CBCNN's views aired by a reader

Ultra-nationalism

Bugti's killing reflects a deeper malaise of ultra-nationalism that has afflicted Pakistan ever since its birth. Anyone who disagrees with the army's idea of nation-state is seen as a traitor and political opposition is called anti-national. Thankfully, in India, we don't call insurgent leaders traitors. But ultra-national forces do rear their heads at times. For them, anyone who has objections to singing Vande Mataram or is against POTA is anti-national. We need to guard against ultra-nationalism in all forms if India is to stay united.

Pranav Sachdeva,
New Delhi

This must be termed libel but it resonates with CBCNN views. So it gets attention in the "Letters to Editor" section.

Attempting to coin a new derogatory term

Virulent sections of the Thevar caste in these panchayats — who practise social and political untouchability in this new form — cannot be allowed to hold constitutionally mandated local self-governance to ransom.
While sections of Thevar caste is responsible for the alleged subversion, the blame is put on all hindus. Notice how the word 'caste Hindus' is higlighted and repeated. CBCNN's hatred for Hindus is evident.

N.Ram's intro by a person who knows him for more than 20 years

The Hindu editorial policy and N. Ram's personal worldview to a great extent is against communalism, ultra - nationalism, fundamentalism etc. Contrary to the name "The Hindu" the newspaper has firmly and actively opposed Hindu fundamentalism in India. The paper and newsmagazine have been in the frontline of resistance to the Bharatiya Janatha Party and its kindred organizations known as the "Sangh Parivar like Rashtriya Seva sangham (RSS), Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) Bajrang Dal etc.

Sometimes I am amused when I read the verbal abuse in pro - tiger Tamil journalisms about the "paarpaneeyam" (brahminism) of N. Ram. It appears to me that some of these critics perceive him as a typical orthodox Iyengar brahmin with the striped "namam" on his forehead. The reality is starkly different from perception.

Far from being a conservastive brahmin the Hindu editor in chief is a progressive cosmopolitian equally at ease in the drawing rooms of the West and the parlours of the East. His first wife Susan was an English lady who was for many years in charge of Oxford University press publications in India.He is now married to Mariam who I believe is a Keralite Syrian Christian. She is an advertising executive. He is no chanter of Sanskrit slogas or manthras but someone capable of quoting from the Western classics as he once engaged in a verbal duel with JR Jayewardene on Shakespeare.

Another of Ram's characteristics is his pro - CPM or marxist sympathies. In his youth he was an activist of the pro - marxist Indian Students Federation.

Ram continues to maintain his leftist connections and CPM leanings though that is not allowed to affect Hindu editorial policy.Ram is closely associated with Prakash Karat the current Indian CPM leader.Due perhaps to the CPM background Ram keenly follows developments in China too and has written a series of articles after his numerous trips there.

He is also a fan of crusading author Arundh athi Roy and was once seen sitting on the steps of the British Council auditorium to listen to her lecturing to a packed audience.

The South Asian Experts

The "South Asian Expert" is a special category which I shall elaborate some other time. Here is an article by one such "expert", Paul Brass.

Paul Brass spent 40 years of his life studying one city, Aligarh, which contains the Aligarh Muslim University -- the "university that created Pakistan".

Paul Brass has written an article which easily falls into the category of "gutter inspector report".
... as the militant Hindu movement began to gather force, so did the intensity and scale of collective violence ...
We all know which way this going: the usual rss bashing, blaming the hindus, condoning muslim violence.

... there existed in these towns what I called "institutionalised riot systems." The ex-DM, who knew very well how riots were organised, nevertheless reacted with an uncomprehending look.
These "experts" think they know more about India than the residents.

I was somewhat discouraged by his reaction, but ultimately found in my data from interviews, official and non-official reports — but not from the media — that the existence of such systems was to my mind incontrovertible.
The key word here is "found". He "found" the data to support his theory, although the theory looked ridiculous to anyone but the experts.

Moreover, it was much more highly developed and elaborately organised within the network of militant Hindu organisations radiating out from the RSS than from any comparable network of Muslim organisations, at least in northern India.
Here comes the RSS bashing stuff. Interstingly, the terrorist outfit SIMI is based out of Aligarh, but the author does not think it deserves mention.

Moreover, it was also now clear enough to me that what have been called Hindu-Muslim riots in India of the past several decades are misnamed ... taken the form of genocidal massacres and local ethnic cleansing as well.
This paragraph is a clear attempt to fit data into a theory which is in vogue today. If 25 years of the author's data shows that the government and police are to be blamed for riots, then all the blame must squarely lie with Congress. Dropping the words genocide and pogrom beside "Gujarat" is a pathetic attempt at shifting the blame towards the target group.

... Pseudo-science substituted for ethnographic research. ...
The author's poor attempt at projecting his intellectual prowess. The Paul Brass style of research: field work in one town is sufficient to claim universal expertise; collect data which fits into the preconcieved theory; write few gutter inspector reports; receive rave reviews from cohorts and once again claim universal expertise; stick to the in-thing, never mind the data and proposed theory.

(Partition violence is) a twentieth century form of genocide and ethnic cleansing, planned and organised, but made to appear wholly or mostly spontaneous or blamed upon various easy targets ...
Planned and organised violence -- loaded words. made to appear --> by whom? How could this author ever dare to make a claim to scholarship. Does he have any idea what he is talking about here. Partition violence is a Hindu-Muslim conflict. The skirmishes that might have occurred due to greed, survival or ethnicity are just that -- not in any way comparable to the riots. To try to look at it from any other angle is to shy away from the truth. The motiviation for partition is unambigous; it is religion, islamic seperatism.

... blamed upon various easy targets such as Lord Mountbatten or the British policy of "divide and rule."
Frankly, this came as a surprise to me. I did not expect the author to attempt to do so much in such a short space. Ok, now we are told the British are spotless. Next what!

I have provided extensive, detailed accounts from my own interviews over many years, as well as from other sources, concerning the misuse of curfew in India as a device for the victimisation of the Muslim population during riots.
Petrodollars speaketh. I feel like I am reading a radical Islamic website. Well, I actually am.

I figured out what the entire purpose of this article is; the "expert" is trying to push for his "Institutionalised riot systems" theory. He has to propose this theory within the correct political parlance if he wants to stay alive and see his kids grow up. So, and this is the funny part, he blames rss for the institutionalise rioting system of muslims. CBCNN, being so fond of Islamic terrorism's apologists, gives prominent space to this "expert".

Disgustingly biased journalism

N.Ram has decided to prove to all us readers that Manmohan Singh is a far superior PM than Vajpayee.
UPA's determination not to allow the spectre of terrorism to menace the secular and democratic fabric --> by repealing POTA.

Dr. Singh was quick to reassure Muslim community leaders that his Government would take "concrete steps" ... there was no question of his Government approaching terror as a phenomenon linked to any particular community ... --> its called psuedo-secularism, minority appeasement.

This contrasts with the response of Prime Minister Vajpayee to the genocidal violence in Gujarat in 2002 -->
genocide: n. the deliberate killing of a very large number of people from a particular ethnic group or nation
The official death toll says 793 Muslims and 253 Hindus died as a result of the violence. Although more muslims dies, the number of hindus who died is also substantial. But CBCNN will forever use the adjective "genocide" while referring to Gujarat. This is the communist style of "truth by repeated assertion". Contrast this with how it calls internationally recognized Islamic terrorists as "millitants".

A modern secular state representing an ancient, multi-streamed civilisation, which has had a relatively successful record of maintaining a harmonious coexistence of various communities ...
Notice how any mention of the word "Hindu" is cleverly avoided here.

Terrorism in India is the specific product of local and regional circumstances, and of communal and extremist ideologies of different kinds. There is a cross-border dimension to it; but this must be seen in proportion and must not become a catch-all explanation.
The local and regional circumstances that I am aware of are based on communism. The communal and extremist ideologies relate to Islam. The cross-border dimension is again entirely within the perimeter of Islam. So a more appropriate phrase to describe terrorism in India is Islamo-Communist terrorism. And CBCNN is the media wing of this terrorist network.

Terrorism tends to menace society typically during periods when the political system deviates from the pursuit of secular and democratic policies and from the rule of law.
Terrorism is an offspring of extremist ideology. Also, when the political system deviates from the pursuit of secular and democratic policies, it tends to communism.

That the fallout of the Varanasi and Mumbai atrocities was swiftly contained is, in good measure, due to the sober response of a political authority ...
Comparing apples to oranges to arrive at a predetermined conclusion.

"India & World" section review

There are 2 articles in this section: the first one is about Pakistan and the second about China. We all know what the second article would be about. After all, this is the Chinese National Newspaper.
For those of you who are not aware of CBCNN's stance on Pakistan, it is not all that hard to guess. Pakistan is China strategic ally to contain India. So CBCNN is biased towards Pakistan. N.Ram and Shekhar Gupta were the two editors from India who went to Pakistan to enjoy Musharraf's hospitality and it is during this trip that Shekhar Gupta famously assured Musharraf not to worry about BJP as "he would take care of it".
While the communist leanings of CBCNN are very well established, the pro-Pakistani tilt is more subtle. CBCNN's deceitful art of journalism cant stand any scrutiny. The format is almost always the same. One side of the story is reported objectively in an attempt to project intellectual superiority. The other side of the story, you would expect, would be an alternative viewpoint. But this where CBCNN's "Heads I win, Tails you lose" is so evident.
Look at the first article. Pakistan's viewpoint is presented in a balanced and objective way. Musharraf's sincierity stands out so prominently. India's viewpoint is totally absent. But the particularly damning part is the last statement:
India denied the first allegation(of ceasefire violation) saying there had been no such incident.
While it is not explicitly stated, the suggested conclusion is that India did not deny the second allegation because it is most probably guilty in the second incident. This is a totally baseless statement but it cleverly pushes the burden of proof to India thus putting it on defensive.
This approach, so often used by the communists, is the hit-and-run tactics. When presented with evidence, they would run away or confront you with another such baseless statement.
CBCNN represents the nadir of intellectual prostitution.

Xinhau Opinion

I am baffled at the significance and relevance of this news item. CBCNN puts in its Opinion:News Analysis section, a syndicated article from Xinhau. And what is the relavance of this article to us readers in India. CBCNN does not even chipin with its own analysis but does a simple copy/paste job, blindly following the master's orders.

Karat exposes Congress

Prakash Karat educates us on the working style of Congress.
Mr. Karat said that whenever the CPI (M) criticised the Congress-led UPA Government for deviating from the Common Minimum Programme or pursuing anti-people policies, the Congress would ask it not to do so as it would benefit the BJP.
Congress cannot take any criticism. Its policies are dictated by anti-BJP stance rather than any ideological or economic justifications. Such power mongering and blind hatred are detrimental to the system and society.
The communists, on their part, are enamored by Congress because of its dictatorial streak. After all, communism is about absolute power to the rulers.

It's Karat time again

Both Mr and Mrs Karat get prominent space in CBCNN today, but is not infrequent in this communist mouthpiece.

Prakash Karat, in this article, clearly explains the Indian communist view of terrorism -- blame it on RSS and exonerate muslims, no matter what.

Brinda Karat plays for tribal rights in this article.
Each day that the Government delays the passage of the Bill is another day of uncertainty and insecurity for lakhs of tribls who face the terror of eviction. The Government should act democratically and accept the unanimous all-party recommendations of the JPC. The Government's opposition to the proposals is clearly unjustified.
Couple of things to note here. The choice of the word 'terror' here is quite unusual I must say. Note that this line also forms the synopsis of the article, pointing out that this is deliberate choice. Is she suggesting that the Government is terrorising the tribals? Well, we know enough of Indian communists -- they are fighting against the Government as ordered by their masters in China. The second thing which I find ridiculous is the Communists lecturing on democracy. There must be a limit to hypocrisy.

And if this commie stuff is not sufficient, there is that usual drivel from Pallavi Aiyar reporting from China.

CBCNN: Our paper is biased but our readers dont think so

Once again CBCNN makes the generous assumption that its readers are morons.
Interspersed with these are the denunciations of the paper's alleged bias and partisanship. By now we have to accept these as part of the game.
We are biased.
In a detailed analysis of all aspects of the newspaper, this reader (he has been one for four decades), finds in it "neutrality, impartiality, unbiasedness and uninfluenceability." The news presentation is "pleasant, balanced and fair."
Our readers dont think we are biased.

An apologist of Islamic terrorism

CBCNN paper is now filled with the wonderful tenets of 'the religion of peace'. It reports prominently a conference on 'terrorism' which comes out 1-point resolution that 'terrorism' should not be linked to 'Islam'. The list of speakers consists of muslim clerics and the most prominent 'secularists' like Mahesh Bhatt, Teesta Setalvad and Kamal Naqvi. This spectacular conference deserved the most prominent space in 'National News' according to CBCNN standards.

CBCNN shamelessly and unquestioningly reports muslim ghettoisation and fundementalism in the same section. Note the plain vanilla reporting style adopted here.

Whereas EU labels Hizb-ul Mujahideen as >a terrorist group, CBCNN treats it with kid-gloves labelling its cadre as millitants. Mind you, Hizb-ul Mujahideen operates in India and not in EU or China.

In this article, CBCNN once again carefully avoids the use of the word 'terrorist', preferring 'fidayeen' instead.

Pallavi Aiyar having a high

Comrade Pallavi Aiyar's articles are particularly damning about India. She starts off in her usual venemous fashion; her presupposition that Indians are enamored by the China reflects on her poor understanding of both worlds. I suggest she do a study on the Chinese 'Go-abroad-at-any-cost' industry to get her facts right. She might be able to find answers to why Chinese are trying to escape the paradise land of China.

Just as Mao's experiments resulted in millions of deaths, the expressways and rapid economic expansion have had a tremendous debilitating effect on the poor farmers. I hope you are not expecting the Chinese government's mouthpiece to report on the frequest major uprisings by the farmers.

Secondly, China's disregard for environmental safeguards clubbed with a skewed economic development model is resulting in environmental disaster of epic proportions : nobody's envy but everybody's concern.

Thirdly, the communist paradise of equality, China, now has a greater income disparity between the rich and the poor than in most capitalist economies; this is not surprising because China is a capitalist economy.

NEN is undoubtedly one of the primary reasons China has been able to tremendously improve the food security of the nation and Pallavi Aiyar tells us how:
Millions of migrant workers use these highways to make their way to more prosperous areas in search of jobs. Food security has improved unimaginably.
Food security is improving because farmers are migrating to more prosperous areas while all those billions of dollars have resulted in six-lane expressways (that) are often totally traffic-free — surreal, immaculate roads to nowhere.

CBCNN repeats Hindi-Chini bhai bhai

China must be preparing for some offensive.

CBCNN's cardinal principles

I was on slippery ground.
Ever since you chose to defend N.Ram

There were some who challenged the assertion that The Hindu's core values are rationalism and secularism. According to S. Venugopalan, Chennai, "secular is a relative word now." Is the name The Hindu secular and should not this name be changed for secular reasons, he asks.
Rationalism — the belief that all behaviour, opinion should be based on reason, not emotion or religious beliefs — has always been The Hindu's credo. However, its rationalism was not of the kind that rationalists and non-believers campaigned for.
And finally the reference to secularism: my understanding of secularism is, not allowing religion to influence or shape your outlook or activities in the public realm. It does not mean irreligion or non-religion. Hinduism stands for catholicity; it is all-embracing. It has no place for bigotry. And that according to me is what the 128-year-old name of the paper represents.

CBCNN's mastery of the language and utter lack of any logical coherence turns this into a mumbo-jumbo. Its rationalism "was not of that particular kind" suggests that under N.Ram it now is. That opens two questions. What exactly is the rationalism of the "rationalists and non-believers" and how is it different from that of "others"? Is the switch in rationalism from one type to the other, good or bad for India and its people and what impact does it have on China?
And the reference to secularism: Notice the clever switch to give the author's perspective rather than the editor's, while all along we were presented the editor's view. The reason is obvious -- the editor is cornered, so he uses the well-tutored marxist strategy of getting a minion to defend him and to inundate us with mumbo-jumbo.
Doesnt Catholicism represent catholicity better than Hinduism. Is the author trying to suggest that apart from Hinduism, religions have large space for bigotry. 3 out of 4 metros have recently changed their names, which have been in use for more than 200 years. Then why cant this 128-year-old paper change its name to represent what it stands for. A few suggested names are "The Chindu", "The Anti-Hindu", or better still "CBCNN".

Many readers do not provide their postal addresses, though we request this be done, as it helps us in many ways.
This got me thinking. In what one good way does it help CBCNN, apart from sending thugs to silence dissenting voices marxist style.
We have repeatedly requested CBCNN to provide the political affiliations, personal assets and sources of income of its editor-in-chief and all its correspondents. We have also repeatedly requested you to provide below each article, the money received (in rupees and not Chinese yuan) towards publishing it. It sure helps us in many, many, many ways.

Comrade Karat pontificates on Democracy... hehehe...

Left is in the most enviable position, albiet not in the same breadth as Sonia Gandhi, of enjoying power without responsibility. By extending outside support to the Government, it conveniently becomes an 'outsider' when it chooses to pontificate. It takes a sworn Marxist to drop all decency to deliver a discourse on the decorum of democracy, but this is not entirely unusual of Marxits.

Karat believes Iran has the right to nuclear reprocessing technology. I say, what is the need when it is much more easy and convenient to rent it from China. You know why Comrade Karat is angry that India is not supporting Iran; Iran and China are bed partners.

Comrade Pallavi Aiyar does China's bidding

Comrade Pallavi Aiyar asks India to remove restrictions and improve trade across Nathu La pass for China's benefit. The failure to mention India's viewpoint does not come as a surprise to a seasoned reader of CBCNN.

Rise in CBCNN's support for Congress and UPA

As is customary with Marxists, CBCNN comes out with a survey which contradicts popular belief and defies logic. CBCNN provides insights into the reasons for UPA's rise. And here is the funny part.
Voters also feel that the situation has worsened in key areas such as corruption, national security, prices and the condition of farmers.
Mysteriously, inspite of all these, voters prefer UPA over NDA. If you ask CBCNN about who it thinks is a nincompoop -- the reader or the voter, you are most likely to hear the answer as, "Both".

CBCNN, being a communist mouthpiece, must hide the pathetic disposition of the communist parties, an act it achieves through ridiculous sugar-coating.
There is a small decline (in voter share of Left parties) in comparison with 2004, but this is confined to areas outside West Bengal and Kerala.
The area outside the two Marxist bastion states is much larger and represents the majority view. So it is more appropriate to say that the voter share of Left parties declined slightly through out India, except in West Bengal and Kerala. The communist viewpoint is hilarious.

The 2004 Lok Sabha election results indicated that this trend (end of Congress dominance and rise of regional parties) had been halted.
Congress managed to get 145 seats and BJP 138, the rest going to 36 regional parties, clearly indicating exactly the opposite of what is mentioned above. CBCNN is projecting Congress' preeminence and a return to those heady days of Nehruvian Stalinism.

Heads I win, Tails you lose

Marxist style of reporting two sides of the story is evident in this Op-Ed. BJP's actions have been twisted to give a strong negative connotation by conveniently ignoring Congress' provocation. To give the other side of the story, Congress' attempts to make amends for it's actions have been prominently highlighted. Balanced reporting, Marxist style.

Apologist of Islamic terror

Killing of youth sparks strong protests in Srinagar

Ghulam Mohammad Sheikh was trying to hurl a grenade in a busy market and an alert CRPF man shot him down. The grenade exploded in Sheikh's hand and one more grenade was recovered from his bag.

By definition, Sheikh is a terrorist. Straight case, isnt it. Why is CBCNN trying to convince me that Sheikh is not at fault.

Copy, not compete with China

Spin:
China reached its goal of 95 per cent self-sufficiency in food production around a decade ago...
By contrast, India reached self-sufficiency in grain production years before China following the Green Revolution of the 1970s...
China reached self-sufficiency in food production around 1995 and India reached the same target around 1975, but the duration of two decades is underplayed as 'years'.

China dumps Maoism to Capitalism:
China has ... sound agricultural policy that has led to a gradual liberalisation of the sector
China has moved from a system where all the land was collectively owned and the entire food procurement and distribution systems managed by the government to a liberalised set-up where "efficiency rather than only equity" is seen as key.
Since 2001, the China State Grain Bureau has been functioning as a corporation, separate from government and focussed on efficiency.
Today the focus is less on self-sufficiency and more on leveraging competitive advantages.

But the Indian Communists yearn for Maoism:
China's communist history with its emphasis on gender equality and basic education for all meant that China has for long led other developing countries on these parameters of social progress. Since the initiation of economic liberalisation there have in fact been concerns that many of the achievements of the Maoist era in health and education are being rolled back.
Indeed China has gone from being one of the world's most equitable, if poor, societies to one with a massive income divide. Economic and trade liberalisation has meant a painful adjustment for tens of millions of workers laid off from restructured state-owned enterprises and for many in the countryside who suddenly lack health insurance and other basic services guaranteed during Maoist times.
Never mind if Mao's experiments resulted in millions of farmers dead.

Damn India, Indian communist way:
In India, there is much envy of China's six-lane highways and glistening malls. China's world-class infrastructure in indeed worthy of emulation. But China's achievements in education, gender empowerment and food security for households, the result of a mix of sound economic policy and political will, are equally imitation worthy.
It's not enough for India to achieve Chinese-level GDP growth rates of 9 and 10 per cent. Before it can have any illusions of "overtaking" China, it must feed and educate its children who are currently worse off on the whole than even those in Africa.
It is no wonder that the self-loathing Indian communists pray for a Chinese invasion.

Food security:
India has had grain surplus since the 70's and the buffer stock is steadily increasing -- today it is close to 20% of the annual production. However, India still has a very high percentage of malnutritioned children. This clearly points out that although India, as a nation, has strong food security, sections of the people remain unaffected by the Government social schemes. As Prof Huang points out, excellent infrastructure improved the food security at the individual level by enabling movement from surplus areas to deficit areas. So to improve food security, India must invest in infrastructure (like the golden quadrilateral project ) rather than corrupt public distribution schemes ( like the employment guarantee scheme, the money for which was obtained by scrapping the golden quadrilateral project ).

CBCNN frontpage review

NDA boycotts Parliament, stages dharna
New Delhi, Aug. 8 (PTI): The NDA members today boycotted the Parliament and staged a dharna in its premises to protest against Speaker Somnath Chatterjee whom they accused of suppressing the voice of the Opposition in the House.


-->>NDA's boycott is highlighted while the reason for boycott, which ideally should
have received the attention, is hidden in subtext.

Not a shred of evidence against Congress

-->> Notice how Congress is absolved completely.

Marxist mouthpiece cries for Market Autonomy.

It may be unrealistic to expect the Government to stay away totally from public sector institutions but the latest "advice" represents a brazen disregard of their proclaimed autonomy.

Welcome

"The Hindu" is a bigoted, psuedo-secular, hindu-bashing, communist newspaper garbed in intellectual vanity. This newspaper, under the eminent 'secularist' N.Ram, has turned into a Chinese mouthpiece, ever espousing the ideals of Communism and singing paeans to China while deriding democratic and liberal values, with special derision reserved for Hindus and Hinduism. Arvind of Sabha fame has labelled this newspaper as "Chennai Based Chinese National Newspaper"(CB-CNN), which I thought aptly describes this newspaper rag.