The Chindu

Wishing HF the best

2011-06-12T20:55:00.001-07:00

The blog cHindu was spearheaded by blogger 'Hindu Fundamentalist' who has been one of the earliest vigilant bloggers asking for accountability in Indian MSM. We wish HF the best on the future.

A broken habit

2011-06-12T15:39:00.001-07:00

It has been a while since I posted on this blog for the simple reason that I stopped reading chindu. I have changed my reading habits and chindu did not make it to my new reading list, the reasons for which I have documented to the best of my ability on this blog over the past few years. I am not going to bid any farewells here because I have not stopped what I have been doing, only I have chosen a different role. It is never a bad time to say a big thank you to all those readers who have been constantly encouraging us.

No permanent friends or enemies? Caption requested.

2011-05-31T19:01:00.001-07:00

Thanks to a vigilant reader for pointing this out. Our 'beloved' LiC and Amma in a photo together.
What do you think should be a good caption?

cHindu slams Gilani's history lesson

2011-05-10T21:33:00.001-07:00

cHindu's repudiation of Pakistan PM Gilani's rant on the history of bin Laden of the facts presented was shocking for any reader of the newspaper.

But as a reply to why bin Laden was discovered living in relative comfort in the heart of Pakistan, not by the country’s own military or intelligence agencies but by the U.S., Prime Minister Gilani’s account falls far short of an adequate explanation. His characterisation of this failure as that of “all the intelligence agencies in the world” comes across more as an attempt to deflect blame than as a response born out of honest introspection by the Pakistan state. Even as a history lesson, Mr. Gilani’s statement was incomplete. No one pushed Pakistan into the first Afghan war; Pakistan’s military under General Zia ul Haq made a calculated choice to participate in it. Aside from the U.S. support, Saudi Arabia generously poured money into Pakistan to create a culture of jihad. After the war, the same military and its intelligence agencies decided to deploy some of those jihadists to establish a pro-Pakistan regime in Afghanistan, while others were despatched for the task of ‘liberating’ Kashmir from India. No Pakistan army chief has ever made an attempt to institutionally repudiate the Zia legacy.

cHindu goes on to beat up the Pakistani military for keeping silent on how OBL was found in the suburbs of Islamabad.

The agreement is said to have been renewed in 2008, when the present Army chief, General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, was in charge. While the full truth about how OBL managed to hide in Abbottabad may never come out, it is time for the Pakistan military to face up to some truths about itself — and about its role in bringing the country to its present state.

This is quite different from the cHindu we've read in recent times. One which would've put the blame on India and US for why Pakistan was in such poverty. So to balance this editorial cHindu publishes another "editorial" which details sabre rattling by Indian Army and diplomats against "peace-loving" Pakistan.

Kasim Sait bashes Geelani on OBL death prayers

2011-05-08T19:48:00.001-07:00

We had earlier condemned the rabid nature of the Kashmiri stone pelters in matters of supporting the "martyrdom" of OBL (specifically Geelani). This was not limited to Kashmir as various mosques across India from Delhi to Chennai to Calcutta held prayers for OBL.
cHindu fave Kasim Sait has somehow become cHindu's voice of reason:

The funeral prayer for Osama at the Makka Masjid in Chennai is highly deplorable. How can a person who is responsible for besmirching the reputation of Muslims globally be given even a semblance of respectful homage? This is notwithstanding the acts of aggression committed by the Americans. Would not conducting prayers for such characters send a wrong message? I hope that responsible sections of the community would roundly condemn this failing on the part of the mosque authorities concerned.

Kasim Sait,

For once KS has given a valid comment. Lets see how quickly this will revert.

Geelani prays for Osama exposes true Kashmiriyat

2011-05-06T22:33:00.001-07:00

In what is an out pouring of love of dead terrorist mastermind Osama Bin Laden, Kashmiri separatists like Syed Geelani showed their true colours in celebrating martyrdom.
Never once condemning terrorism or the actions against the innocent by violent Muslims like Osama Bin Laden, Geelani made up rubblish like:

He alleged that a conspiracy was on against Pakistan and that the powers had an eye on nuclear bombs in that country. He prayed for the safety of Pakistan. People shouted pro-azadi and pro-Osama slogans.

Of course the Muslim mob was no different:

Protests erupted in the Batmaloo area soon after the funeral prayers. Masked youth clashed with police and CRPF personnel soon after Mr. Geelani addressed the gathering. The crowd called Osama a “martyr,” who sacrificed his life for the cause of Islam.

Guess this was true Kashmiriyat is about. Support of hardline Islamic terrorism. The whole talk about terrorism not having any religion is rubbish. It has a name.
Where is cHindu in not condemning this behaviour? If there were Hindus celebrating the death anniversary of say Godse, it would speak on its high horse about how they supported violence. But this exposes the hypocrisy of the media in not exposing the agenda of the Kashmiri terrorists posing as separatists.

Future LiC SV wants talks with Pak

2011-05-03T20:08:00.001-07:00

The killing of Osama Bin Laden has exposed Pakistan to the world as the epicenter of world terrorism. It has covertly/overtly/subvertly/extravertly/supervertly created, nurtured, enhanced, sustained many of the leading terror groups like Al Qaeda, Taliban, LeT, JuD and many others. However the future LiC of cHindu SV has deemed it fit that India should continue talking to Pakistan. He has been a rabid supporter of talks to a terrorist nation even when it kills citizens of India. But that should not affect him as he's not an Indian citizen.

India is unlikely to make the mistake of allowing Osama bin Laden to sabotage this win-win process from his watery grave in the Indian Ocean. Apart from economic gains, greater trade will gradually enlarge the constituency of those in Pakistan who have a stake in the normalisation of relations with India.

That really made sense as his other nugget

What the U.S. did on Monday may have been effective but it remains a second-best solution to tackling terror on Pakistani soil. The fight against the entire syndicate of terror has to be waged by the Pakistani police and security forces, acting under the complete control of the civilian government there. This is a message India needs to emphasise to the U.S. and other allies and friends of Pakistan and it will be most effective if delivered with tact and restraint.

Only problem is that is likely to happen if Kayani has dropped all his nukes on India or sometime in the year 4000AD. Reading this rubbish from Siddharth Varadarajan seems to many as what paid news means.

cHindu defends Pakistan on hiding Osama

2011-05-03T19:17:00.001-07:00

Everyone and their dog knows that Pakistan knew Osama bin Laden was hiding their country not in some mountain but in plain sight in a suburb near Islamabad. A place a stone's throw (literally) away from a Military academy. If it were ever proved that Pakistan did not know that Osama lived within its borders they should shave their head and jump off a bridge. However cHindu defends Pakistan by a series of articles today.

Pakistan laments ‘unilateral' U.S. action

Pakistan said it wasn't sure whether Osama was alive or dead

Osama financed the fall of Benazir's government, says Zardari

Kayani: ‘It is unjust to criticize Pakistan' for not locating Osama

Operation caught ISI “by surprise”

cHindu should change its name to National paper of Pakistan. Even Dawn has not offered a stirring defense of Pakistan.
Here's a headline from Dawn:
US feared Pakistan might ‘alert’ Bin Laden about raid: CIA

News update that Osama Bin Laden is dead.

2011-05-01T20:04:00.001-07:00

The man who was the face of the 9/11 bombing Osama Bin Laden is dead. It is a victory for all who protest/fight against radical Islam and the terrorist agenda it espouses. It raises a lot of questions. Where was he killed? Was it Pakistan? What was the role of the ISI in helping him escape Tora Bora.
Lets see what happens next.

How cHindu tampers with PTI news reports

2011-04-29T21:39:00.001-07:00

Please check this post for the original details.

Here's what the PTI report had to say:

Harvard scholar Lobsang Sangay was today elected Prime Minister of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile and would take over the political duties relinquished by spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.

43-year-old Sangay polled 55 per cent votes out of 49189, defeating his nearest rival Tethong Tenzin Namgyal by 8,646 votes, Election Commissioner Jampal Chosang announced here.

Here's what cHindu modified the statement while giving credit to PTI:

Harvard scholar Lobsang Sangay was on Wednesday elected “prime minister” of the so-called “Tibetan government-in-exile” and would take over the political duties relinquished by the religious leader Dalai Lama. A research fellow at the Harvard Law School, Mr. Sangay, aged 43, polled 55 per cent votes out of 49,189, defeating his nearest rival Tethong Tenzin Namgyal by 8,646 votes, “election commissioner” Jampal Chosang said here. Tethong Tenzin Namgyal, a Stanford scholar, polled 18,405 votes, while Tashi Wangdi, the Dalai Lama's representative in Brussels, New York and New Delhi, finished third. The election was held on March 20.

These are just excerpts and part of a long standing tradition of yellow journalism that our beloved cHindu has stooped to. One shudders at the thought of Holocaust denier SV becoming the new editor in chief. His rampant ideological support to the jihadists of Palestine would ensure that we read about those "martyrs" more frequently than Al Jazeera does.

Any guesses on who's on Wikileaks Swiss Bank list?

2011-04-26T21:48:00.001-07:00

Assange says that the names of Indians using benamis to make Swiss bank deposits will be revealed soon.

Praising the German government for its aggressive approach to unearth black money stashed away offshore, he said that India “should be more aggressive because India seems like it is losing per capita much more tax than Germany.” Mr. Assange alleged that the Indian government's response to the WikiLeaks cables was “one of the worst in the world” and a “clear attempt to mislead the nation on what the cables were.”

And here we were thinking the UPA Govt. was behaving responsibly by discussing Wikileaks allegations in Parliament and doing nothing!

Mr. Assange said the issue of stashing black money away in foreign banks was much worse than just local corruption as when money is pushed offshore, “...then every time they are selling rupees and the result is that the currency of the nation is debased... everything for all Indians becomes more expensive as a result of that transfer.”

Let us start guessing who's names make the list. It will be interesting to know who gets accused and who gets arrested, politicians? Mainstream media? Industrialists?

Paying tribute to Saibaba the right way

2011-04-25T16:16:00.001-07:00

Leading a social life with public scrutiny is a difficult chore. Doing that with religion as the primary focus is more difficult. Performing it for decades while interacting with high profile citizens is a great achievement. Personally I have not been one to support God-men of any religion. However in a country like India where 2/3rds of the population struggles for two square meals a day, we need to show more charity.
The loss of Puttaparthi Sai Baba as discussed by cHindu pays tribute the right way focusing on the larger achievements and long standing legacy.

In a country that has never been short of self-proclaimed godmen peddling spiritual succour with commercial motive, Sri Sathya Sai Baba, who passed away at the age of 84 at Puttaparthi in Andhra Pradesh on April 24, 2011, stands out as a rare phenomenon — a spiritual leader whose mass following transcended linguistic, national, and religious boundaries, who channelised the fervour and quest of millions of devotees into giving and sharing, who steered clear of divisive political and communal activities all his life.

While one might read the article and thumb their nose on the plaudits from Mu Ka, the writer has done well to provide a balance of praise and pause for introspection on the life and charity of a person who has made significant contribution to Indian society.

Fwd: Letter to The Ombudsman of The Hindu

2011-04-25T13:26:00.001-07:00

the ombudsman has turned into a bit of a joke. he hardly ever talks about the reader feedback.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Friends of Tibet
Subject: Letter to The Ombudsman of The Hindu
To: readerseditor@thehindu.co.in

April 24, 2011

To,

The Reader's Editor,

The Hindu, Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

Dear Sir,

Let us not reduce the ongoing-war of words between N Ram, the Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of The Hindu and the rest of the management team members to a battle within the corporate boardroom of the firm. What is going on is in fact a battle between N Ram and the readers of The Hindu.

Ever since N Ram took charge of the newspaper in 2003, organisations like Friends of Tibet and a dozen Tamil organisations in Tamil Nadu are fighting the anti-Tibet, anti-Tamil and anti-India stand of N Ram and his team of carefully selected journalists who were misusing the powers in the name of courageous journalism. Friends of Tibet was forced to launch a campaign called 'Save The Hindu' (www.friendsoftibet.org/save/) to fight the N Ram regime, a campaign which enjoyed the support of majority of The Hindu journalists. At the peak of the campaign when journalists employed with the newspaper came forward to support the campaign openly, N Ram threatened Friends of Tibet with criminal and civil defamation. In the meanwhile, hundreds of Hindu readers had stopped reading and subscribing the newspaper as a matter of principle. The activists of Friends of Tibet, TSAM and Tamil organisations like May 17 Movement had organised protests in front of the Kasturi Buildings in Chennai several times. We had written to the Hindu Ombudsman regarding our concerns which were never answered. (More details about Save The Hindu campaign and a case-study, please visit: www.friendsoftibet.org/save/)

We are happy that N Ram and his left-hand in journalism Shri Siddharth Varadarajan are finally exposed by their own men - Shri N Ravi and the sacked members. Friends of Tibet thank N Ravi for his bold and courageous statement criticising the "pronounced pro-China tilt of The Hindu newspaper, blacking out or downplaying any news that is less than complimentary to the Chinese Communist regime." We thank them because no one in the past had ever shown the courage to criticise the heavyweights and the captains of paid-news culture in Indian journalism.

Saving the 131-year-old national newspaper from the wrong hands is the responsibility of each and every reader and employee of The Hindu. Act now!

Friends of Tibet

www.friendsoftibet.org

Friends of Tibet, PO Box: 16674, Bombay 400050, India.

Friends of Tibet is a people's movement to keep alive the issue of Tibet through direct action. Our activities are aimed at ending China's occupation of Tibet and the suffering of the Tibetan people. Friends of Tibet supports the continued struggle of the Tibetan people for independence. Friends of Tibet is also one of the principal organisers of World Tibet Day around the world. To know more, visit: www.friendsoftibet.org

Company law board response for cHindu succession battle

2011-04-25T10:50:00.001-07:00

To all interested in the details of the succession battle held last year for cHindu. This is the Company Law Board response for the petition of N.Murali and N.Ravi over LiC and minions.
It reinstates N.Murali to Managing Director till August 2011 when he will step down. It will be interesting to see if LiC follows suit.

I thereby set aside the decision taken by the board of directors on 20.03.2010 to the extent it reallocates the functions of the Senior Managing Director and direct that the position prior to 20.03.2010 shall be restored as far as allocation of departments concerning the 2nd petitioner is concerned.

cHindu stands up for women's rights in Pakistan

2011-04-24T20:21:00.001-07:00

The story of Mukhtaran Mai of Pakistan is a tragic tale showing to the world the pitiable conditions of women there and morass of cultural problems. That is just the tip of the iceberg. The lack of political will and judicial backbone to take this case and punish the rapists has exposed what Pakistan really stands for.

But this extraordinarily brave woman, unlettered at the time of the monstrous crime, decided to defy societal taboos to take her attackers to court. It is disappointing that Pakistan's highest court has ruled against her. On April 21, a three-judge bench upheld, by a majority of two to one, the Lahore High Court's acquittal of five men accused of the rape (while confirming the life sentence to a sixth) on the ground of insufficient evidence. The verdict is unsettling for several reasons. In most of South Asia, for reasons that are well known, it is never easy for a woman to make a formal complaint of rape.

It is a good sign to see cHindu expose the soft underbelly that passes for Pakistan's judicial system.
The same system which beats up minorities for blasphemy:

This verdict sets the bar for evidence so high — in contrast are the evidentiary requirements in a blasphemy case — that it can only act as further discouragement to rape victims seeking justice.

We expect to see more such pieces of investigative journalism by cHindu and see it in action with NGO's in Pakistan to fight for the rights of those who deserve more than the Islamic tinpot bestows.

cHindutoon celebrating the DMK CPM divorce

2011-04-21T18:10:00.001-07:00

Has there been a greater time to write on this blog? DMK getting its arse kicked. UPA caught in corruption imbroglios. Even LiC appears to be out of the door (though with Sidd V taking his seat :( ).
Now the DMK-CPM divorce gets bitter with Prakash Karat head honcho of CPI-M blasting the DMK as a "family controlled party". Mu Ka could not keep quiet.

Hitting back at Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Prakash Karat for allegedly calling the Dravida Munnetra Kazhgam a ‘family controlled party’, Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi on Thursday sought to turn the tables on the Communist leader, reminding him that his wife is working with him in their party.

Like a jilted lover, Mu Ka spouted dialogue like a Sivaji in his pot boiler:

“I don’t know why Karat, a friend who found place in my heart, is spreading canards. I can’t find an answer to why he is doing like this,”

So we have this cHinduToon to celebrate the divorce and LiC's dilemma.

(Disclaimer: All analysis for parody purposes only)

Save cHindu, prevent Sidd V from becoming editor

2011-04-20T21:14:00.001-07:00

In a recent letter from N. Ravi to cHindu employees he alleged that LiC is planning to put his puppet Sidd Varadarajan as the editor of the cHindu.
We are trying to validate the authenticity of this report.
But per the email Ravi alleges cHindu has become another "Paid News" outlet in the lines of TOI and NDTV.

Very recently, those of us who were not privy to the deal making learnt to our shock that a major interview with A. Raja in defence of the telecom licensing policy published on May 22, 2010—that was referred to by the Prime Minister in his press conference--involved a direct quid pro quo in the form of a full page, colour advertisement from the Telecom Ministry that was specially and hurriedly cleared by the Minister personally for publication on the same day in The Hindu.

If this is true then its another nail in the coffin, log in the funeral pyre of a vaunted newspaper.
More on this soon...

Wikileaks expose US diplomats view of JNU

2011-04-20T19:44:00.001-07:00

What US Diplomats per wikileaks think of JNU and its exports.

cHinduToon on cHinduleaks

2011-04-19T18:03:00.001-07:00

cHindu made a huge hullaballoo on the interview with Assange. What were the interviewer and interviewee really thinking?
Here's what our "brain analyzer" had to say:

cHinduToons - same sarcasm less reading

2011-04-18T21:35:00.001-07:00

This is something I've wanted to do for sometime, convey this blog's sarcasm in the form of toons making fun at the MSM, our leaders,other jerks and ourselves (at times :)).
This is a start and hopefully with your feedback something we hope to make a regular feature. This is based on a viewpoint of Suhasini Haider who blabbers on cHindu echoing its slanted viewpoints. We being the subtle commentators will take different forms to converse back.

Will CPM stronghold West Bengal be stormed?

2011-04-17T19:13:00.001-07:00

As West Bengal goes to the polls, there is some outlook that the last bastion of communism in India in West Bengal could fall by the wayside.
The CPM and its goons have been past masters of the art of stuffing ballots, strong arm techniques, spending money, any and every dark art of trumping up votes. However this time Mamta's Trinamool Congress with its support on the upswing along with the money and resources from the Congress at the Centre has made this a fight of the heavy weights. Its a battle UPA needs to win given the dismal few months with the Wikileaks exposes to the recent corruption marches. Typically with a heavy turnout one can expect a change in the regime. But with the ballot stuffing one never knows.
If the regime changes, CPM will be on the fast road to political extinction. It will clearly affect the loyalties of cHindu and perhaps announce the retirement of LiC.

CRIBS complain again

2011-04-14T17:16:00.001-07:00

The association of countries like Brazil, South Africa, China, India and Russia met in China to wine, dine and of course crib. For all the talk the association has done precious little other than bitch about why they were not consulted in worldly affairs and cribbed about the actions in the Middle East by NATO. The pompous leaders with nothing in common other than alienation in their regions and potential military rivalry between China and Russia and China and India, talked about things like the Fukushima incident providing little of useful content.

The plan schedules a string of high-level meetings on almost all issues — security, political and economic — to enable the five countries better coordinate their positions. They would initiate the plan with a meeting of National Security Advisers later this year in China.
Besides strongly pushing for a more equitable world economic order, the five nations frowned on the use of force by the West in Libya and supported the return of peace and stability in West Asia-North Africa according to the “legitimate aspirations of their peoples.”

The best tagline was from Hon. MMS who said,

I would say the best is yet to come

We are still waiting to see that from your UPA government and the only "best" we have seen has been in the same line as the word scam. The BRICS or CRIBS or SCRIB or CRISB is the start of a new NAM your regular bar flies.

Either SMKrishna is incredibly smart or ...

2011-04-14T10:57:00.001-07:00

The claims made by Hussain Rana a key accused in the 26/11 mumbai attacks have literally proved that ISI not only knew about the attacks but was involved in planning and execution of the same.
External affairs Minister SM Krishna when asked about this said:

We will certainly take it up. We are in constant touch with the Pakistan government through our diplomatic channels.These are two different aspects. Peace talks will go on, cricket matches will go on and simultaneously our relentless efforts will continue to bring to justice all those responsible for the heinous crime.

If he is expecting the Paki Govt to put the ISI on the stand for 26/11 he is sorely mistaken. No politician with an ounce of self-preservation has challenged and won against the ISI (Read Bhutto, Sharif, Zia etc.).
Krishna's approach seems to be one to converse and bore the Pakis to death. Which should bear fruit in about 5551 years.

Assange interviewed for cHinu editorial

2011-04-11T22:28:00.001-07:00

The interview of the week. Assange interviewed by ...

I must say that India is not alone. I mean in our work we have exposed billions of dollars of corruption all over the world. And the First World is also not at all immune from it. Frequently we see the developing world corruption being facilitated by First World banks, which suck the money offshore and so on. And, in fact, India accounts for some of the highest amounts of deposits in Swiss banks, which must be questioned as to what that money is doing there.

Celebrating Anna Hazare's victory with dosas?

2011-04-09T17:05:00.001-07:00

Anna Hazare has won. Forced the Government into a corner to form a Committee to create another piece of legislation to form a body to review processes, people and functioning.
Here's Anna with supercop Kiran Bedi.

People visiting India Gate, many curious on whats going on with the fast. Some like Anupam Kher avoiding Congress goons.

A little girl giving Anna Hazare the usual glass of juice. Getting experience that she can protest and get anything from her parents.

Celebrating Anna's victory by preparing the longest dosa in the world.

cHindu demeans Anna Hazare.. kind of

2011-04-07T19:52:00.001-07:00

Rather than detail a serious editorial, cHindu outsources the analysis to R.K.Raghavan ex CBI head-honcho to detail the view of the newspaper. It is a decent viewpoint from an outsider but still does not detail what the newspaper who is stuck in the paid news scandal to express its opinions on the issue.

Despite glib words of praise for the principle that motivates Anna, there is unmistakable chagrin among those in the corridors of power — whom he is challenging. They claim that they alone are vested with the authority to decide what kind of legislation should be drafted to tackle corruption in high places, and not the likes of Anna Hazare. They look upon him as an usurper who has to be put in his place somehow.

At least this issue sweeps the chinduleaks under the rug for the time being.

Someone in Indian Govt. remembers 26/11

2011-04-06T21:07:00.001-07:00

At a time when Indian MSM has hushed up any news on 26/11 incidents to avoid inconvenience to our "siblings" from across the border. Yes I'm referring to Porkistan. Secretary Nirupama Rao reiterated in an interview to Karan Thapar that we have not forgotten 26/11. It might be words, but at least better than the silence from the UPA Govt. so far.

Yes and no. I think my answer would bridge both these concepts. The wounds of 26/11 have not healed as yet. I think we would do wrong to the people who lost their lives and the families that continue to grieve as a result of what happened so tragically in Mumbai, if we were to say that 26/11 is behind us. Obviously, the wounds of 26/11 will not heal easily. I think there is sentiment in this country in India and there is grief still which has not died. Let me put it this way. Our grief cannot die when it comes to 26/11

Lets see some action behind those words.

cHindu's credo- everyone should be blind

2011-04-05T21:02:00.001-07:00

There is the old tale about communism, you have two cows. You have to take care of them, but the government takes all the milk. Similarly cHindu has a philosophy if every you cant restore sight to everyone, then all of them should be blind. Brahma Chellaney is the proponent of this stupid logic.

While the popular uprising in Yemen has splintered the security establishment there, with different military factions now in charge of different neighbourhoods in the capital Sanaa and the United States seeking to replace the Yemeni President with his No. 2, the Bahraini monarchy has employed foreign Sunni mercenaries that dominate its police force to fire on the predominantly Shiite demonstrators.

The clincher is the conclusion which reads like a manifesto from Comrades Marx and Engels.

The resort to different standards and practices in the name of promoting human freedom, unfortunately, sends the message that any society's democratic empowerment is possible only if it jibes with the great powers' geopolitical interest. The fundamental issue is whether there should be a rules-based international order or an order pivoted on military might and driven by narrow, politically expedient interests of the most powerful.

This is exactly how the world works. If you want to free the others ask your buddies at cHindu to get off their lazy behinds and do something.

Afridi exposes true colours bashes India

2011-04-04T16:44:00.001-07:00

After the India-Pak World Cup semifinal match where India thoroughly thrashed Pakistan, the post-game statements of Pak captain Shahid Afridi was met with praise by Pak and Indian media.
Now as reported by both Indian Express and Times of India, Afridi upon reaching the safe shores of Pakistan exposed his true colours bashing Indians.

In my opinion, if I have to tell the truth, they (Indians) will never have hearts like Muslims and Pakistanis. I don't think they have the large and clean hearts that Allah has given us," Afridi said during a talk show on Samaa news channel when he was asked about relations between the two countries.
"The Indian media has a very negative approach and very negative thoughts. The people may not be like that but I think the media had a very dirty role in spoiling relations between us and India."

Its interesting that cHindu has not yet posted an article on this and is probably waiting for an apology of sorts to comment on the whole issue.
However the larger point of this is that Pakistanis have this annoying habit of speaking one thing while in India and other outside. While Indian media and celebrities continue to fall for this double act. When can we get enough cojones to tell Pakistanis to go to hell (or in their case stay in Pakistan)?

India wins

2011-04-02T21:12:00.001-07:00

This is a win for the long suffering Indian cricket fan and for the true Lord of Indian Cricket Sachin.
Jai Hind!!

cHindu plans to publish Great Soul

2011-04-01T06:16:00.001-07:00

The proposed ban on the sensational biography on MK Gandhi was met with violent opposition by the journalists at cHindu who have called for an end to such ridiculous censorship.

Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily's announcement that the central government would ban the book Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and his Struggle with India had no justification in fact, law, or common sense. The threatened ban on the book — the contents of which Mr. Moily dramatically described as “heresy” — was based, at best, on a total misreading of it and, at worst, on no-reading but relying on grossly misleading reviews in a section of the western media.

A key editor in cHindu said:

Mark this day, we will henceforth publish a print version of such banned books for free as well as provide an online version for people to read via their laptops, Kindles, iPads, Gol Gappas, Masala Dosais and other devices.

Pearls from Kasim Sait

2011-03-29T07:16:00.001-07:00

This regular reader of cHindu has never disappointed in entertaining us with his pearls of wisdom. He is a veritable modern day Socrates in his analysis and unfailing ability to always side with the judgment made by cHindu. Here's his latest on Wikileaks -

The BJP's propensity to misuse Hindu nationalism and its not-so-hidden support to the Indo-U.S. strategic relationship, have been reinforced by the India Cables. However, the most amusing part is the glee of the Congress leaders in the BJP's discomfiture. Should they not worry about the corroborative evidence in the cash-for-votes scam provided by the earlier cables? Amid all the somersaults indulged in by the Congress and the BJP, should not we laud the sincerity and honesty of Prakash Karat who not only stuck to the declared ideological stand of his party during his interview referred to in the cable but has also been forthright on the happenings during the UPA-1 regime, which led to the Left's withdrawal of support?

Laud the sincerity of Karat? Bashing BJP on its agenda? The writer can surely do better than trumpet the old mantras of LiC and minions.

Wikileaks portrayal of the joker Prakash Karat

2011-03-28T20:20:00.001-07:00

Read this article in entirety if you need a long laugh. cHindu's editorialization of Karat's portrayal in wikileaks is incredible. They want to show the CPM buffoon as some kind of Superhero.

The Embassy, in a cable to Washington the same day (31968: confidential), described Mr. Karat as a “talented and skillful leader who is well-aware of his political importance.”

WTF! Karat as skillful? What election of importance did he win? Or for that matter an issue of importance that he has lead a debate on? Nothing. West Bengal or Kerala wins have been achieved by local leaders like Basu, Buddha, Achuthanandan etc.

Relatively young [at 57], he will be a powerful figure on the Indian political scene for years to come, and could play an increasingly important role in the formation of future Indian governments.”

Other than capitulating to the first UPA Government and help putting India further down the corrupt hellhole its in right now, Karat has little to provide.

The Marxist leader noted that land reform was the strength of the CPI (M) in West Bengal, “where it increased agricultural production, made the state into India's largest rice producer, and demonstrated that small farms can be productive.”

I'm sure the people who struggle for a single meal in West Bengal will feel happy to know how the CPM has solved World hunger at a single stroke.

Twisting wikileaks - Jaitley's remarks

2011-03-26T22:02:00.001-07:00

Its one thing to make blatantly illogical statements analyzing current affairs like how Sidd V does in his columns in cHindu. Its absolutely ridiculous to portray the words of an American diplomat as fact.
( Thanks to fellow blogger Nationalizer for the heads up)
The article clearly states Jaitley's statement which reads:

In India's northeast, for instance, Hindutva plays well because of public anxiety about illegal migration of Muslims from Bangladesh. With the recent improvement of Indo-Pak relations, he added, Hindu nationalism is now less resonant in New Delhi, but that could change with another cross-border terrorist attack, for instance on the Indian Parliament,

However it chose to provide credence to the statement of the diplomat who claimed:

Pressed on the question of Hindutva, Jaitley argued that Hindu nationalism ‘will always be a talking point' for the BJP. However, he characterized this as an opportunistic issue

This is yellow journalism at its best. Shame on cHindu for distorting facs and not providing accurate explanations. Thankfully with Twitter people have challenged LiC and his minions to answer to facts. Though they still have proven to not be accountable.

Legality of Libyan Intervention: Varadarajan's Half-Truths

2011-03-23T21:58:00.000-07:00

I wish to draw attention to Siddharth Varadarajan's op-ed today titled "Odyssey Dawn, a Homeric Tragedy". As I pointed out in an earlier post, the Iraq invasion is not quite analogous to the Libyan situation today. Nor for that matter is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Israeli attack on Gaza was a response to the rocket attacks from Hamas-controlled Gaza. Much has been written about the Goldstone report and its findings and I will not go into that here. It suffices that the point is being made here in a purely rhetorical sense and has no direct bearing on the Libyan question.

With regard to the UN Security Council resolution 1973, this is what he says:

The problem with UNSCR 1973 is not the in-built ‘mission creep' but the fact that it is ultra vires. No resolution can violate the principles and purpose of the U.N. Charter. Article 2(7) is quite explicit: “Nothing contained in the present Charter shall authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state.”

This is a very selective reading of the relevant provision of the UN Charter. Article 2(7) states:

Nothing contained in the present Charter shall authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state or shall require the Members to submit such matters to settlement under the present Charter; but this principle shall not prejudice the application of enforcement measures under Chapter Vll.

The last part of the provision has been conveniently left out of his quotation. As the text of UNSC Resolution 1973 clearly states, it is precisely under this Chapter VII that the Security Council has acted. Article 39 empowers the Security Council to determine "any threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or acts of aggression" and decide upon measures to maintain or restore international peace and security. These words guarantee broad powers to the Security Council and there are past resolutions which have been triggered by internal disturbances in various countries. Particularly since the end of the Cold War, a broad definition of threat to the peace as a positive concept (as opposed to a negative absence-of-war notion) is fairly apparent in resolutions and Presidential statements. It is therefore eminently debatable whether this is indeed a violation of the UN Charter as claimed.

Varadarajan is nostalgic for the Saddam Hussein regime:

Like the Iraqis who foolishly welcomed the American invasion of their country in 2003, the Libyans who wanted Operation Odyssey Dawn may well end up taking part in a tragedy of Homeric proportions.

He should tell that to the Iraqi Shia who have just been empowered, the Kurds and the Iranians who fought against the Baathist dispensation. If Gaddafi is overthrown, I doubt likewise that there would be many who would miss him.

Story of Indian crabs(diplomats) at the UN

2011-03-20T11:25:00.001-07:00

There's common lore of a group of crabs sent in a box. The lid was open but none of the crabs escaped. It was not due to the fact that these crabs were too disciplined or lazy or unfocused. It was because they were too busy pulling each other down that they did not escape.
The cHinduLeaks provides a great story in real life of how our own UPA government decided to undermine its UN representative.

Accessed by The Hindu through WikiLeaks, the cable ( 64794: confnoforn) sent on May 19, 2006 by Mr. Wolff reports that Mr. Malhotra criticised Mr. Sen for taking a confrontational approach to the U.S. government. Not just that. Mr. Malhotra indicated he had been sent specially to counter the Permanent Representative. He told the U.S diplomat that he had — and would use — a “direct line” to New Delhi to ensure U.S.-India co-operation in New York.

This is precisely the kind of journalism we expect from cHindu. Good work by Nirupama Subramanian and Suresh Nambath. Lets hope there's follow up action to this article to put the UPA's feet to the fire.

cHinduLeaks - Sonia supports Islamic terror for Kashmiri votes

2011-03-16T07:22:00.001-07:00

The cHinduLeaks via India cables, expose the key differences between Sonia G and then President Abdul Kalam.
In was a clear evidence of one person's conviction for justice and integrity and the other person's corrupt nature. The Congress with Sonia and Ghulam Nabi Azad argued with Kalam on the behalf of Afzal asking him to provide clemency. This for a known terrorist who was involved in the planning and execution of the attack on the Parliament.

It quotes unnamed party sources as telling the Embassy that if “the UPA grants a pardon for Afzal or stalls his execution, the Congress Party will be portrayed by BJP leaders as weak on national security. If, however, the President lets him hang, some fear Congress may lose support from their traditional Muslim vote block on a national scale.”

Another traitor who was exposed is Yasin Malik who has been claimed as a peace broker by cHindu and its pet Arundhati Roy.

Kashmiri Muslims feel sympathy for Afzal” and that his only crime was “buying a car.” (Afzal Guru was not a member of the team that attacked Parliament but had bought the Ambassador car which breached Parliament's first line of security.) “How does this warrant a death sentence?”

So in what is clearly a planned lack of suo motu by the Government the usual rigmarole of keeping terrorists within the justice system without meting out the punishment given by the courts was enforced.

The cable suggests that the “easiest option for the Congress may be to delay Afzal's execution for years to consider his appeal for clemency.” This is exactly what has happened. In February 2011, Home Minister P. Chidambaram clarified in Parliament that Afzal Guru's mercy petition, filed on October 3, 2006, had not yet been forwarded to President Pratibha Patil.

It is to be seen if cHindu and LiC will pursue justice with the same zeal they have pursued cases like Godhra or the Orissa killings.

The curious case of cHinduLeaks

2011-03-15T13:29:00.001-07:00

One of the casual reader's pet peeves with the cHindu has been that it has been conservative beyond the point of boring. Rather than breaking news as early or even reasonably of value, it often waits until that news is dead or people have moved past it to pronounce its verdict. Case in point being the Wikileaks story. It was like the Godfather movie plot in slow motion. With Assange out of the spotlight (albeit temporarily), this has been passed over for other more important things like the situation in the Middle East, Japan earthquakes, World Cup etc. Now cHindu in typical cHind-like fashion decides to resuscitate the Frankenstein called Wikileaks which shall be thus named as cHinduLeaks.
So we will be looking at the analysis provided by cHindu and provide our usual colour commentary.

Praying for Japan

2011-03-13T00:42:00.001-08:00

We pray for hope for Japan and its people in this time of need. A real tragedy for a nation which has for the most part held up its end as a responsible hard-working nation.

Will Indian blogs be censored like China?

2011-03-12T22:06:00.001-08:00

The new changes in Indian IT act proposes draconian laws to censor content being posted. The proposed rules are incredibly sweeping and can affect anything from Huffington post to this blog.

The overemphasis on blogs, indicating the government's anxiety to control them; the ‘vagueness' of the reasons for which the government can block websites; and the utterly regressive move of introducing ‘intermediary due-diligence,' a favourite tool of repressive regimes against bloggers, is upsetting, says Shivam Vij, journalist, Kafila.

Simply put this will be a challenge to censor every one. But if implemented will cause a lot of hassles for the common blogger.

“The Internet community will always end up being smarter. India does not control the rest of the web, and people can write blog posts by sending just an email. The lesser fortunate ones will end up facing the ham-handed fist of these new guidelines,” Krish Ashok, a Chennai-based blogger

Mollycoddling Cruel Dictators

2011-03-10T12:51:00.000-08:00

True to form, The Hindu has vehemently come out any military intervention in Libya. As Muammar Gadhafi's stronger forces crush the ragtag rebel army, The Hindu wants the world community (in particular the West) to continue to fiddle as Libya burns. We are told that otherwise grave dangers may come to pass. And pray, what are these?

Arming the rebels would bolster Mr. Qadhafi's claim that a colonialist plot is being hatched.

Is domestic butchery preferable to a colonial conspiracy? I doubt it. Lending material support to the rebels when they are desperately in need is likely to gain the West and the international community support rather than undermine it. In the face of an active civilian uprising the odds of the struggle leading to successful democratization are considerable. Moreover, the effort will gain the democratic world influence with the rebels to support its goals of freedom and democracy. The Arab league is not exactly known for leadership and waiting for it to make up its mind may well turn out to be a futile exercise - even if its support comes through, it may of little more than rhetorical value.

Mr. McCain's suggestions sound very much like the threats the U.S. issued in the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Aside from the flagrant illegality, such an adventure would take a horrifying toll on civilian population.

The difference between Iraq and Libya is that unlike in Iraq, there is an ongoing humanitarian disaster in Libya. The situtation here is closer to Bosnia than Iraq. The intervention in Bosnia was and remains popular though the legality of that action continues to be debated academically just as the intervention in Iraq and the drone attacks on Pakistan are also being contested. Leadership entails that the UN and the international community show resolve and fulfil their obligations to humanity by acting decisively rather than pass worthless resolutions and enact useless dramas in seminar rooms much like a debating society. The UN is often paralyzed but that cannot be reason for all countries to stand by and watch the slaughter in silence.

As for the "horrifying toll on civilian population", it is not as if the ongoing civil war has been or is going to be a very peaceful affair. Would The Hindu prefer that the brutal and horrifying casualties come from Qadhafi's hands? The West has better weaponry that can at least limit incidental civilian casualties - "collateral damage" as it is called - much better than the Libyan forces which in any case are targeting civilians deliberately. At least with outside intervention, the lives lost will be for a worthy cause. If Qadhafi wins, what has anyone gained as a consequence of that besides him, his family and his loyal (and bloodthirsty) supporters who will continue to have a free hand to abuse their tyrannical power to plunder Libya's national wealth?

Worse, the editorial is opposed to even arming the rebels. If Qadhafi himself had written it, he probably could not have done a better job.

The Hindu's position is consistent with its past stances - its vehement resistance to the NATO's presence in Afghanistan while remaining silent about the atrocities of the Taliban and its soft support for the fraudulent elections conducted by the Burmese junta. Mollycoddling cruel dictators is just the latest. Yet the same newspaper preaches to us about the Indian government's human rights atrocities. The double standard is obvious.

Hypocrisy between Libya and Saudi Arabia, China

2011-03-09T07:19:00.001-08:00

A layman cannot distinguish between Saudi and Libya if the names were removed from this article. However the media chooses to remain passive in the case of one and acting with moral repugnance on the other. Where is the equanimity on the situation of people in both these countries?

The kingdom banned all demonstrations saying they contradicted Islamic laws and society values, according to a statement issued by the Interior Ministry. The new clampdown came a day after about 100 members of the Shia minority staged a protest in the western region of the kingdom.

Its one thing to complain about dictatorship, but to give a free pass to the country which has been in the forefront of sponsoring terrorism in many parts of the world, that is ridiculous. Or for that matter cHindu's favourite nation of cHina

Manmohan's reputation is now down to personal financial integrity

2011-03-08T02:53:00.001-08:00

The elaborate myth that the media manufactured about Manmohan Singh now lies in tatters. So N.Ram rushes to beat the dead snake. He asks tough questions on P.J.Thomas appointment. But he still can't help selling the same old snake oil. He claims that Manmohan has personal financial integrity, while quietly discarding the PM's integrity quotient in matters of morality, law and common sense. What good is personal financial integrity if the person could be compromised on all other matters? I can't quite understand why N.Ram has to keep repeating a falsehood in some form or other. I am fairly certain that once Manmohan Singh is discarded by the dynasty, N.Ram will rush to claim that Manmohan had a poor reputation for personal integrity.
The Hindu : Opinion / Editorials : Yes, but what led to the ‘error'?

The proper course for a Prime Minister with a reputation for personal financial integrity would be to square with Parliament and the public on what it was that made him and his senior government colleague insist on, and rush through, the appointment of Mr. Thomas in defiance of morality, the law, and common sense.

Of music, vidwans and critics

2011-03-05T09:04:00.001-08:00

Carnatic music is one of India's grand traditions, albeit not a big following as cricket or movies, but a niche following. So its interesting when one of this blog's "patrons" LiC and T.M. Krishna noted Carnatic musician decide to joust on the value provided by cHindu's music critics during the music season.
During a felicitation ceremony of S.V. Krishnamurthy LiC made this passing statement that Indian musicians did not respond well to criticism and wanted to listen to words of praise.

He said many musicians and sabhas were “thin-skinned” and “not used to robust criticism that musicians in western countries get all the time whether they like it or not.They want only favourable reviews, but that is decidedly not The Hindu's expectation,” he said, citing the guidelines evolved by the newspaper in consultation with critics for reviewing concerts and dance performances. He said the critic was an individual expert rasika and writer on music and The Hindu chose “its critics and respected their musical knowledge, integrity, independence, judgement and writing style.”

In response T.M. Krishna responded,

No amount of guidelines will help unless the right people are found. I completely agree that robust criticism is very necessary but it can be robust only when people are chosen very carefully and at the same time I do agree that musicians need to understand the role of critics. But one is not going to happen without the other.

To which LiC responded,

We and tens of thousands of our readers, knowledgeable as well as lay (like me), think highly of our critics, most of whom are well schooled in Carnatic music or are experts. The majority of them, in fact, are not staff journalists.

While in principle I would side with LiC that musicians typically are thin-skinned (knowing quite a few in my family and friends) the larger issue is that LiC should not be the one make that statement. After all he did not like it when others rightly criticized his paper for being a Chinese and communist mouth-piece. He still has the gall to employ people who are assumed associated with the "paid-news" scandal. Its a case of the pot calling the kettle black. In this context if you refer back to cHindu's music reviews they are amatuerish as Krishna rightly claims vacillating between saccharine sweet praise to rabid criticism without details or understanding of carnatic music. I would say this round goes to Krishna on points.

Farce called Gandhianism

2011-03-02T07:24:00.001-08:00

Gandhianism is one of those flawed ideologies that is so abstract, utopian and impractical that even the person who conceived it agreed it was not practical at all times. However it has become a mantle piece for any diplomat, bureaucrat who wants to carp on issues using moral grand standing. Case in point MK Bhadra Kumar commenting on the recent riots in Libya and comparing the violence there to Afghanistan.
Somehow he tries to inject Gandhianism into the whole discussion as some sort of moral higher ground.

The irony is that non-violence in Libya becomes the rubric for militarisation of foreign policy. After referring Mr. Qadhafi to the ICC, shouldn't India sign the Rome Statute and become an ICC member-country? Ideally, we should also persuade Mr. Obama, who admires Gandhiji, to revoke his predecessor's decision to pull the U.S. out of the ICC.

When are we going to get rid of the nonsense carpet that Gandhianism means something in today's world?

Krishna Iyer makes an argument to free Binayak Sen cogently!

2011-02-27T18:11:00.001-08:00

For a change Krishna Iyer makes an argument which has a reasonable amount of logic and sanity. Is it because he wrote it cogently or the editors @ cHindu used their tools for a change?
Anyways its a good read check it out.

Philanthropy is not fascism and public commitment critical of the state administration should not be confused with a traitor operation. I therefore view Dr. Sen as eligible for tribute, not to be condemned for sedition. Was Gandhiji or other critics of the state that hardly cared to wipe the tears of the poor, guilty of sedition? There is often grave confusion between criticism of a government demanding its overthrow — not by violence but by positive service and commitment to the people. Operation patriotism is not sedition.

Sonia Gandhi surprised that treasures exist in India

2011-02-26T20:19:00.001-08:00

Alleged smuggler of Indian artifacts out of India for over three decades, Ms. Sonia Gandhi was shocked at the find of silver bricks in the Puri Mutt.

“The silver seemed to be very old, possibly over 100 years old. As many as 522 silver slabs, all in brick shape, have been retrieved. Each of the slabs weighs between 35-40 kg. We are continuing the investigation to find out how the stock landed here,” said Sanjay Kumar, Puri Superintendent of Police.

Sonia Gandhi claimed that these were not valuable, but claimed to have some Rajput treasure which were kept in safe keeping in Italy.

Bloody Indian dog

2011-02-26T11:26:00.001-08:00

Congress MP Ninong Ering called Baba Ramdev "a bloody Indian dog". I immediately checked Ninong Ering's nationality to see if he is an Italian or a "secular" person from the friendly neighbourhood country. Turns out he is Indian too, or atleast officially he is. Wonder why Ninong Ering had to bash "Indian" dogs while showing contempt towards Baba Ramdev.
Cong returns graft volley to Ramdev - The Times of India

Defending party MP Ninong Ering, who allegedly called Ramdev "a bloody Indian dog" when the latter was attending a camp at Pasighat in East Siang district, APCC spokesperson Vishal P Nabam alleged

Wishful thinking on democracy in Arab states

2011-02-25T19:06:00.001-08:00

In some ways journalists want to drink the Kool-aid of speculative thinking. They wish to draw parallels between change in South America and Arab world. Is it possible? Surely anything's possible. But there are several differences between Latin world and the Arab world.

These revolts have immediately performed a kind of ideological house—cleaning, sweeping away the racist conceptions of a clash of civilisations that consign Arab politics to the past. The multitudes in Tunis, Cairo and Benghazi shatter the political stereotypes that Arabs are constrained to the choice between secular dictatorships and fanatical theocracies, or that Muslims are somehow incapable of freedom and democracy. Even calling these struggles “revolutions” seems to mislead commentators who assume the progression of events must obey the logic of 1789 or 1917, or some other past European rebellion.

However without calling it thus, the writers imagine this as a socialists wet dream.

This is a threshold through which neo-liberalism cannot pass and capitalism is put to question. And Islamic rule is completely inadequate to meet these needs. Here insurrection touches on not only the equilibriums of north Africa and the Middle East but also the global system of economic governance.

Alliances of conveniences emerge - cHindu in a dilemma

2011-02-24T16:34:00.001-08:00

Now that the PMK has allied with the DMK. The Congress as usual being the DMK's main alliance partner(aka bitch). All this left Vijaykanth's DMDK to join with the AIADMK.
Sweet! Now all that's left is for the Left parties to make their high and might statement and join one side. That will decide cHindu's loyalties this upcoming elections.

From imagination to reality

2011-02-23T14:11:00.001-08:00

In popular imagination of the left-liberals, the Godhra train never burnt; the Hindu women committed 'sati', taking along with them their children. The kar sevaks started the carnage and then the Nero took over and turned into a genocidal pogrom. Arundhati Roy wrote fictional accounts; Teesta Setalvad falsified witnesses; Siddharth Varadarajan twisted facts; N.Ram and the ELM threw canards. Truth by repeated assertion and in this way the terms genocide and pogrom got associated with Godhra.
Of the 58 victims, 15 are women and 20 children (over 60% women and
children). But we keep hearing that "mostly kar sevaks" were killed.
The Hindu : Opinion / Editorials : The burning train

In the popular imagination, the Godhra train burning will also evoke horrifying memories of the genocidal pogrom against Muslims that earned Gujarat notoriety across India and round the world.

Celebrating Internet freedoms - with a dollop of hypocrisy

2011-02-23T08:05:00.001-08:00

The writers of cHindu have many avatars to act out from moral pontification to snide criticism to rambling rhetoric. Everything other than actual journalism (barring a few like Sainath).
A recent editorial where LiC from his high horse in Anna Salai decided to preach to his minions about how the US was unfairly targeting Wiki Leaks and Twitter. The article for the most part is valid in many of its criticisms over the control that governments impose over the information that's being disseminated.

To praise the Internet for aiding truth-telling and, in the same breath, dismiss the discussion on free speech for websites such as WikiLeaks as a “false debate” is hypocritical. It can be credibly argued that the simmering discontent in Tunisia exploded in public anger when WikiLeaks published the cables on the U.S. ambassador's assessment of corruption by President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. The Tunisian uprising, then, was triggered by the WikiLeaks revelations, and fanned by the Internet. In a more connected world the key question before the U.S. is to define confidentiality.

However the larger issue is that this is an instance of the Devil quoting scriptures.
cHindu in the recent decade has been an MSM outlet which has thrived on delayed or often mis-representing facts. It has propounded principles based on its convenience. All the while maintaining one standard for its political master cHina and another for everyone else.

cHindu censors China's Jasmine revolution

2011-02-21T19:00:00.001-08:00

The "paragon" of free-speech cHindu censors anything its master from across the border orders it to.
The most recent example being the Jasmine revolution which has been widely covered everywhere except cHina and in cHindu. (Thanks Xinhua R for the reminder)
The peaceful protests have been put down with an iron fist. Some protestors will probably never see freedom in their lifespan. Many others will experience long terms in gulags simply due to their belief that freedom is a right. Shame on cHindu for censoring this.

Authorities detained activists Sunday, increased the number of police on the streets, disconnected some cell phone text messaging services and censored Internet postings about the call to stage protests in Beijing, Shanghai and 11 other major cities.
Police took at least three people away in Beijing, one of whom tried to place white jasmine flowers on a planter while hundreds of people milled about the protest gathering spot, outside a McDonald's on the capital's busiest shopping street. In Shanghai, police led away three people near the planned protest spot after they scuffled in an apparent bid to grab the attention of passers-by.

Sainath eviscerates Sidd V (indirectly of course)

2011-02-20T21:12:00.001-08:00

There were a couple of blog posts by HF and yours truly recently about how Siddharth Varadarajan panders to the UPA government while vaguely placing the blame of corruption on corporate India.
Sainath in what is a blistering editorial on the culture of corruption and inaction of the UPA literally lamblasts Sidd V's theories to atoms.

That is, electronic media chiefs and editors who have mostly adored Dr. Singh for nearly two decades. If even the largely free ride they gave him left him unnerved and defensive, it's a measure of how much things have changed. Not that the editors emerged looking better. If asking the right questions is at the heart of journalism, then somebody had a bypass. At no point did it occur to them that the corruption they questioned him on with some passion, flowed entirely out of policies and from a policy altar at which they have worshipped for years.

He raises the issue of subsidies in the last budget being given a free pass by the Government.

The dominant media have never once raised a peep of protest against the corporate plunder of public money, thanks to the government Dr. Singh presides over. Nor did they in this conference with the Prime Minister. So Dr. Singh is understandably peeved when asked about the petty cash transfers of the 2G scam to a handful of hucksters.

This the same PM who has been claimed by LiC and Sidd V as a paragon of virtue of integrity.

Varadarajan, the lobbyist who didn't get caught

2011-02-19T10:31:00.001-08:00

Siddharth Varadarajan is Barkha-fying news. Chindu has a list of journalists who are propagandists for Congress. Harish Khare, who was the political editor at Chindu, used to frequently write articles praising Congress and pleading the Dynasty to assume totalitarian control. He later became the media adviser to Manmohan Singh. Varadarajan belongs to the same category.

According to Varadarajan, there was no corruption before NDA government.
Inspite of Dr.Singh presiding over unprecedented corruption, his personal integrity is unquestionable for some strange reason.
The root cause of all problems is capitalism. Was there any corruption during the golden era of Nehruvian Socialism when the politicians could work for the masses without the distractions of dirty money?

Siddharth Varadarajan is a congress lobbyist was lucky enough not to have been caught in Radia-gate.
The Hindu : Opinion / Leader Page Articles : It's time to get down to business

The United Progressive Alliance inherited this corrupt system and presided over its unprecedented expansion.
As an economist and a man of unquestionable integrity, Dr. Singh ...
When individual corporate houses attempt a short-cut, however, they
invariably corrupt the wider political edifice. Corrupt politicians come
and go. But unless the crony capitalists who use them are punished,
Indian democracy will continue to corrode.

Celebrating MMS the new-era Dhritharashtra

2011-02-19T10:28:00.001-08:00

There are certain figures in mythology who are tragic figures due to circumstances and some due to their own creations. Dhritharashtra of the Kurus showed a blind eye (literally and figuratively) to the rampant corrupt and vengeful behaviors of his sons and paid for it with the loss of their lives and his kingdom. As a ruler of a nation maintain Raj-Dharma is of paramount importance and is one of the valuable lessons Indian history has tried to teach its rulers. Its something MMS has done poorly in 2 terms as the PM of India.
After numerous scams and feeble efforts to defend the government's inaction and bringing the perpetrators to justice, the new "vigilance" is being swallowed by the MSM especially cHindu hook, line and sinker.

The same Prime Minister whose silence and ambivalence on 2G was seen by the Opposition and the public at large as weakness and even complicity has pushed the Central Bureau of Investigation into summoning and questioning top industrialists like Anil Ambani, raiding Kalaingar TV, the business arm of a key political ally, the DMK, and sending A. Raja, who was Telecom Minister till some time ago, to the unwholesome confines of Tihar Jail.

Call me a sceptic but sending a minster to prison temporarily and raiding KTV is not vigilant action. The corruption is endemic and across the nation and token actions are simply not enough. Sidd V asks a potent question when says,

The question, of course, is whether or not the CBI will persist in its endeavours. Are we being treated to an elaborate dog-and-pony show? Or does the agency's current activism represent a fundamental course correction for a system which has tolerated and thrived on corruption? If yes, does the Prime Minister have the political clout to see things through?

However where Sidd Varadarajan fails to hit the nail on the head is his sympathetic portrayal of MMS as being a decisive leader misled by his ministers.

As an economist and a man of unquestionable integrity, Dr. Singh knew full well the revenue consequences of forgoing an auction for the allocation of 2G spectrum and recorded his unhappiness with the decision. If the Prime Minister were anyone other than Dr. Singh, one might be justified in treating his belated intervention in the 2G matter as an indication of his own involvement. In reality, the delay was the product of both his individual political weakness and his party's failure to understand the political implications of the scam.

Its as though cHindu wants to treat MMS and the UPA with kid gloves and come hard against the BJP for similar failings. Final words from Sidd V.

Corrupt politicians come and go. But unless the crony capitalists who use them are punished, Indian democracy will continue to corrode.

What about corrupt journalists Mr. Siddharth Varadarajan?

Eminent historian alert

2011-02-16T15:45:00.001-08:00

Chindu's favourite eminent historian is back with a bang. Romila Thapar is comparing various versions of Ramayana, written in ancient Indian languages, by basing her understanding on translations. How anyone could pass off as an authority on ancient Indian history without knowledge of the prevalent languages of the time is a mystery. That Romila Thapar never had to learn Sanskrit shows the nature of academic research in India.
The Hindu : National : “Ramayana versions reflect period perspectives”

Ms. Thapar elaborated on the diverse facets through which historians viewed the text. For this, she made a comparison of three different versions of the tale: Valmiki's Ramayana in Sanskrit, the Buddhist version contained in the Jataka Tales in Pali and the Jaina version in the ‘Paumacariyam' in Prakrit.

Accusing without evidence

2011-02-16T15:33:00.001-08:00

Apart from this last paragraph, the rest of the article is about the arbitrariness of police detentions. If we are to take Vidya's contention that the law may be subverted, are we to assume there was no arbitraniness in Kanchi Shankaracharya's case? Close to 100 witnesses rounded up in a week's time should have raised a few eyebrows. Did Vidya bother to check the impact of false detentions on those witnesses, especially when some of them claimed in the courts that the confessions have been extracted by police under duress? After several years of investigation and a chargesheet running into a few thousand pages, has an iota of evidence been found in the cases against the Kanchi Acharya?
Having done her best to propagate the term Hindutva terror, without ever bothering to tell us what it means, she now gloats that the term has gained official recognition. Sadhvi Pragya Singh, one of the key accused, also claimed to have been tortured. Did Vidya fight for her human rights or do anything for that woman's cause? She indulges in selective battles but has no qualms accusing the BJP and RSS. By the way, does Vidya have evidence to prove that the due process of law is being followed in the investigations into the Ajmer, Malegaon or Samjhauta express blasts?
I also question the judgement of the editor who let these three lines pass through when they are so disconnected with the main premise of the article.
The Hindu : Opinion / Leader Page Articles : Accused without any evidence

The BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh are furious that Aseemanand and some other Hindutva names have emerged in recent terror investigations. The parivar has every right to demand that due process be followed in their cases. However, one wishes they had been similarly concerned about young Muslim boys jailed and charge sheeted without evidence.

Sarfarosh in real life?

2011-02-15T10:49:00.001-08:00

In the popular movie Sarfarosh there's a character - famous Pakistani vocalist Gulfam Hassan who acts all benign and friendly until his true colors are revealed. Recently popular singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan was arrested for carrying a lot of foreign currency.
As usual the Paki govt made a huge push to get him released. There's probably than what's discussed, given that there are many Paki singers in the Indian music scene today.

Celebrating Egypt, silence on China

2011-02-13T18:48:00.001-08:00

cHindu and LIC show hypocrisy again, in a phony show of celebrating Egypt's painless revolution. But where's the voice of reason when it comes to China. Perhaps an effect of paid news here ....

That cannot be denied, however, is that 80 million Egyptians have spoken. Their right to democracy cannot be annulled; nor can their demand for it be resisted. It is Egypt's neighbours who know that best. In Algeria, protesters are defying bans on rallies. In Yemen, the people have won the President's assurance that there will be no father-son handover.

Churches support Maoist terrorism activities

2011-02-11T11:14:00.001-08:00

This comes as no surprise from the cHindu. (Props to Rajeev for pointing it out).

Kerala Council of Churches (KCC), the umbrella organisation of the various non-Catholic Episcopal churches in Kerala, has come out in support of Binayak Sen, who was recently sentenced to life imprisonment for sedition.

Not surprisingly the article is silent over the human rights abuses by Christians in the North East, abuse of children by priests world over and other such crimes.

To express solidarity with the struggle taken up by Dr. Sen and his friends, KCC, jointly with MM Thomas Memorial Trust and Development Training Programme, will organise a meeting at 3 p.m. on February 9 at YMCA Hall, Thiruvalla. Philipose Mar Chrysostum Mar Thoma Valia Metropolitan will inaugurate. Kuriakose Mar Ivanios Metropolitan, vice president, KCC, will preside. Leaders of various human rights movements will speak on the occasion, the press note said.

On a side note though, cant these douche bags have shorter names than the 25 syllable 5 word names?

N.Ram advising against muslim intolerance? Heck, no.

2011-02-08T10:35:00.001-08:00

The Hindu : Opinion / Editorials : Creeping intolerance

As in Pakistan, support for religious political parties is not high but radical Muslim groups wield a disproportionate amount of street influence — and in this way succeed in shaping the responses of politicians and government officials

It is no different in India. One might say there is a slight difference - not just the radical muslim groups but all muslim groups wield a disproportionate amount of street influence. So N.Ram's advice to Indonesia is equally applicable to India. But wait a minute, is N.Ram really advising muslims?

It is to be hoped that Indonesia, which has moved ahead politically and economically with much speed after getting rid of Suharto, will tackle the intolerance with the same determination it has shown in dealing with the Islamist terror group Jemaah Islmiyah.

You bet not. "It is to be hoped" by who? N.Ram is not even hoping to see a change in Indonesia's radical muslim groups.

Is Egypt really ready for Democracy?

2011-02-04T20:53:00.001-08:00

The international media has jumped on the bandwagon of the protesting crowds to demand Mubarak step down and democracy be restored. A few years back another nation's transformation was similarly supported and this later lead to a devastating loss of lives and that nation is on the path of recovery. Are the circumstances similar? Kind of, but the question remains that is a nation that is inherently fractured and held in check by a dictator really ready for democracy?

In a similar vein, massive crowds in Egypt's second city of Alexandria chanted, “He must go!” As people, not all of the same ideological persuasion, poured in to protest, some held aloft pictures of the former Presidents, Gamal Abdel Nasser and Anwar Sadat. In Giza, on the outskirts of Cairo, home to the famed pyramids, a few thousands assembled to protest. Unwilling to slacken the momentum, some pro-democracy activists in Cairo said they would march to the rail station to pursue and persist with a sit-in until Mr. Mubarak relinquished office.

cHindu as usual jumps for democracy in all nations not named China. Hypocrisy is the newspaper's driving principle.

K. Subrahmanyam Indian Intelligence guru passes away

2011-02-02T09:33:00.001-08:00

India has lost one of its foremost Intelligence and Strategy gurus in K. Subrahmanyam. He has been the author of several pieces showing keen insight like this one in the cHindu.
We offer our condolences to his family. Nitin Pai of Acorn has some interesting articles based on his discussions with K Subrahmanyam during their meeting in Delhi.

cHindu wipes CPM's arse again

2011-02-01T20:22:00.001-08:00

This news article has nothing to do with local Indian politics. It does not have anything to do with a nation with deep ties to India. However cHindu toots the CPM horn again.

The Left parties have expressed support for the people of Egypt and urged the Union government to take a clear stand endorsing the will of the people.
The CPI(M) said the U.S., which was notorious for engineering “regime change” in countries that did not act at its behest, should be warned not to interfere with the will of the people of Egypt.
“The Egyptian people will not accept anything less than the immediate removal of Mubarak from power. It is only with this step that there can be a transition to a democratic set-up based on the wishes of the people,” a CPI(M) Polit Bureau statement said.

I thought of putting a who cares, but this is ridiculous to be publishing quotes from one set of parties.
And we thought Toi was good enough to be flushed.

Editorial on the murder of Sonawane

2011-01-30T19:57:00.001-08:00

The failings of the criminal justice system was exposed again when Yashwant Sonawane's attempt to expose the fuel mafia lead to his gruesome murder. From cHindu's editorial

By one reckoning, 40 per cent of kerosene is stolen during transportation from depots to retail outlets. Estimates of the value of this organised racket, which also sees quite a bit of the kerosene used to adulterate diesel, exceed Rs.10,000 crore a year nationally. The fraud seems to be growing in direct correlation to the rise in fuel prices.

Why we have to wait for an attack of an official to jump into action is simply inexplicable?
cHindu and the media's short lived attention spans in bringing the criminals to justice highlights MSM's abilities to have the intellectual focus of a 2 year old.
In closing the next steps suggested in the editorial shows what has become modern India's solution to any problem, sweep it under the rug.

The crackdown that is on now and the arrest of all ten suspects in the murder of Mr. Sonawane are positive signs. The hope is that Union Petroleum Minister Jaipal Reddy's resolve to curb the adulteration menace will not prove short-lived. A great deal of work waits to be done on the ground, and a start can be made by acting on the Supreme Court's 2001 suggestion of an additional agency to carry out independent checks and actions in the fuel sector.

Eerie silence on Karmapa controversy

2011-01-30T17:01:00.001-08:00

cHindu and the LiC has been quite silent on the whole Karmapa currency especially the finding of Chinese currency with his assistant.

Mr. Mardi said Karmapa Ugyen Trinley Dorje was not quizzed but only asked about the source of the money. But he said he was not aware of it, Mr. Mardi added. However, his spokesperson asserted that it was money received through offerings and donations and not illegal money. Police had recovered foreign currency equivalent to Rs. 7 crore during raids on the trust backed by Karmapa and arrested the main accountant Shakti Lama.

Hmm if Chinese currency was found with the donations, it raises interesting questions about the "religious" intentions of the Chinese government.

SC super stars say Haj subsidy not discriminatory

2011-01-28T14:58:00.001-08:00

Reading the Supreme Court's decisions makes me wonder which is the bigger circus the Parliament or the Supreme Court. The petitioner Prafull Goradia claimed,

a grant (Hajj subsidy) violated Articles 14 and 15 and in particular Article 27 (freedom as to payment of taxes for promotion of any particular religion).

In response the learned judges of the Supreme Court went all JNU style history book in stating

India was a country of great diversity and “if we wish to keep our country united, we need to have tolerance and equal respect for all communities and sects. It is due to the wisdom of our founding fathers that we have a Constitution, which is secular in character and which caters for the tremendous diversity in our country.”

WTF! How does this really correspond to the question posed?
The SC then claimed:

If only a relatively small part of any tax collected is utilised for providing some conveniences or facilities or concessions to any religious denomination, that would not be violative of Article 27. It is only when a substantial part of the tax is utilised for any particular religion would Article 27 be violated.

What defines "small part of any tax" and secondly who determines where that amount goes to?
There is a clear lack of accountability that is being applauded by the "super stars", I mean Justices Markandey Katju and Gyan Sudha Misra here.

Reactions from secular readers responding to flag hoisting

2011-01-27T12:20:00.001-08:00

This Letters to the Editor is a filtered figment of saturated excrement that is daily published by cHindu's editors. This farce represents what is wrong with cHindu bottom up.

This refers to the editorial “Trouble-making in Kashmir” (Jan 27). Thank god, the BJP Ekta Yatra ended peacefully. Nevertheless, the editorial rightly cautions against further political exploitation of the people in the Valley as that would be “worse than a crime.”

Nice to see our folks describing the raising a national flag as political exploitation.
Note to Kashmiri separatists, please pay back all the incentives earned since inception of Article 370 with interest of 8.5% PA before coming to the table for separate country. Otherwise please go to hell or in your case Pakistan.

More biased news from cHindu

2011-01-17T12:57:00.001-08:00

There have been several recent news articles by cHindu where the 'editorialization' has continued.
Thanks to our keen readers these have not gone unnoticed. We will respond to these articles shortly.
They are:
High Court seeks report on Sabarimala tragedy The crux being that the High Court had reprimanded the State Government for not improving the infrastructure despite previous notices as reported in the Indian Express.
The other more ridiculous article was where the Supreme Court in all its infinite wisdom claimed that India was a nation of immigrants.
It will not be surprising to find the Supreme Court reserve 99% of all college, train and bus seats, jobs in private and government sectors to monkeys since they were the real original inhabitants and their state has not been improved since Independence.

Vatican moves John Paul closer to Sainthood

2011-01-14T13:34:00.001-08:00

There were 2 John Paul's who were highly influential in the 20th century. One who performed on stage as a member of Led Zeppelin and the other .... Now the Vatican comes out to beatify John Paul II which moves him closer to Sainthood.

Pope Benedict XVI said in a decree that a French nun's recovery from the Parkinson's disease was miraculous, the last step needed for beatification. A second miracle is needed for the Polish-born John Paul II to be made a saint.

The whole charade of sainthood and miracles are both a sham and hypocritical when the Vatican and its supporters often decry philosophies of other religions as blasphemy or heresy. In the past another quack from Calcutta was sainted. The media should be quick to condemn such rubbish than think about offending minorities sentiments and the like. But LiC has been hobnobbing with the Xtian priests and their minions for years given both his wives are Xtians. It will not be surprising to see cHindu declare a holiday when JP2 will be sainted.

Using wicked censorship protecting Islamic miscreants

2011-01-13T10:36:00.001-08:00

cHindu and LiC have always blamed Hindus for creating communal tensions for situations where they were innocent bystanders. In a recent incident in Delhi the police brought down a "religious structure" and somehow some "people" were injured when they "protested". The whole incident caused "religious tension". (Yes I'm having a Sidd Varadarajan hangover here).
Guess which religion they were referring to? What was the "religious structure"?

Exposing how the UN is becoming a puppet

2011-01-10T14:18:00.001-08:00

In what is surely a marked change from the past vivid censorship of opposing opinions towards minorities, its rather interesting to read cHindu writer Madanjeet Singh's article Blasphemy laws and their serious implications .

The 57 states of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, led by Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Egypt, have proposed a United Nations resolution, “On Combating Defamation of Religions.” It is but a Trojan horse to promote a fundamentalist agenda and enforce blasphemy laws and other discriminatory pieces of legislation. It is intended to legalise threats and violence against minorities and other vulnerable groups, as Human Rights Watch of Pakistan has pointed out.

What this does clearly mean is the narrow agenda being promoted by the various Islamic nations to demonstrate their clear agenda of intolerance towards other religions, faiths. It clearly exposes the direct vision of Islam, contrary to its supporters in the media, as a religion of bigots. If 57 countries all following a particular religion can pass such ridiculous laws then where are the so called 'moderates' of Islam who outnumber the 'few' radicals?

Attackers kill and wound Christians and Ahmadis, in particular, and burn down their homes and businesses. The authorities arrest, jail, and charge members of minority communities, heterodox Muslims and others with blasphemy and related offences because of their religious beliefs. In several instances, the police have been complicit in harassing, and framing false charges against, members of these groups, or have stood by as they were attacked.

To Shah Rukh Khan, Sidd Varadarajan and all supporters of Pakistan, is this the "great neighbour" you have wet dreams about?
Perhaps you should give up the Tiranga and head over and spend time on the "Paradise on Earth" called Pakistan.

Happy New Year to All

2010-12-31T23:11:00.001-08:00

On behalf of the blog, I wish all our readers, my co-bloggers and contributors a very happy, healthy, peaceful and prosperous new year. May it bring new enthusiasm to sustain and foster our role as media watchdogs in 2011.

Beijing intellectuals enraptured by a neocon philosopher?

2010-12-19T15:41:00.000-08:00

While the Congress plenary makes for a page 3 spectacle by parading one 'Category 5' moron after other on its runway, it's worthwhile to focus back at the real world. Columbia University professor, Mark Lilla, has an article on the strange fascination of Chinese intellectuals for the ideas of the German-Jewish philosopher Leo Strauss. Strauss's most influential idea perhaps is the constitution of a pool of elites who can help guide the society towards its own general good. While the article is for subscribers only, you can read it fully here.

Comrade Yechury has a new stand up routine

2010-12-17T22:42:00.001-08:00

Sometimes I wonder how Comrades Karat (Prakash and Brinda) and Yechury manage to speak such rubbish when they are supposed to be the educated bunch. Hearing rubbish from riff raff like Digvijay Singh or Lalu or Rajnath Singh is one thing. But this is hilarious,

Replying to a student's question as to whether China was free from the clutches of crony capitalism given the market-oriented socialist system adopted by it, Mr. Yechury said China was “extremely strict” against such practices and handed out “deterrent punishment” to detected offenders.

Guess Comrade thinks China is the left wing paradise where crony capitalism doesn't exist. Either he is incredibly stupid or thinks anyone listening to this BS is.

Mr. Yechury also said that there “may be failings” in Left Front-ruled States of West Bengal and Kerala since the “prevalent system [bred] in-house corruption and nepotism”, but added that “there [was] always an endeavour to rectify it as the party has zero-tolerance towards such practices”.

Yup and Rome was built in a day.

Some interesting reads in the Friday Review

2010-12-16T15:02:00.001-08:00

Of most cHindu supplements I have found the Friday Review to be a decent read. A potpourri of articles covering various facets of arts and culture from Music to Dance to religious pursuits.
In particular two articles one about the dying style of classical dancing called Vilasini Natyam.
And the other about a analysis of a discourse on Azhwar literature with Velukkudi Krishnan were noteworthy in content.
Sadly though its the case of a great dessert with a shabby meal with the cHindu and its supplements.

Wen cHindu celebrated

2010-12-15T06:52:00.001-08:00

The arrival of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on his second state visit to India on Wednesday is akin to a return for 'Lord Ram' from the forests (or just King Ram for the rationalist morons) for the people of cHindu.
Even if a single accord worth Rs.10 is signed one can expect a huge hullabaloo from the LiC and his minions on how this turns the relations between the two countries and presumptuously world domination.
Already Sidd V has started the opening act of getting the readers ready for the onslaught by putting out a piece Time to reset the India-China relationship.
As usual Sidd V blames Indian politicians and military commanders for questioning the Chinese authority (how dare they!)

But the stridency of its assertions — especially its objections to Indian leaders visiting the north-eastern State — took the Indian side by surprise. On their part, some Indian military commanders muddied the waters by making irresponsible public pronouncements which have fuelled both the jingoism and insecurity of a hyper-nationalist media and middle class. The suggestion made on background by some Indian officials that China's claims to the whole of Arunachal Pradesh violated the “political principles and parameters” governing the boundary settlement agreed to by both sides (because of the reference there to due regard being paid to the wishes of settled populations) may also have pushed Beijing into a more assertive mode.

Currently Sidd V is the leader in this week's Jackass of the week award (to be published shortly).

cHindu proves "Paid news" in Indian Media

2010-12-14T20:45:00.001-08:00

This article proves how "Paid news" exists in Indian media. cHindu exposes how a large media corporation was "paid" by a particular country to write a favorable editorial on it. Read and weep.

N.Ram ignores Nobel peace prize but readers upset

2010-12-12T14:06:00.001-08:00

While we are yet to hear from N.Ram on the Nobel Peace prize, there is a general outpouring in the letters condemning the West! The main complaint is that these awards are given to dissidents. To counter this trend, China has introduced the Confucius award this year. It will be given to party loyalists. It is a different matter that this year's winner did not bother to turn up at the ceremony. N.Ram must be a prime contender for next year's award.
The Hindu : Opinion / Letters to the Editor : Nobel Peace

The Dalai Lama was awarded the Nobel Peace for his “non-violent struggle for the liberation of Tibet,” which amounts to treason in China. Henry Kissinger got his Peace Nobel for his efforts to end the war in Vietnam which, in fact, was a classic case of making a virtue of necessity. The U.S. could have never won the war in Vietnam. China is justified when it says the Nobel Peace Prize has been reduced to serve as the human rights stick by a few western nations to meddle in other countries' internal affairs.

Descent of India into Oligarchy

2010-12-12T12:12:00.001-08:00

For all his failings in the 2G Radia scandal, Vir Sanghvi hit the nail on the head when he said:

how the public will not stand for resources being cornered, how we're creating a new list of oligarchs

India descends into Oligarchy
Let us look at all our media barons, mining giants etc. A small fraction of industrialists with the help of politicians, a blind eye from the judiciary and not tacit assistance from the media have cornered the nations resources and ergo its wealth for their own personal piggy banks.
What is the difference between India and Russia then?
Probably the fact that a small fraction of the population is enabled in India to work on the technology, banking and automobile sectors. But its much closer than we think.

cHindu continues on its anti-semetic tirade

2010-12-11T12:06:00.001-08:00

Of the themes continuously carpred by LiC and his minions one theme consistently stands out that is the tirade against anything Israel or Jewish. In that series, LiC rants against Israel's ability to manipulate the US to get aid and weapons but not give Palestine terrorists their state.

In consequence, the talks that began with three meetings between Mr. Netanyahu and the Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas in September are indefinitely stalled. The Palestinians are refusing to engage in further direct talks unless construction is halted; and Mr. Abbas is threatening to dissolve the Authority if an agreement for Palestinian statehood cannot be reached.Mr. Netanyahu will not be troubled by the stalemate or by criticism that he cannot control his Cabinet. That his Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, wants Israeli Arabs — about 20 per cent of Israel's population — compulsorily transferred to any future Palestinian state makes it easy for him to claim that his hands are tied.

The ridiculous nature of cHindu's rants are clearly exposed by reading any objective analysis of the situation which clearly puts equal blame on the Palestinian terrorist groups which pose as their voices which threaten a genocide that is tacitly supported by Iran (another cHindu favorite) who has been clearly exposed to be building nuclear weapons (wikileaks). But that's an angle cHindu will not touch. Hypocrites to the bone.

Deafening Silence on India's attendance at Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony

2010-12-09T17:37:00.000-08:00

While most of our criticisms of The Hindu are normally about items in the paper, sometimes it is worth commenting on something that does not find mention in it. I refer, of course, to the paper's deafening silence on the question of India's attendance of the Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony this year to dissident activist Liu Xiaobo in the face of China's call asking countries to boycott it. Several newspapers across the country have called upon the government to grow a spine, ignore the call and go ahead with its attendance. This publication which is usually at the forefront of providing unsolicited advice to the government in foreign affairs particularly where it concerns relations with the United States has been sitting it out editorially on this question. Even the op-ed columns have not mentioned anything about the matter. It is quite remarkable that a paper which regularly dishes out shrill rhetoric about the need for India to pursue an "independent" foreign policy and not back down before American pressure has chosen to stay quiet when the country is facing real pressure from a certain other powerful nation. No guesses why that might be so but I would still like to hear what the folks at the paper have to say.

Senile monkey Mu Ka blathers on Raja

2010-12-08T21:08:00.001-08:00

If there's any doubt about Mu Ka (CM of TN) senility, it was removed with his statement Action against Raja if charges are proved .

The DMK believes that he has not committed any mistake. We are not prepared to abandon him until the charges against him are proved

Guess he wants an iron clad written document viewed and notarized and video taped with proof of blood sample witnessed by 3 reputable people (none from AIADMK). Where's LiC to make a statement on this ridiculous BS from Mu Ka?

Vidya on Radia tapes

2010-12-08T13:51:00.001-08:00

Easily one of the best articles written by her, Vidya Subrahmaniam demonstrates that she has the ability. I am not going to pick any particular sentence to highlight. I strongly urge you to read the article in full.

And to Vidya and the brigade at chindu, I hope you realize that you are committing the grassroots media version of the same mistake.
The Hindu : Opinion / Leader Page Articles : The cosy world behind the tapes

Launching who the @#$% cares series

2010-12-08T13:36:00.001-08:00

Often cHindu is guilty of publishing obscure articles which add no value of news or importance to 99.999% of its readers (you might make a case that every editorial is, but thats a different argument).
So to start of with who the @#$% cares here's the first article -
Chinese research ship embarks on year-long global voyage
I'm looking for your suggestions and hope to make this a quasi-regular post series.

Chellaney names corruption as security threat no.1

2010-12-07T08:27:00.001-08:00

This is really a thought provoking article by Brahma Chellaney - Perils of becoming a republic of scandals

Corruption, No. 1 national security threat, is eating into the vitals of the state, enfeebling internal security and crimping foreign policy. India confronts several pressing national security threats. But only one of them — political corruption — poses an existential threat to the state, which in reality has degenerated into a republic of mega-scandals.

We will analyze and post our thoughts, in the meanwhile we will look to your thoughts on this.

Narayan Lakshman details links between Commies and Jihadists

2010-12-07T08:07:00.001-08:00

Interesting article on cHindu on "China blocked U.N. sanctions against terror group at Pakistan's behest" as released by Wikileaks.

Until the Mumbai terror attacks of November 2008, China, “at the behest of Pakistan,” blocked the United Nations Security Council from listing Jamaat-ud-Dawa, widely acknowledged as a front for the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, under the UNSC Resolution 1267. LeT has been held responsible for the Mumbai attacks.

The United States' frustration with China for impeding sanctions against JuD through the UN Committee on al-Qaeda- and Taliban-associated entities was made evident in a recent cable, classified as “Secret,” from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Thanks to Xinhua Ram for the note.

Wikileaks new site

2010-12-04T11:14:00.001-08:00

You might have already noticed that the original wikileaks site is not accessible. It has moved to a new location. The New Delhi Embassy dispatches are here. There are not many now but hopefully, soon we will have the 3000+ cables. If nothing else, we will good fodder for conspiracy theories. I doubt whether it will have any meaningful political impact. For example, it says here about Rahul:

Swiss magazine Schweizer Illustrierte [2] in 11 November 1991 revealed that Rahul was the beneficiary of accounts worth $2 billion dollars controlled by his mother Sonia Gandhi.^[38]^[39]
Harvard scholar Yevgenia Albats cited KGB correspondence about payments to Rajiv Gandhi and his family, which had been arranged by Viktor Chebrikov,^[40]^[41]^[42] which shows that KGB chief Viktor Chebrikov sought in writing an "authorization to make payments in US dollars to the family members of Rajiv Gandhi, namely Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Paola Maino, mother of Sonia Gandhi" from the CPSU in December 1985. Payments were authorized by a resolution, CPSU/CC/No 11228/3 dated 20/12/1985; and endorsed by the USSR Council of Ministers in Directive No 2633/Rs dated 20/12/1985. These payments had been coming since 1971, as payments received by Sonia Gandhi's family and "have been audited in CPSU/CC resolution No 11187/22 OP dated 10/12/1984.^[40] In 1992 the media confronted the Russian government with the Albats disclosure. The Russian government confirmed the veracity of the disclosure and defended it as necessary for "Soviet ideological interest."^[41]^[42]

Did it have any impact on the dynasty?

I read the below and wondered why Menon was discussing elections with Hoolbrooke.
Wikileaks Cable Viewer

Menon also offered that he did not believe the Mumbai attacks themselves would play a major role in India’s upcoming elections, because efforts to capitalize politically on such a heinous event would likely backfire on any political party.

Rajdeep cries lynch-mobs

2010-12-04T07:02:00.001-08:00

Rajdeep Sardesai seems to be unable to make up his mind on this issue. His loyalties force him to support Barkha and Sanghvi. He is trying the usual tricks by trying to deflect an introspection of journalism by pointing fingers at corporate corruption. He is also calling those not steadfastly standing behind Barkha and Sanghvi as lynch-mob.

I have often pointed out that the media has been beyond scrutiny. The result is visible in the corruption in media. They have set such high standards of corruption that the politicians and corporates are struggling to cope up. While politicians are forced to resign when accused in a scandal, there is no retribution for journalists. Did you see anyone being hanged for paid news? The story was quietly buried. Even with barkhagate, the stalwart journalists are trying to frame the question in terms of corporate corruption. If it were really about corporate corruption, I wonder how many breaking stories did we hear from these stalwart journalists on corporate corruption?
It is also funny to see Rajdeep Sardesai contradicting his own editorial policies on trial by media. He accepts that the he did not live by the dictum of innocent until proven guilty but now wants the whole world to follow this principle for these two.
The Hindu : National : Post-Radia, a fierce debate on media ethics

Mr. Sardesai also remarked that the response in the case of Ms. Dutt and Mr. Sanghvi had been lynch-mobbish, with their being judged guilty without any reference to their journalistic track records. “The fundamental principle of jurisprudence, that you are innocent until proven guilty, has been reversed here,” he said, adding there was an element of professional jealousy in the chorus of voices raised against them.

IBNLive : Rajdeep Sardesai's Blog : Rajdeep Sardesai: Trial by media stings journos

But they certainly do not justify the kind of lynch-mob outrage that has accompanied their disclosure.
In recent times, the media has lived by the dictum of guilty till proven innocent. Guess the concept of trial by media has now come back to sting the media itself!

You can watch Sardesai's speech here: Part 1 and 2. What brazenness to say that the focus should not be on media ethics and that Barkha has done no wrong. He also finds that the only corruption involved in the tapes is relating to BJP changing the speaker! Incorrigible.

Alternate history - Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer as President

2010-12-03T22:16:00.001-08:00

Hat tip to Sudhir for pointing this out.
In what is a nostalgic post about former President R.Venkatraman, Gopalkrishna Gandhi waxes eloquent on the noble qualities of the former President of India. One interesting plot twist was that V.R. Krishna Iyer (a fave writer who gets quoted on this blog) was nominated by the Communists against RV.

The Congress under Rajiv Gandhi nominated Vice-President Venkataraman as its candidate for the office being vacated by Giani Zail Singh. The Left fielded the esteemed Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer. “Iyer v/s Iyer,” the shallow wag commented.

In some alternate universe, its possible that VRK won that election, hell frozen over and Indian becoming a state of China (not that it might not happen in the future).
But its an interesting event none the less.

S.Rajendran a beneficiary in the land scam

2010-11-30T14:17:00.001-08:00

Two striking aspects in this article by S.Rajendran:
1. The focus of the article is not about BJP's involvement in some scam. The headline calling BJP scam-struck is sounding more like an attempt to bring it on
par with Congress, which is wading from one scam to another.
2. Right through the article, S.Rajendran is suggesting a sinister motive behind BJP's investigation into corruption in the past. Alas, the spotlight is finally on the journalists and the readers are suspecting the motivations behind such articles, especially when they are written to favour the dynasty's party.
Curiously enough, one S.Rajendran, a journalist, was a beneficiary under the G category. My guess is that the CM who allotted it under his discretionary quota is not Yeddyurappa.
The Hindu : Front Page : Scam-struck BJP takes it out on Deve Gowda

Scam-struck BJP takes it out on Deve Gowda
To strike at Mr. Gowda, the government has used the ruse that it has
preferred a CID investigation, based on a High Court directive to the
Chief Secretary in a public interest litigation petition.

Wikileaks Release: The Hindu Edits Out Key Parts of The Guardian's News Item

2010-11-28T20:50:00.000-08:00

Today's lead news item in The Hindu is a verbatim reproduction of The Guardian's front page news about the Wikileaks documents. However the most substantive and interesting elements of the The Guardian's item dealing with Afghan corruption, Chinese perfidy, the Putin/Berlusconi relationship and of Saudi donors bankrolling Al Qaeda have all been removed. Here are a few paragraphs mentioned in The Guardian's item not found in The Hindu version:

Suspicions of corruption in the Afghan government, with one cable alleging that vice-president Zia Massoud was carrying $52m in cash when he was stopped during a visit to the United Arab Emirates. Massoud denies taking money out of Afghanistan.
How the hacker attacks which forced Google to quit China in January were orchestrated by a senior member of the Politburo who typed his own name into the global version of the search engine and found articles criticizing him personally.
The extraordinarily close relationship between Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister, and Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister, which is causing intense US suspicion. Cables detail allegations of "lavish gifts", lucrative energy contracts and the use by Berlusconi of a "shadowy" Russian-speaking Italian go-between.

The Guardian's item reads "The cables name Saudi donors as the biggest financiers of terror groups...". The Hindu has changed that to read "The cables name countries involved in financing terror groups...". The reference to Washington's agreement with the government of Yemen to cover up the use of US aircraft to bomb Al Qaeda targets in that country has been omitted.

The omission of China and Saudi Arabia are easily explained but I am not sure about the rest.

Update: Thanks to Ananthkrishnan for clarifying on twitter that The Hindu has carried these facts (mentioned in the above post as being omitted) in its international news page. This is a link to that item taken from the New York Times.

Sidd V blasts corporate India - editorial on Radia scam

2010-11-28T19:38:00.001-08:00

This blog has not been kind on Sidd V and we don't plan on being so anytime soon. However we do tip our hat every time there is a hard hitting post on the cHindu and it is our hope that they become the norm than the exception. So when Sidd Varadarajan hammers corporate India's ability to spin yarns on the Indian population by buying ministerships,spectrums etc. that is exactly the hard hitting article we wanted cHindu to publish a week back when the issue was hot.

In one of the tapes, an unidentified interlocutor asks Ms Radia, whose clients include both Mr. Tata and Mukesh Ambani, why “you people [i.e. the Mukesh Ambani group] are supporting [Raja] like anything ... when the younger brother [Anil Ambani] is the biggest beneficiary of the so called spectrum allocation”. “Issue bahut complex hai,” Ms Radia replies. “Mere client Tatas bhi beneficiary rahein hain (my client, the Tatas, have also been a beneficiary).”
Apart from telecom, the tapes also provide valuable insight into the gas dispute between the two Ambani brothers. This was a dispute in which Mukesh Ambani made skillful use of the “gas is a national resource” argument with a pliant media even as he used his influence with individual MPs to try and orchestrate a massive tax concession for his company from the same national resource, Krishna-Godavari (KG) basin natural gas.

The entire article strikes hard at the nexus between the various parties and companies involved to keep key players involved (or in the case of Marans excluded) to ensure certain benefits were accrued.
The key gripe here on this article is that it does not focus on the DMK infighting and involvement in the entire affair given A. Raja was the other key focal point. Lets see if there's going to be some follow up in the near future.

Interesting interview with Hurriyats Geelani on Kashmir protests

2010-11-28T17:41:00.001-08:00

Check out an interesting interview by Nirupama Subramanian with Syed Geelani of the Kashmiri Hurriyat.
The key reason this is interesting more so from the aggressive questioning by Nirupama who does not really give way to the usual bluster shown by journalists when facing Geelani. His penchant for turning any interview into a propaganda session is quickly blunted by Nirupama to focus on the issues and puts him on the back foot. It is always difficult trying to interview a crazy zealot at his home, but Nirupama acquits herself and cHindu credibly with as incisive a session possible.
One does wish she couldv'e called out Geelani on the phony Kashmiriyat issue. But thats a topic for another discussion.

Rahul Gandhi compares Modi to Mao

2010-11-27T10:02:00.001-08:00

The charming prince compares Modi to Mao. This should automatically endear Modi to chindu, even though Rahul Gandhi called Mao "evil". But chindu just ignores it and, following in the tradition of sycophancy, gives the "cleanest" account of what transpired in Mr.Gandhi's meeting.
The Hindu : States / Other States : Rahul: Manmohan is ‘the cleanest man' in national politics

Asked about three “most honest and non-corrupt politicians” in the country, Mr. Gandhi after Mr. Singh named the Defence Minister, A.K. Antony, and the Union Home Minister, P. Chidambaram.
The media was not allowed to attend any of Mr. Gandhi's meetings with the youth and student leaders held in Ahmedabad followed by similar sessions in Rajkot and Vadodara

So, lets get the original, un-scrubbed version of how the meeting went:
Rahul Gandhi compares 'evil leader' Narendra Modi with Mao - India - DNA

“Many an evil leaders have done great developmental work.” He then went on to compare Modi with Chinese leader Mao Zedong.
The interaction turned stormy when Rahul made some sharp remarks on Modi
Some of the participants of the students’ meet who were uncomfortable with criticism of Modi by Rahul then confronted him with questions about how justified was his effort to bring democracy within the Congress party, when he himself has risen to power because of dynastic politics.
Perceiving the mood of the audience, local leaders wound up the session in a hurry.
Some students also complained that the organisers snatched away mikes from them. Rahul made a swift exit without entering into a debate with the students over Modi.
The 700 students had taken their seats well before 8:30 am, but Rahul arrived only around 11:00 am, ostensibly because of a delayed flight. He addressed the students for about 40 minutes.
Most of the students were looking forward to a long interaction session with the Congress’s youth icon, but only three students could ask him question.

If you are wondering why the media was blacked out of Rahul Gandhi's interactive sessions with the youth, watch this video to get an idea:

Rahul Gandhi - Interacts with students in Darbhanga

Setalvad caught in falsifying evidence 4 Gujarat riots

2010-11-25T08:46:00.001-08:00

Karma is often a bitch, you reap what you sow. Setalvad and her "secular" cronies along with the Indian MSM have been trumpeting about how minorities were being hunted down and killed during the Gujarat Godhra riots following the train carrying Hindu pilgrims was burnt down.
Slowly revelations from various sources have come out about how Setalvad had falsified evidence, coerced witnesses, created and fed stories to the media.
Now comes more news about how she hacked the email accounts of one of the witnesses and fed stories.

To find out who was responsible for “manipulating” the affidavits, Mr. Pathan had reportedly requested the commission to direct the cybercrime police to retrieve his e-mail ID which, he alleged, was hacked by Ms. Setalvad. He claimed that he used to receive the “fabricated affidavits” of various witnesses from Ms. Setalvad, of which he took copies and submitted before the courts and commission.

Not only did she hack the accounts but paid off witnesses,

Mr. Pathan also alleged that Ms. Setalvad was trying to manipulate witnesses through use of money. As in-charge of CJP operations in Ahmedabad since 2002, he had been responsible for disbursing funds received by the CJP from various agencies for the benefit of the riot victims. But, he claimed, Ms. Setalvad gave priority to the witnesses rather than to the victims in payments. According to his affidavit, Ms. Setalvad paid Rs. 50,000- Rs. 1 lakh per witness, while the victims were paid only Rs. 5,000 each.

Of course some credit to cHindu for covering the incident, but where's Sidd V now? He who was shouting from the rooftops about how minorities were targeted based on stories he heard from people like Setalvad. Where is the humble response that he might be wrong? I'm not going to wait for that to happen.
However interestingly, it appears that Setalvad might've been separated at birth from another pompous person in the film industry, choreographer/director Farah Khan.

How to spin Bihar results 101 by LiC

2010-11-24T17:39:00.001-08:00

This is for anyone who thinks LiC has integrity, though being a biased journalist.
How does anyone honorable tip their hat if the group they ideologically support has been beaten, thrashed beyond the point of recognition in an election?
That's not the approach cHindu and its "fearless" leader LiC take when Nitish Kumar lead NDA alliance swept the Bihar polls. The margins of victory in all regions of the state across all communities was a surprise to most pundits. LiC however presents a biased view painting Nitish Kumar as some sort of "secular" hero of the masses.

In the place of the casteist vote-bank politics of Lalu Prasad's Rashtriya Janata Dal, he offered the people a new vision, the hope of economic growth and sustained development. Chief Minister Kumar spent the last five years trying to steer towards development one of India's most socio-economically backward States. At the end of his first term, he could report success in building infrastructure facilities, investing in school education, boosting medical care in rural areas, and cracking down on crime. For the people of Bihar, who endured 15 years of stagnation and deterioration of law and order under Lalu-Rabri rule, this was a welcome change. Not surprisingly, the 2010 election saw renewed voter interest, and a surge in the participation of women voters. Mr. Kumar not only cut into the support base of his political rivals; he also seems to have won over sections of the hitherto politically indifferent.

Of course managing the victory without taking potshots at the BJP was irresistible.

But the BJP, with its deeply divisive agenda, could also have been a serious electoral handicap. Mr. Kumar shrewdly kept his distance from controversial BJP leaders without damaging the alliance.

Any responsible journalist would have kept the focus on responsible governance and the failings of Lalu and company. Or for that matter the "leadership" shown by Rahul Gandhi and the Congress who were nearly wiped out in the state. But LiC chooses to gloss over these facts. Its sad that someone so experienced chooses ideology over ethics time and again.

Rasheeda Bhagat of The Business Line exposes media hypocrisy

2010-11-23T08:00:00.001-08:00

During the whole #barkhagate or 2G scandal or Nira Radia imbroglio the Indian media has played it incredibly safe. Not wanting to move an inch against the key media members involved, most of the journalists perhaps held by some 'Omerta' or honor code or intimidation by higher powers have stone walled.
However in what is really a landmark initiative shown by vigilant citizens leveraging the power of social networking tools - Blogs, Tweets etc. have forced the media to cover this issue.
Props have to go to cHindu's Rasheeda Bhagat who writes for the the Business Line exposes the media hypocrisy in this article - Those living in glass houses….

Our TV channel debates are infamous for their high decibel levels and, on some channels, the anchors out-shout everybody else on the show. But all these channels, their anchors and expert commentators have gone into silent mode since the Radia tapes have aired in public the participation of some top-notch media personalities in animated conversations pertaining to the formation of the UPA-II government. The main hitch then, it may be recalled, pertained to the DMK demanding more than what the Congress was willing to offer. There were also issues pertaining to internal wrangles within the first family of the Dravidian party.

The entire article is written with a brutal honesty one looks for cHindu to provide. By giving more credit to Rasheeda here we would be praising someone for sticking up to their journalistic ethics which is wrong.
But it deserves to be recognized when her peers have chosen silence to exposing the truth.

cHindu-NDTV silence on barkhagate- Friends with benefits

2010-11-22T09:19:00.001-08:00

Hat tip to KVSarma for identifying this unholy alliance and appropriately coining the phrase FWB.
The rooted silence on the barkhagate scandal, stoic defense of A.Raja, denial of any existence of Nira Radia, all leads to one question why? Simple answer the cHindu NDTV alliance. Its akin to 'Honor among thieves'. NDTV is the media "Godfather" and has collected many chips and its collecting them by means of total blackout (barring few non-consequential discussions) into this issue. In all likelihood it will provide some information to the JPC or whatever committee and in return be promised some minor slap in the wrist (no impacts to Government advertising).

Alternative Theory by Pilid (Which I have shamelessly copied from the comments)

The alternative explanation for cHindu's silence is the involvement of senior DMK figures. Perhaps it is some of both. Also senior folks in The Hindu have themselves acted as "conduits of information"; in fact Malini Parthasarathy defended accused journos on twitter on this ground. So the sympathy is understandable not to mention accusations would have amounted to the pot calling the kettle black. Also, the censorship is not unusual for The Hindu; most other major media outlets have not carried the item either. So the explanation for silence may lie in their loyalty to the broader fraternity of powerbroker/journalists.