Not thus.. not thus..

I had promised myself to tone down the political rhetoric in my blog posts and take neutral subjects up for discussion but last night events pissed me off big time. Seriously, I have never been more angry than I was last night. It was just a news item I was watching and all of a sudden I began to unravel a pattern and (maybe it was overdue) I felt disgusted about all events surrounding us. Let me take names and shame some people today. Frankly, they deserve it and deserve it thoroughly. A few days ago, there was a major "uprising" of sorts with thousands of people "voluntarily" taking to the streets to rid India of corruption. Media called it "India's jasmine revolution" and went hammering on the points that modern India's most corrupt government was ruling at the centre (the United Progressive Alliance) and it was time to force the government to act against corruption and introduce stringent legislation to that effect. It was all over the news channels with TIMES NOW dedicating 90 minutes of its prime time to telecast LIVE from Jantar-Mantar where the people gathered to agitate against the government. In the days to follow many senior editors (print and electronic) criticized the kind of coverage the media gave to the agitators and did not provide any platform to the government to give a point of view. I vividly remember mention of Tahrir square and Gadaffi in a agitation of people against a "democratically" elected government. I was not sure what was the point Mr. Arnab Goswami (editor, TIMES NOW) was trying to hit at, after all India is not governed by a dictator and the present Government had received a fresh mandate not 18 months ago. So how is this a Tahrir square or Gadaffi's Libya ?



Before the advent of Anna Hazare and his crusade, TIMES NOW was after the CWG scam nailing Mr. Suresh Kalmadi (Congress leader), before that Adarsh society scam nailing Mr. Ashok Chavan (Congress CM), before that 2G spectrum scam nailing A. Raja (union minister for telecom). Yesterday, TIMES NOW ran an exclusive 1 hour program on how Pondicherry L-G Iqbal Singh (a nominated head of Union territory) used his office to get benefits for trusts run by his son and relatives when the rest of the channels were capturing a watershed moment in West Bengal politics (Mamata Banerjee crushing the Left front) Let me point out, Iqbal Singh was a Congress MP before he became the L-G of Pondicherry. In the Hasan Ali case (stashing crores of rupees in foreign banks), only the names of ex- congress CM and MPs are doing the rounds in the media. If we go by the views of Mr. Arnab Goswami, Congress is the single largest threat to India and most corrupt organization (political or otherwise). Maybe, Mr. Goswami, just like me was highly irritated of how blatantly politicians indulge in corruption today. Even more, they get away scot free most of the times and the money they launder is almost never recovered. Today, there is hardly any important politician who is not involved in corruption of one form or the other. If I may say, this scourge is so grave that people should not trivialise this and more importantly, not politicise it. However, the reality is far from this. Over past 4 months, I have seen TIMES NOW selectively pick out scams involving Congress ruled states. So there was CWG, 2G, Adarsh scam, Ashok Gehlot (Rajasthan CM), Shiela Dixit (Delhi CM) and Iqbal Singh (L-G, Pondicherry) and more might come in the near future. However, the mining scam in Karnataka, de-notification of prime land by the CM of Karnataka, Operation LOTUS which involved in the Bellary Reddy bothers paying 20 non BJP elected representative a sum of Rs 30 crores to resign as MLAs and get re-elected on a BJP ticket, Madhya Pradesh Government giving away land at throw away prices or the Gujarat government's complicity in so many encounter killings failed to make the glorious list. Perhaps, these "little" scams were not honorable enough to be mentioned or maybe like Arun Jaitley says "they were not mother of all scams". My humble request to Mr. Arnab Goswami, the BJP politicians are trying their best and working overtime to get a honorable mention in your channel's so called crusade against political corruption. Don't let their entire effort go waste by covering up these scams and never mentioning them in your shows. They are sad because you and your channel never acknowledge their presence and have been talking only about Congress and the Congress-centric crusade. I do agree that Congress politicians have been most involved in scams, maybe because they have ruled the longest. That does not mean, we have to make this anti-corruption crusade an anti-congress crusade. Anna Hazare quotes the Mahatma and says "paap se grunha karo; paapi se nahi"; yet Arnab Goswami, Kejriwal, Bhushan(s) and even Anna Saheb seems to hate Kapil Sibal, Sonia Gandhi, Digvajay Singh and even Dr. Manmohan Singh more than the scourge called corruption. This is so noticeable that one cant help but see a political scheme behind this entire exercise which is threatening to take down the entire anti-corruption crusade. If it does, no one will ever trust any crusade and will be cynical of the fact that the most honorable intents in this country are politically motivated. Time to think right people. Chuck the media frenzy and put on your thinking hats.



This week started with the Bhushan(s) father-son duo being caught in malicious campaign for not being morally-fit to be in the panel drafting the Lokpal legislation. All of a sudden, we had everyone saying this is attempt to discredit them and their campaign, it is politically motivated and the Congress is behind this. Maybe they are, but can you blame them,? Over past 18 months, the opposition parties have realised that Dr. Manmohan Singh's non corruptable image is an asset for the Congress and they will be re-elected time and again on this plank. As a result, the opposition parties have gotten together with media houses and started this malicious campaign against Dr. Manmohan Singh. Time and again they have mentioned that he heads the most corrupt government of all times. Even his personal integrity was brought into question. Now I ask, does he deserve this? The PM has spent an entire life time building this image of honesty in politics and it took mere 6 months of malicious campaign to discredit him forever. Likewise Sonia Gandhi is targeted every time as a remote control or the real beneficiary of the corruption in 2G, CWG scams etc. These are honorable people who have never been personally involved in any wrong doing and have always taken action against anyone caught on the wrong foot. Political compulsions may delay the action by a bit, but it has happened always. Is it wise to discredit the PM and fight for the honor of Bhushan(s).



My submission, on the lines of most right thinking people in India, spreading a slander is easy, targeting politicians is very easy but building a reputation within politics is very difficult and Anna Hazare and rest of them must have realised that living a life of full public probity is very difficult. Anything and everything that you have done in this life will be used as a tool to defame you. In times like these, there are very few leaders who have a reputation of being incorruptible and our honorable PM, Dr Manmohan Singh is one of them. Let us use same amount of restraint while defaming politicians (no matter how cynical we are) as we might show in defaming any other person. Just because one is in politics, let him/her not be a fair game for all criticism and slander. Today, Mr. Shanti Bhushan and Mr. Prashant Bhushan realise, its easy to target individuals and give out sermons about impeccable integrity, its very difficult to be in public life and maintain sanity when you are the receiving end of politically motivated rumours and slanders. So if the same yardstick apply, I don't see the reason why the Bhushan(s) should continue in the draft panel. After all like Sharad Pawar, they are tainted too. Wat say Anna Saheb??



So long.....