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Earlier NDTV used to create lies, now they delete truths

Rahul Raj
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Earlier NDTV used to create lies, now they delete truths

When people started unveiling the lies spread by Indian media (Top lies spread by Mainstream Media – January 2015, Top lies spread by Mainstream Media – February 2015, Top Lies spread by the Indian Media in March 2015), media changed their modus operandi from twisting facts to hiding and deleting facts. The same media which rushes to proclaim any attack near churches as a grave threat to the existence of minorities in India neglected the blast at Bellur Mutt as a minor firecracker burst.

In a more interesting case, NDTV, which portrays itself as a messiah of ethical journalism and a campaigner against communal politics, has shrewdly edited the “Open Letter to Arvind Kejriwal by Prashant Bhushan”. There was a section in the letter in which Prashant Bhushan talked about the communal tactics used by AAP to sensationalize difference in the treatments of Hindu and Mulsim. Prashant Bhushan wrote:

Then came the issue of communal posters. A poster accusing the Muslim MLAs of the Congress as being traitors to their religion was got published by Dilip Pandey under your instructions, for which the police arrested Dilip Pandey. At that stage, the party got Amanatullah Khan to send a letter to the police saying that he had got this poster printed, and it was not the party. At the time you yourself tweeted that why is the police arresting Dilip Pandey when they should be arresting Amanatullah Khan.  Yet within a week, he was made in charge of the Okhla constituency by the party, promised a ticket and eventually given one! Are such means not unethical?

NDTV conveniently deleted this section from the letter and published it on its site.

Open Letter to Arvind Kejriwal by Prashant Bhushan posted by NDTV
Open Letter to Arvind Kejriwal by Prashant Bhushan published by NDTV
Open Letter to Arvind Kejriwal by Prashant Bhushan
Highlighted section of the Open Letter is deleted by NDTV

This raises many questions which need to be answered. Why did NDTV, which boasts about its ethical journalism, delete a plain form of direct information which needed no editing? Why did NDTV choose to delete only that part of the section in which AAP is accused of running sleazy communal tactics?

NDTV has often gone overboard to prove how minorities are in danger due to communal politics followed by BJP, but they felt no shame or guilt in deleting communal references to AAP. This forces us to believe that the communal threat picture drawn by channels like NDTV are less of ideological stands and it has more to do with their propaganda. This indirectly also indicates a nexus between journalists in NDTV and AAP.

I feel sad for Prashant Bhushan whose letter was photoshopped by NDTV to hide a big shabby truth. I feel worse for journalism which is degrading day-by-day. From now, NDTV should start looking into mirrors when they write about ethics in journalism or Censor and Bans.

Indian Navy, Air India and MEA bring back smiles to many despondent faces stranded in Yemen

OpIndia Staff
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Indian Navy, Air India and MEA bring back smiles to many despondent faces stranded in Yemen

Amidst chaos and violence in Yemen, India is successfully evacuating many people from Yemen. According to the reports, on 3 April 2015, three aircrafts brought back 664 Indians from strife-torn Yemen, of which 334 people landed in Mumbai and 330 landed in Kochi. The Indian nationals primarily included nurses and workers. Most of the evacuees were from Kerala.

Yemen is witnessing internal conflicts between several different groups. The main fight is between the supporters of their exiled President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, and allies of Zaidi Shia known as Houthis. According to the UN, the two weeks of chaos in Yemen has killed many civilians and children. Thousands of people have been wounded over.

India is uninterruptedly putting efforts to bring back Indians stranded in the regions. The rescue operation is led by India’s Minister of State External Affairs, General V K Singh, who also reached Djibouti, Africa to oversee the evacuation operation launched by the government.

Not only that, some foreigners from Asian countries near India were also reportedly evacuated by the Indian Navy on humanitarian grounds.

India is trying many means including diplomatic ones to rescue thousands of nationals who are stranded in the strife-torn Yemen. Indian Navy, General V K Singh, officials from the Ministry of External Affairs and Air India must be commended for their relentless efforts.

#BelurMuttAttack: police and media apathy, from the eyes of a bystander

Guest Author
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#BelurMuttAttack: police and media apathy, from the eyes of a bystander

Last evening, Belur Math was allegedly rocked by a blast close to the shoe racks which is located close to the entrance of the premises. Some reports describe this as “twin blasts” as two low-intensity crude bombs went off just before the evening prayers somewhere between 5:30 and 5:45 PM. No one was hurt, but the blasts led to the breaking of window panes of the building.

I happened to be there with my family at around 6:15 PM. A Friday and a public holiday, the premises were choc-a-bloc with people. Proximity to the Dakshineshwar Kali temple meant huge crowds on Fridays, since it is considered an auspicious day to worship Kali maa.  Rather surprisingly, we had no idea what had happened and did not hear of it during the one hour we spent at the math, barring an observation of high security in the premises. Given that high profile Hindu places of worship have been witness to brutal terrorist attacks in the past (Akshardham temple, Sankat Mochan Hanuman temple, Ramjanma Bhoomi temple, Raghunath Temple to name a few), the security did not seem unwarranted or completely out of place. The evening aarti and bhajans were in progress in a room filled with devotees, spilling outside the large hall. The building could not have looked more magnificent and peaceful in the evening light, the full moon shining behind it.  It was only later in the night around midnight, a good 6 hours after the blast, that I came to know of what happened via news reports shared on Twitter.

Now, it is possible that the blast was just a loud firecracker, or a prank played by someone seeking attention. It could also have meant to be served as a warning as this report suggests, but I wonder if it was taken seriously enough (as it should have been) or if greater efforts had gone into underplaying the incident and hushing it up by authorities. I am all in agreement of not creating panic among the locals, but is it sensible to keep a blast site open half an hour after an incident? Should the area not have been cleared out, cordoned off and swept thoroughly for the possibility of other explosives? I find it hard to believe that all of this had been carried out within a mere half hour of the incident, and I hope investigations and subsequent reports throw more light on this matter.

Since all the facts are not on the table at this point, let me give the police and security officials the benefit of the doubt. Let’s move over to the media. Many politicians and journalists are brushing off this incident as a minor one that does not warrant the kind of strong reactions it has evoked. And let’s assume for a second that this is true- that the incident was indeed a minor one. What they fail to understand, however, is that it is not the reaction to this ONE incident alone that angers the Hindu public. It is the enormous hypocrisy displayed by the very same people that angers and disgusts us.

Last week, NDTV ran a story repeatedly- that of a church-run school in West Bengal being sent threatening letters. The letters were hand-written and were sent to the school principle, threatening to burn the school down. No actual attempts had been made to harm the students or the establishment, but the channel ran the news repeatedly, linking it to other “Church attacks” the state had been witnessing recently. Earlier, a theft in a Delhi school was blown as “attack” and “vandalisation” by Barkha Dutt, from NDTV and others too. Surely, a bomb blast, albeit a low-intensity one, deserves similar attention? Maybe NDTV believes a letter scrawled with mere words is far more fearful than a bomb blast that didn’t, after all, blow anyone up to smithereens?

And then there are the politicians. Tweets by Derek O Brien below are self-explanatory in their blatant arrogance and hypocrisy.


 

Our PM Narendra Modi himself set a precedent when he publicly asked for a speedy resolution of “church attacks” (which subsequently was found to be a case of petty theft). Will he now be vocal about a speedy enquiry into the Belur math blasts? For his own sake, we certainly hope so.

– by @gobblefunk

Sam Bahadur – a gentleman, a soldier and a wonderful human

Rahul Raj
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Sam Bahadur – a gentleman, a soldier and a wonderful human

I was in class 9th when I first heard my school Principal Colonel V.K Jha talking about Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw. He was motivating a crowd of 800 students in an Open Air Theatre without using any mic – which he often used to do – and this time he was sharing stories of the war of 1971. Colonel Jha shared an anecdote which he had heard from Field Marshal Manekshaw during his Academy days:

Just after a few days of the start of the war of 1971, the then Prime-Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, called an urgent meeting to discuss about the war. Manekshaw, with a distressed face, updated her that India is losing on all fronts. Indira Gandhi calmly listened to him, sipped the glass of whiskey which she had in her hand, and informed him about the press conference waiting for them outside the room. Indira started the press conference with something like, “We are doing superb on all fronts. Field Marshal Manekshaw will update you all about the war.” Manekshaw talked to the journalists, and when he returned to the war-frontiers, he never looked back.

Manekshaw was born on 3 April 1914 in Amritsar. After completing his schooling in Punjab and Sherwood College, Nainital, he joined Indian Military Academy, Dehradun in 1932. He graduated from the IMA on 4 February 1934 and was commissioned as a Second lieutenant.  Apart from his involvement in World War II during the British era, he witnessed three wars against Pakistan and China in the Independent India. On 7th 1969, Manekshaw became the Eighth Chief of Army Staff when he succeeded General P P Kumaramangalam. On 1 January 1973, he was raised to the rank of Field marshal – one among the only two Indian Army generals to be awarded this prestigious rank; the other being Kodandera Madappa Cariappa.

He was audacious, but at the same time, he was very practical and pragmatic in his approach. Months before the 1971 war, when Indira called a cabinet meeting to discuss the infiltration of thousands of people from East Pakistan (the now Bangladesh) in West Bengal, Assam and Tripura, Manekshaw refused to fight the war with available resources provided by the government. He even offered his resignation, but Indira agreed to all accept all his conditions.

Manekshaw was an inspiring leader, a great role model, a brave soldier, and above all, a great human. In 1942, during the World War II, he was hit by seven bullets in his lungs, liver and kidneys. His orderly evacuated him from the battlefield.  The surgeon who was going to operate him was going to give up on his bullet-riddled body, until he asked him what had happened and got the reply, “I was kicked by a donkey.” Hearing this response, the surgeon laughed and said “Given your sense of humour, it will be worth saving you.”  When the Indian Army won under Manekshaw’s leadership, the Prime minister asked him to visit Dhaka and accept the surrender of Pakistani forces. He declined it and suggested that the honour should go to his Army commander in the East, Lt. Gen. Jagjit Singh Aurora. Apart from his heroic role in the war of 1971, He also treated the prisoners of war from Pakistan with grace.

Manekshaw passed away on 27 June 2008 at the age of 94. Reportedly, his last words were “I’m okay!”

BJP can’t get away with “routine transfer” excuse on Ashok Khemka

Editorial Desk
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BJP can’t get away with “routine transfer” excuse on Ashok Khemka

Social media has been abuzz with the news of yet another transfer of IAS officer Ashok Khemka – who exposed wrongdoings in land dealings of Robert Vadra – ever since the news became public last night.

This is the 46th transfer order that Khemka has got in his career spanning over two decades. Not only transfers, he has even got a chargesheet against him for – wait for it – damaging reputation of Robert Vadra.

While run up to the state elections in Rajasthan and Haryana, and during the general election campaigning last year, BJP raised a lot of noise over Vadra’s dealings and Khemka’s observations, but it seems that the party has now forgotten about those. Vadra is flaunting his six-packs while Khemka is packing his bags.

Amid outrage, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has termed the latest transfer of Khemka a “routine transfer” which is part of regular administrative decisions.

Indeed, transfers of IAS officers are routine and part of administrative decisions, but BJP can’t get away with this excuse in wake of the department Mr. Khemka was handling hitherto.

Khemka was with the transport department, where he had taken up cudgels against those transporters who were violating rules and running oversized commercial vehicles in Haryana.

These vehicles, despite flouting Central Motor Vehicle Rules (CMVR), were plying on Haryana roads because the earlier Congress government of the state gave them fitness certificates. Once he got posted in this department, Khemka refused to honor those certificates as he found those “ultra vires and void ab-initio”.

This slowly led to confrontation between transporters and Khemka, with transporters threatening to go on an indefinite strike.

Since Haryana has many industries, strikes by transporters could have impacted supply chain of lot of big companies, and thus the state government felt the need to resolve this matter before it became a crisis.

Ashok Khemka
No country for honest men?

And it seems that the state government has found the solution by transferring Mr. Khemka.

And that is why it can’t be called a “routine transfer”.

BJP has to explain if it succumbed to any pressure from transporters and industries or if they thought that Khemka was being unreasonable in implementing strict rules.

Maybe the rules are indeed strict, unreasonable, and business unfriendly. Let us remember that Lalu Yadav, as Railways Minister, had relaxed similar strict rules for freight overloading, bringing in extra revenues (which otherwise were going as bribes and kickbacks) for Railways. One may similarly argue for relaxation of the rules for “oversized vehicles” without compromising on safety.

However, in that case, the state government should be writing to Union Transport Minister to relax some aspects of Central Motor Vehicle Rules (CMVR). The solution is to rationalize rules, not to break rules. We haven’t heard of any such request from the state government to the union government.

Simply put – you can’t transfer an honest bureaucrat who’s merely doing his duty of following the rules, even if the rules are deemed too strict or unreasonable. This is punishment for doing an honest job. Khemka too said that the transfer was “truly painful”.

If the Haryana government doesn’t clarify on these issues, one would be forced to conclude that the transfer was done under pressure from the transport lobby and industries.

This is not good governance. This is not achche din.

Top Lies spread by the Indian Media in March 2015

Gaurav
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Top Lies spread by the Indian Media in March 2015

1. 2nd March 2015: Press Trust of India, and subsequently all Media houses – BJP MP Sadhvi Prachi calls for boycott of Aamir, Shah Rukh and Salman Khan films

Based on a PTI report, all media houses published a story that a “BJP MP”  has asked to boycott films by the Khan trio. What was amazing was Sadhvi Prachi was never a BJP MP. She was never ever elected to any pots on a BJP ticket. As per this site, She could have been a BJP MLA candidate from UP, provided both the Prachi’s are the same. She was certainly a BJP member though, since she was hauled up by BJP UP president for her remarks. But the main reason why this story got played up was that many people believed she was a BJP MP.

2. 2nd March 2015: IndiaToday – Valdimir Putin’s original name is Vaarahmihir Putr Singh, says Sadhvi Prachi

But Media was not done with the Sadhvi. First they made her an MP, now they put words in her mouth. India Today ran this story which claimed the Sadhvi had said Putin’s original name was “Vaarahmihir Putr Singh”. There was huge outrage on Twitter, hashtags like #VHPNames and #AlternateHinduNames trended. Even Pakistani media picked up this story. But sometime during this, India Today mysteriously took down the story. It was probably because this story was a full blown out lie. The Sadhvi never made such a statement. In fact this statement was made by a humour columnist in a satirical post on dailyo.in :

If you are from Sangh Parivar – all the better if you are a BJP member – and the media doesn’t show your mug on TV because they are busy pushing sound bites from senior leaders, here’s a sure-shot method to get bang under the spotlight: Say something outrageous. Say Vladimir Putin is Hindu and his name is Vaarahmihir Putr Singh

It is astounding how big media houses like India Today can “err” so much, or was it another wilful plant to tarnish a particular party, because even in this story, India Today re-iterated that the Sadhvi was a “BJP MP”.

3. 3rd March 2015: Times of India – LS poll-eve NaMo blitz cost BJP Rs 700cr: ADR

On the face of it, there is nothing wrong here, but Times of India, the master at misreporting, spreads 2 lies here. Firstly they say “NaMo blitz cost BJP Rs 700 Cr”. We checked the original ADR report, which Times of India relied on. As per the ADR report, Rs 700 Cr (Rs 712 Cr to be exact) was the TOTAL expenditure incurred by BJP on Publicity, Travel, Expenditure on Candidates and Others, and not on “NaMo Blitz” as they claimed. Secondly, Times of India said the “LS Poll-Eve” blitz cost Rs 700 Cr. This again is wrong. The TOTAL expenditure over 75 days of election period, was Rs 700 Cr and not for the “LS Poll-Eve”, as reported. By using 2 lies in one statement, Times of India managed to magnify the impact disproportionately in order to create a sensation.

4. 4th March 2015: India Today – PM Narendra Modi’s office among top rejectors of RTI queries

Considering the major brainfades we usually have, this is a minor one. On 4th March, India Today from its Twitter handle tweeted the above caption saying Modi is a serial rejector of RTI queries. On seeing the actual story, it was clear that the report was about RTI queries rejected during 2013-14 i.e. during Manmohan Singh’s tenure. Yet India Today in its tweet tagged Narendra Modi, to create a false impression. And then in what seemed to be a concerted effort or mass brain fade, even Outlook and Economic Times posted the same stories, using photos of Narendra Modi in the article, again creating a false impression.

5. 9th March 2015: Scroll.in – Read the controversial emails by Prashant Bhushan’s sister that pushed AAP to breaking point

A series of emails from Shalini Gupta, sister of Prashant Bhushan were picked by Scroll.in. A story based on these emails painted Gupta in the negative. The article said “her emails demonstrate that she was not willing to wait for the verdict of the AAP Lokpal, Admiral (retd) L Ramdas, on the suitability of 12 nominations that were being challenged”. However Scroll.in leaked only selective emails and did not look at all the emails, thus providing a wrong image. As per this post on Newslaundry.com, Gupta in her last response to the mail trail wrote exactly the opposite “I think since the review process is going on, there should not be any cause for concern at this point.  This is a satisfactory solution for now.”. This Scroll.in omitted crucial emails and reported something which was totally opposite to the truth. The author of the story now claims he did not have the entire trail of emails. We wonder if relying on half-information is incompetence or a deliberate attempt to malign.

6. 15th March 2015: Press Trust of India – and subsequently other media: Gandhi Jayanti no longer a public holiday in Goa

We had written a full post on this on the very same day. The summary of the post is, the Goa Government while maintaining Gandhi Jayanti as a public holiday removed it from the holidays for Industries and Factories, by giving another compensatory holiday based on local needs. It also continued to be a holiday for Shops and Establishments. So the only people affected were workers in factories, and a for a valid reason. But PTI reported that it was no longer a public holiday which was completely inaccurate. Later Hindustan Times, which relied on PTI corrected its story, but PTI had stuck to its wrong news.

7. 17th March 2015: DNA – Supreme Court sets aside Modi Government Order for Reservations to Jat Community

A small “slip up” possible by DNA, but the internet is unforgiving. On 17th March the Supreme Court set aside a Central Government order for Jat Reservation. The quota was announced by the UPA Government on March 4 last year, just a day before the announcement of the Lok Sabha polls. Although this was clearly an order by UPA, DNA decided to credit Modi for the same. By the time we were made aware of this, they had rectified the “error”, but a Google search confirmed that they had indeed blamed Modi’s Government for this. The Google search also confirmed that this error was exclusive to DNA and no other media house had erred. It must however be noted that once Modi came to power, his Government supported this UPA decision in the courts.

8. 17th March 2015: Indian Express – Nun Gang Rape Case: Archbishop clears Mamata, blames Modi govt for rising violence against minorities

We had written a separate post on this issue. Indian Express reported that the Archbishop of Kolkata had criticised the CBI (a national body) for its poor work in the Rape case, thus giving a clean chit to Mamata. In fact the Archbishop had criticised the CID (local Bengal body) and had never cleared Mamata Bannerjee. Later Indian Express correct this error, but maintained that Mamata had been cleared. The report also suggested that the Archbishop gave the rape a communal angle, but failed to report the clear words of the Archbishop where he squarely refused to make any Communal or Political comments on the rape. This was reported by many other media houses.

9. 25th March 2015: IndiaToday: Right Wing groups arrested in Mumbai church “attack“

Journalist Rupa Subramanya, via this tweet raised a point that an India Today report was claiming that people arrested in the Mumbai Church attack, belonged to Right Wing groups. The truth in fact, as reported by multiple news portals, was that the men arrested were gamblers, whose den, which is located near the church was raided recently. On suspicion that the Church ratted them out, they attacked the church. Inspite of knowing this plain truth, India Today’s reported tried to fix the blame on “Right Wing Groups” . Eventually the story was corrected, hence we donot have a screen grab of the original story.

Dear Deepika, Is it just #mychoice? – An Open Letter from a woman

Guest Author
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Dear Deepika, Is it just #mychoice? – An Open Letter from a woman

Dear Deepika Padukone,

First of all, thank you so much for the effort. Despite your tight schedule due to your upcoming film (quite a funny coincidence), you had the time to stand up for a social cause.

I watched your film/video today and found it depressing. It’s your choice to wear the clothes you like, you say. I would have been so happy to see a woman wearing a Saree or a Hijab saying it is her choice to wear them. I have personally met young women who choose these because they like it. Why were the traditional outfits not presented as an alternative choice? Or was it just assumed that if one is traditional then it is not their choice? Doesn’t it give a horribly wrong impression that being traditional is being oppressed? Doesn’t it make all these women feel inferior?

Next comes the most contradicting part of the video. You say it is your choice to have sex outside of marriage. It sure is. More than being a choice, it is adultery. But the question is, why marry someone with such desires in the first place? Have you forgotten the way you accused someone of not being loyal to you (in a relationship) and how you ended up getting hurt? Also, since when did the marriage just meant sex or confined to one’s choice? When it is just about one, then the other one disappears. Oh by the way, how subtly the saree girl comes at this part with a naughty smile when you say sex before marriage. Some dumb stereotyping here. To love temporarily or to lust forever is your choice. It is my choice here to not comment its consequence on your relationship.

To have a baby or not is your choice. Do you seriously believe that you can possibly have a baby with no man involved? Also, if you are talking about a baby while you are in a relationship isn’t it being sensible to ask the other person too? What if he surprises you by saying he would love to be a part of it?

The women community is not just focused on the choices which are described here. All are not privileged enough to have these choices in the first place. There are many genuine issues like education, health which need priority over these. It may surprise you (since it is not considered in the film) that a woman could be an obstacle for another woman. There are several such instances where the women from the so-called modern class have trouble in accepting the lower class women or sometimes just the traditional women. There are many incidents where the English speaking women looking down upon the native language speaking women. I have personally met women from different countries like Italy, France, Germany, Iran, China and Srilanka. Some of them have trouble speaking impeccable English (the way a modern woman like you speaks) and they are all more comfortable with their native languages. While we respect their individuality, don’t you think a woman who only speaks Kannada or Punjabi or Bhojpuri also deserves the same respect? In the name of breaking Stereotype of the traditional mind-set, an equally stupid stereotyping is growing at the other end. Unless we accept and respect every woman, irrespective of their background, social status or education, how can we stand united against other discrimination?

Finally and most importantly, why is feminism generally related to being anti-men? Yes, many sufferings of women are influenced by men. But that never justifies blaming all men every time for every misfortune. For every such incident that has happened, there are many men who have spoken against it and have tried to do their part to make the world a better place. In addition, I personally know many men who sincerely follow and celebrate uplifting of women in their everyday lives more than the other women around. My mother, who has a rural background, was the first woman to hold a professional degree in her village. My dad’s support and encouragement which helped her to become the principal of a school eventually is no less a contribution. His efforts have extended to his children thereby never differentiating me and my brother. In fact I can even proudly say that I always had an advantage over my brother which stays true even to this day. Daddys’ are partial to daughters you see.

You too have acknowledged the support you received from your father during the release of the same video. By simply branding all men as the root cause for every issue, or portraying them like they are the enemies, aren’t you insulting all such men who are genuinely working towards women empowerment? Don’t you think that not mentioning the positive role of a man in a woman’s life is the biggest blunder in the video? Being modern does not mean being selfish and definitely not to the extent of opposing the other gender altogether. Modernity need not have to do anything with appearance either. It is being able to address the problems with a new perception. As a woman, I do have limitations and likewise there are limitations associated with a man. Accepting a limitation will only make you and me stronger. My best wishes for your upcoming film. Hope it wins many hearts.

– A proud woman

by @veena_ps

AAP crushing dissent within the party as well as within the government?

OpIndia Staff
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AAP crushing dissent within the party as well as within the government?

NEW DELHI: While the ouster of Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan from the top leadership of AAP could be argued as an internal matter of the party, it seems that AAP is taking this approach – clipping feathers of those who raise dissenting voice – to governance as well.

Earlier we had seen how AAP volunteers were being allowed in Delhi state government meetings where they tried to interfere with functioning of bureaucracy. Then, the AAP government tried to strike a balance between ‘governance by the bureaucrats’ and ‘vigilantism by their volunteers’.

Arvind Kejriwal
No room for dissent in his party and the government?

But recently, it seems that the Kejriwal government has come out openly in favor of volunteers and the party at the cost of bureaucrats and government officials.

There have been at least three such incidents in the past couple of days that shows that the Aam Aadmi Party is crushing dissent not only inside the party, but inside the government too.

On Monday, the government was reported to have transferred the PWD official who had earlier sent a notice to the then Education Minister of Delhi Manish Sisodia to vacate his government house last year, after Kejriwal had resigned as the Chief Minister.

The official was just doing his job as Sisodia was no more a part of the government and hence he needed to pay rent at market rate. But Sisodia, who is now the Deputy CM, seems to have taught a lesson to the employee for sending him a notice last year by getting him transferred.

A report in The Daily Pioneer mentions that senior IAS officers are now finding it difficult to handle AAP volunteers. Apparently, a senior IAS officer walked out of a presentation in a huff when she was constantly interrupted by AAP volunteers during a high-level meeting.

In another instance, a librarian was also transferred as she had refused to issue books to AAP workers. The librarian had said that the books were for the use of government employees only, and now she finds herself with a transfer order.

Today, it has been reported that the AAP government asked bureaucrat Ashish Joshi to discontinue as member-secretary of the Delhi Dialogue Commission (DDC), barely a month after his appointment.

The Indian Express claims that AAP leader Ashish Khetan asked Joshi to quit after he allegedly refused to appoint six AAP volunteers as coordinators of different task forces set up under the DDC.

Earlier Joshi was reported to have been humiliated when three AAP volunteers barged into his office in Chanakyapuri and had a verbal spat with him. Finally he was asked to quit as the party chose volunteers over bureaucrats.

Apart from showing vindictive nature of the party and its intolerance towards dissent, these incidents also show how AAP is actively encouraging participation of “volunteers” as government agents. This could again encourage vigilantism that was witnessed during the 49 days of AAP rule last year.

“I Feel I am on a hitlist” says another member of a Minority Group

OpIndia Staff
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“I Feel I am on a hitlist” says another member of a Minority Group

“I feel I am on a hitlist. I feel like a stranger in my own country. Me and my friends have been persecuted for the past few months. To quote Julio Ribeiro ‘Is it coincidence or a well-thought-out plan that the systematic targeting of a small group should begin only after the BJP government of Narendra Modi came to power last May?‘” – Asks one of the many Corrupt people in India. The corrupt and the unscrupulous in India, form a small group of people, a Minority in India, who have always been sheltered, but now they are on the receiving end.

It took a bit of time, but it started. “Swacch Bharat” campaign had truly gone beyond its mandate. There is a clear pattern emerging from these chain of events which indicates only one thing: Acche Din Aanewale hain, but ONLY for Acche People:

1. SIT on Black Money:  The first decision of the Union Cabinet sent out the intent of the Government loud and clear. An SIT was formed to tackle the issue of Black Money. The Supreme Court had first directed the UPA Government in 2011 to form an SIT, but it finally saw the light of day, only when an NDA Government came to power.

2. A Home Secretary sacked: In Early February we had noted how there were early signs that inefficiency and corruption is taking a beating. Anil Goswami, A Union Home Secretary was sacked for allegedly trying to stall the arrest of Saradha scam accused. This was a small step, but the pre-cursor for bigger things.

3. Coal Auctions: By Mid February the Government had its eye on the Coal Auctions. Allocation of Coal Blocks by UPA had led to massive corruption, and Modi Government took utmost precautions to avoid a repeat. No media house reported the exact complex procedure which the Government prescribed to ensure transparent and corruption-free bidding for Coal Blocks, but we did.

4.Rejecting Coal Bids for Cartelization: The Government could have stopped at saying “Ok we have made a framework with enough checks and balances, let the policy work on its own”.  They didn’t. The Government has already rejected 4 bids for Coal Blocks on the suspicion of cartelization and under-bidding. And 8 more bids are under scrutiny. This shows the intent of the Government of ensuring that National Resources are not plundered by corporates via corrupt practices.

5. Operation Corporate Espionage. In this case, the Government actually honey-trapped people who were in the business of stealing and leaking sensitive documents from ministries and selling it to corporates. It was an open secret that Government departments are full of leaks, but this was the first Government which decided to plug this leaks. In the process, the Government had to admit that there were systemic lapses in its own functioning, but it was prepared to face this embarrassment to once and for all clean up a mess which existed for decades.

6. Rs 10,000 crore from Swiss bank accounts : The early efforts in tracking Swiss Black Money eventually paid rich dividends, with the SIT expecting Rs 10000 crore  by March-end as tax and penalty for tax evasion from 300-odd Indians who held illegal accounts in Swiss banks.

7. Black Money Bill:  Then during the budget, Finance Minsiter Arun Jaitley announced the final nail in the coffin against Black Money: The Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets (Imposition of New Tax) Bill, 2015, Also known as The Black Money Bill. It is equipped with stringent provisions to prosecute those stashing illicit wealth abroad, with rigorous imprisonment of up to 10 years.

8. Railways Ticketing Scam: In a very recent development, railways authorities led an investigation which revealed a scam which resulted in people not getting confirmed tickets even after queuing up at 8am. Touts were using a flaw in the on-line system to corner all the tickets as soon as the system went live. Now the Railways have changed the rules to prevent such misuse. It may seem like a small measure, but these small measures ensure large scale corruption comes down.

The pattern is clear. Through a series of steps, some big some small, for the first time in many years, a Government is making serious efforts to crush Corruption in every walk of life. It is indeed a systematic targetting of a small but rich community in India, which has evaded the long arm of the law. We aren’t saying that all corruption has gone. There is a very long way to go for that, but atleast the journey has begun.

Why the “kameena” sting on Arvind Kejriwal could be a scripted one

Guest Author
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Why the “kameena” sting on Arvind Kejriwal could be a scripted one

Yes, it sounds strange to believe that someone would willingly take part in a “sting operation” where one is heard abusing colleagues, but I believe that Arvind Kejriwal could have planned it.

Let me explain why.

Before this latest “kameena” sting operation became the talking point, the talking points were the earlier sting operations and the open letters by Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan.

You can’t deny that the earlier sting operations, especially the one released by former MLA Rajesh Garg, had dented the clean and transparent image of Arvind Kejriwal.

Kejriwal came up as a person who was actively trying to form a government in association with Congress while saying the opposite to the aam aadmi. Not only that, he was actively trying to break away 6 MLAs of Congress while claiming on Twitter that BJP was trying to break away and buy those 6 MLAs.

This doublespeak of Kejriwal led to emotional protest by senior leader Anjali Damania, who announced that she had quit and demanded that there should be an inquiry within 48 hours so that her faith is not broken. There has been no inquiry till date.

Apart from Rajesh Garg’s sting, open letters by Yogendra Yadav too raised serious questions about Kejriwal’s ways.

In a nutshell, Kejriwal was accused of compromising on ethics (corroborated by Rajesh Garg’s sting) and running the party dictatorially (alleged by Yadav and Bhushan).

Kejriwal did not clarify on these issues after returning from his naturopathy treatment in Bangalore. Strangely neither Damania nor the media bothered to seek clarifications from Kejriwal, but it was clear that he needed an image makeover to show that he was the same ‘chhota aadmi with good intentions’ before these sting operations and open letters exposed his other side.

And this “kameena” sting helps in that image makeover.

Consider these points:

In the “kameena” sting, we hear Umesh Singh, who “secretly” recorded this conversation, saying stuff like “Sir aap baahar rahenge toh kaise hoga” and “aap apne ko involve kijiye please” (please get involved in this). This sounds scripted to give clean chit to Kejriwal that he was not involved in this fight, and thus he can’t be accused of being dictatorial and creating this mess.

Kejriwal further uses this opportunity to say that he didn’t come into politics for all this ladai-jhagda. Since the sting is supposed to be a “private talk” one is conditioned to believe that Kejriwal is saying the truth, and it gives an impression that it was Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan who were the troublemakers, not Kejriwal.

At another instance, Kejriwal says, “humme chhamta kam ho sakti hai, magar hum dil ke kaale nahi hain” (we might be lacking capacity, but we are pure at heart). Since this is supposed to be a private talk that was “secretly” recorded, his image comes up as ‘chhota aadmi with good intentions’ – totally opposite of what it came out in the Rajesh Garg’s sting. Just what was badly needed by Kejriwal.

On another occasion, Umesh Singh says, “main ye acche se jaanta hoon ki chunav se pehle tak aap kaise inhe manage karte rahe ho” (I very well know how you have been managing Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan earlier). This is to hint that within the party everyone knew that Yadav and Bhushan were undisciplined and needed to be “managed”.

Essentially, this sting operation gives clean chit to Kejriwal on every aspect that he desperately needed clean chits on. I find it hard to believe that it was not “scripted”.

You may ask that if it was a scripted and an attempt at image makeover, why would Kejriwal use abusive words to malign his own image?

Here is why I feel that these abusive words were also part of the script:

1. Abusive words used in the sting like Saala and Kameena are very commonly used by people in daily language, many people don’t even consider it as abuse. So when media or opponents attack Kejriwal for using “abusive” words, people would feel that Kejriwal is being unfairly targeted. It generates sympathy, which has always worked for Kejriwal.

2. The abusive words added the much needed masala, else the sting operation would not have attracted the media and public attention.

3. It also made it look convincing that it was a “genuine” sting operation, and that Kejriwal was speaking from his heart as an aam aadmi.

4. Abuses further helped Kejriwal to show that he was very hurt and frustrated with what Yogendra Yadav and team were doing. So it gave him clean chit and painted Yogendra and Bhushan as the aggressors.

Apart from these issues, one wonders why no disciplinary action has been taken against Umesh Singh, while Rajesh Garg was suspended from the primary membership of the party for his sting.

I could be wrong, and right now I don’t have a proof, but I have explained why I believe that the “kameena” sting operation is a well thought of and smartly scripted attempt to undo all the damage that earlier sting operation had done.

And it could work. People would now focus only on this sting and forget the earlier one and the issues that Yogendra Yadav raised.

Maybe next in line is a “kraantikaari” interview that safely sidesteps all the earlier stings and helps Kejriwal get the final clean chit.

Let us see.

(written by @BihariTweeter)

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