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Forget ‘Advantage BJP’ articles, let’s see what media was doing all the while in Uttar Pradesh

factorator
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Forget ‘Advantage BJP’ articles, let’s see what media was doing all the while in Uttar Pradesh

Just a few days are remaining before we get to know who wins Uttar Pradesh. Of late, some in media have suddenly started claiming that it’s advantage BJP and that people are still behind Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but let’s rewind a little.

In run up to the elections and till a couple of weeks back, the mainstream media, particularly the India Today Group and the Economic Times, were leaving no stone unturned in trying to build a ‘hawa’ in favour of the SP-Congress alliance, even if it means exposing obvious double standards in reporting and interviews. Perhaps they realised that they had gone too far in cheerleading, so the recent noises about Advantage BJP is being thrown around when just one phase of polling is remaining.

In many parts of the world, the media doesn’t try to hide its political or ideological stance, and therefore covert support for certain participants is assumed and understood. In many countries, the practice of the fourth estate officially endorsing a particular candidate or party is also common and acceptable. In India, however, the media insists on being called “independent” and “neutral”, yet their favouritism and malice are obvious and evident, especially during election coverage.

This undesirable and dangerous trend is a direct consequence of the nature of mandates the electorate has delivered in the recent past. In an era of hung assemblies, many in the media fancied themselves as quasi-political operatives, agents and even kingmakers. This gave them relevance, access and power in a post-poll scenario.

With most verdicts now being conclusive, that role is now gone. The shift to being an extension of the campaign during the election process has thus become inevitable. Especially for those who depend on political patronage for survival, or seek to extract a price for their circulation and viewership.

Two videos – Rahul Gandhi’s poll rally in his family pocket borough of Rae Bareli on 17th February, and Rahul Kanwal’s interview of Amit Shah around the same time – provide evidence of just how blatant this practice is, and how it works.

These look disconnected and insignificant when seen in isolation, but the pattern they build is unmistakable.

Let’s analyse a few specific instances:

Promise vs Performance

When the Gandhi siblings attack Modi for lack of development and employment in Rae Bareli, the irony cannot be more difficult to miss, except for the media. Their Italian mother, and both grandparents have been MPs from this constituency for the longest time. The reference to Italy is necessary in light of Priyanka Vadra’s astute observations regarding the Prime Minister’s domicile.

The audacity is admirable – blaming Modi for no development in a geography that has sent a Congress member to Lok Sabha in for 64 of the 70 years since independence. The local MP has not even bothered to campaign for the alliance. And yet, there isn’t a single piece on this. But there are quite a few journos who find merit in the ‘bahari’ attack against Modi.

Respect, authoritarianism and the mai-baap mindset

Rahul Gandhi has gone to town accusing the Modi of disrespecting his predecessor, of peeping into people’s bathrooms, and not taking anyone else seriously. By implication, one assumes that Rahul Gandhi displays all these qualities.

Yet, we can see at least five instances (0.17- 0.44, 3.28-3.36, 12.13-12.22, 12.30-12.33 minutes in this video) of people, including a lady, all perhaps elder than him, touching his feet and he blessing them, without making an effort to discourage the feudal practice. For a ‘youth leader’ who speaks of change and transformation, is this not a clear give away of the mai-baap mindset?

Yet, scan the coverage and there is not a squeak about this. Did you see anyone talking about it?

Seriously speaking

The Congress VP had also remarked that PM Modi lacks seriousness, is tired and therefore should not worry about UP, and leave it to Akhilesh. He went on to draw a comparison between how the PM was supposed to be Raj of DDLJ, but turned out to be Gabbar of Sholay (whatever that means). This was followed by a jibe on foreign travel to meet Obama, while belittling Swacch Bharat mission. Of all Indian politicians, Rahul Gandhi should be the last one to question Modi on commitment and energy. The media ecosystem knows this and also that the PM has not taken a single day off and maintains a punishing schedule every day.

But they won’t say it, and instead, will watch Rahul Gandhi mocks the cleanliness project, necessitated because his family left a mess during their 60-year rule. No one has bothered to ask Rahul Gandhi (who by default represents the incumbent government), why he does not mention a single achievement of the previous five years, or of ten years of UPA rule.

Why has Rahul Gandhi not been subjected to the kind of grilling Amit Shah and Yogi Adityanath face on channels? The batting from the Gathbandhan is being done by Akhilesh, who, admittedly has to deal with tough questions such as ‘where do you go on vacation’, ‘do you get time to rest’ and ‘do you fight with your wife, because I often do?’

Body language

The Delhi Chief Minister, who has been seen everywhere except Delhi, found time during his recuperation in a wellness resort (it is an offshore Mohalla Clinic, so no hypocrisy arguments please!) to troll the Prime Minister. When there was nothing substantial he had to put out, he simply transformed himself into a body language expert and concluded that Modiji was looking nervous and tired. The AAPs media network was prompt to latch on to the ‘Kejriwal trolls Modi’ line. Of course, it helps immensely to have a chief minister who prides himself being in called a troll, but that’s another story.

Now, see what Rahul Kanwal does (5.40 – 6.44 in this video). He needles Amit Shah by asking about the leaked audio clip and asks about visibly defeatist body language. Of course Shah swiftly knocks him back into place by reminding that you can’t ‘see’ an audio clip. The rest of Kanwal’s interview is a fun watch, because Shah makes him answer his own questions, but the operating model becomes clear.

Rahul Gandhi’s constant, nervous fidgeting is never a body language problem and his fumbling, uncoherent delivery still qualifies for more ‘coming-of-age’ column inches, but packed Modi rallies and polite voter pitches are a sign of nervousness.

And talking of body language and seriousness, just look at the following video, especially the first 30-40 seconds:



Private party. Rally stage. Grand show of feudalism.

A political rally is not a ‘fun’ event, especially in poverty stricken areas like Rae Bareli. But the Gandhi siblings seem to be merrily oblivious of this (10.35 -11.50 in the rally video), as they engage in private chatter and animated exchanges with a certain lady in green, who was the only other person in the front row.

A little nosing around revealed that the lady is Aditi Singh, the candidate for the Rae Bareli assembly seat. Aditi is the daughter of a feared local don and a very close associate of Priyanka Gandhi, which explains why she received the privilege of sitting along with the Gandhi siblings. There were five other candidates on stage, and they were made to stand behind, and appear only when asked.

This begs the question, if the Gandhis only allow personal friends and khandaani candidates to sit beside them even in election rallies. Aditi looks like a fine young woman, and the conversation looks to be fairly informal. To any reporters worth their salt, the optics of a high-society, blink-and-miss rendezvous on the Rae Bareli Congress stage, should be a 1500-word copy on just why the Congress is India’s most feudal party. But that’s not what they are here for, are they?

Feminist Icon?

The entry of Priyanka Gandhi into the UP campaign was billed as the big push from the Gathbandhan for floating votes. She made two appearances and a brief speech in her backyard before news spread that subsequent rallies featuring her had been cancelled. But even before the first day of her appearances was over, there was a hurried hurried sprint among leading independent journalists to sing peans to Priyanka Gandhi. MSM stole the show, when ‘they killed’ logic and reason to quickly announce Priyanka Gandhi as a feminist icon that India has been waiting for.

In the only speech she made, Priyanka was sermonising on how women need to have their independent identity away from the ‘mata-behen’ references of the PM. Yet, she thought nothing of smiling through an attack (7.45 – 8.08 in this video) on PM’s nonagenarian mother, for her grave crime of standing in queue like a normal citizen to exchange her old notes. In allowing her to stand in line, Modi had proved that he was a terrible son, and therefore unfit for the state of UP, thundered the invisible speaker, because the camera lens was solely meant to cover the Gandhis, even if they were merely just sitting on stage, chatting among themselves. Unlikely that you would have heard anything about all of this, because not one tweet or question about Priyanka Vadra’s conduct has been raised.

***

These are just a few of the hundreds of examples that come to mind and are regularly exposed on social media.

It is perhaps a good thing that TV Channels and Newspapers have lost much of their credibility already and therefore, voters are less gullible than assumed. Having said that, it is perhaps time for the Election Commission to broaden the ambit of paid news, and implement guidelines that can act as a deterrent to the obvious bias.

When Javed Akhtar insulted our wrestlers, I was reminded of this story

Shreyash
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When Javed Akhtar insulted our wrestlers, I was reminded of this story

I have a great respect for poet and lyricist Javed Akhtar, despite his failings such as his double standards on freedom of speech. However, I lost much of it when he chose to use terms like ‘hardly literate’ and ‘trolls’ to refer to wrestlers Yogeshwar Dutt and Phogat sisters. There was arrogance of the elite written all over it. He did it to humiliate them.

This reminded me of an old story:

Once a king gets lost in the forest, and while wandering comes across a blind sage. He touches the sage’s feet and asks him the path to the capital. The Sage tells him, “My dear king, first your soldier came and asked the same question, then your general and now you are asking me!”

Amused, the king inquires how, despite being blind, the sage was able to figure out their identities. The sage responds by saying that the earlier voices had contempt and arrogance, whereas his voice has politeness. Their voices relayed their inferiority complex and insecurities.

Javed Akhtar’s tweet also betrayed this.

Remember that Akhtar’s tweet was provocative. It pricked the pride of the wrestlers. Dan Gabl, retired American Olympic wrestler and head coach, had once said, “More enduringly than any other sport, wrestling teaches self-control and pride. Some have wrestled without great skill – none have wrestled without pride.”

But instead of descending in a mudslinging contest, Yogeshwar Dutt responded with a Kabir’s couplet. Phogat Sisters too never used similar language for the poet.

Javed Akhtar’s and our wrestlers’ respective tweets proved about their own characters and mettle, rather than each other’s. And this round went to the wrestlers, no doubt.

Self-control apparently is better ingrained by practicing a life of self-discipline than by spending your life writing about it. Words here were new but the sound is too familiar to miss. Familiar because it has always been with us. From 2014’s ‘Chaiwala’ barb to 2017’s ‘illiterate’ epithet – condescension has been our constant companion.

Education which helps to destroy one’s ego is knowledge. Education which builds snobbery is a mere gathering of facts. But we live in times where educational qualification is one more tool to draw the line – that line which separates us from them. The line which separates free thinkers entitled to free speech from the ones who are merely trolls. It is this demarcation which is used to silence our Yogeshwar Dutt’s and Phogat sisters. The underlying insecurities are too apparent to miss…

A saying in Hindi goes विद्या विनय देती है और शिक्षा घमंड! (Knowledge gives humility & education gives arrogance). Education gives you a livelihood but does not teach you how to lead a life. If formal education could guarantee civility, ISIS would not have any engineers or doctors.

The above incident seems innocuous but the stench of ridicule tells a long story. Even a casual reflection on the above incident will tell us who is wise and who is merely educated. Our society will be better served if we discard celebrating arrogance of the elite in favour of equanimity shown by illiterates.

“When your last breath arrives, Grammar can do nothing.” ― Adi Shankaracarya

Book reveals that Army was spooked by Barkha Dutt’s reporting in Kargil

OpIndia Staff
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Book reveals that Army was spooked by Barkha Dutt’s reporting in Kargil

An army jawan has died after a journalist decided to conduct a “sting operation” that allegedly compromised his identity. The unfortunate incident has once again thrown up the issue of shoddy journalism vs safety of security forces for debate. And when you talk about “shoddy journalism”, you think of Barkha Dutt.

“Shoddy Journalism” was the title of a blog post written by a blogger named Chyetanya Kunte during the Mumbai terror attacks of 2008. In his post, Kunte criticised the media, especially controversial journalist Barkha Dutt, who was then with NDTV. Subsequently, Kunte received a legal notice, and he proceeded to delete the blog post and issue an apology to Barkha Dutt and NDTV.

The apology and the original blog post content are available at this page released by the WikiLeaks.

The blog post basically argued that the live telecast and live commentary by the media and the journalists, especially by Barkha Dutt, during the counter terror operations was completely irresponsible as it only seemed to help the terrorists and their handlers.

Around 3.5 years after Kunte was bullied into tendering an apology, the Supreme Court of India made similar scathing comments about media’s role and reporting during the Mumbai terror attacks.

However, Barkha Dutt insists that the blog was defamatory in nature, especially because it contained a reference to the Kargil war, where Barkha is accused to have caused casualties on the Indian side as she gave away military locations in her broadcast. Kunte referred to this accusation based on a Wikipedia entry, which honestly was unfair to Barkha. Wikipedia can’t be treated as a primary source, though it is a wonderful repository of secondary sources. One has to double check the citations (sources) when reading up a Wikipedia entry.

However, there is another source, which can’t be just rejected by Barkha as made up claims by “trolls”, which shows that Barkha Dut’s reporting during the Kargil war irresponsible at least on one occasion.

This source is a book titled “Kargil: Turning the Tide” written by Lt Gen Mohinder Puri. A paragraph from this book is revealing, and the same was pointed out by a Twitter user Nikhil Sharma to Barkha Dutt, to support his claim that Barkha’s TV journalism has been irresponsible:


Here is the relevant part from the book (emphasis added):

The sight of the artillery rounds falling on the objective made an awesome scene which remains etched in my memory till date. It has started raining lightly by the time I reached the ops room of HQ 192 Mtn Bde, and as the night progressed, the rain fell heavily and all our thoughts were for the men going in for the attack. At Tiger Hill it was snowing.

At about 2120 hours, the exchange operator gave a ring in the ops room asking for me. The Corps Cdr had wanted to speak to me urgently. When the call got connected, all in the ops room could make out that something serious was being discussed between us. On finishing, I looked at Col SVE David, Deputy Cdr of 56 Mtn Bde, who was also present, and asked him to find out if Barkha Dutt of NDTV, then Star Plus/News Channel, was anywhere in the vicinity or amongst the media witnessing the artillery fire on Tiger Hill.

We soon discovered that the young lady was giving a live commentary on the attack on Tiger Hill sitting right next to brigade traffic check post in Drass. I met her and after a few words of advice from me, she was told to proceed to an underground room and rest for the night. So much for secrecy of an operation! I had only informed the Corps Cdr of the date of the operation and he in turn for reasons of secrecy had not even informed the Army Cdr. Hence the surprise and concern over Barkha’s reporting.

From the above, it’s clear that Barkha Dutt’s reporting did spook the Army at least once during the Kargil war. Let us clarify again that this does not prove that Barkha’s reporting caused casualties on the Indian side, however, her reporting was a “concern” for the Army, so much so that a senior army officer had to be called up and asked to take the matter seriously. Her reporting was threatening to hurt the secrecy of the operations, the book hints at that.

Incidentally, Barkha Dutt was present when this book was launched in December 2015. For “obvious” reasons, neither Lt Gen Puri nor anyone in the media pointed out to this part of the book. Instead, Lt Gen Puri lauded the media and Barkha Dutt for “bringing the war into our living rooms”. Even in the same book, Lt Gen Puri acknowledges that barring the aforementioned incident, Barkha’s reporting was excellent.

War reporting is never easy. It involves risks to one’s own security as well as it requires having the sound judgment to assess what information could be too sensitive to broadcast. Kargil war experience should have made Barkha mature about these aspects. After Lt Gen Puri had a word that night about her, she should have learnt the importance of secrecy of an operation and how a “live commentary” threatens to compromise that.

Yet, about a decade later, she was accused of doing the same during the Mumbai terror attacks (26/11). And she responded by sending a legal notice and asking the blogger to apologise.

After the Supreme Court too agreed that media’s role during the 26/11 was irresponsible and dangerous, media and Barkha Dutt started singing a different tune. In an interview in 2015, she said:

However on 26/11, I would like to add that 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.

Seriously? You need government to tell you that after pretty early in your career, a top army official told you what could compromise secrecy and safety during a military operation? How is “broadcast in real time” different from “live commentary” that Lt Gen Puri talks about in his book?

Perhaps Barkha may claim that there were no live TV (OB vans, etc.) and mobile phones during the Kargil war, which is true, but there were Iridium phones (same as the one used by army men) that were used to do live commentary by the media. In interviews like this, Barkha agrees to have used such phones.

In fact, Barkha often claims that using Iridium phones didn’t compromise safety of the army as army too was using those, but the book written by Lt Gen Puri is very clear that the way Barkha used them was a concern for the army at least once.

Furthermore, if a live commentary using limited technology back in 1999 could concern the army, modern technologies by 2008 surely meant media should have been even more careful in their live telecast. A journalist like Barkha Dutt shouldn’t need some babu in government tell her that after years of experience. But Barkha chooses to put the onus on government for 26/11 while insisting that her Kargil reporting was spotless.

Maybe Barkha Dutt needs another court judgment after which she will accept that she did commit some mistakes during the Kargil war, just like she accepted mistakes by media after Supreme Court broadly agreed with what Kunte had written. Till then, journalism will continue to mean ‘never having to admit that you could be wrong’.

Who am I? I am a Leftist!

Hoshang Pathak
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Who am I? I am a Leftist!

Inspired by Coach Ron Flower’s famous motivational speech for Leland Chargers called ‘Who am I? I am a Champion!’, Leftist professors at JNU, DU and Jadavpur University decide to  indoctrinate teach young gullible passionate students the true meaning of revolution, dissent, rebellion, uprising and social justice. (Watch the video before proceeding with the speech) Following is the leftists version:

I am a strong proponent of freedom of expression, but only till the time you agree with my views. Otherwise, you have no right to your views and deserve to be killed. WHO AM I? I AM A LEFTIST.

I will change the rules of engagement in a debate as per my convenience. If countered with logic and facts, I will shift the goalposts and indulge in whataboutery. WHO AM I? I AM A LEFTIST.

I will use a variety of victim cards that I have at my disposal, like feminist and caste cards if I find myself on the losing side of an argument. WHO AM I? I AM A LEFTIST.

I support actors and sportspersons when they speak in my favour, but waste no time and mince no words in demonizing them when they don’t toe my line. WHO AM I? I AM A LEFTIST.

Leftist satirical picturee
I am a Leftist and I believe holding a placard will make me a revolutionary

I care for issues such as poverty, illiteracy and inequality but reek of elitism by dismissing award winning sportspersons as ‘hardly literate’, indicating their views don’t hold any weight if devoid of formal education. WHO AM I? I AM A LEFTIST.

I sip piping hot Sulaimani Chai from the relative comforts of Prithvi Café listening to Ghazals and feature in ads for a joint pain relief oil, while the ones who I have ridiculed have actually sprained their knees numerous times to get laurels for India. WHO AM I? I AM A LEFTIST.

I will revere you only if you align to my ideology, else you will be dismissed as a troll, misogynist or racist. WHO AM I? I AM A LEFTIST.

I will place trained students with the perfect background to gain immunity from any harsh criticism, masquerading as independent voices to further my agenda and will cry foul and play victim when I get a fitting rejoinder to my stand. WHO AM I? I AM A LEFTIST.

I will abuse the Army for 364 days of the year but will have newfound love for the Army men when I want to shoot from their shoulders to attack the government. WHO AM I? I AM A LEFTIST.

I will brainwash students and others outside my bastions of a handful of universities by giving them a one sided view of Kashmir and Bastar and paint a picture of India burning through the many news portals posing as neutral organizations. WHO AM I? I AM A LEFTIST.

I will protest against people speaking about Balochistan in India as it may incite violence but Kashmir ki azaadi is perfectly fine. WHO AM I? I AM A LEFTIST.

I will impose radical feminist thoughts in the minds of young girls to the point of misandry and which lead them to label biology and science itself as patriarchal. WHO AM I? I AM A LEFTIST.

I will use the innate hotblooded nature of the youth in colleges and make them believe as if they are fighting for a righteous cause in this dystopian world, whereas in reality they are nothing but rebels without a cause. WHO AM I? I AM A LEFTIST.

I will subtly further my propaganda of brainwashing young gullible minds by making terms like ‘Patriotism’, ‘Nationalism’ and ‘Deshbhakti’ uncool among the youth by deliberately misusing it and making fun of it. WHO AM I? I AM A LEFTIST.

I am fully aware of the complete failure of my ideology across the globe but want it to remain relevant and creating such gimmicks is the only way to stay in the limelight. WHO AM I? I AM A LEFTIST.

I will chant ‘Kashmir ki azaadi’ slogans but when confronted, lie that I was merely asking for azaadi from poverty and inequality. I think the people of this country are fools to believe me. Even if I actually raise slogans against poverty, I believe empty sloganeering in campuses will help me eradicate poverty. WHO AM I? I AM A LEFTIST.

I believe holding placards and posing on Facebook will bring about a change in the society and create revolutionaries like Marx, Che and Mao.

WHO AM I? I AM A LEFTIST. WHO AM I? I AM A LEFTIST. WHO AM I? I AM A LEFTIST.

New revelations raise further questions about role of media in Army man’s death

OpIndia Staff
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New revelations raise further questions about role of media in Army man’s death

Yesterday we had reported how an Army Jawan named Roy Mathew, who was working as a sahayak (helper) was found dead and seemed to have committed suicide. He was believed to have been featured in The Quint‘s “sting operation” which purportedly wanted to “expose” the menial jobs they (sahayaks) were made to do.

Initially reports had come out to suggest that after he appeared in the report based on that “sting”, Mathew’s superiors had somehow come to know that he had been speaking to the media. The fear of an inquiry and his probable guilt was believed to have been the reason he took the extreme step.

Now new revelations by his family and statements from the Army suggest that the “sting operation” and his media interactions may have had a larger role to play in his death that earlier believed.

Army’s press release

In a press release, the army put out its version of events. It stated that Roy Mathew was reported missing on 25th February and was declared absent without leave from that day onward. The release also said that he (Roy Mathew) was asked leading questions about his duties and also that the video was taken without his knowledge. In the most sensational claim, the release also states that as the identity of the Army personnel was hidden, it was not known to the Army officials and there was no question of an inquiry getting ordered against him.

What further questions the role of the media house is this report which claims that Mathew wrote in his diary that the voice, which was attributed to him in the sting operation, was not his and he felt it was better to die than face a court marshal. If this is true, was Mathew hinting at some sort of manipulation and doctoring with the tapes of the so-called sting operation?

Mathew’s brother also alleges that even though Matthew’s identity was blurred in the video, one could still easily identify him by the visuals. He further said that Mathew became severely tensed after his video was uploaded on the website, and as is the case with “sting operations”, he never knew the journalist was secretly shooting him.

Though in the same report, his wife is quoted as saying that Mathew had called her up to say that he had been called for an inquiry by higher officials, which is somewhat contradictory to the army’s press release. Mathew, the only breadwinner in his family, had also revealed to his wife that even TV channels were playing his visuals.

Another report claims that the last text message sent from his mobile was to his attached Colonel in which he said sorry.

In our earlier report we had also mentioned that the so called “sting operation” was not really needed as the various issues faced by the sahayaks were already in the public domain, so much so that even a parliament committee had recommended its abolition. Plus what is clear from the revelations so far is the fact that Mathew was no whistle-blower as he was asked a question and his answers were videotaped without his knowledge, and as claimed by him were also probably doctored. Someone is only considered a whistle-blower when he voluntarily comes forward to speak out against his organisation, and as was amply clear from Mathew’s behaviour his was anything but voluntary.

This exercise by The Quint can also not be called a typical “Sting Operation” since usually a sting features the perpetrator and not the victim. For example, if a politician takes a bribe from a citizen, the sting operation to expose this incident would feature the politician revealing or also partaking in a similar transaction and not the citizen. This particular “Sting operation” would have passed off as ‘ethical’ had one of the Army officials acknowledged the fact that sahayaks were being made to do menial jobs against rules.

On top of it apart from deleting the report and video, The Quint has also deleted the tweets reporting the sting, thereby maybe wanting all traces of the report to be removed, though its not known whether they have come up with a clarification for their behaviour or even an apology for unfairly treating the Jawan.

This case is one of the most unfortunate instances where a media house trapped an army man into speaking his mind and the TV channels broke his trust by telecasting his visuals. As as accurately put here, “The journalists got their scoop and in the end all the army man got was death.”

U-turn alert: Right Wingers are praising Arvind Kejriwal, read why

OpIndia Staff
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U-turn alert: Right Wingers are praising Arvind Kejriwal, read why

Since long there have been speculations of Twitter accounts of users who are anti-left getting suspended if and when they started criticizing AAP [1][2][3]. The problem though is almost exclusively prevalent when it comes to the critics of Kejriwal and his supporters rarely get suspended.

It seemed to have become such a chronic issue that today a prominent Twitter account @being_humor too got suspended. The user incidentally was concerned for a long time that his lampooning of AAP and its leaders might soon land him in trouble and today it did.

After his suspension, many Twitter users, most of whom are identified as “right wingers”, decided to protest in a unique way by dishing out ironic praise for Kejriwal, so as to curry Twitter India’s favour and avoid a possible suspension.

The whole exercise conducted wholly in sarcasm wished to shed light on alleged twisted operations of Twitter India where users get suspended on the basis of their Ideology and political preferences.

Here are a few we managed to find:


One account went a step ahead of praising Kejriwal and cursed Modi, which may mean he would still be active even after the day Twitter shuts operations:


One changed his culinary preferences as a tribute to Kejriwal.


Tweets are temporary but Bio is permanent so some even changed their Bio:

The Quint is right – playing Holi is the stepping stone to Hindu Terror

Gaurav
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The Quint is right – playing Holi is the stepping stone to Hindu Terror

Sometimes even the most mundane events spark off a chain of thoughts which end up in a sense of deep enlightenment. How Archimedes discovered a basic law of physics, while having bath, how Newton discovered gravity, while wasting his time away under an apple tree, I too hit upon the most profound knowledge while mindlessly scrolling on my social media wall.

It began when I saw this tweet from the news site TheQuint: “Should we allow kids to unleash terror on the streets in the name of Holi”?

At first, the tweet appeared illogical. But as I kept thinking about it, it made me realise that we are raising an army of children trained to be terrorists.

The first element of any terror attack is finding innocent victims. It can be anyone, a man, a woman, a child, of any religion, caste, or creed. The only condition being that they must be “infidels”. It’s the same with Holi. Children target only innocent victims. They never go after the ones who are already bathed in colour (the faithful). They enjoy targeting those unsuspecting infidels who are not part of their cult, who are not initiated into their faith. Isn’t this Hindu terror?

The second element of any terror attack is surprise. Ever heard of Al Qaeda announcing in advance that they will be targeting a particular embassy in Kabul? The attack is always carried out in stealth mode, and only after the world has seen the impact, is credit taken. Similarly, children lurk around corners, behind cars, under stairs, waiting for their prey to arrive. Once the attack has materialised, they come out of the shadows to proudly take responsibility.

Thirdly, terrorists use advanced sophisticated weapons which usually explode upon impact releasing harmful chemicals into the surrounding area. Yup, this is what children refer to as water balloons. A recent study has revealed that a child throwing water-balloons on Holi has 95.42% chance of ending up as a Jihadi in war-torn terrains:

Such radicalization of children at an early age results in increased flow of terrorosterone hormone in the human body/ Another recent study has revealed that terrorosterone was found nearly in all terrorists and in some students of JNU too.

And what is the main weapon used in Holi? Harmful chemicals like dihydrogen monoxide mixed with dyes (sounds like dies). The world has condemned the use of chemical weapons even in wars, and India is promoting use of such inhuman chemicals? For shame!

Finally, what is Holi about? The festival of Holi is based on an ancient barbaric ritual of burning Holika, the “devil”. Alternate reading of history though tells us that Holika was actually a dutiful sister to a noble immortal king. Her only “fault” was that she decided to help her brother King Hiranyakashipu (Grace be upon him), in defeating his unworthy, unfaithful son Prahlad, who had begun worshipping false misogynistic Gods. For this, Holika was brutally burnt on a bonfire, while the hideous beasts who did this ghastly act revelled in mirth. Of course, the story has been massively altered now, to portray Holika as a demon.

Holi is thus based on lies and deceit, and even so, it advocates burning people you do not like in bonfires. THIS is exactly what terrorists do, they burn people up in fires because they do not like them!

The similarities just don’t end. Without doubt, Holi is the next best thing there can be to actual hard-core terrorism. In some cases it can be worse. At least in a terrorist attack, the pain is short-lived. One moment of a flash, a bit of bang, some smoke, and you are out of your misery. Ask a woman the lifelong pain, ignominy and shame, of wearing a light coloured dress, stained with Holi chemicals, which does not get cleaned even after using the best detergent! The Horror! Spare a though for the child of such a woman, scarred for life, as his friends constantly manipulate his brain to humiliate him for his mother’s stained dress. What do you think such children end up as? Terrorists again!

Prime Minister Modi must enact a tough legal provision -Deholitisation, where in Holi is banned for eternity. In fact, this move will go hand in hand with his vision of “Swacch Bharat”. He must only show the gumption to take such unpopular yet morally correct decisions. Lets save our children while we can!

Army Jawan found dead after his identity got leaked post media interactions

OpIndia Staff
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Army Jawan found dead after his identity got leaked post media interactions

An Army Jawan named Roy Mathew, who was working as a sahayak (helper), was found dead on Thursday in the Devlali Cantonment in Maharashtra. He was found hanging from the sealing of an abandoned barrack and doctors speculate that he might have died at three days prior to Thursday.

The Jawan had allegedly featured as an unnamed sahayak in a report filed by website The Quint on 24th February, which talked about the menial jobs the sahayaks have carry out. The website carried out a “sting operation” in the same cantonment, which showed sahayaks carrying out jobs they should ideally not be doing.

sahayak dead
Roy Mathew

Roy Mathew had gone missing a day after The Quint article was published. In a phone call to his wife, he reportedly claimed that he faced some serious problems with regards to his job and that his seniors had come to know that he was talking about the same to the media.

The Quint article, through the sting operation, “exposed” how the sahayaks were made to do tasks like walking their assigned Officer’s pets, dropping the Officer’s kids to school, driving his wife to the market, and even washing their clothes. As per that article, the sahayak’s duties should only include:

  1. Maintaining officers’ weapons and uniforms.
  2. Assisting in digging trenches and shelters during war, training, or exercises.
  3. Ease officers’ burdens during planning and execution of operations

The issue of regular soldiers being asked to do such jobs have often been criticized. In 2010 a parliamentary committee on defense had asked the army to take a cue from the Navy and the Air Force and abolish the system. Last year in May, there were reports that suggested that the practice, which finds its roots in colonial British Army, could be stopped.

As recent as in January this year, a soldier named Lance Naik Yagya Pratap Singh had uploaded a video on YouTube, which talked about these issues with the sahayak system. Therefore, it’s not too clear what extra information The Quint was trying to pass through a “sting operation”.

The entire affair became even more mysterious as The Quint proceeded to remove both the article and the video of the sting operation after the news of Mathew’s death came in.



Was this an admission that the website had erred and perhaps ended up revealing the identity of Roy Mathew, thus putting him under stress and pressure? Adding another angle to it is a report that claims that Mathew had given an interview, on conditions of anonymity, to Marathi TV channel that aired on 27th February, which is three days after The Quint report. Mathew is quoted as telling his wife that he had committed a big mistake, apparently referring to his media interactions.

So in all probability, this tragic death is result of media not being careful about protecting his identity. While The Quint used a sting operation that was perhaps not needed, the unnamed Marathi TV channel appeared to have gone back on their words to keep his identity secret. The deletion of the article and video by The Quint surely hints at some sort of admission of guilt. However, a probe is required to ascertain what caused Mathew to get so scared for his life and job.

A probe is also need to find out if Mathew’s death was a suicide under stress or was there some kind of foul play? One also hopes that the issue of soldiers being asked to do menial jobs as sahayaks is finally settled by the Army after this has taken a life of a Jawan.

Rohingya Muslims in India – from refugees to a security threat

Hemant Bijapurkar
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Rohingya Muslims in India – from refugees to a security threat

Rohingya Muslims portrayed as one of the most persecuted minorities in the world by many activists, have suffered a brutal fate at the hands of the Myanmar military and local Buddhist groups. India has been deeply involved when it comes to rehabilitating and sheltering the battered ethnic group. Currently there are about 36,000 Rohingyas in India out of which only 9000 are officially registered. They remain concentrated in states like Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Assam, Jammu and Kashmir and Delhi.

India’s first major taste of the Rohingya crisis came, rather absurdly, on 12th August 2012 at Azad Maidan in Mumbai. A large crowd of Muslims assembled at the venue to protest against the Assam Riots and the Rakhine Riots in Myanmar, which were a confrontation between the Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims. The crowds soon turned violent which led to them vandalizing public property, molesting women cops, desecrating the Amar Jyoti Javan Memorial. The riots led to the death of two people.

Around the same time many Rohignyas had made their way, all the way from Myanmar through Bangladesh, to illegally enter India. With their conditions pitiable and them enduring the long and treacherous journey, they seemed to have found a safe haven in Hyderabad where various Islamic organisations extended their help, as social media messages had already flared up passions (leading to Azad Maidan riots).

Their status of being persecuted minorities in process of rehabilitation slowly started to change after reports started emerging in 2013 about some of the Rohingyas getting radicalized by the Lashkar-e-Toeba (LeT) to avenge the sectarian violence in Myanmar. The retribution though, for some strange reason, was also aimed at India, which ironically gave them the shelter. Perhaps presence of Buddhists in India was one of the reasons.

All this emerged after it was speculated that the Bodh Gaya Blasts on 7th July 2013 were possibly a retribution against the Buddhists for what was going on in Myanmar. This was almost confirmed after interrogations revealed that the blasts at the Buddhist shrine were aimed as a revenge for the Rohingyas.

These findings alerted security agencies and in December 2014, Rohingyas were put under surveillance by the Hyderabad police, which was a result of the arrest of Khalid Mohammed, a Rohingya Muslim from Hyderabad, by the NIA in connection with the Burdwan blast in Oct 2014.

Recently the people of Jammu have been actively protesting against the settlement of Rohingyas in the state. Reports indicate that there has been a sharp rise in the number of refugees from 5,107 in 2010 to about 13,400 in June, 2016. The security forces there too have started perceiving the Rohingyas there as a security threat after one of the two foreign militants killed in a shootout in south Kashmir turned out to be a native of Myanmar.

This has also led to feeling of anger and anguish among many Indians that while the Rohingyas were being settled in Jammu & Ladakh, efforts to rehabilitate the Kashmiri Pandits were being opposed. This has also ensured that politics has started over the issue with J&K National Panthers party putting up hoardings asking Rohingyas and Bangladeshi Muslims to leave.

This association of Rohingyas with India has evolved from being a shelter for persecuted minorities to being a genuine security threat. India’s official position over sheltering the Rohingyas has been that of a silent pragmatism so as to not irk the Myanmar leadership which already has a growing Chinese influence.

However the issue might need quick addressing as the rise in this new ethnic group, especially along India’s eastern border poses a severe security threat and challenges of illegal immigration. Having said that, the solution also isn’t as simple as rounding up and deporting all the Rohingyas, as many of whom have a legitimate refugee status or a valid visa.

Last month, India cautioned Myanmar about the long known exploitation of Rohingyas at the hands of Pakistan based terrorists. This might also prompt the Indian government too to rethink its stance of turning a blind eye to the illegal immigration, like it did for the Rohingyas chiefly in 2012 as there was domestic political pressure to allow them and international concern over human rights.

This settlement of the refugees may be the largest since India gave refuge to the Dalai Llama and 80,000 Tibetians who fled atrocities of the Chinese in 1959, however, the consequences are turning out to be very different in both the cases.

Why some people are not willing to give Umar Khalid the benefit of doubt

Ashish Dhar
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Why some people are not willing to give Umar Khalid the benefit of doubt

The benefit of the doubt is a value judgement that translates to an act of placing trust in someone’s words, even when there are competing reasons to not do so. The benefit is given after weighing the options and duly considering what is at stake. In a court of law, the benefit of the doubt is an extremely important principle because to convict someone without adequate evidence is against the very foundations of justice. But in everyday life, hard evidence is not so easy to come by and healthy scepticism helps us survive and live in peace.

Likewise, in political matters, before giving someone the benefit of the doubt, it is imperative to place the individual in the right frame of reference, failing which our judgement is likely to be swayed by rhetoric and propaganda. In this article, I will try to put together the relevant historical context against which the recent events in Delhi University may be studied and interpreted and in doing so, I will spend lesser time on the current trivialities and more on the preceding historical trajectory.

Father, son and the holy cause

Umar Khalid was in the news last week, just as he was precisely a year ago, when he went absconding after allegedly raising seditious anti-India slogans inside the JNU campus. Umar later surrendered to the police and was soon let out on bail but in the interim, his intriguing familial background came to light. His father was once a member of SIMI (Students Islamic Movement of India), the Jihadi outfit banned in 2001.

To be fair, Umar’s father had quit SIMI in 1985, well before his son was born. Whatever may be the reasons for his departure from SIMI, their involvement in terrorist activities doesn’t seem to be one, which is clear from his claims that the organisation has been unfairly demonized by the intelligence agencies. However, it has been established that the outfit had longstanding connections with global Islamist organisations like Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and is also believed to be the progenitor of Indian Mujahideen, a Jihadi group responsible for numerous terror attacks on the Indian soil.

Interestingly, SIMI took birth in Aligarh. Its founder and almost all of its leadership in the years that followed came from the student community of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). In late 2014, the female students of AMU demanded access to the use of the university’s male-only library. The demand was turned down by the vice-chancellor on the pretext of low capacity. However, the statement of the VC was more telling of the underlying ethos that led to such unheard of gender bias on any campus in India. He said that if girls were allowed in the library there would be “four times more boys”. As a result, the library continued to be open to men and inaccessible to women, a practice as old as the library itself.

The fountainhead of Muslim separatism

Sir Syed Ahmad Khan (born October 1817) is an extremely important figure in the pre-independence politics of India. Khan was a progressive, westernized and secularized Muslim but these personality traits are not why he is remembered even today. For, he had two separate enormous contributions to make in the field of education and in the realm of ideas. He was the founder of the Aligarh Muslim University and the architect of the two-nation theory, which later led to the partition of India and the creation of Pakistan.

In the latter half of the 19th century, Khan launched a reformist movement among the Indian Muslims. This came to known as the Aligarh Movement, the purpose of which was to get the Muslims acquainted with western ideas so as to enable them to participate in the politics of the empire. The main thrust of Khan’s reform was deeply pragmatic, in that he wanted the Muslim society to get up to speed with the sea change that had come about in India with the arrival of the British and to get ahead of the Hindus, who were somehow perceived as getting increasingly influential in the British administrative machinery, courtesy modern education.

Khan also lobbied hard for the use of Urdu as the official language of the government of UP, even though Hindi was the language of the masses. It must be noted that after the reign of Aurangzeb, the Muslim dynasts had given up control of the major portion of the Indian Territory, first to indigenous rulers  like Marathas, Jats and Sikhs and then to the British empire. So, these were all measures for Muslims to regain the administrative control of India, which they believed they were losing to the Hindus, who they had once proudly ruled.

The Middle Ground

As we have seen, the AMU was established to function as the wellspring of intellectual resurgence of Muslims in India. On the political front, the most prominent group was the Muslim League, whose ideology was based on the two nation theory propounded by the founder of AMU. However, the Muslim League was secular in its philosophical vision and had no ambitions of subjecting the populace to Sharia law.

This was a half-hearted move according to Abul Ala Maududi, who went on to found the Jamaat-e-Islami, whose stated aim was the creation of an Islamic State and which advocated the abolition of interest-charged on loans, sexual separation and veiling of women, had penalties such as flogging and amputation for alcohol consumption, theft, fornication, and other crimes. After the partition of India in 1947, the Jamaat split into independent factions representing the newly formed nations. In India, it came to be known as Jamaat-e-Islami-i-Hind (JIH). In this new avatar, it is said to have undergone an ideological transformation from Islamization of India to fighting for the cause of secularism. Interestingly, the Bangladeshi faction of the Jamaat, also the largest political party of the country, was declared unfit to contest elections and in 2013, their registration was cancelled by the Supreme Court of Bangladesh because the party’s charter “puts God above democratic process”.

Coming Full Circle

But why are we discussing all the above? SIMI was formed in 1977 as a student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami-i-Hind. While SIMI was banned due to its terror activities, JIH has remained untouched, maybe because of its alignment with secular values and its consistent condemnation of terrorist attacks in its official statements. On 18 April 2011, JIH launched a new political party in India with the stated mission of striving for value-based politics. The current president of the Welfare Party of India is a soft-spoken man called Syed Qasim Rasool Ilyas. He has a son by the name of Umar Khalid, who was in the news last week, just as he was precisely a year ago.

Although we are told that Umar is an avowed communist and a self-proclaimed atheist, he has apparently not drifted too far from the ideals of his father’s hazy past. Umar Khalid was in the news because he was one of the main organisers of an event in the JNU campus commemorating Afzal Guru, a Kashmiri terrorist who was convicted for his role in the jihadi attack on the Indian Parliament in 2001. After getting arrested, Umar and his supporters made rhetorical appeals to Freedom of Expression, the most fundamental of values in a democratic society, missing the irony that they were using their democratic right to free speech for glorifying the violent attack on the central icon of Indian democracy, the parliament house.

Given the above historical and biographical context and what is at stake for the common citizens of India, it would be no surprise if some of us refuse to give Umar the benefit of the doubt. Exposing the impressionable young minds of Delhi University to Jihadi brainwashing may be far too risky a proposition for the internal security of the country. Sure, Umar’s mere antecedents may not suffice to prove his complicity in abetting terror in a court of law but  public opinion cannot wait endlessly for hard evidence to arrive, which may come in the form of a death knell. As Umar’s favourite professors are wont to say, the truth is eluding all of us and in a way, we are all wrong. The choice before us is to err on the side of danger or caution. Which side would you choose?

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