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Open Reply to @BhupendraChaube’s reply

Gaurav
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Open Reply to @BhupendraChaube’s reply

On 12th February I had written this post on Mr Bhupendra Chaubey. Unlike most MSM journalists, who would have and have in the past ignored such critiques, Mr Bhupendra Chaubey decided to respond and attempted to rebut some of my claims. For this alone, I applaud him.

Coming to Mr Bhupendra Chaubey’s reply. Sir, let me first clear that I am a male, as is evident from my twitter DP and the “bwoy” in my handle, which for some reason you did not notice. So please stop addressing me as “Mr/Ms”.

Mr Chaubey starts off with the assertion that I am guilty of bracketing him “with the “bazaaru “ media“. I re-read my post and couldn’t find any line which could mean the above. Next he declares that since he is from Varanasi, his English may not be as good as mine. Sir, you are/were the face of a leading, if not the most popular (going by your own channel’s claims) English News Channel. I am sure your English is as good or even better than mine. Anyway we are not playing Spelling bee or Grammar Nazi so we can skip the attempted victim-hood.

Mr Chaubey then goes on to say his tweet cannot be a threat, especially because he has previously showered accolades on Modi. Sir, there are several journalists who take turns on praising Modi as and when required. You’re own ex-colleague Mr Rajdeep famously declared he was never “anti-modi”, just when his book was about to release. So I don’t think precedence is something we can rely on. Mr Chaubey further claims he is a “small fry” and his opinion wouldn’t matter to the PM.  Dear Sir, if you are a small fry, I wonder how I could describe myself. Yet my opinion mattered to you (hence the reply from you). Similarly I am sure your opinion also matters to the PM especially since you command such a huge following.

There are some more irrelevant and factually incorrect points like a quote from a CSDS post poll survey, which I would skip as it would make me digress from the core issues.  Mr Chaubey next says that his tweet was “meant to start introspection” among BJP and its supporters. It amuses me that when Modi calls some media “bazaru”, you want BJP to introspect, but when Kejriwal calls the media “paid” and wants to jail media people, you call for introspection within the media. Sir, Why these double standards? Why is Kejriwal’s word Gospel Truth and Modi’s word slander. I have gone through your entire post and at no place you have even touched on this issue. I was disappointed.

Mr Chaubey is also silent on my question that why he treats Gujarat and Gujarati voters differently from Delhi? Are they dumber, less educated, more communal, more subservient than Delhi voters? I sadly get no response. 

Mr Chaubey, coming to your repeated assertion that your tweet isn’t a threat, Let us see what you tweeted yet again:

Two loud and clear messages to Modi: 1: dilli is no Gujarat; get rid of politics of autocracy. 2. If you call media “bazaaru”;u won’t go far

You say there are clear messages to Modi. You don’t say from whom. Firstly, let us assume the messages are from the voters. Would an ordinary voter be bothered and troubled by Modi’s branding of media “bazaaru”. I could understand if Modi had called the voters names, and hence they reacted in a a particular fashion. Also, in Lok Sabha elections, Modi had called the same media “Newstraders” multiple times. The voters gave him a message of “282” seats. Even Delhi voters gave him 7/7 seats. So I cant see any great affection of voters towards media.

Next, since the tweet is from you, could it be a message from you? If its not from the voters, it has to be from you, as a representative of the media. And it also makes sense, since you, by virtue of being part of the media, were also called “bazaaru”, hence your natural reaction. So essentially what you’re saying is: “My/Media’s clear message to Modi: You call media “bazaaru”, you won’t go far”. I am sure every student studying at the lowliest schools of Varanasi would interpret that as a threat, especially in the backdrop of Delhi election results.

Even so, let us forget about the “threat” part, and let us only focus on the other two questions, which I had already asked but you hadn’t answered, which I will repeat now:

1. When Modi called Media “bazaaru”, and his party lost Delhi elections, you say it’s a message to Modi to stop calling media “bazaaru”. When Kejriwal calls media “paid”, says he wants to “jail media”, and then loses Lok Sabha elections, you say “media has a lot to answer” and introspect about. Why the hypocrisy?

2. Why is Delhi no Gujarat and why does autocracy work in Gujarat and not Delhi? What are the clear shortcomings in a Gujarati voter as compared to a Delhi voter?

I hope your next reply (if any) will clearly address the above two questions instead of beating around the bush with irrelevant details. It is a matter of your credibility sir and I hope you will clarify on the same.

Surprise! BJP’s Censor Board actually unbans swear words banned by Congress’ board

Gaurav
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Surprise! BJP’s Censor Board actually unbans swear words banned by Congress’ board

A notification sent by Pahlaj Nihalani, the chief of the new Censor Board as appointed by the BJP Government, containing a list of swear words which should be banned has the entire internet frothing over it. Most people find the list highly regressive and one which impedes creative freedom of an artiste. This has immediately been made political giving it the spin that BJP is now indulging in Moral Policing. The list of the words is as follows:

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Ever since this list has come out, some people from the media have been constantly telling me that this list is being over hyped and that an old list of the old censor board could be equally scandalous. On some digging, I found some interesting facts. I couldn’t find the actual list, but some news articles which do indicate the words which were considered taboo back then.

A report in The Caravan, from March 2012, reveals that the Old Censor Board had a list of 30 words which it considered offensive. The article says “The censor board bars 30 offensive words, including ‘fuck’, references to mothers and genitalia, ‘testicles’, ‘screw’, ‘ass’, and the words ‘call girl’ and ‘prostitute’.” If you compare the sample of this old list with the new list above, you will find most words are common. Also words like “call girl” and “prostitute” have in fact been omitted in the new list. 

Coming to the new list, this list has been sent to all “Regional Offices of CBFC for necessary action”. I would presume that this means, the translations of the above words in various regional languages, would also be banned. For this, I accessed the Kannada CBFC guidelines from 2005 which has a clear list of objectionable words. Translating these Kannada words to English, could give us an indicative list of what the then Central Censor Board had communicated to the Regional office.

Translations of some of the Kannada words are: “son of a whore”, “son of a widow”, “Bastard”, “Gandu” “Banchod”, “Madarchod”, “Chutiya”, “Randi”, “Bitch”. Some words are variations of MC BC, which aren’t really swear words per se, but can be construed as swear words (double meaning words?). As you can see, most of these words are consistent with the new list issued. I also found a request by the Telugu Censor Board, to delete some words in a Telugu movie in 2012. Again the English translation of these words are variations of MC BC.

Since two state Censor boards are following broadly the same practice, it wouldn’t be too far fetched to assume that this was all mandated by the Central Censor Board. So it’s pretty clear that all the words we see in the new list, have been in fact taboo for a long time. Then why all this hooplah now:


Just to be clear I am not justifying anything by saying “Oh look Congress did it too”. My only problem is how the media has played this as if its a new issue and thus generated mass outrage. Wasn’t anyone aware that all these words are already banned? The media played a similar game when the word “Bombay” was asked to be muted. Are these repeated misstatements genuine blunders? Or this an organized attempt to show the BJP Government in bad light? It is an open secret that there exists a strong lobby within Bollywood which is quite openly ant-BJP, and some of these people are very active on Social Media. Is this being orchestrated by them along with the media?

As far as the actual list is concerned, some of the suggestions such as removal of “double meaning” words is indeed idiotic to the say the least. It is a welcome sign that Censor Board member Ashoke Pandit has already expressed his displeasure with this list.


Let us hope this Censor Board is the first one in a decade, to restore some sanity.

When theft in a Delhi school was used to drive mass hysteria on communal lines

OpIndia Staff
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When theft in a Delhi school was used to drive mass hysteria on communal lines

NEW DELHI: On Friday morning, a day before Delhi gets a new state government, came the news that Holy Child Auxilium, a school in Vasant Vihar which is also the alma mater of Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani, was “attacked” by unidentified masked persons.

Since it was a school run by Christian missionaries, the secular ecosystem decided not to wait for facts and declare it as an attack on the minorities.

The first big celebrity to highlight the case was Arvind Kejriwal, who will become the Chief Minister of Delhi tomorrow:


With his tweet, Kejriwal set the tone that this was a “communal” incident, though his tweet didn’t mention it explicitly.

And after that, as if right on cue, string of “usual suspects” started claiming that there as a “pattern” and Christians were being targeted systematically.

They included journalists, who solved the case before the police: 

Congress politicians, who didn’t lose opportunity to attack Smriti Irani:


Muslim “activists”, who declared that India was already a fascist country: 

and Christian “activists”, who blamed government for planting these attacks:


But it didn’t take much time to prove that these assorted set of journalists, politicians, and activists were pushing a pre-decided propaganda.

To the credit of staff and management of Holy Child Auxilium, who too are Christians, they conceded that there was no “communal” angle to the incident and it looked a case of theft.

Some journalists too reported the truth, instead of spreading the paranoia and propaganda


But even after clarification by police and school staff, many journalists and activists were still spreading the paranoia as if this incident was “communal” in nature.

Perhaps their motive was never to secure safety for the Christian community, but to work on a pre-decided message. Or as Goebbels had suggested – repeat a lie till it becomes the truth – and these usual suspects are known to repeat a lie thousand times.

Kejriwal gets cracking, but what about his team?

OpIndia Staff
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Delhi CM Designate Arvind Kejriwal yesterday met the President and the Home Minister, and from what is being reported, he has started off in the right earnest. He raised the issue of full statehood for Delhi at their first meeting with Rajnath Singh itself, showing his determination to get this done. He also met Union urban development minister Venkaiah Naidu and asked him to sort out issues of agricultural land in rural areas and for additional land to build schools, colleges and parking lots in the city.

He also asked his Chief Secretary to prepare an action plan on how to implement AAP’s 70 point agenda as per its manifesto. All concerned departments have been asked to make power-point presentations in this respect within the one week of Kejriwal becoming CM. This is very reminiscent of how Modi took stock of all departments once he became PM asking them to prepare presentations too.

But what are his team members and colleagues doing? Quite the opposite some would say. AAP MLA from Okhla, Amanatullah Khan has already termed the Batla house encounter as “fake”. He has said he would seek a probe into this matter. Raking up such sensitive issues to appease a section of the society is not a good sign. Highly amusing is the fact that Amanantullah is the person who AAP alleged put communally sensitive posters in the run up to the Delhi elections, and seeked his arrest, but now he is an AAP MLA.


Amanatullah, can of course be brushed off as a “fringe element”, but Kumar Vishwas is core team member. Vishwas, is said to have branded the NSG commandos who offer security as “informers”. He said that “Arvind Kejriwal did not need VIP security since the security persons around him are informers“. Raising question marks over the loyalty of the NSG, whose commandos are well trained to defend the country, may be justified to an extent when one is not part of the establishment. But it is not becoming of the ruling party to cast aspersions on our armed forces. Vishwas anyway is an experienced loose cannon and Kejriwal will have to control him.

Although it is too early to judge, is this a measured approach from AAP? Where Arvind Kejriwal keeps talking about administration and governance, while “fringe elements” make communally polarising statements and Kumar Vishwas takes on the role of AAP’s Digvijay Singh, to sow seeds of distrust against our own establishments, thus presenting Kejriwal as the outsider underdog who will continually fight the system even though he is also a part of the system.

Free WiFi for Delhi* —– Conditions Apply

OpIndia Staff
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Free WiFi for Delhi* —– Conditions Apply

AAP made many poll promises which caught the imagination of the Delhi voter. One such promise was about the 15 lakh CCTV cameras, which was not quantified in the manifesto, yet Kejriwal declared it and the media hyped it. This may as well become one of AAP’s “chunavi jumla” because as we have explained before, it just may not be feasible. Another often repeated promise was that of “Free WiFi in entire Delhi”.

This Free WiFi promise though was clearly specified in their 70 point programme for Delhi:

38. Wi-Fi Delhi: We will make Wi-Fi freely available in public spaces across Delhi. Citywide Wi-Fi can help in bridging the digital divide. It will also provide an impetus to education, entrepreneurship, business, employment, and also tie in with women’s safety initiatives.

Note that there are no terms and conditions attached here. But today, this newspaper clipping is doing the rounds, which quotes AAP MLA and former Apple executive Adarsh Shastri, who adds that there are some “Terms and Conditions” to Free WiFi:

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As per the news report, the Free WiFi will be subject to following conditions:

1. WiFi only in Public places

2. WiFi will be free for the first 30 minutes after which it is chargeable

3. WiFi cannot be used for “Private uses” such as Email, Facebook, Twitter and Whatsapp

From the above three terms, only the first is spelt out in the 70 point programme. The fact that WiFi will be free only for the first 30 minutes is not mentioned anywhere. This is what most people online are outraging about now, calling it a U-Turn. Unfortunately for them, AAP had clearly said declared this condition, not in the manifesto, but to media way back in November 2014.

This is clearly a failure on part of the media, to highlight the difference between what AAP promises in writing, and what AAP says orally. More-over, the BJP media cell has to be blamed for not identifying this “chunavi jumla” from AAP and not disseminating this information to public at large. Remember how all parties and media jumped on BJP for using the term “immigrants” for  people from the North East in their manifesto. This is where BJP lost the battle for Delhi, and who knows how many more such failures will come to the fore in the future.

Also, please pay attention to the third condition, that AAP will decide which services can be used via free WiFi. While AAP must have readily sold this Free WiFi promise to Delhi’s youth in exchange for votes, it deliberately hid the fact that most popular services used by youth will not be allowed such as Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp and even Email. This is a clear case of misrepresentation to the public of Delhi.

This condition also raises an important issue of Net Neutrality. Net neutrality is a concept which states that Internet Service Providers should treat all data on the internet equally, without using discriminatory charges for usage. Most recently, Airtel was in a soup for proposing higher net usage charges for VoIP services. This is a typical modus operandi of telecom operators to overcharge their customers.

Will companies like Airtel now use this as a precedent to further its own interests of violating Net Neutrality by saying “look, even the Government is doing it”? Or was AAP pressurised by any Telecom companies to exclude popular services like Facebook, Whatsapp etc. from its Free WiFi service, so that there is no revenue loss to such Telecom companies?

Is Kejriwal on his way to the post of Prime Minister?

OpIndia Staff
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Is Kejriwal on his way to the post of Prime Minister?

In this piece, Rahul Roushan argues that Kejriwal might have been underestimated by the BJP, and he makes some valid points. Firstly Kejriwal is just like Modi, in the sense he is a regional satrap, who his detractors say is only a media creation (Modi was said to be an APCO product) and that he might have won in one state, but he cant spread his wings all over India. Hence Rahul says, its about time BJP took him seriously.

He analyses how Kejriwal has got sway over the media. It is an open secret that most Editors back AAP, for various reasons. These Editors and other journalists turned “volunteers” for AAP, and their newspapers and Media channels were AAP’s “pamphlets”. On the other hand BJP had no media strategy. He also reminds us that Media has always been anti-BJP, yet BJP bypassed it by using other means of communication like RSS volunteers, who obviously weren’t effective in Delhi, possibly because they couldn’t connect with the young urban crowd in Delhi.

Another important point Rahul makes is how both AAP and BJP deal with “fringe groups”. He argues that such fringe elements are double edged swords, secular voters get put off by them, but some voters will not vote for a party if it doesn’t have such hard-liners. The trick, Rahul says, is to again get the “communication” right. AAP gave a ticket to person in Okhla who had earlier put up communally sensitive posters, it took support from hard-liners like Owaisis, and at the same time brushed the Shahi Imam away, thus controlling the “communal” narrative. On the other hand BJP had to pay the price for statements from the likes of Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti & Sakshi Maharaj. BJP has a lot to learn from AAP in this regard.

Rahul also raises red flags over AAP’s “ideology”. AAP’s voters right now don’t associate it with any religious angle, rather they see AAP as a non-corrupt, dedicated party who will give them free bijli, paani and WiFi. But quite of a few of the AAP core members seem to exude the “Idea of India” (read Anti-Hindu) ideology, and hence “AAP represents the risk that it will make youth naturally allergic to everything Hindu, and thus anti-BJP by default.” This is even harder because in public, Kejriwal plays the charade well, by taking dips in the Ganga and by tweeting Hindu scriptures just before elections. The BJP has to try hard to expose this “Idea of India” ideology which AAP carries, which was also exuded by the same MLA who put up the communal posters, as soon as he was elected.

BJP is also losing the battle to reach out to the Urban poor says Rahul. While AAP managed to reduce petty corruption in their 49 days, BJP was projected as a pro-Industrialist party. Rahul further argues that “It is not the perceived closeness with industrialists that hurt BJP, but lack of some tangible benefits that this class could experience in the first few months of Modi government – contrast to the experience they had under Kejriwal government in those 49 days”. He also says that Swacch Bharat could have initially just focussed in areas where the Urban poor reside, thus building a connect with them. Here again BJP failed.

Rahul also makes it clear that BJP lost Delhi thanks to its poor strategies. Be it inducting Bedi at the last minute, or delaying Delhi Elections for so long, which gave Kejriwal a chance to rebuild his image, while all the Modi Wave goodwill of Lok Sabha was lost.

Now Rahul wonders whether AAP can take the place of Congress  as the principal opposition to BJP in the national arena. He admits that for this to happen before 2019, BJP will need to make major blunders, but still, the threat of AAP is very real.

The hypocrisy of Bhupendra Chaubey from behind the burqa of “bazaaru”

Gaurav
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The hypocrisy of Bhupendra Chaubey from behind the burqa of “bazaaru”

Mr Bhupendra Chaubey is currently serving as a “consulting editor” for CNN-IBN. Formerly, when Rajdeep was still in CNN IBN, Chaubey used to host many prime time shows. I always got the feeling that Chaubey was a balanced journalist with no political leanings, or at least he never made it clear. Maybe this was my impression because he was being compared with Rajdeep who is openly anti-Modi and has a soft corner for AAP.

But a tweet by Bhupendra yesterday shocked me:


This tweet makes so many subtle points it’s hard to believe it has come from a neutral journalist.

First of all, he says to Modi that Delhi is no Gujarat, so stop your autocracy. What does he mean? Does he imply that Gujaratis are fond of autocracy? That they are brainless zombies who liked to be pushed around by a pseudo dictator and yet they vote for him for consecutive elections? Is this an insult to the intelligence of the voters of Gujarat? I am not even going into the fact that Chaubey has suddenly realised Modi is autocratic, only after AAP won in Delhi.

The second limb of Chaubey’s tweet though is far more serious. He says: “Clear message to Modi: If you call media “bazaaru” you won’t go too far”. What is this? Is this a threat? or a show of strength post results? Is a senior journalist actually saying that if a politician criticizes Media, the Media will gang up and put all efforts to teach this politician a lesson?

It is already alleged by many that many editors have helped AAP win either thanks to their Anti-Modi stance or Pro-AAP views. Is this tweet by Chaubey the most clear indication that this might have actually happened?

Secondly, is this “threat” applicable to only Modi, or to any politician who has the guts to pull up the media, rightly or wrongly? It is time Chaubey was reminded of the days when Arvind Kejriwal wanted to “jail” media.

Kejriwal had then alleged that heavy amounts of money were paid to media by Modi and company. And he also promised to set up an enquiry and jail media and their friends. Did Chaubey ji teach Kejriwal a lesson? Being called “Bazaaru” and being called “paid” along with a threat to be imprisoned.

And look what Chaubey had to say then:


The only thing that can explain this is Mr. Chaubey’s bias. If indeed Mr Chaubey has some affinity towards AAP, it won’t be hard to explain since Ashutosh, who used to earlier work in IBN-7, a sister concern of CNN-IBN, is now a prominent AAP leader.

It wouldn’t be hard to imagine ex colleagues and possible friends Ashutosh and Bhupendra discussing something “krantikari” on phone. Is Bhupendra Chaubey hiding behind the burqa of “bazaaru” to express his real pent up feelings?

Mission Possible: How can Modi win Bihar?

Ullas
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Mission Possible: How can Modi win Bihar?

That BJP lost an election it ought to have won is quite evident from various opinions in the mainstream media. BJP brought its downfall due to various strategies and now it needs to adjust its sails to continue with Modi’s reform agenda. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that this will be a turning point of Modi regime, but some course correction is needed for the Bihar elections. Results in Bihar will have a bigger say in Indian politics (and UP politics), than many in the media want us to believe. Here are my suggestions to Prime Minister Modi to restart his winning spree.

Suggestion 1: Speak Up, Mr Prime Minister

The great Mohammad Ali had said, “Everyone has a strategy, till you land the first punch”. This is quite apt for you now. There have been various campaigns against you by the opposition parties and the media. You have been taking them, without responding. If this is a well-planned strategy – I would only be too happy to apologize later. If not, it is time for your first press conference as Prime Minister. Expose the media on its face that they created the lie of Rs 10 lakh suit. Convince the poor that funds collected from “Jan DhanYojana” were not given to Adani as loan (via SBI). Explain to the swing voters that BJP had nothing to do with Church burnings in Delhi. Soothe the nerves of sceptics that you are playing the long game and get their buy-in. Challenge the smart-asses in media to prove one allegation that they falsely level at you. Massage the egos of local leaders by talking about them and their achievements in your tweets. Expose the hypocrisy of the Obamas of this world by narrating horrendous stories in their countries.

Unless you start punching back, I am afraid, the muck will stick at you. I can promise you this – a lot of muck can stick on a 56″ chest. You are no longer the State leader who was wronged. If you had not responded then, people in Karnataka would not care less. You do not have that luxury now. Speak up and demolish their arguments.

(I am happy that you have already begun expressing yourself, by speaking out against the sycophants who built a temple in your name)

Suggestion 2: Act against Vadra

During the peak of general elections, Ravi Shankar Prasad held a press conference with video clippings of “Damaad Shri”. Whatever happened on that front? When BJP questions Kejriwal for his inaction against Sheila Dixit, do not for a moment think that your “Damaad Shri” inaction has been forgotten. You mentioned in your interview with Arnab Goswami (in May 2014) that Rajasthan government will act on it. There is hardly any news on that. Moreover, if this is an issue to be dealt at state level, BJP had no business bringing this up during the general elections. If you don’t act against Vadra, the message that goes out is clear –“you are part of the elite”. No longer will the “chaiwala” argument hold water – it will appear, as though you used that card to join the club.

Suggestion 3: Talk up Agriculture / Farmers

Last 9 months had great news for me and I appreciate the steps taken by your government to kick-start reforms. I have no complaints whatsoever. However, there has been no news from the government regarding programs for the farmers. As things stand, the media narrative for farmers about Modi will be – “Modi rubs shoulders only with industrialists and world leaders. Modi stops MNREGA. Modi’s land acquisition ordinance is anti-farmer.”

Have you solved any problem in this sector? If yes, the government is doing a pathetic job marketing it. “Has the government built warehouses to store grains for long term? Has the government improved logistics for perishable products? Where is the new agriculture policy of your government?” – These were the points you talked about in your rallies. Other than intermittent news about changes in FCI and MRP changes for grains, there has been no development here.

Suggestion 4: Watch your back with Industry bigwigs

Despite a slew of reforms, we still keep hearing about the need for more reforms. I hope Arun Jaitley has something up his sleeve during the budget. At the same time, watch out! Till now, all the newsbytes from the corporate honchos are the usual homilies. They praised Manmohan Singh and they are doing the same with you. Even the RBI has begun its act now. “Is the capex cycle picking up? Have they increased hiring more now? Has the NPA fallen in the banks’ balance sheets” – I hope you are asking them these questions. Just like industries need reforms today, you will have to push them to start investing and increase hiring tomorrow. If the bigwigs continue lamenting lack of “big bang reforms”, then you are stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Lesson 5: Act East

“Mother India needs both her shoulders to be equally developed. West is well developed, but the East has lagged” – this was your favourite line during the campaign in Bihar, Jharkhand, WB, Orissa and NE states. I am delighted that your government is actively engaging with NE states. However, other than coal reforms, there has been no “major” announcements for this region. I know results take time. But, elections are round the corner. Unless you want to announce new programs just before elections and sound like any other political party, time is running out! Other than naming many MPs from Bihar in the cabinet, there is hardly any positive news for Bihari people.

“Am I getting 24*7 electricity now? Am I getting drinking water now? Has my life improved in 9 months?” – these are some questions Bihar electorate will ask themselves before pressing the EVM. You know the answer to them better than most of us. As things stand, there WILL be second thoughts on pressing “kamalka button“.

Does the Conspiracy theory that BJP lost Delhi on purpose make sense?

Gaurav
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Does the Conspiracy theory that BJP lost Delhi on purpose make sense?

An article by a Bobby Naqvi written for the GulfNews is doing the rounds on Social Media. It claims BJP might have engineered this defeat in Delhi for other benefits. Initially I thought this theory was too idiotic to waste time on, but since many people are actually believing this, I thought of taking a closer look.

One of the arguments placed is that BJP inducted IAC rejected Kiran Bedi only as a scapegoat, to shield Modi. Well has that worked? Even if BJP had put up the strongest face and lost, would Media make it a non Modi election? Why media, even  BJP’s own ally Uddhav Thakeray has used this demolition to target Modi. And if indeed they wanted Modi to emerge free of blemish, why did he address all those rallies? Why was Modi’s face plastered on all news papers 1 day before the elections?

Next he says all of BJP’s missteps and bad management were actually stage-managed, deliberate ploys. Really? BJP Delhi Unit is by far the most unorganized state unit. Even in the 2013 Assembly elections, Dr Harshvardhan was a sort of compromise candidate acceptable to all factions. Along with Delhi, elections were held in 3 more states, i.e  Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhatisgarh. BJP came to power with over 40% vote share in all states except Delhi where it garnered just 33% votes and fell short of majority. This inherent weakness in Delhi unit was evident even then when other states rode on Modi wave.

The motive given by the author behind this entire scheme of self-defeat is the most hilarious. According to him, once Delhi is won by AAP all media attention will focus on AAP’s Government and its functioning. This will allow Modi Government to pass unpopular reforms in the Budget, away from media spotlight and secondly it will give a free hand to fringe elements to go under the radar and polarise voters on religious lines in UP and Bihar, for their upcoming elections. As far as budget is concerned, let 28th February come and you will see how much airtime Kejriwal will get. Secondly, the largely anti-Modi editors in mainstream media will never let up any chance to skewer Modi, let it be budget or Hindutva loonies, and never because they are too busy scrutinizing their blue-eyed boy Kejriwal.

Say what you may, Delhi is not just another state election. 1 year back Kejriwal showed the guts to go into Modi’s camp in Varanasi and take him head on, making it a battle of prestige. Modi won that round on home turf. Now Modi had to come to Kejriwal’s home ground and take him head on. Would Modi and Amit Shah knowingly let Modi lose this battle of perception? The voters may have voted for who will give them a better state government but the Modi vs Kejriwal, Goliath vs David undercurrent remained, and in fact was hyped up immensely by Mainstream media.

Also, with this loss, BJP has lost the sheen of invincibility. It has shown how it can be defeated, by consolidating the anti-BJP votes with the strongest opponent. It has left Congress completely destroyed. Who would BJP prefer to fight day in and day out? A lame duck Congress or a resilient AAP? Then why would BJP let AAP win, and emerge as a somewhat viable option to BJP, not in the near term but definitely in the future.

On the other hand if BJP had vanquished AAP in Delhi too, the AAP story would have been finished. Humiliated in Lok Sabha and then beaten on their own turf, AAP’s relevance would have disappeared. There would have been internal fights, like we have seen in the past. The entire party could have collapsed. BJP would have defeated its strongest potential opponent, leaving it to battle with Congress and gang for eternity.

As to why are people believing this theory? There are 2 sets of people who support this theory:

1. The disappointed hardcore bhakt: He just cannot come to terms that BJP, Modi and Amit Shah have genuinely lost an election. He is searching for some sort of reason which will put them in good light, make them not losers but winners, make them the proverbial “Baazigar” who has lost something to win something bigger. And for such a distraught bhakt, such a theory is a god-sent panacea

2. The sceptic AAP supporter: While the full AAP”tard” has no doubt that AAP has decimated BJP, the sceptic can’t believe that his party has won in such a resounding manner. He can’t believe the BJP folded on just 3 seats. And he also has deep distrust of the BJP and its machinations. Hence he believes that this is an elaborate ploy by BJP. His justifications may differ from what Mr Naqvi proposes, but he still believes BJP stage-managed this.

In fact, this article proposing this “conspiracy theory” could itself be a conspiracy by detractors of BJP, to give BJP supporters some easy excuses so that they don’t look deeper into their organization to find the real flaws. The best course for a BJP supporter now is to accept defeat, and ask questions of its leadership rather than accepting such lame duck theories.

What disappointed me as a BJP supporter during Delhi election

Rahul Raj
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What disappointed me as a BJP supporter during Delhi election

Delhi election result has shattered so many beliefs, delusions and predictions that most of the political pundits who flaunted their social and political wisdom are reduced to excuses like “I had a feeling that AAP will win by a huge margin.” 10 February 2015 is a disaster day for BJP. The party which was capturing zones after zones in the north, south, east and west like Ashwamedha horse got slaughtered in its own citadel. Even the best political strategist, the most popular face, and the most vibrant social media hordes couldn’t save the bastion. On 2015, BJP is snubbed by the same set of people who raised it to glory a few months back.

Social and political catastrophes provide a break from routine and force organizations/individuals to contemplate about what-went-bad and what-harmed-the-most. The big victory of BJP in May 2014 raised expectations of masses on impracticable heights, therefore it was anticipated that unfilled promises will hurt them within a year. Delhi was unlucky to suffer it the most. However, 3 seats out of 70 uncover darker stories apart from failed promises or inaccurate strategies. In fact, on a failure pie-chart, the “what-harmed-the-most” segment will distinctly cover more are than “what-went-bad”.

I stood for BJP for last one year because I found myself aligned with the political, social and economic philosophies of BJP. I appreciate Arvind Kejriwal for his ostentatious victory, but I can’t appreciate his idea of freebies and communism. I wish that he improves Delhi – by reducing corruption, by introducing facilities, by providing prosperity to all, but as a believer of center-right ideologies, I am hurt and I have some serious grievances with BJP. Now onwards, for each of these, I will have put my views after calibrating BJP steps on “is-this-something-I-wanted.” Here are some of them:

Silence: When people like Sakshi Maharaj and Sadhvi Jyoti made some ridiculous statement, BJP tried to diplomatically handle it by warning them but avoided a strong message against such stupidity. It is argued that these people may be tarnishing the urban image, but they are crowd pullers at grassroots. My concern is – if these people bring victory to BJP, would I like to celebrate a victory laden by stupidities of such people? The answer is always a no.

Swaccha Bharat: Modi has responsibly taken the initiative of Swaccha Bharat. He is leaving no stones unturned to propagate it to every possible layer. However, the mudslinging and vulgar attacks – which started in 2014 and peaked during this whole campaign – were exceptionally disappointing. If BJP talks about cleaning streets, but it couldn’t control its social media team to become ambassadors of clean campaigns, I would not be excited join the bandwagon.

Desperation: The sudden entries of Kiran Bedi and Shazia Ilmi may be anticipated as masterstroke, but if on the fundamental level, it was a hollow desperate move to gain votes. Sadly, it harmed BJP and now these people will be used as scapegoats by workers/leaders who were sidelined during elections. BJP Delhi couldn’t grow a local face. Even in last elections, apart from Harshvardhan, no one had an impressive background.

Excuses: Media is targeted as one of the reasons for this loss. Seriously?  The same media which went gaga over Narendra Modi becomes one of the biggest reasons.  Media didn’t cover AAP and Newspapers were flooded with Narendra Modi, Kiran Bedi and Amit Shah’s advertisements. If BJP supporters, even after gaining such advantages, attack media for the image management, I can’t support a party which is so dependent on media for its victory.

Dependency: What was BJP selling in Delhi – Modi. From the first day, Kiran Bedi threw inessential praises and accolades on Modi. Election campaigns revolved around Modi, social media hypes were woven around Modi, promises were bolstered around Modi and hopes were carved around Modi. The same promotional team during political mess justifies, “What all do you want Modi to do. He is the PM.” If that is the known reality, how can I promote and consume such campaigns?

It would be too early to make a permanent opinion. I will wait for the next steps and I hope that BJP incorporates some optimistic changes. One of the simplest, but most beautiful revelations of Classical Mechanics is that Friction – which opposes the motion of an object – also helps rolling objects to move forward. I hope that BJP acknowledges friction and uses it to roll forward.

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