanji massacre

On September 29, 2006, a large mob of OBCs attacked and brutally killed four members of a Dalit family at Khairlanji in Nagpur, among them Priyanka Bhotmange, 17, pictured above. The nation was shocked at the gruesome killing.

Well, justice has finally prevailed, or should we say some semblance of justice, because out of the mob of about 50, only eight have been convicted.

We sincerely hope that the court considers this a "rarest of rare" case. The irony is, this sort of incidents are not really rare.

It may be noted that the same year, the nation was engulfed by a tumultuous debate over the issue of awarding reservation in centrally funded institutes to OBCs (in addition to the up to 69% reservation benefits they enjoy in all Government jobs and all but a few central institutes and minority colleges). Sadly, Priyanka (named after Priyanka Gandhi, a scion of India's ruling dynasty, which had tabled and since then passed the controversial bill) never got to go to college.

Heart Breaking News

Perhaps this is the beginning of the undoing of what was once a great civilization. Funny thing is, even that innocuous statement will invite storms of protestations from the intellectual class. Maybe this is by design, we don't know.

as far as eyes can see
there is a world for you
and a world for me ......

India's Bridge to nowhere, not built

NEW DELHI: In a bid to undo a Himalayan blunder, the government has scrapped the four-year-old project of building the world's highest bridge on Chenab (359 metres), a crucial part of the first railway line to Kashmir. The delay in cancelling the bridge, which was supposed to be built for Rs 512 crore, may cost it dearly as the government is already facing claims of Rs 300 crore from an international consortium involved in the project.

The abandonment of the bridge follows a belated discovery that it is unfeasible as the gorge in a high-relief mountainous region is not stable enough to bear the load of the mega steel arch. [link]

Is this important? Not really. But had it happened during the NDA regime, it would make it into a "Face the nation" show. That's all we are saying. Some other news items one came across in recent days that went sulking for want of a TV show:

- Dinner for Rajdhani express being prepared in an unhygienic facility
- More than 50% of India is poor according to latest poverty stats
- More than two thirds of India defecate in the open

We are not saying that these things are happening all of a sudden, just that these are not getting as much attention since "their Government" is at the center. That's all we are saying. perhaps they are all busy covering the American election and the Nuke deal.

There was another curious piece of news - a lot of kids died during clinical trial of drugs at AIIMS. This got a lot of coverage and eventually it was found that the kids who had died were terminal cases anyway. Funny thing is, the Health Minister (Sri Ramadoss) ordered an inquiry into the incident and generally made statements as if he has no responsibility in the matter.

This is the great advantage "their Government" enjoys in terms of public image. AIIMS good? All due to Ramadoss. AIIMS bad? No fault of Ramadoss, oh those stubborn casteist Doctors! Railways good? Laloo of course. Railways bad? Hey look look, Deepika Padukone!

A screenshot is worth a thousand words in a history book

Hope. Prayers.

CNN-IBN signs the CTBT

CNN-IBN editor Surya Gangadharan hosted a chat show in which he answered various questions from readers on behalf of the Government. A sample from the transcript:

Vijay: Any reverse affects if Obama comes to power?
Surya Gangadharan: He will be tough on non proliferation, may insist on India signing the CTBT (which we probably will next year).

Can anyone point out any other democracy at any time in history where citizens were so empowered? We can give Azadi to parts of India (too bad they didn't want it in the end). We can also unilaterally sign important international treaties on behalf of the Government.

Come to think of it, the recent events are pretty consistent with if Arundhati Roy were India's Home Minister and External Affairs Ministers rolled into one.

Desi "liberals" are in for a big shock

LOL.