New Delhi: The capital city has been gasping for breath as it has been blanketed by Smog for the past few days. And today, the entire nation has gasped in shock after Kejriwal released images of a nonchalant Modi spotted spreading smoke sporting a mask.
Smoke has enveloped the capital and people are struggling to steer their vehicles on roads due to thick smog inhibiting their vision. Many were forced to wear surgical masks to not inhale those dense smoke.
CCTV grab of Modi spreading smoke across Delhi.
Taking the task at hand, Delhi’s Chief Minister with no powers, Arvind Kejriwal took some immediate measures to contain the smog. With just one or two lines about the measures, Kejriwal dived rightly into the area that we were expecting from him – Modi. Holding a printout, Kejriwal said, “Dekhiye ji! Whenever I used to say that Modiji is hindering our progress and not allowing us to work, many used to mock me. Modiji and Jungji, both have been fiddling with the development path of AAP and it is now evident. We all might think that this smoke is due to some crop burning or higher pollution levels. But No!”
Waving the printout before the press cameras, Kejriwal bellowed, “The reason is Modi. Yes! He had been going around the city with masks and cylinders and been pumping it with smoke. Don’t believe me? Here is the CCTV grab of Modi spreading smoke in some unknown section of Delhi. He is wearing a mask, but you can make his face out of that hairstyle and his glasses. He promises of Swachch Bharat but destroying our Swachch Svaas. Why is he not allowing us to work? Why is he punishing Delhi because of me?”
The released CCTV screen grab of Modi spreading smoke has shocked the whole country and there were calls from all parties asking for Modi to resign.
A neutral political commentator commented, “It is not something new that Modi will go out of his way to achieve his ends. Look at Khaki dress which is usually worn by such workers. He is ready to give up his suit-boot to bring down Kejriwal. And look at the time, he even sacrificed his 4-hour sleep and went around smogging Delhi.”
Meanwhile, an AAP minister praised Kejriwal, “If our CM had not installed lakhs of CCTV across Delhi, this crime of Modi would have gone unnoticed.”
I had once said that the only political party which can defeat BJP, is the BJP itself. I was alluding to the fact that time and again, BJP has scored self-goals and put itself in a quandary from a seemingly winning position. Last night too, BJP and along with it the Government of India found itself in a similar situation.
For once it had seemed that the Government had found a spine in acting against errant media houses, when an Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) of the I & B Ministry had decided that NDTV India should be taken off air for a token one day, due to its broadcast which was deemed to have revealed “sensitive” information regarding national security, during the anti-terror operations at Pathankot. We had put out all the evidence and rationale of the IMC, based on the order of the IMC exclusively accessed by us, and had asked the readers to judge for themselves.
Even as BJP’s supporters were triumphant that NDTV India would have to finally pay for its errors (or sins), the media, editors guild and other allied characters were crying victim and shrieking emergency.
NDTV India itself took a very aggressive stand when its prime-time anchor Ravish Kumar tried to spin the entire issue from “revealing sensitive information about national security” to “NDTV being banned for questioning authority”. Not only did this move smack of arrogance and the tendency to misguide, but it also showed that NDTV India was unrepentant. NDTV also moved the Supreme Court to challenge the Government’s order.
While this was the public posturing, privately NDTV was apparently working on track-2 initiatives. Yesterday evening Prannoy Roy along with other NDTV staffers met with I & B Minister Venkaiah Naidu asking the Government to have a re-look at the order. The I& B ministry also issued a brief statement about the meeting:
So while NDTV’s public posturing was quite different from what it did privately, I & B Minister Venkaiah Naidu too back-tracked from his press conference just hours before this meeting where he justified the ban, and decided to put the ban “on-hold” till the “decision is reviewed”. It was a climb-down for both sides, but since NDTV got the better deal, it was a loss of face for the Government.
It wasn’t clear exactly what had transpired between the two sides: Had NDTV privately accepted their error? Had they pleaded with the Government to reconsider? Had they promised to be on better behaviour in the future? At least NDTV’s staffer who are on Twitter vehemently denied any such moves and claimed that they had only appealed to the Government to given them another hearing.
To make matters worse, Venkaiah Naidu took to Twitter to give out the reasoning behind this change in stance, and ended up embarrassing the Government even more. In a confusing statement, in one tweet he reiterated that the IMC was clear that NDTV had violated due process & procedure & compromised national security in their coverage of Pathankot attack. But he followed this statement with tweets invoking “the Government’s liberal democratic ethos & principles” and the Government’s belief in “freedom of expression”. How can “compromising of national security” and “freedom of expression” go hand in hand?
Even the Supreme Court of India, when hearing the case of similar transgressions by NDTV and other media houses for their coverage of 26/11 had this to say:
The Court clearly distinguished between “freedom of speech” and actions “putting national security in jeopardy”.
Further, this entire episode throws up more questions like:
1. Is this form of personal appeal (used by NDTV) to ask for a review, sanctioned by any law or code?
2. If not, has the I & B minister set a precedent where in any channel in the dock can come to the I & B Minister and at least put an order “on-hold”?
3. Where does this leave the IMC which had initially ruled against the channel? Is this a curtailment of their powers?
4. Most importantly, what exactly did NDTV representatives say to Naidu to make him change his mind? NDTV India had been given 2 opportunities, one in writing and one in person to present their case before the IMC, then why did Naidu afford them another opportunity? What had changed?
5. What happens to the other channels which are facing similar orders, for far less serious offences? Can they also use this route to seek a review?
6. Why did NDTV approach the Government, when they had already moved the courts? Were they not sure their case would be up-held by the courts?
In any case, this episode has left the Government look weak and indecisive. If the Government was afraid of the back-lash and did not have the spine to execute an order (which was in fact softened from a 30 day ban to a token 1 day ban), then they shouldn’t have ordered such a ban in the first place. And when they did, they should have shown the courage to stick to it.
Even as we discuss, some quarters are wondering why the words “on-hold” were used instead of words like “cancelled” or “rolled-back”. Has it got something to do with the fact that November 9th is when the results of the US elections are likely to be out, and losing out on a potentially high TRP day would hurt NDTV India a lot? Hence, has the Government chosen to give a temporary reprieve, in effect postponing the ban? Only time will tell.
Wikileaks last month released thousands of emails sent/received by John Podesta. He is the campaign head for Hillary Clinton, the Presidential Nominee in the upcoming elections in the US. OpIndia.com had highlighted how Ford Foundation had funded Teesta Setalvad’s NGO and Companies in the past. The leaked emails highlight how Ford Foundation got embroiled in the Controversy and was “rescued” by John Podesta himself.
John Podesta, Center For American Progress & Ford Foundation India
John Podesta is considered very close to the Clintons. He served in the White House during Bill Clinton’s term. After that he founded the “Center For American Progress” (CAP) a “progressive” ‘think tank’ considered powerful enough to give recommendations on policy matters. In 2014 he quit CAP and joined the Obama Admin as a Counsellor on environmental issues. He quit this post and joined Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
Ford Foundation entered India on an invitation by Jawaharlal Nehru in 1952. It was then their first office outside the USA. They had then signed an MoU and do not have any formal registration as an NGO in India. Since then they concentrate on funding projects ranging from Women & minority development, education, administration & planning.
Here it is pertinent to note that Center For American Progress received 8 grants totaling $2,565,000 from Ford Foundation in the year 2015.
The Present Case
In 2015 the Government of Gujarat while investigating Teesta Setalvad’s embezzlement case came across funding by Ford Foundation to her entities. Based on a letter by the Gujarat Police, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) intended to probe the activities of Ford Foundation as well. This probably set off a chain of events, most of which happened in the background and are now revealed by Wikileaks.
As per the leaked emails, Ford Foundation claims that they got embroiled into a controversy over its funding to Sabrang Trusts managed by Teesta Setalvad. The letter titled Ford Foundation in India: Notes to John Podesta dated May 26, 2015 also mentions their funding to Arvind Kejriwal’s NGO before he got into politics as a possible reason for Government’s action. This letter highlights that their activities were questioned on “CIA Links” in both “right wing press” and on Social Media. The Letter particularly mentions a news debate by TimesNow channel held on April 13th which set off the debate against Ford India’s activities.
Information Via a “Reporter” & Social Media Monitoring
The letter to John Podesta mentions that the Foundation received a letter effective 25th April via “a Reporter” indicating it was placed on a “watch list” by the MHA. Who was this reporter is not clear and why would they assist Ford Foundation too.
Ford also highlights in its letter that they have appointed an “international firm to assist with media monitoring” and a prominent Delhi-based law firm to assist them in responding to government requests. In a separate Email to John Podesta the President of Ford Foundation Darren Walker sends across tweets by Social Media users as well. It seems that Social Media activity was closely monitored by them. The tweets quoted in the Email are from Social Media users who generally seem to be supporting Modi Government. In one communication Darren Walker even calls a newspaper “mouthpiece of the Government.”
In the last week of May, frantic activities and movements seem to have happened as could be gauged from the emails. Ford India representatives met Richard Verma US Ambassdor. In an Email dated 27th May 2015 written to Darren Walker, it is specifically mentioned: “And Modi is no fan of Nehru. Invoking that personal invite (read: invite by Nehru in 1952) long ago is not our best card to play. Acting privileged is not our approach to this.”
The Breakthrough:
The Breakthrough seems to have happened around 1st week of July after “John Podesta’s “Magic Touch.” Ford Foundation agreed to get itself register under Indian laws and Modi Government even de-froze the bank accounts. The internal letter to Podesta quoted below was the analysis by the Foundation on happening which give an insight:
When the Gujarat police contacted Home Affairs, the Indian Intelligence Bureau also got involved and flagged Ford’s perceived transgressions in the Setalvad funding to the PM. It seems it was indeed the language accusing the state government and appearing to ‘take sides’that led the authorities to conclude there was political over-reach by the foundation. That and the fact that they had been eager to find something on Setalvad, one of Modi’s worst critics, for some time. So the powers that be were inclined to interpret our past actions in that negative light.
PM’s initial reaction seems to have been to send us packing, de-authorize us fully. IB warned that it did not have strong enough evidence to justify that. The political team then began to calculate the risks of, say, an embarrassing defeat for the government in court.
Thus the decision to place us on a watch list, a relatively standard move related to the treatment of Greenpeace and others.
It is very possible that the interventions by the USG did not go down well at all, especially those carried out in public. It was all delivered as very general concern, tied to respecting civil society and the usual American narrative about threats to democracy in other countries and how other governments should behave, not “we understand and respect your concerns about Ford, but it would be great to resolve this in ways that serve all our interests.” Lack of subtlety and nuance—or at least none perceived.
Bureaucratic over-reach is an important part of the current conundrum, too. Even senior bureaucrats tend not to be sure what the highest-ups want, what would suffice in the way of a resolution. So the bureaucrats who operate the machinery lean toward the most conservative course until given some clear, unambiguous direction.
There is no reason to think that the Modi administration, including the PM himself, know exactly what would satisfy them. And this is hardly their top priority. It’s therefore reasonable to assume that government will let the very vagueness of the MHA directive make us sweat on the financial-operational front, knowing we have limited time. Why not let us feel the squeeze some more?We need to change that calculus.
Some advisors, however, suggest that the worst – in the way of official action – has been done by now. The points have been made, the financial squeeze is in place. From the government’s perspective, why risk defeat through formal charges, for example.
The issue too seems to have settled as “elements of resolution” as highlighted by the letter.
What remains to be answered is Why did Nehru invite Ford Foundation to India? Why did no government before Modi’s question them for not registering under any laws in India? Who was the journalist who helped Ford India with information from the MHA? Why was Ford Foundation so desperate to retain its India offices if government was unwilling to let them continue? Why would they pull strings from powerful people to maintain their roots in India?
We might need some more email leaks to answer these….
I mean this seriously, not sarcastically. India is a democracy. There is nothing wrong with “politicisation”. Why do we treat “politicisation” like it’s a bad word? In fact, in the absence of politicisation, we basically have oligarchy: rule of the few. Which is what we have right now. Be it national security, be it the judiciary or be it the media, what we need is more politicisation, not less. Politicisation brings the dirty linen out in the open. They say sunlight is the best disinfectant. Otherwise, it is too convenient for the powerful to hide skeletons in the cupboard.
Let’s be clear : the surgical strikes were due to Modi’s ability to make a daring decision. A decision that none of his predecessors in the last few decades thought was possible. Our military was always this brave and capable; it was Narendra Modi who believed in them and inspired the nation to believe in them. I didn’t think it was possible for the Indian military to conduct surgical strikes across the LoC. I got a pleasant surprise. We all did. That makes Narendra Modi the legitimate “Avenger of Uri”. We need more posters like this, not less.
What we need less of is nonsense like this:
No no no no! BJP should have more posters on this and leaders should highlight it courageously in rallies. National security is a political issue. Either you are able to defend the nation or you are not. For example, Nehru was an incompetent leader who disabled the Indian Army, leading to the humiliation of 1962. The reason behind this is Nehru’s delusions of statesmanship and ideologically induced blindness to cold reality. Here is Nehru in 1947:
If the above is true, please do not ask me what Nehru was smoking. The foremost visionary of the 20th century could foresee “no military threats” to India and decided to actually disband the defence forces. Perhaps even the “competent astrologer” that Nehru consulted in 1944 to get a “proper horoscope” of Rajiv Gandhi could have done a better job of foreseeing the future.
Yeah, so national security is very much a political issue. Here is the official address of Vice President Biden at the Democratic National Convention in 2012, striking a hammer blow for the Obama-Biden campaign:
Obama killed bin Laden. Obama avenged 9/11. It’s about giving credit where it is due.
And now, onto OROP. Indira Gandhi stole it, Sonia Gandhi lied about it and Modi is being crucified for giving it. Which is probably why Rahul Gandhi is laughing about it.
But I don’t mind. No really, go ahead Rahul and politicise. This is your chance. Politicise this to the hilt. Let both sides politicise. We lay it all before the people. We tell the people who is supporting SIMI, Lashkar, Pakistani Army and JNU Naxals. You can do your stand up comedy routine on OROP like you are doing here. Let the people decide. It’s really a good thing. It’s all fully politicised and I am glad it is. People will decide. And I am fairly sure what their decision is gonna be. If Rahul thinks that his OROP drama will have 1% of the impact of the surgical strikes, his foresight is about as good as that of his great grandfather Chacha Nehru.
This is why I call Modi the great facilitator. Before, there were all these things that were supposed to be “above politics”. In real terms, this meant that the discourse in these spheres was dominated by an inbred and exclusive elite. Foreign policy and national security were dominated by slothful “intellectuals”. Hey intellectuals…some tremendous foresight from you all betting on the Non-Aligned Movement and on the survival of Soviet Russia. We will forever remain in awe of your great genius. And thanks a lot for joining the Muslim nations of the world in boycotting Israel until 1992, a favour which the Muslim nations returned by supporting Pakistan in Kashmir. Really, thanks a lot!
Remember folks, when the intelligentsia of this country were betting on the victory of the USSR and/or the non-aligned movement, the commoners of this country were betting on the success of free enterprise. They were sending their children to work and settle in the West. Have you ever heard of any ordinary family planning to settle their kids in the Soviet Union? LOL! Amazingly, when the intelligentsia of this nation was expecting the “final crisis” of capitalism, the ordinary Indian instinctively knew better who was going to win. When the intelligentsia of this nation was busy singing the praises of the Emergency, the common people booted out Indira Gandhi even though the proverbial “trains were running on time”. Common people saw value in not having a Saddam Hussein like dictator take over the country, the intelligentsia couldn’t.
The arrival of Modi sent an electric shock through the elite. They were forced to tear away their masks and join in the noisy discourse. The judiciary had to bring its political loyalties out in the open. Let the nation see which high ranking officials are arrogant and irresponsible enough to refuse a meeting with India’s Prime Minister because they are too busy in a family function. We got them all on the streets…the so called poets and writers, the recipients of Padma this and Padma that …and the journalists and intellectuals all on the streets. The so called journalists had to give up all pretence of neutrality and hit the road. They had to bare it all. Come out on the streets, stand with your party flag and say whatever. The dalali behind closed doors stops here, once and for all. So, please please politicise! Let the people in. Let the people know!
This Diwali, there was a special effort from the government to put the soldiers in the forefront of national consciousness. The Prime Minister himself celebrated Diwali amidst troops deployed on the remote frontiers, just as he had for the past two years. In addition, this year there was a drive to connect the soldiers, with people they fight to defend, via the ‘Sandesh to Soldiers’ campaign. People were encouraged to send their message to soldiers via social media and through the prime minister’s website and app, to express their feelings and regard for those who were far away from their homes during the festival, keeping us safe in ours to celebrate. People were also exhorted to light one lamp specially in the memory of the martyrs who had laid down their lives fighting for the nation.
Motivated by the Prime Minister’s call the residents, of 1200 MIG Flats in Rajouri Garden, New Delhi, led by Sanjay Bhatia, a social activist and a team of young boys and girls of the area, decided to take this a step further and honour the ex-servicemen living in their colony as well. On the evening of Deepawali, 30 October, the residents held a gathering in the central park and feted the ex-servicemen residing in the colony. There were several of them, varying in rank from Captain to Colonels, including a Vir Chakra winner. Most of them had taken part in 1962 and 1971 wars, and they narrated their memorable and exciting experiences. Bouquets were present to each officer by the Leader of the House, South Delhi Municipal Corporation of Delhi, Subhash Arya before each resident present lighted a diya for the fighting soldier.
This small gesture by the residents of one colony in Delhi meant so much to those elderly veterans who have been living unknown and unnoticed amidst them for years. Not only did it make them feel special on that day, it also helped the rest of the colony to recognise them. With the result that now, when they step out for a walk in the colony, every single person they encounter exchanges greetings with them.
This is an example of how small initiatives by the government can be taken even further by people themselves. While the government initiatives covered those who were serving, and those who had laid down their lives, a large number of people who served the nation but don’t fall in either category were included in this expression of thanks. How wonderful it would be if this idea is widely propagated, and emulated everywhere across the country. This would bring the people closer to the heroes amongst us, people who spent the prime of their lives in service of the nation, and our now spending the evenings of their lives living amidst us in unnoticed, unsung oblivion.
This was first posted on my blog http://swordarm.in/?p=1683
Yesterday we had revealed how Ravish Kumar’s NDTV India had got rewarded with a 24 hours black-screen by an Inter-ministerial committee (IMC) of the Information and Broadcasting ministry. The penalty of taking the channel off-air for one full day came after the IMC noted with “grave concern” that the channel had “revealed sensitive details like location of ammunition depot and the place where terrorists were held up, location of school and residential areas”.
Responding to this latest order, NDTV put out a short and tame statement today. It said that they were shocked that “NDTV has been singled out” when “every channel and newspaper had similar coverage”. Is this an admission of guilt? “look we did it, but so did they?”
They continued to claim that their coverage was balanced, and recalled the dark days of the Emergency. No sooner was the “E” word uttered, the usual suspects broke into wails on social media, crying “emergency”. It is pertinent to note NDTV did not put out any factual rebuttal to any specific issues, but just said that “NDTV is examining all options in this matter”.
The Editor’s Guild of India too put up a similar note, mouthing NDTV’s stance, crying emergency and censorship. Oddly, the note said that this was a “first-of-its-kind order to impose a black-out”, whereas the truth is that there have been similar orders of blackout for other reasons, like in 2007 when a channel called “Live India” was banned for a whole month and last year, when Al Jazeera channel was taken off-air for 5 days.
Now, we at OpIndia.com have exclusive access to the IMC’s deliberations, and which specific parts of NDTV India’s broadcast were found objectionable. We put out the relevant portions of the documents, for the readers to decide whether the punishment is fair.
The content was aired on NDTV India on 4th January 2016, from 12:25:45 hours to 12:31:25 hours while anti-terror ops were still underway at Pathankot. During this period, the anchor in the studio, reported about the press briefing of the armed forces, which had just concluded, and then proceeded to contact the correspondent on the ground, asking for further information. At this stage, i.e. at 12:28:16 hours, the IMC notes that the correspondent divulges “sensitive” information as below:
Excerpt 1: “sensitive” information
The correspondent revealed that 2 terrorists were nearby, and could have gone to an airport nearby, or to the 2nd army base. Thus, they (the army) want to scan the entire area bit by bit, with full precautions, only then will the operations be declared as over.
Next, the IMC notes that the anchor asks the correspondent what sort of challenges lie in scanning such a large area, where families, schools, helicopters and MIGs are present. To which the correspondent replies:
Excerpt 2: Information revealed
In the above paragraph, IMC noted that NDTV India gave away information such as details of ammunition stockpiled in the airbase, MIGs, fighter planes, rocket launchers, mortars, helicopters, fuel tanks which was likely to be used by the terrorists themselves or their handlers to cause massive harm not only to national security, but also to civilians and defence personnel. The channel also gave details of school and residential areas located in the airbase which could have been used by the terrorists or their handlers to cause violence to the innocent in the school and the residential area.
Part of the above broadcast was recorded by a social media user and uploaded to Twitter on the very same day. Here is the video:
The user also commented that the correspondent divulged the exact location of the ammunition store from the building where the terrorists are holed up. This corroborates with the findings of the IMC as well. According to the IMC, based on the above, NDTV India appeared to violate Rule 6(1)(p) of the Programme Code under Cable TV Network Rules, 1994:
No programme should be carried in the cable service which contains live coverage of any anti-terrorist operation by security forces, wherein media coverage shall be restricted to periodic briefing by an officer designated by the appropriate Government, till such operation concludes.
NDTV India responded to the above charges by saying that the entire coverage was deferred, and the details such as those of the weapons, ammunition and equipment present, and the presence of schools and residential areas, was already reported by the print media. NDTV India cited specific references of news items from the Indian Express, the Times of India, the Hindustan Times etc from 3rd and 4th January which revealed similar information. NDTV India also cited the press briefings by the army personnel, and finally said that “this was a case of subjective interpretation” hence the requested the Ministry to view the reportage from the perspective as given by them.
NDTV India was also given the opportunity of a personal hearing wherein the representatives of the channel reiterated the statements made in the written submissions.
The IMC noted that from NDTV’s reply, it was clear the the information regarding location and expanse of the assets at the airbase, was available in “bits and pieces” in various media, but, NDTV appeared to give out the exact location of the remaining terrorists, with regards to the sensitive assets around them, when they telecast in real time as follows:
Excerpt 3: Real time information
The correspondent clearly states that 2 terrorists are alive, and at the same place where the weapons depot is located. And that the army is worried that if the terrorists reaches this depot, then it would be much harder to contain the terrorists, because the depot has rocket launchers, mortar and other destructive weapons.
The IMC also noted that initially NDTV India stuck to the information revealed by armed forces press briefing, but later “changed its tone, and added a contrarian stance”. This can be seen from line two in excerpt 3 above, as per the IMC’s report.
From this the IMC determined that the information broadcast by NDTV India, was “neither based, nor limited to” to periodic briefing by a designated officer, and hence NDTV India was in violation of rule 1(p) as cited above. The IMC also observed that the guidelines governing the TV channels and Newspapers are different. They noted that “the reach of TV Is beyond physical borders and language barriers” and that “TV as an audio/visual medium have a far wider and instantaneous impact”.
IMC further noted that “threat to National Security cannot justified on any grounds whatsoever”, hence “no benefit of doubt could be given for their subjective interpretation as mentioned in the representation given by the channel”. IMC also took cognisance of the fact that this was not the first violation by NDTV group and that “there are previous incidents where the channel has violated the Program code in the Cable act”.
For deciding the quantum of punishment, IMC relied on para 8 of the Guidelines for up-linking from India, which gave the powers to the ministry to suspend permissions for 30 days, in case of first violation, and 90 days in case of second violation. Based on this, the IMC had initially recommended a 30 day ban for NDTV India.
However the I&B ministry informed the IMC, that rule 6(1) p which was violated by NDTV India was newly introduced in June 2015. The IMC then opined that perhaps news channels weren’t sensitised about the rule change, and since this was the first instance of violation by any channel of this new rule, the penalty of 30 days seemed harsh. Hence, they settled for a token one-day penalty. The IMC noted that this one day token penalty cut was recommended to ensure that NDTV India does not get away completely for this “huge indiscretion and violation of rules” and also its “unrepentant behaviour”.
This is one of the most ironic situations one can possibly have. Newslaundry claims to be “a media critique, news and current affairs portal” and as such was expected to be a place where “sabki dhulai” would take place, for their wrong or erroneous reporting. Instead, Newslaundry has now become the hub of such wrong, and biased reporting.
Take for example their coverage of the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards, held in New Delhi. They tried to cover it by giving importance to a small speech by Indian Express Chief Editor, Raj Kamal Jha (who happens to be Congress sycophant Sanjay Jha’s cousin). It is entirely their prerogative on which speech they focus, but in their article, which was designed to put down PM Modi, they slipped in a piece of utter lies, which later if given the correct spin by successful media houses, can be used to show PM Modi as anti-dalit. This is what Newslaundry reported:
“……and enjoyed some thunderous applause when he made a bizarre and offensive comment about crimes against Dalits. Listening to the laughter from sections of the audience to Modi smiling and saying, “How would the BMW driver know if the one he’s running over is a Dalit?” was distressing. It underscored the need for criticism of the political establishment that Modi himself had encouraged earlier in his speech. Of course, he followed that sentiment up with a directive that the media should behave responsibly and not “divide” the nation, but that’s a separate problem.”
It is one thing to be snide and hateful to a person you hate, and it is quite another thing, to be blatantly untruthful, hiding the tone, tenor and context of a statement, just to make a point. The full quote and context of PM Modi is captured in the following video:
Media should criticise the Government as much as possible, I do not have any problem with this. Don’t report this wrongly. BUT, India is a country full of diversity and special identities. The unity of the country…., For you it is a story, and as soon as you publish it, you go after another story, but, sometimes it creates such deep wounds…..Earlier, whenever an accident would take place the news would be: ” in so-and-so village an accident took place in which a truck and a cycle rider, got injured, expired…”; Slowly, things changed, “in so-and-so village, in the day, due to rash driving, drunk driver, crushed an innocent person, “crushed“.” Slowly, reporting changed and became: “BMW car, crushes one Dalit“. Sir forgive me, but the person in the BMW car didn’t know that the victim was a Dalit. But we set fire to such matters. An accident should be reported, if worth making a headline, it should be made as an headline….
The intention of the entire statement of the PM was clear, he wanted the media to stop sensationalism, to stop bringing up caste, religion, creed and such divisive things, into news items where they had no relevance. We at OpIndia.com too have raised this issue umpteen number of times. Earlier this year, a Times of India journalist and Newslaundry co-founder were caught on social media fanning caste-hatred, by making an incident into an upper caste vs lower caste issue, when actually some of the perpetrators themselves were Dalits.
So it was the second stage of irony now, that when the PM was urging the media to stop sensationalism and stop bringing up “anti-dalit” narratives where none existed, Newslaundry chose to bring the “anti-dalit” angle. Clearly, the agenda driven “neutral” reporting of Newslaundry is exposed here.
P.S. They managed to put up a full transcript of the Indian Express’ Editor’s speech, but couldn’t put up the transcript of a small anecdote of the PM, which they had chosen to spin into an anti-dalit statement.
A lot has been discussed about the killing of 8 wanted terrorists who had escaped from a Bhopal jail after killing a constable. The usual suspects have been screeching “fake-encounter” at the top of their voices. But today, audio tapes allegedly recording the wireless conversations between the MP cops during the encounter have come out. CNN News 18 released those tapes on social media.
Listening to these tapes, it is clear that the SIMI terrorists were also firing at the police, but media is till trying to spin the content of the tapes. India Today, in its report based on the same tapes states that “the audio tapes do not suggest any exchange of fire”:
India Today’s report
But in the tapes, at exactly 1.15 minutes (as per CNN News 18 tape above), one can hear the police officers saying that the terrorists had fired at them. They repeat this 2-3 times. And an order comes that the firing must be responded to.
This one single line, disproves multiple theories of various left liberals and terrorist sympathisers that the SIMI terrorists were unarmed.
Thus, this stops being a cold blooded murder, and takes the colour of a full fledged battle where fire was exchanged by both sides. Still, CNN News 18, the media house which broke the tapes itself tried to perpetuate lies:
If media believes these tapes to be true, then they must take cognisance of this revelation. The information, that the terrorists indeed fired, negates many theories.
Firstly, it no longer is cold blooded, and the firing from the cops is fully justified. Secondly, the likelihood of this being a “Fake” and “staged” encounter decreases massively since the terrorists were firing. The cops wouldn’t have risked any more casualties, giving guns in the hands of terrorists of their own volition.
Another crucial point the tapes reveal is that the senior cops were not present at the venue and they were constantly saying on the radio that they are on the way. So if indeed this was a “staged” encounter, why would some cops be still on the way, instead of all being present at the scene of action?
Now the only issue with the encounter is that of “excessive force”. A cop at the start of the clipping did give the order to “finish of the matter” (kaam-tamaam), but the cops on the scene of the encounter appeared to have done that once the terrorists began firing. In such a situation, the police can easily claim that they were well within their rights to fire back and neutralise the terrorists. After all, these are men from a banned organisation like SIMI, wanted for multiple crimes including terror, who have escaped from the prison after slaughtering a constable.
Further, at exactly, 2 minutes into CNN News 18’s clips, the cops at the scene request for 2-3 ambulances to be sent, and the cops on the other end, reveal that they had already sent some ambulances. Next, at exactly 2.53 minutes into the clip, one can hear a cop saying “at least one must be kept alive, it is important”.
These again point out that irrespective of the orders they got, the cops at the scene did not want to “finish” every terrorist, but preferred to them to be incapacitated.
Does media have another set of tapes that prove the opposite? It appears highly unlikely because in that case, the policemen will appear to be contradicting themselves. Since it is a developing story, more evidence may come up which could again change the situation, but as of now, the media is plainly twisting facts.
On Monday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had made serious allegations that he had heard some judges claiming that their phones were being tapped. The allegation was made in presence of Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, who quickly rubbished the allegations.
While making the allegations, Arvind Kejriwal had added a rider “I don’t know if this is true”, which is in line with his trademark “is this true?” style of posting messages on Twitter when he wants to circulate any unverified information or rumour.
Perhaps this “Is this true?” style has been adopted by Kejriwal to escape defamation cases that he has been facing due to his earlier allegations. The other strategy adopted, especially by party leaders like Ashutosh, is to credit some unverifiable information to “sources”.
But that’s not proving to be enough for Arvind Kejriwal in the latest case. Taking cognizance of his allegations, Delhi Police has written a letter to the AAP supremo to let them know about the details of the information he has.
“Phone tapping is an extremely serious matter and is not allowed without due authorization after following strict procedures mandated under law,” the letter written to Arvind Kejriwal reads.
“Please let us know of any incident or case of phone tapping that you have referred to in the course of your speech. We would also appreciate if you could inform us the source on which you base your allegations so that appropriate action can be initiated in the matter,” the letter concludes.
It should be noted that most people, including former judges and even the Congress party – which usually sings in tune with Kejriwal over allegations against the Modi government – had said that Arvind Kejriwal should provide proof before making such serious allegations about independence of judiciary.
Now the ball is in Kejriwal’s court and he has to respond to Delhi Police’s request of providing information. But given the track record of AAP supremo, it appears that he will use this opportunity to make another allegation.
Most probably, Kejriwal will claim that Narendra Modi is using Delhi Police to put pressure on him to reveal names of judges who could be targeted by the centre. We will wait for that tweet.
Things don’t seem to be going very well for NDTV. Forget “Acche Din”, even average “Din” have deserted NDTV group. The company is saddled with losses. It has a tax case against it alleging crores of evasion. As far as TRP’s are concerned, it languishes near the bottom among English News channels. Barkha Dutt’s show for example had hit NDTV so hard, that she rescheduled her show from the 9pm slot to 8pm. Just a few months back we had revealed how some “bot accounts” were seen propping up NDTV stories on social media. Now they are hit with something worse.
The issue of showing counter terrorism operations live on TV has been debated for long. This irresponsible aspect of live news was witnessed first during the Mumbai terror attacks of 2008 when Indian news channels almost acted as source of information for terror handlers.
The journalistic fraternity initially tried to defend their stand claiming it was their duty to bring truth to the viewers, however later they conceded that the media needs to realise the consequences of their actions. Showing counter operations live doesn’t serve any public interest, and it can only be misused by terror handlers.
Even at that time NDTV had particularly been criticised by the netizens for showing operations live. A blogger named Chaitanya Kunte had published a post titled “Shoddy Journalism” where he had blasted Barkha Dutt for her live coverage of Mumbai terror attacks.
The post went viral and earned a legal notice from Barkha Dutt, who objected to one paragraph where the blogger had cited Wikipedia to remark that Barkha was earlier responsible for some casualties during Kargil War, where she had gone for live reporting.
The blogger got scared and deleted his post, offering an unconditional apology to Barkha. This was perhaps the tipping point that made Barkha a villain in the digital world.
While Barkha still denies the Kargil casualty claim, she later admitted that the Mumbai terror attacks coverage could have been handled better by the media.
“There were some unwitting mistakes made by all of us as journalists. Unwitting. We didn’t calculate that there were handlers monitoring our broadcast in real time, no one from the government told us either,” she said in an interview last year.
However, it doesn’t seem like media has learnt from the mistakes it committed, especially NDTV. But luckily, it seems the Government, which was the fall-guy for Barkha last time, has got its act right this time. Maybe its the new dispensation which is not any more in her reach (read Radia Tapes).
On January 28th this year, the Information and Broadcasting ministry sent a show cause notice to NDTV India over its coverage of the terrorist attack on Pathankot airbase which “prima facie” violated norms. The I&B ministry had repeatedly asked for restraint by TV channels in their reporting of terror attacks especially when the operation is still on. Last year, the ministry had barred channels from airing live coverage of anti-terrorist operations by security forces by approving a new rule as per which broadcasters in such situations will have to restrict themselves to reporting periodic briefing by designated officers.
It now appears that the proceedings in the above matter have been completed, and NDTV India, has been ordered to be shut down temporarily by the government for their irresponsible coverage during the Pathankot terror attack in January this year.
Sources have told us that an Inter-ministerial committee of the Information and Broadcasting ministry (IMC) set up to look into this matter has recommended that the channel go off for one full day. IMC noted with “grave concern” that the channel had “revealed sensitive details like location of ammunition depot and the place where terrorists were held up, location of school and residential areas”. The IMC also noted that “NDTV India appeared to give out the exact location of the remaining terrorists in the Pathankot airbase attack during the live telecast”
NDTV India responded by saying that the information shared by the them was already reported in the National dailies. The IMC however observed that the guidelines governing the TV channels and Newspapers are different. They noted that “the reach of TV Is beyond physical borders and language barriers” and that “TV as an audio/visual medium have a far wider and instantaneous impact”. It appears the IMC is trying to draw a distinction between printing that an army post is in a particular town, versus actually showing the physical location of the post via videos and images, thereby making it easier to be located.
IMC analysed that the disclosure of sensitive information when anti-terrorist operations are underway causes alarm, “demoralisation of citizens and security forces” and collateral damage among other issues. IMC also observed that the information released on NDTV India “was neither based on nor limits to the information given in the media briefing by designated armed forces officers”
IMC noted that “threat to National Security cannot justified on any grounds whatsoever”, hence “no benefit of doubt could be given for their subjective interpretation as mentioned in the representation given by the channel”. IMC also took cognisance of the fact that this was not the first violation by NDTV group and that “there are previous incidents where the channel has violated the Program code in the Cable act”
NDTV can actually heave a sigh of relief since IMC had initially recommended a penalty of taking the channel off-air for 30 days, as per the new rules introduced in June 2015. However, eventually they settled for a “token cut” of one day, since this was the first instance of violation of the newly inserted provisions in the program code. The IMC noted that this one day token penalty cut was recommended to ensure that NDTV India does not get away completely for this “huge indiscretion and violation of rules. ”
Such penalties of going off air for TV channels are not completely new though. Another IMC of the I & B Ministry had found that Al-Jazeera channel had violated the programme code by showing wrong maps of India on repeated occasions and recommended that it be taken off air for five days in 2015. In contrast, NDTV got away with the same offence, by just putting up a text of apology, as noted in this article.
Early this year, NDTV India’s Ravish Kumar had begun sermonising the world, on how media should report matters. He took a dramatic approach, by turning the screen black and proceeding on a monologue, where only the audio could be heard. With this latest indictment of his journalistic practices, Ravish can very well repeat his theatrics, but this time without the audio as well. The black screen may be for just a day, but the black spot of shame will always remain on NDTV.
