Communal mischief by Chindu

The clashes were started by Christists, who attacked an 83 year old Hindu leader, most probably on Congress' instigation. By Chindu's own admission, VHP was reacting to Christian aggression.
The Hindu : National : Houses torched in parts of Kandhamal

On Tuesday, a person was killed at Barakhama in a group clash after VHP activists resorted to violence at Brahmanigaon following an attack on senior leader Laxmanananda Saraswati at Dasingbadi.

The Hindu News Update Service

VHP leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati, who was injured in an attack in Kandhmal district, which led to large scale violence and arson in the district, on Tuesday night alleged that a senior Congress leader was behind the attack on him. Eighty-year-old Saraswati, who led an anti-conversion movement was shifted to the SCB Medical College Hospital at Cuttack from Darinigibadi government hospital, told reporters that a group of villagers launched an attack on him on Tuesday at the instruction of the Congress leader. "They attacked to eliminate me," he said adding this was for the seventh time that they failed to kill him.

More details on the attack are given by The Telegraph.
The Telegraph - Calcutta (Kolkata) | Nation | Seer defends Naveen govt

He was attacked near Dasingbadi, 5km from Daringbadi around noon on December 24 while he was on his way to Brahmanigaon in a Marshal jeep to perform a yagna. Five others, including an APR personnel provided by the government, were accompanying him. “It was only by gods grace that I survived,” said the swami. Naresh Kanhar (40), who managed to drive the jeep away from the spot said: “A bus was parked on the road in front of our jeep, blocking the way. A tree was cut to block our way back. They were more than 50 of them armed with axes and other weapons,” said the driver. Bhubaneswar Jani (24), the APR personnel provided by the government as a bodyguard to the Swami, admitted that the attack was “terrible”.

Look at what the BBC has to say on this. Hindus complain to the police about lack of protection from Christist attacks. The police fire at Hindus and kill three.

BBC NEWS | World | South Asia | Indian police shoot three dead

Police opened fire on a large crowd of Hindus after a village police station was set on fire. The crowd had been complaining about a lack of protection after Christians set fire to several Hindu homes.

Christians had retaliated after 19 churches were destroyed in violence that began on Christmas Eve.

Members of the hardline Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) said Christians sparked the violence by attacking one of their leaders, Swami Laxamananda Saraswati, on Monday.

Allright, now we have enough data to reconstruct the sequence of events.

Now Chindu resorts to it "secular" reporting, including some graphics. Interesting to know Chindu's official sources.
The Hindu : National : 3 killed in police firing as churches, more prayer houses attacked in Orissa

The mob comprising the Vishwa Hindu Parishad activists attacked the police station between 1 and 2 p.m. when the police tried to prevent them from attacking members of the local Christian community, official sources said.

And the usual secular space to John "2000" Dayal(2000 muslims killed in gujarat).
The Hindu : National : Kandhamal violence: Orissa Minister resigns

As many as eight persons were killed and 55 churches attacked in Kandhamal till Friday afternoon as hundreds of members of the community were hiding in forest to save their life from the attackers, they said. The victims included those who were killed in police firing, Mr. Dayal said.

Then the usual communist comments on communal conflagrations.
The Hindu : National : Parties seek deployment of Army in Kandhamal

When the government had failed to control the situation and curfew continued in four towns since Christmas day, the Army should have been called in, said Janardan Pati, secretary of the Orissa State Committee of the CPI(M).

Christists raise the persecution bogey.
The Hindu : National : PM assurance to church leaders

The delegation — led by Archbishop of Delhi Vincent Concessao — met the Prime Minister to apprise him of the situation in Orissa, where the Christian community and its institutions have been under attack since Christmas-eve.

And finally, Naxal "Christist" Ram, who is a Christist by injection(his first wife is a Christist), comes out with an editorial to top it up.
The Hindu : Opinion / Editorials : Tackling communal mischief in Orissa

By setting off a spiral of provocation and retaliation, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad is threatening to push Orissa through another spell of communal violence.

Notice how the Hindu version of the story barely finds a mention in Chindu's coverage of the event during its entire course.

Karan Thapar calls for Modi's assassination

How long before Chindu follows suit?

‘Modification’ of politics- Hindustan Times

Only the sudden removal of Narendra Modi can stop this. For he is the agent forcing this change.

offtopic: When will Sachin see the light

tendulkar, like the dynasty, is beyond censure. the bat takes the blame.
-------------------
WHILE it's true he has made over 11,000 Test runs and 37 centuries, it
has dawned on Extra Cover that Sachin Tendulkar's bat might be too big
for him. We wouldn't advocate the Little Master scaling back to the
yellow, plastic Milo number that's been working a treat in the
backyard of late, but we were taken by how, with every visit he has
made to our shores, Tendulkar's bat seems to have grown. So we
consulted the experts. "Tendulkar's bats weigh about 1.5 kilograms,"
said Stuart Kranzbuhler, who has been crafting willow for Gray-Nicolls
for 20 years. "The average Aussie guys use maybe 1.1 kilograms.

http://www.theage.com.au/text/articles/2007/12/29/1198778767986.html

Posted by Anonymous to The Chindu at December 29, 2007 10:48 PM

The dog that lacks the bite

Karat's threat to the center on the nuke deal was widely published by most newspapers on the front page. Chindu barely mentioned it. Whereas the below news is a Chindu "exclusive".

The Hindu : National : ‘BJP win will have no effect at Centre’

“The results in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh will have no fall-out on the Centre,” party General Secretary Prakash Karat told reporters here. The Congress-led Central government will complete its full five-year term, he said, adding the next Lok Sabha polls would be held on time in 2009.

Ram gives Harish a run for his money

Ram and Harish are falling over each other to please Madam Maino. So far, we all thought the Chief Congress sycophant at Kasthuri building was Harish Khare. But Ram begs to differ. To prove his point, he has come up with a typical - leftish (read stupid)- editorial that is sure to give Harish sleepless nights..

This gem towards the end of the editorial requires special attention:

Ms Gandhi’s commitment to secularism and social democracy and her political skills are not in question. After all, she put in place the 2004 winning combination

Let us explore this "commitment to secularism".

Gordhan Zadaphia, Home Minister during the 2002 riots is , according to the secular press, a communal, divisive, bigot. Guess what happened in 2007? Let me quote Chindu's super intelligent Vidya Subrahmaniam

In 2007, Mr. Zadaphia’s nominee and Congress candidate, Dhirubhai Dudhwala lost to the BJP

The Congress can give as many tickets to ex-BJP members and still remain a secular party and Chindu wouldn't even let us question the secular credentials of Madam Maino. Had the same members not deserted the BJP, they would not have qulaified for the secular certificate from the likes of Chindu.

This has been a legacy for the Congress and its coterie of pseudo seculars. The moment a person walks out of the saffron camp, he/she is secular. Take the case of the DMK. Having enjoyed power at the centre from 1999-2004 and having saved itself from Jayalalithaa's onslaught by running a parallel govt from New Delhi, it coolly walked out of the NDA days after cremating Murasoli Maran with State honours. The reason given, among the many given by its chief, was that it walked out in protest against the minority persecution in Gujarat in 2002. This would have made even the Left lunatics gasp for breath! It walked out in 2004 against something that "allegedly" (Chindu style) happened in 2002. Yet, the Congress and the Left would have no problems in accepting the DMK to its fold and endorsing its secular credentials. They formed the DPA in 2006 which included the The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) whose "secular" credentials need no elaboration. As a bonus you get several caste based outfits like the PMK. Yet this outfit sans the BJP is supremely secular. Never mind the fact that many of its constituents openly target the Brahmins in the State and shamelessly make overtures to certain other dominant political castes like the Thevars, Nadars and the Vanniyars making a mockery of the very concept of secularism.

According to Ram, despite these glaring inconsistencies, Sonia's secular credentials should not be questioned.

The other point that he raised in the Editorial was :

She(Sonia) put in place the 2004 winning combination.

To term the 2004 combination "a winning" combination is demagoguery at its worst. The post election combination cobbled together is nothing but a shameless marriage of convenience. The Left and the congress fought tooth and nail in Kerala , WB and the Left's pocket boroughs in the North East. In Kerala, the Congress drew a blank. How can the Left, which ensured Congress's defeat in all 20 seats in Kerala by campaigning against the Congress's policies, join hands with the very same party at the centre? Is this not a fraud on the people of Kerala? Worse, the very CPIM that cut the Congress's throat in Kerala, were (and still are) allies in neighbouring Tamil Nadu.

Not content with this , Chindu gives this opportunistic association an extra gloss by terming this 'a winning combination' .


http://www.indian-elections.com/resultsupdate/
http://specials.rediff.com/election/poll04results.htm

The seat matrix after the 2004 Elections was :

BJP+ 185
INC+ 220
Others 137

The Congress was a full 52 seats short of majority and Ram still has the guts to call this a 'winning' combination.

What makes this claim even more laughable is attributing this "victory" to Madam Maino's "helmswomanship".

Under Madam Maino, the Congress won 145 seats against the BJP's 138 - a mere 7 seats more. Yet, the media went into a frenzy hailing the coming of age of Madam Maino.

http://www.eci.gov.in/StatisticalReports/LS_1996/Vol_I_LS_96.pdf

In 1996, the Congress fought the elections under a gentleman called Sitaram Kesari. As with other non-Gandhi Congress Presidents, he has been erased from public memory. Under Kesari, the Congress won 28.8% of the votes and 140 seats. The party leaders were furious and unceremoniously threw him out blaming his "leadership failure" for the debacle.

In 2004, the Congress won 26.21% of the votes (in 1999, it won 28.3% of the votes) which translated to 145 seats. There has been a systematic erosion in the vote base of the Congress and only the blind and the biased will not see it. By winning a mere 5 seats more than Sitam Kesari, Madam Maino has proved her leadership and galvanized the party cadres and given a fresh lease of life to the secular fabric of India!!!! I never knew there was such an easy way to prove one's leadership abilities!

With 2 lines, Ram has seeks to cover up a collossal failure and paint it as a victory. To term this cheap would be an understatement.

N.Ram prays for Congress victory

The Hindu : Opinion / Editorials : BJP rising

Just where did the Congress go wrong? Punjab and Himachal Pradesh have a history of rejecting incumbent regimes. But in Gujarat, even this fig leaf was not available to a party whose only selling point was the Gandhi family charisma. Sonia Gandhi and son Rahul drew big crowds in Gujarat. Nevertheless, the party lost all seven Assembly seats in the Surat Lok Sabha constituency. In the aftermath of the Gujarat debacle, it held its customary introspection session only to absolve mother and son of all blame. A similar ritual can be expected to follow the Himachal rout. Ms Gandhi’s commitment to secularism and social democracy and her political skills are not in question. After all, she put in place the 2004 winning combination. Yet to regain lost ground, the Congress needs far more than Ms Gandhi’s helmswomanship.

He completely absolves Madam, just like the congress sycophancy
brigade. And he gives lame excuses like anti-incumbency. Then praises
Gandhi for ... everything. Now, chindu can call itself a balanced
newspaper.

It needs a reformed party organisation, a new unity of purpose, and, above all, a fighting secular spirit that distinguishes it from the BJP and a socio-economic programme that is responsive to mass deprivation and livelihood issues.

Naxal "boot-licker" Ram blames the party organisation for congress debacle. He is asking congress to emulate his newspaper's secular terrorism. Livelihood issues - farmers' suicides in Maharashtra, Andhra you mean?

The party leading the Central government will count on doing well in
2008 by tapping into anti-incumbency sentiment in Madhya Pradesh,
Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh. It may also hope to do well in Karnataka.

Naxal "sycophancy" Ram is literally pleading congress to win. This is not editorial slant but journalistic prostitution.

Karat's article in PD reproduced in Chindu

surely, this will not be the last time.

The Hindu : National : Uncompromising struggle against Hindutva forces needed: Karat

Mr. Karat said in an article in the latest issue of the party organ People’s Democracy.

Mr. Karat said the Congress harped on all other problems except the central one — the danger posed by the Hindutva platform.

Its official: Chindu is a Marxist mouthpiece

If at all anyone needed proof that Chindu is a propaganda vehicle for the Marxists, here it is:

Responding to the Gujarat elections, the CPI(M) said:

Narendra Modi cannot be defeated electorally. He must be defeated ideologically.

The CPM has told us Narendra Modi cannot be defeated electorally. In India and abroad, the Left has never been enamoured of democracy and elections. That perhaps explains why CPM leaders, not even elected through Rajya Sabha, presume they have a right to determine what is right for the entire country. We have also been told Modi must be defeated ideologically.

http://in.news.yahoo.com/071226/48/6ovs0.html


Chindu editorial says:

...and ‘doers’ like Mr. Modi must be fought ideologically, in a principled and
sustained manner, before they can be taken on electorally.

Any further proof needed?

Other Papers's views on Modi's win

Hindustan Times:

At the end of the day, the sweetest revenge for Modi came from several predominantly Muslim areas where the BJP won. Gujarat’s 45 lakh Muslims form over 9 per cent of the state’s population

In criticising Modi, his critics have long painted Gujarat’s Muslims as little more than second-class citizens, although the community has a literacy rate of 73 per cent — higher than the national average for all communities, and fares better than the national average for all religions on several counts including sex ratio and work participation.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/FullcoverageStoryPage.aspx?id=476631e0-235e-4f5f-b55b-4a9a7a0f34cdGujaratVotes_Special&&Headline=Assembly+polls%3a+Narendra+Modi+is+king+of+Gujarat

Economic Times:

The election is a major setback for the Congress, which led itself to believe that mere condemnation of Mr Modi as someone fronting for the saffron cabal would deliver Gujarat to a Sonia Gandhi nominee. The Congress' seething rhetoric against Mr Modi during the campaign clearly didn't find many takers. The hyperbole, usually associated with the Left, was used to paint Mr Modi as a violator of human rights. The election results showed that this campaign strategy, besides earning the party praise from similar minded quarters, did precious little for the Congress's fortunes.

Mr Modi virtually repeated his party's last assembly election's performance by ensuring the victory of 117 MLAs in the 182-member House. The outcome showed his grip over rural as well as urban pockets of the state. Barring a minor setback in central Gujarat, the BJP posted impressive victories all across the state, including the Leuva Patel-dominated Saurashtra and tribal South Gujarat.

Defying anti-incumbency factor, rebellion within the BJP ranks and a high decibel campaign against him by his rivals — they fought the election on a "Modi as the murderer" template — the chief minister demonstrated that good governance coupled with charisma is a potent mix. While the Congress did not even nominate a chief ministerial candidate, not to speak of a charismatic rival, Mr Modi was virtually the BJP's candidate in all 182 seats of the state.

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Daily/skins/ET/navigator.asp?Daily=ETCH&login=default&AW=1198731079250

Chindu calls this demagogic:Place An election rally in rural Gujarat.Scene: Chief minister Narendra Modi asks, “Who brought electricity to your homes?”; “Who ensured water supply for your fields?”; “Who brought the motorable road to your doorstep?” The crowds go into a frenzy responding — “Narendrabhai,” “Narendrabhai.” Above the din, Mr Modi says, “So vote for me.”

Among his other dialogues that usually had the crowd in splits was the one about Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Responding to Mr Singh’s observation at an election rally that those who were not with Mr Modi had to live “Bhagwan bharose” (left at the mercy of god), Mr Modi replied thumpingly that it was true that Gujaratis lived “Bhagwan bharose” as there had been seven years of good rains in the state. “Dr Manmmohan Singh aap bhi Bhagwan bharose raho/ Sonia ben bharose nahin/ aapka bhi bhala hoga (be at the mercy of God and not of Sonia Gandhi/ you too will prosper),” Mr Modi would joke.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2646226.cms

Congressmen and women, over the next few days, will keenly discuss the question of who is to be blamed for the Gujarat defeat. But even as they prepare to point fingers this way and that, there is one direction that has already been insulated from criticism — 10 Janpath.

Despite being the principal campaigner for the party, Congress president Sonia Gandhi will not figure in the list of those who bungled the campaign. But there is nothing new about this. In the Congress, ‘Madam’ takes the credit for the party’s electoral victories but is kept beyond the pale of defeat even if she has not been able to deliver.

Only this time, the story is not that simple as the contest was billed as Modi vs Sonia show. In the absence of the Congress having a tall enough Gujarat leader to take on Narendra Modi, the Congress president had to take on the mantle of the principal opponent. And Ms Gandhi took her job seriously. She addressed 10 rallies (13 if her son and party general secretary Rahul Gandhi’s meeting are also added) which were all dubbed as the “massive” and seen as “turning points” in the Congress campaign until the results were out. This is the highest number of rallies she has addressed for any state in recent times other than Uttar Pradesh, which is considered home turf of the Nehru-Gandhi family.

So, even as party leaders look set to take the blame on themselves, the explanation might not wash as it was the Congress that raised the stakes of this election by pitting its top leadership against Mr Modi. Along with Ms Gandhi even PM addressed rallies attacking Mr Modi directly

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2647135.cms

Ram's Predicament

One must pity Ram's plight. The day after the Gujarat results, he must come out with an editorial. But to his horror, the BJP almost repeated its 2002 performance. Being a "champion of secularism" , he cannot praise the BJP. The Congress deserves praise and commiseration - not criticism. The left is a non-entity in Gujarat and no credit can be given. So he goes about whining like a school boy . Interestingly, there is just one mention of Sonia Gandhi. The ink in Khare's and Ram's pen would have run dry writing "Sonia Gandi" had the Congress won. All credit would have gone to her.

Some spirited campaign remarks aimed at ‘merchants of fear and death’by Congress
president Sonia Gandhi and at Hindutva extremism and communal politics by
Digvijay Singh, which ironically attracted the displeasure of the Election
Commission of India

I have read in my science chapters that nuclear reactors are surrounded my an impregnable lead wall to insulate the surrounding from harmful radiation. I wonder whether Ram did journalism or Nuclear Engineering at Columbia. He and his paper have be amazingly competent in insulating Madam S from any responsibility for this defeat.

After doing his best to discredit Modi and the BJP , he lets Harish and his pet readers like T Marx vent their ire on the BJP.

Gujarat verdict
The Gujarat verdict is a setback to the values of pluralism, secularism, multiculturalism and democracy. The BJP won the elections by dividing the Gujarat electorate on communal lines. Narendra Modi ran a sectarian, foul and demagogic campaign, which implicitly justified the cold-blooded murder of Sohrabuddin Shaikh in a fake encounter. He has emerged as the mascot of a muscular, hard-line version of Hindu nationalism.
T. Marx,
Karaikal

http://www.hindu.com/2007/12/24/stories/2007122455501001.htm

This is Harish's loudest grunt in a long while. But he uses this opportunity to prove that he is firmly behind Madam Maino in this hour of crisis.

The inconvenient truth

It appears that the powers that be at Kasturi Building are blind as a bat. Chindu is excelent at reporting development. Comrade Pallavi does a heckuvva job - to borrow Bush's words-eulogizing China's spectacular rise.But when development happens in Gujarat, it deserves the kind of treatment reserved for Nandigram - brush it under the carpet.

Thankfully, Chindu isn't the only source of information for readers. This Indian Express article traces Gujarat's development.

Investment proposals, conversion of investment proposals, SEZ policy, petroleum
and natural gas, turnaround of PSUs like Gujarat State Fertilizer Company and
Gujarat Alkalies and Chemicals and even figures on registered unemployed (an
imperfect indicator though) tell the same good governance story and there has
been no whiff of corruption at the CM-level

Gujarat's agricultural output has increased. Courtesy Narmada, so has irrigated
area. The soil health card system helped disseminate information about crop
patterns and fertiliser usage. Despite warts and delivery falling short of
promises, the Jyotirgram scheme has improved power supply in villages

Ignorance is bliss. Chindu would like to remain blissfully ignorant of ground realities in Gujarat for the simple reason that they are inconvenient and are incompatible with its perverted mindset of open hatred against anything to do with the BJP.

Just one question: Is this balanced reporting?

Selections from some of the articles written by N.Ram, Harish Khare and Vidya S on Modi and Gujarat elections.

24th Dec : The Hindu : Opinion / Editorials : Modi’s triumph, Congress debacle : N.Ram

Chief Minister Narendra Modi, way and ahead India’s most controversial and divisive political figure.
It had no answer to the Modi campaign, which did launch itself with a
focus on ‘development and governance’ but quickly transited to shrill
and shriller communalism, the culmination of which would be a
demagogic, if implicit, defence of the police killing of Sohrabuddin
Sheikh
Some spirited campaign remarks aimed at ‘merchants of fear and death’
by Congress president Sonia Gandhi and at Hindutva extremism and
communal politics by Digvijay Singh, which ironically attracted the
displeasure of the Election Commission of India, ...
Damagingly for the secular image of the Congress, and, as it turned
out, for the credibility of its electoral politics, discredited
elements of the Sangh parivar that had fallen out with Mr. Modi were
allowed to join its campaign.
... formidable campaigners and ‘doers’ like Mr. Modi must be fought
ideologically, in a principled and sustained manner, before they can be
taken on electorally.

24th Dec: The Hindu : Opinion / News Analysis : The road beyond the Gujarat victory : Khare

Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s “maut ke saudagar” (merchants of death) metaphor was intended to offer the Gujarat electorate a clear cut choice between an uncompromising secular vision and an equally unsentimental divisive Hindu vote-bank strategy. Mr. Modi’s victory only shows that the message did not register with the Gujarat voters who obviously remain frozen in the 2002 memories. Mr. Modi managed to successfully list the Gujaratis’ empathy in his manufactured standoff between “Gujarat” and the outsiders. However, the Sunday win does not necessarily endow any kind of ideological legitimacy to Mr. Modi’s voice nor does it provide a licence to communal forces or even political respectability to his message outside of Gujarat.

23rd Dec: The Hindu : Opinion / News Analysis : Waiting for the Gujarat verdict : Vidya

Predictably, the means were more foul than fair, with him transiting from development to shrill and shriller sectarianism, scaling the peak with the Sohrabuddin speech
An army of ferocious supporters and the Modi masks they wore. The picture they produced was scary and intendedly so
Ms Gandhi had labelled all Gujaratis “merchants of death,” he
thundered, just as Digvijay Singh earlier had likened all Gujaratis to
terrorists. (The Congress general secretary had called the perpetrators
of the 2002 anti-Muslim pogrom terrorists).
The men in uniform would underestimate Mr. Modi’s rallies and
overestimate Ms Gandhi’s rallies. At one of Ms Gandhi’s rallies in
north Gujarat, two eager policemen had lifted me on to a chair to show
the “two lakh” crowd. At Mr. Modi’s meeting in Umreth in central
Gujarat, policemen emphasised that only 3,000 people had turned up to
hear the Chief Minister as against a ground capacity of one lakh. At a
market place in Anand, I found two policemen on a motorbike, returning
from another of Mr. Modi’s rallies. “Kitna bheed? (how many people?)” I
asked. They whizzed past me shouting “zero,” making a circle with the
thumb and the forefinger to underscore the point. (One among these men
would later phone me and tell me not to believe the exit polls, saying,
“Hitler and Goebbels are losing.”)

In the same league as the embittered policemen were teachers and the
lower Gujarat bureaucracy, all of whom complained of harassment by Mr.
Modi.
... together with the frustration evident in the saffron camp and the Modi
administration, pointed to the possibility of a BJP defeat.
Suffice it to say that if the Congress cannot win this election, it
will forfeit its right to fight another election in Gujarat. There will
never again be circumstances as favourable to the party as in 2007 —
with arithmetic on its side and help coming from least expected
quarters.
It requires no wisdom to see just what such a victory will do to the cult of Modi.

15th Dec: The Hindu : Opinion / News Analysis : Modi versus the rest in Gujarat : Vidya

Gujarat election 2007 is tailor-made for the Congress.
The Congress had arithmetic and Sonia Gandhi on its side. The BJP
seemed under siege, with the party structure, the larger sangh family,
and the State machinery all in an adversarial relationship with
Narendra Modi. There was also a veritable army of rebels against the
man.
As if this were not enough, lately Narendrabhai had also whipped up a
frenzy on the campaign trail, making it difficult to tell which element
would win: The Congress’ arithmetic advantage or Mr. Modi’s incitement
to revenge.
The caste equation favours it. Indeed, should a section of Leuva Patels
vote Congress, the party will have pulled off a KHAM (Kshtriya,
Harijan, Adivasi, Muslim)–Patel combination, unseen in the history of
Gujarat. Sections of the RSS and the VHP are indirectly supporting it.
The police seem to be with the Congress and against the BJP. As many as
50 BJP rebels are in the fray, many of them strong in their
constituencies. Teachers are angry, bureaucrats are unhappy. It just
cannot get any better for the Grand Old Party.

14th Dec: The Hindu : Opinion / Leader Page Articles : An ideological family in ferment : Vidya

Mr. Modi took Mr. Advani’s metaphorical rath to its inevitable, logical destination — to Gujarat and to the anti-Muslim pogrom of 2002. The conflagration brought Mr. Modi unprecedented popularity in Gujarat even as it damaged him nationally and internationally.
The Sangh parachuted him into Ahmedabad knowing his taste for
communal politics. Today, he has grown into a Frankenstein’s Monster
that it cannot control.
The Gujarat Chief Minister has his own agenda — be it marketing
himself as the development man to win national and international
approval or reverting to virulent Hindutva for the purpose of winning
this election. He has tasted power and adulation and he will not do as
told.

11th Dec: The Hindu : Opinion / News Analysis : BJP’s fundamentals have become loose : Khare

The 2007 Gujarat election is witnessing a very different standoff.The sangh parivar stands divided and the Congress is giving signsof having recovered some of its verve.
Never before in the history of Gujarat has the BJP faced the election
with so open and so bitter a split within the sangh parivar as in 2007.
More than the split within the sangh parivar, it is the alienation of the Patel community that will impact the 2007 battle.
More than the Patels it is the division in the ranks of the Kolis,
another powerful community, that would work to the BJP’s disadvantage
for the first time in more than two decades.
First, the BJP this time will be hard-pressed to use its time-tested rigging techniques.
Secondly, compared to the 2002 vote this time the minorities’ vote will be crucial.
Unless there is a ‘big incident,’ it could be touch and go.

10th Dec : The Hindu : Opinion / Editorials : Will communalism work again? : N.Ram

After promising to seek re-election on a development platform, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is back to doing what he is best at — stoking up communal sentiments as a political mobilisation strategy.
Election analysts are suggesting not merely that the Gujarat contest
has tightened but that the popular mood has turned against the BJP
because, among other things, Mr. Modi’s attempt to shut out ‘normal
issues’ and make the Hindu-Muslim divide the dominant, if not the sole,
election issue has failed. What the Gujarat strongman is seeking to do
is to convert the ECI’s show cause notice to him into communal capital.

8th Dec: The Hindu : Opinion / News Analysis : Behind the sparkle in Gujarat : Vidya

For all its outward swagger, the Modi campaign is really quite nervous, as is evident from the desperate resort to communalism.
the Congress has arithmetic on its side.
But one thing is certain. Tribals and Dalits are done with the BJP. In
a State where tribals account for 14.8 per cent and Dalits another
seven per cent, the significance of this hardly needs stressing. In
addition, the Congress can count on the support of a section of the
Kolis, estimated at 22 per cent, and Leuva Patels, the largest
sub-group of the roughly 16-18 per cent upper caste Patel community.

7th Dec : The Hindu : Opinion / News Analysis : A tale of two rallies : Vidya

Narendra Modi is a brilliant orator with an adoring fan following. But it is Sonia Gandhi who is drawing the big crowds, not to mention the appreciation of the police in Gujarat.
In the audience were Adivasis and Dalits who had voted for the BJP in
2002 but who now seemed to want to return to the party they had
deserted, impelled by the communal frenzy of the Godhra aftermath.
Also consider this: policemen on bandobast duty at Mr. Modi’s meeting in Mahua spoke about parivartan
(change). They estimated the crowd strength at 6,000 when it was about
10,000. At Ms. Gandhi’s Idar rally, policemen lifted me off my feet to
show me the mammoth turnout. I disputed their contention that the crowd
size was over two lakh. My estimate was 70,000. To prove that I was
wrong and they were right, they lifted me on to a chair: “Ben, dekho
(sister, see for yourself).” Did the crowds mean anything, I asked.
“Yes, parivartan,” one of the cops whispered conspiratorially.

6th Dec : The Hindu : Opinion / News Analysis : Stake-holders and their opportunities : Khare

The 2007 vote represents an opportunity for various sections of Gujarat to break free of Narendra Modi’s psychological blackmail.
Because the electorate anointed Mr. Modi the victor, he got to write
the history of the 2002 mayhem. In that narrative, Muslims deserved
what they got. He has managed to keep Hindus frozen in that moment of
triumphalism, complicity, non-remorse, and non-reconciliation. Now,
2007 presents an opportunity for Hindus to break out of this five-year
long psychological blackmail.

Ironically, it is the BJP that should be looking creatively at using
the 2007 election as an opportunity to exorcise what is fast becoming
the Modi albatross.
Mr. Modi has become the Sanjay Gandhi of the BJP, relying on a clever
mix of intimidation, coercion and individualism to manufacture a
constituency for himself, over and above the party and its national
leadership.
He has made others hostage to his
brand of ugly politics.
The economy remains 99 per cent outside the reach of the Muslim
consumer, and there is very little that the alienated Muslims can do to
them.
All industrial tycoons who pretend in private to have been humiliated now have an opportunity to rectify the state of affairs.
Mr. Modi can thrive only on a state of permanent hostility between Hindus and Muslims
Five more years of Mr. Modi can only perpetuate this state of instigated civil war.

Insult to voters; insult to readers

After being badly stung by readers' views on Chindu's Nandigram coverage, the censorship on the letters has reduced a wee bit. "Analysts" attributing Modi's victory to wrong reasons is clearly an insult to voters just as Chindu publishing hate-filled election analysis is an insult to its readers.

The Hindu : Opinion / Letters to the Editor : Insult to voters

I am surprised by some people arguing that only the last few weeks of incisive campaigning by Narendra Modi helped him win! It is true the campaign helped him swing undecided voters in his favour, but to win such a huge majority without showing actual results is not possible. Also, it is insulting to the voters when it is said that they chose the wrong person for the post. Mr. Modi’s style of working is actually producing results — there is development, there is very less corruption, and more importantly there is safety in the State.

- S. Sudhir Kumar, Hyderabad

* * *

Mr. Modi mainly focussed on development and won. Gujarat’s Muslims displayed signs of attitudinal changes. They not only participated in the elections fearlessly, but also voted for BJP candidates. Gujarat is a model State today because of the fantastic all-round economic development.

- Mumtaz Ali Khan, Bangalore

* * *

The BJP’s great performance can be largely credited to Mr. Modi. Now, it is important to put Godhra behind us. Also, to say that the elections have been won on communal lines is an insult to the Gujarat electorate.

- Aneesh Bhandari, Jaipur

Vidhya, Ram and Harish blacken their face yet again

The Chindu camp must be horrified at the Gujarat verdict. After breathlessly rambling about the sad state of the BJP, it must have expected a close fight at least. It must be petrified to see a repeat of 2002 , much to its chagrin. Chindu gives a generous dose of advise to everyone - from the governor to the Prime Minister. How about giving it a taste of its own medicine?

1. Keep your eyes open when reporting. Don't pay your "Special Correspondents" and "Election Experts" depending on how low they stoop in slandering a particular party.
2. Stop reckless reporting. Even if 1% of what you had predicted for months together had come true, the congress could have come close to the 90 seat mark.You misled your readers for months together and conjured up an image of massive anti-incumbency. Do you still have the locus-standi to talk about objectivity,balance and fairness?
3.You talk strongly about politics of hate. But you adopt journalism of hate . Your reporters spewed venom while covering the Gujarat elections.A rabid anti-BJP approach cannot be passed off as secularism.
4. You cannot sit in your ivory tower and make predictions about ground realities in Gujarat. Either you were lying or were incompetent in gauging the public mood- either of which is a shame.You had predicted that Modi magic wont work in the rural areas. On the contrary, the BJP won close to 80 seats out of the 125 rural seats. Don't led your ideology blind you.
5. Be graceful in conceding defeat. Accept that Modi has the mandate of the people. To borrow your words "a constitutionally elected government" deserves its due. Don't be a sad loser by harping on "polarisation", "hate-campaign","electoral malpractice" , etc. If BJPs 127 in 2002 was because of communal polarisation, how would you explain this repeat?
6. Don't make any effort to insulate Sonia Gandhi from this debacle. Had the Congress won , all credit would have gone to Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and even to her children . Why should she be spared the brickbats when she leads a party to defeat?
7. Stop making ridiculous inferences. Had Congress won, Harish Khare would have devoted a page to celebrate the resurgence of the Congress in Gandhi's land. He would have said that the BJP's brand of politics has been rejected by the people and that they have reposed complete faith in Sonia's secular credentials. As a tail piece, he might have also added that this BJP defeat proves that Sonia's foreign origin is a non-issue. But, now that the Congress has lost, no chance for that. You can expect scandalous opinion pieces targeting Modi.
8. Don't indulge in scare mongering like Modi is large than life, he is a threat to Advani, he is PM hopeful and his win has rattled some BJP leaders etc etc.

The reaction of the media has been disappointing. Vinodh Mehta says on Times Now that Rajnath Singh looked very 'sad' when he held the press conference announcing the BJP victory. He saw some tension in the BJP right away. He was also wondering what was the hurry to hold a press conference before Modi? I don't think the BJP would even bother responding to such silly statements.Some even senselessly suggest that Modi won, but the BJP lost. Even the commies can't be so stupid. Some ponder why Modi was at the forefront of the campaign. I wonder how is that any of the media's business? It's a state election and the CM is the face of the party. It happens everywhere. Did anyone dare ask the DMK why so much prominence was given to Karunanidhi/Stalin when the DMK won the state elections?Did the DMK stand discredited because it was a personality contest. And for God's sake, its the prerogative of the BJP campaign managers to give importance to whoever they like. The media has no business questioning that.

There is a message in general for the English Language Media. They must realize that they are not omnipotent. They can shape public opinion, but can not manufacture it. If they don't realize this, they will end up with egg on their face. Ask Ram & Co how embarrassing that is.

PS: I don't think Chindu would learn any lessons from this debacle. I am expecting a scathing editorial and a senseless post election analysis.

More archeological finds in the Marxist Valley

for your reading pleasure

---------------------

More and more archeological finds in the Marxist Valley. The
inhabitants are not only technically advanced, capable of making their
own bombs, but also getting killed in that process:
indianexpress.com :: CRPF finds eight more graves near Nandigram

The CRPF on Thursday found eight graves in the CPI(M) stronghold of Khejuri adjacent to Nandigram, three of which might contain human remains. CRPF sources said the three graves found at Mansinghber on Thursday evening could be of women as torn pieces of saree and bits of bangles and a necklace were found from there. Five empty graves were located at Sherkhan Chowk. A 25-member CRPF team have cordoned off the graves. Earlier, the CRPF had found five graves in a field bordering a nullah on December 18 at Sherkhan Chowk, the sources said. A PTI correspondent, who went to the spot on Thursday, saw burnt wood and portions of bicycle tyres lying around the shallow graves. Local people alleged five bodies of CPI(M) supporters killed while making bombs at a house there on October 28 were burnt at the spot and buried for a night before being taken away. Anup Patra and Sukdeb Patra, both CPI(M) supporters and residents of the village, claimed 19 Marxist supporters had been killed while making bombs at the house on October 28. The bodies were taken away in two vehicles by Marxist supporters, he added. One of the vehicles, with five bodies, offloaded them at the field where they were doused with kerosene and cremated, Anup said. That same night, the bodies were dug up and taken away, he said.

However, Chindu is modest in its reporting:

The Hindu News Update Service

A CRPF assistant commandant on Friday visited five empty graves found near Nandigram and posted some personnel there for interrogating local people.

Assistant Commandant Arindam Mukhopadhyay, chief of CRPF's Gokul Nagar camp, visited the graves at Sherkhanchowk in the CPI(M) stronghold of Khejuri adjacent to Nandigram.

The CRPF has set up four camps in Nandigram.

Demolition of Hindu temples in Islamic Malaysia is secular

Even America has taken note of it as religious oppression. But not the "super-secular" Chindu. Below is a clear demonstration of Chindu's religious bigotry against the Hindus.

The Hindu : Opinion / Editorials : A step forward in Malaysia

Chindu thunders:

The stance of the Hindraf leaders has been provocative in nature. Certainly the charge of “ethnic cleansing” has no relation to the situation in Malaysia. By seeking to organise Malaysian Indians under a Hindu identity, Hindraf is doing them a great disservice. Malaysia is, self-admittedly, a non-secular state. While the demolition of Hindu temples is a live issue in Islamic Malaysia, to present it and other grievances in communal colours is sheer folly.

There have been instances (in fact, court cases) of dead Hindu Malaysians, declared as having converted to Islam just before death and buried as Muslims! If it is not "ethnic cleansing", at least it is "ethnic manipulation" and Chindu finds it convenient to ignore such incidents.

Of course, Chindu has to reluctantly admit to the demolition of temples in the "non-secular" (a rather nice euphemism) state of Malaysia. Since Chindu is wearing special secular glasses it is used to seeing everything Hindu in dark, communal colours and so, it is in Chindu's habit to blame Hindus even if they meekly try to organise themselves.

Besides, there are several "Indian Muslim" and "Indian Christian" organisations in the US. Chindu never bothered to chastise these folks as "communally minded". On the contrary, they get prominent coverage in Chindu (during seasonal attacks on BJP, RSS, VHP, Narendra Modi etc.).


Posted by Anonymous to The Chindu at December 19, 2007 11:26 PM

Why is there left-wing extremism in leftist paradise?

This is the supposed to be the state which has implemented pro-poor policies in the traditional leftist model. And the left has been in power for over 30 years now. Why then do we have leftist extremism in West Bengal? And whom are these terrorists fighting for when there are no poor people.

The Hindu : Front Page : Chief Ministers call for strengthening intelligence

West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said the State Government had sanctioned recruitment of 4,000 constables.

He said a major security threat faced by West Bengal was left wing extremism in the districts of Purulia, Paschim Medinipur and Bankura. The three border districts were the worst affected by Maoist activities.

Compared to other states, West Bengal had witnessed less violent activity from the left wing extremist (LWE) groups. However, a front organisation of the LWE activists named the Gana Pratirodh Manch had carried out propaganda against the acquisition of land at Singur and a new area of Maoist activity was discovered recently in and around Nandigram.

Highlights of Marxist Valley Civilization

the paradise called the marxist valley civilization.

---------------------------------

Women in Marxist valley civilization:

"CPM leaders raped mother and daughters in Nandigram: CBI"
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/CPM-leaders-raped-mother-and-daughters-in-Nandigram-CBI/252087/

---------------------------------

Human rights in Marxist valley civilization:

CPM cadres joined cops to fire, now beating up witnesses: CBI
CPM cadres stepped into khaki and joined police as they fired on
protestors in Nandigram.
http://www.indianexpress.com/story/251917.html

Communist lies by repeated assertion

Communists probably think the whole world reads only Chindu.

The Hindu : National : Yechury takes a dig at Advani on Nandigram

The violence that followed in Nandigram was due to them(maoists) for which the BJP was criticising the CPI(M), he added. Mr. Yechury said 36 CPI(M) cadres were killed in the violence .

Alleged report

The title says it - a report "allegedly" filled with allegations.

The Hindu : Front Page : Maoist prisoners protest death of inmate

Over 350 Maoists lodged in the high-security Beur jail here went on the rampage on Tuesday and clashed with securitymen and other inmates, demanding stern action against the jail authorities after a fellow prisoner allegedly committed suicide in the jail hospital.

Enraged at the incident, the naxalites, belonging to the CPI
(Maoist), demanded action against the jail authorities, including jail
superintendent and jailors, for alleged lapse on their part which led
to Manjhi’s death, official sources said.

The naxalites were allegedly led by one of their top commanders Ajay
Kanu who had allegedly masterminded the jailbreak at Jehanabad in which
the Maoist rebels helped over 300 inmates escape in November 2005.

Chindu condemns anti-naxal movements

naxals have more rights than citizens, don't they. there is also that usual reference to gujarat.


The Hindu : Opinion / Leader Page Articles : Laws without justice in the name of security

In Chhattisgarh, evidence of large-scale violence and killings by the state, or its supported force, Salwa Judum, as well as the arrest of human rights activists, continues to haunt us.

In States such as Gujarat, the administration of justice has been
manipulated to perpetuate the domination of political elites or
religious groups.

Spin machine Avidya's gutter report

where is the objectivity? when other news reporters are calling it the most one-sided contest, how is avidya getting a different picture? it is because, she went to see what she wanted to see.
and can someone teach her some math, please.

The Hindu : Opinion / News Analysis : Modi versus the rest in Gujarat

Ten days into my tour of Gujarat, I was still doing my math and weighing the two main parties against each other. The Congress had arithmetic and Sonia Gandhi on its side. The BJP seemed under siege, with the party structure, the larger sangh family, and the State machinery all in an adversarial relationship with Narendra Modi.

... difficult to tell which element would win: The Congress’ arithmetic advantage or Mr. Modi’s incitement to revenge.

In Gujarat, there is an expressway to every destination, as a
consequence of which the rural landscape is often a blur along the
journey. Take the bumpy de-tour to the villages, and you are apt not
only to see a different and unshiny Gujarat

Suddenly, an old man in rags seized Vasant Kumar by his collar and
thrashed him for insulting Narendrabhai. He ought to have been in
Soniaben’s rally.


The Modi myth is difficult to escape. A picture that lingers is from a
Modi rally in Mahuva, off the coast of Bhavnagar in Saurashtra. The
road to the venue was badly pot-holed. But unconcerned, the crowds
clapped and cheered him. Outside the pandal, I met a group of
Narendrabhai enthusiasts, all of them standing on a pothole the size of
a crater. Yet that did not seem to stop them from listing his
achievements, magnificent roads included.

Gujarat 2007 is tailor-made for a Congress victory. The caste equation favours it.

Rath yatra represented anti-muslim pogrom : Avidya

After a point, the humor is all lost and the stupidity gets annoying. Knowing Avidya's intellectual levels, I coulc have laughed at it and ignored it.

The Hindu : Opinion / Leader Page Articles : An ideological family in ferment

The second went farther than anyone thought possible. Mr. Modi took Mr. Advani’s metaphorical rath to its inevitable, logical destination — to Gujarat and to the anti-Muslim pogrom of 2002. Mr. Advani laid the foundation and Mr. Modi built upon it. The conflagration brought Mr. Modi unprecedented popularity in Gujarat even as it damaged him nationally and internationally. Through all this, Mr. Advani stood by him.

Had the Advani-Modi combination continued on this destructive path, none should have been happier than the head of the family. Alas each had a mind of his own, and each was ambitious, wanting a future larger and brighter than what was allowed in the Sangh’s scheme of things.

Why does she not apply similar inferences to Shah Bano case, Haj subsidies, Afzal Guru case, Danish cartoon protests, Taslima Nasreen issue, or any of the several thousand instances of muslim intransigence representing the jihadi quest for muslim domination.

I wonder what Avidya was smoking to see the rath as the "logical" symbol of anti-muslim pogrom.

Is not the genocide of poor people in Nandigram a logical outcome of communists coming to power?

Mr. Advani was ever the Jinnah man — no matter how much he harked back to Hindutva and how much he defended Mr. Modi, that hate ideology’s most recognised face.

Avidya categorises Hindutva as hate ideology. On the other hand, the Supreme Court ruled that "Ordinarily, Hindutva is understood as a way of life or a state of mind and is not to be equated with or understood as religious Hindu fundamentalism. It is obvious that the real hate ideologist is Avidya, the extreme leftist terrorist and staunch anti-Hindu.

The Sangh parachuted him into Ahmedabad knowing his taste for communal politics. Today, he has grown into a Frankenstein’s Monster that it cannot control.

These allegations are a direct result of the monster that is the communist indoctrination. It is fair to call Naxal R and his bunch of loonies as extreme leftist terrorists for their unadulterated hatred against Hindus. What a pity that this newspaper goes by the name of "The Hindu".

Harish in Dreamland

Harish Khare needs no introduction. I do not want to say anything about this "intellectual". I will leave that to the readers. Let them decide after reading this article that appeared on the front page of The Hindu on the morning of August 19, 2003.

Since then Harish Khare has only got better(or worse?). His rabid anti-BJP attitude has spurred him to pen a 1800 word article brimming with lies, concoctions, exaggerations,personalised attacks, wishful thinking, mudslinging and every trick in the book to discredit the BJP and its election strategy.

Even if a Mani Shankar Aiyar or a Jayanthi Natarajan were to write an article, they would have tried to sprinkle in little bit of balance. Well, they already have party positions. But what about aspiring Rajya Sabha members? It is only opportunities like this that will help them reinforce their loyalties. Hence, Harish closes his eyes , disregards realities and writes with the sole objective of pleasing his masters. Excerpts:

More than the split within the sangh parivar, it is the alienation of the Patel community that will impact(the BJP, emphasis added) the 2007 battle

Oh.. if you thought this was the single most important factor that would work against the BJP, you are wrong. Harish is a "secular intellectual" and will have a bagful of reasons. Few lines later he says

More than the Patels it is the division in the ranks of the Kolis, another powerful community, that would work to the BJP’s disadvantage for the first time in more than two decades.

Ok. So its not just patels;but patels+ Kollis.

Because of the disproportionate and exaggerated accent on the Chief Minister and his personality, the BJP organisation has broken down

patels+ Kollis + disproportionate and exaggerated importance to Modi + organisational break down.

The Congress, too, has aggressively answered the BJP’s “soft on terrorism” charge.

patels+ Kollis + disproportionate and exaggerated importance to Modi + organisational break down+ aggressive congress

Pheww... what a combo. A sure death knell for Modi. Having satisfied himself that the BJP is headed for a drubbing, he now switches to maligning it , its leaders and its strategy.

(Modi is an , reference added)Egoist, loner, has no friend. There is nobody close to him. An emotional person, who ends up creating enemies; one who has cut himself off from normal information sources and in the process has become prone to tale-carriers. He does not believe he needs to do any ‘favour’ to any of the established crowd.

Well, isn't this applicable to Sonia Gandhi and Jayalalithaa too? Will he dare say this against JJ?

Collectors/district development officers are pressed to bring crowds in buses for the Chief Minister’s much publicised rallies

For Sonia, the rallies overflow without even the Congress having to lift a finger.

Never before in the history of Gujarat has the BJP faced the election with so open and so bitter a split within the sangh parivar as in 2007. A clash of egos between the Chief Minister and the sangh parivar has remained unresolved. The sangh parivar apparatchiks, long used to dictating to the BJP brass, found Mr. Modi, especially after the 2002 victory, not amenable to any advice or suggestion.

http://www.hindu.com/2007/12/11/stories/2007121155891100.htm

Now comes the most interesting part. Having painted such a gloomy picture , the last line of the article is :

Unless there is a ‘big incident,’ it could be touch and go.”

If even after all this, the fight is going to be close, isn't this a tacit acknowledgement of the gap between the two parties?

There is only one place this article deserves to go- THE DUST BIN.

We don't need Naxal R, we might as well have Karat

Naxal R quoting Karat in an editorial. Chindu should be called an extreme leftist paper, not leftist.

Also notice how these communists are trying to define BJP's agenda as enemy of muslims. Ironically, it is these communists who have defined their political agenda as "Hate BJP".

The Hindu : Opinion / Editorials : Significant move on political chessboard

After all, as Prakash Karat, now the CPI(M)’s general secretary, pointed out in a 1992 journal article, the BJP’s journey from an amorphous right of Centre platform, constructed during the Vajpayee presidency of 1980-86, to the aggressive platform of Hindutva — ‘Hindu nationalism’ targeting an internal enemy, India’s 150-million-plus Muslims, and all key issues revolving round this theme — was accomplished between 1986 and 1989, during the first Advani presidency. It will be costly, if not fatal, for the BJP’s political opponents to underestimate the strategy, tactics, and mobilisational capabilities of the shadow Prime Minister.

Modi won by rigging

I was disgusted with Khare's article. Allegations pulled out of thin air.

If people thought there is a finite limit to the depths to which
Chindu can s(t)ink, they are sadly mistaken.

Here is a sample to taste:

First, the BJP this time will be hard-pressed to use its time-tested
rigging techniques. For example, the Election Commission has decreed
that only locally registered voters can be agents in local booths.
This puts paid to the party's familiar technique of bringing in buses
BJP activists from non-polling areas to man the booths.

To make the situation complicated, teachers, karmcharis and local
police personnel are unhappy with the Modi administration, and not all
of them will be all that enthusiastic about helping the ruling party
in its rigging strategy.

"BJP's fundamentals have become loose"

Harish Khare

http://www.hindu.com/2007/12/11/stories/2007121155891100.htm

Posted by Anonymous to The Chindu at December 11, 2007 11:16 AM

"Honorable" Sonia

Even before the ink on Chindu's sloppy editorial "commending" Sonia for "honourably owning up" her "maut ke soudagar" comment could dry out, she has done what she does best - a volte face. And Chindu has once again blackened its face.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi has told the Election Commission she wasn’t referring to Chief Minister Narendra Modi when she said “merchant of death"

http://www.ibnlive.com/news/sonia-replies-says-no-comment-on-modi/53978-3.html

Fwd: Congress filp-flops; Naxal R stuck in sh**

Naxal R is struck by the foot in mouth disease.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/holnus/001200712101964.htm

Congress' flip-flop continues

Continuing its flip-flop on the "merchant of death" controversy, the
Congress on Monday suggested that Sonia Gandhi did not name Narendra
Modi but had the entire state administration including the Chief
Minister in mind when she made those remarks.
------------------------

Chindu (Editorial) earlier in the day said that Congress has
"honourably owned" up Ms. Gandhi's "maut ke soudagar" accusation
against Modi.

So, it looks like Congress has, as of now (i.e. as per the latest
somersault, it is not just flip-flop as Chindu would like to pretend),
"dishonourably disowned" up the remark on Modi?!

Posted by Anonymous to The Chindu at December 10, 2007 6:53 AM

Fwd: Digvijay Singh labels "Hindu terrorism"; Chindu blames Modi

Fair "secular" game, isn't it. I am sure Digvijay Singh must have been
inspired by the terrorism of a newspaper with that name.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Digvijay Singh accuses Gujarat of "Hindu terrorism". And Chindu finds
it convenient to blame Modi by asking "Will communalism work again?"
We are told that the Congress has "honourably owned" up Ms Gandhi's
"maut-ke-soudagar" accusation against Modi. What else can the Congress
do after its secular drum beaters have willingly propagated these
words of wisdom?

And Chindu informs us, folks of a lower intelligence: "Election
analysts are suggesting not merely that the Gujarat contest has
tightened but that the popular mood has turned against the BJP
because, among other things, Mr. Modi's attempt to shut out 'normal
issues' and make the Hindu-Muslim divide the dominant, if not the
sole, election issue has failed".

<b>One Vidya S has become many "election analysts"! That is what's
called secular magic. </b>

http://www.hindu.com/2007/12/10/stories/2007121056241000.htm

Posted by Anonymous to The Chindu at December 09, 2007 9:44 PM

Fwd: Marxist Valley Civilization

ROTFL. Marxist valley civilization.

---------- Forwarded message ----------

http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/holnus/001200712101523.htm

Top Stories
New grave found in Nandigram

After the discovery of graves at Bidyapit village at Khejuri and
Talpati canal, another grave was found on Monday near the former Bhumi
Uchhed Pratirodh Committee stronghold of Maheshpur in Nandigram,
police said.
----------------------------

Looks like this part of Bengal is getting to be an archeologically
important area, to be declared as "Marxist Valley Civilisation".

Since the Marxists and their subordinates (Sonia et al) are not able
to cope up with the increasing rate of archeological findings in
Bengal, they find it easier to divert their attention to distant
Gujarat.

Posted by Anonymous to The Chindu at December 10, 2007 4:58 AM

Fwd: Looks like the reader's editor acknowledges Hindu's biased coverage

there must have been a deluge of protests to the reader's editor. he
grudgingly posts three of them. chindu only accepts letters with name
and full address. why then are these letters not attributed to anyone?

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Ramesh
Here is some interesting stuff

http://www.hindu.com/2007/12/10/stories/2007121056261100.htm

At the bottom, in the unattributed piece, Looks like the Reader's
ediotr is acknowleding that Hindu was biased in its reportage. .. Here
is the excerpt:

There was balance in the coverage to the extent that protesting voices
against what was "happening" in Nandigram got adequate representation.
But what was really happening? The reader was left to guess. The Home
Secretary said it was a "war zone"; Chief Minister Buddhadeb
Bhattacharya described what had happened in Nandigram as legal and
justified and added, "we have paid back in their own coin." These
widely reported (but not in The Hindu) remarks indicated something
serious had happened and it needed to be justified. Obviously it was
not Maoists and Trinamool alone, who were responsible for the
situation and the published reports did not make things clear.

The reporting in The Hindu was selective. Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh's comment on the situation (while on his way to Kuala Lumpur)
did not find a place and this had to be inferred from the Chief
Minister's reaction to it. Similarly, the Chief Minister's "paid back"
remark found mention only when there were reactions to it.

The unprecedented public protest in Kolkata was well covered, but one
was left wondering what was the "situation" in Nandigram against which
the intellectuals and artists were protesting. As a newsman, my first
priority would have been spot coverage. That media persons were denied
access to the "war zone" was unknown to The Hindu readers. The first
Nandigram-datelined report, from Antara Das, appeared much after
things had quietened down in the area. Nandigram did not get the
detailed analysis that an explosion in tiny faraway Maldives got at
the same time.

Chindu's censorship on letters to editor

The same letter has been sent to both Telegraph and Chindu. Notice how Chindu censored it, particularly the reference to China.

The Telegraph - Calcutta : Opinion

Sir ? Manmohan Singh?s decision to skip the South Asian Association for Regional Conference summit, so as not to be seen in the same company as King Gyanendra, is not only deplorable but also hypocritical. Further, such selective sermonizing reflects poorly on India. When we can deal with a dictatorship in Pakistan, a repressive military junta in Burma, and, above all, the repugnantly oppressive communist autocracy in China, on what grounds do we oppose the goings-on in Nepal?

Nepal?s king has constitutional legitimacy and so his decision is, in a way, democratic. It is time we put aside our holier-than-thou attitude in favour of national interest, and dealt with Nepal in a mature fashion, as befits a bigger and powerful neighbour.

The Hindu : Opinion / Letters to the Editor : Matter of concern

Sir, — When we can deal with a military dictatorship in Pakistan and a repressive junta in Myanmar, why should we react so harshly with respect to Nepal? It is time we dealt with Nepal in a mature manner befitting a large neighbour.

Faithful dog barks for its master

Even after the blood bath at Nandigram, Chindu says only "a section of the people" opposed the governments plans. Such "journalistic ethics" are reserved exclusively for Bengal and definitely not for Gujarat.

The West Bengal government had to abandon the plan to set up a chemical hub in Nandigram owing to opposition from a section of the local people but that will not affect flow of investments for the industry, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said here on Thursday.

http://www.hindu.com/2007/12/07/stories/2007120759441700.htm

Mischievous Reporting

Naxalite leader’s wife arrested in Chennai

The Q Branch police on Thursday arrested the wife of a naxalite leader ofAndhra Pradesh from the city’s northern suburbs. Her husband Panduranga Reddywas arrested by the Andhra Pradesh police on Wednesday.

Superintendent of Police, Q Branch, M.Ashok Kumar said Mary (22) alias Madhavi alias Kavitha was arrested from Minjur. He told The Hindu that she was also a naxalite unit member.
http://www.hindu.com/2007/12/07/stories/2007120759001000.htm

When the woman herself is a Naxalaite, why is the headline misleading? Is Chindu suggesting that an "innocent" lady has been picked up just because she is the wife of a Naxalite.

There is no doubt that the woman arrested is a Naxalite. Two full days later, Chindu too accepts

Fwd:An Open Letter to The Hindu

An Anonymous reader shared this Open Letter.


An open letter to The Hindu on its Nandigram coverage

We are writing this open letter to the editorial board of “The Hindu” to express our dismay at your coverage of recent events at Nandigram.
Most of us are regular readers of your paper. We have appreciated your balanced coverage of topics such as the Narmada Dam, Gujarat or the Agrarian Crisis. At least in our eyes, your principled reportage of these issues (and numerous others) has lent your newspaper an unusual degree of credibility. We believe that your paper’s articles carry enormous weight in moulding public opinion and policy.
It is therefore a cause of collective concern when this credibility gets damaged. We are particularly disturbed by the editorial titled “The Challenge of Nandigram” (12th Nov. 2007) which displayed a marked slant. Even granting merit to the editorial’s contention that the state government had to take steps to restore governance in the area, it seems beyond dispute that the methods adopted to do so were inherently incompatible with the rule of law in a democracy. We cannot comprehend how a full length editorial could completely fail to take note of the unchecked violence by the CPM cadres, the curbs that were placed on independent reporting, the attacks on reputed activists like Medha Patkar, all of which seem to have been facilitated – or at least condoned - by the state. None of these well documented events have any place in a society governed by law, and should have occasioned strong comment. We failed to see any critical editorial acknowledgement of these events, even after the chief minister had practically admitted having operated outside the law through remarks such as being “paid back in their own coin”. This stands in marked contrast to the way the governor has been singled out for supposedly impolitic remarks. This selective silence opens the Hindu to the charge of being partisan in its outlook.
We also notice that, unlike many other issues of similar gravity, there has been a marked absence of centrepage articles on this topic.. One would have expected The Hindu to flesh out the differing points of view on this issue as well as the dimensions of the human tragedy. By choosing not to do so, The Hindu abdicates its responsibility to its readers for fair and balanced reporting.
We would hate to see The Hindu be identified as a newspaper purveying party propaganda. It is important that the integrity of the newspaper be above all question. An erosion of The Hindu’s credibility would be an immeasurable loss for journalism and for society.
Your Sincerely,
Academics from Harish-Chandra Research Institute Allahabad, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay/Kanpur/Madras, Institute of Mathematical Sciences Chennai, Jawaharlal Nehru University Delhi, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Mumbai.

http://sanhati.com/front-page/543/

Others predict landslide too, but not for Congress

The media(not Chindu) predicts landslide victory for Modi. Haven't these imbeciles read Avidya's articles?

Why Modi will score a landslide win again

With the Congress's electoral strategies formulated in terms of its golden bygone era, the Hindutva mascot, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi [Images], is all set to score a massive landslide victory in the coming assembly election -- much bigger than the one he scored in 2002.



This is the most one-sided election I have covered in my 28-year journalistic career, where there is no electoral issue except the incumbent chief minister who looms larger than life before the Congress's has-been and would-be small-timers. When a Tendulkar faces gali-mohalla bowlers a double century is certain.

Media (not Chindu) misquoted Buddhadeb : Chindu

This is absolutely hilarious stuff. Chindu is scared of being sent to the gulags that it is clarifying that it is not a part of the media which misquoted Buddhadeb. Getting loads of yen and committing blunders is a punishable offence, isn't it. Hence the disclaimer by Chindu.

The meaning is quite clear even from the clarification that Buddhadeb is trying to deny the existence of Ram. The bottom report by IE puts it in simple words.

The Hindu : National : Buddhadeb clarifies position on Lord Ram

Mr. Bhattacharjee was referring to the controversy generated by reports in a section of the media (not The Hindu) that said that ...

... in connection with the 15th anniversary of the demolition of the Babri
Masjid, I quoted the following lines from Rabindranath Tagore: ‘Kobi
tobo monobhumi Ram er jonmosthan Ayodhya r theke satya jeno’ (the
poet’s mind is the birth place of Ram, which is more real than
Ayodhya),” the statement said.

IndianExpress.com :: Ram figment of poet’s imagination, Sethu natural, says Buddha

Reigniting the Ram Sethu controversy, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has questioned the existence of Lord Ram, triggering an angry reaction from BJP which said the comment constituted an “offence”.

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Cricket in India 2006 Adult Poet Mumbai News

“Ram is a figment of a poet’s imagination and Ram Sethu is a natural formation under the sea,” Bhattacharjee told a meeting to mark the 15th anniversary of the demolition of Babri Masjid on Thursday. He said the Sethusamudram project was being opposed by the Sangh Parivar on religious grounds, but it was vital for economic development of the region.

Naxal R releasing Nandigram CD

How can you expect this guy to have any objectivity when he openly supports CPM.

The Hindu : National : Insight into missing dimension of Nandigram

“The film captures the complex situation and makes a powerfully successful attempt to fill some good part of the gap. What is shocking is the manufacture of consent for the indictment of the Left Government in West Bengal and demonisation of Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and the CPI(M). All kinds of people landed there without any thought about the implications of what they were doing. There was just one-sided grief, completely ignoring the plight of 3,500 people who were forced to become internal refugees,” Mr. Ram said.

Product of Chindu's Demagogy

N Ram must be the envy of many editors. Who else has the kind of bench strength that Ram can boast of? His readers are doing a better job than his numerous spin machines. Ram must have grinned ear-to-ear seeing this letter

It is a shame on our democracy that Mr. Modi thumps his chest while justifying the Sohrabuddin encounter andneither the law enforcement agencies nor the courts do anything about it. It will be even more shameful and horrendous if he comes to power once again. His victory will have an awful impact on the victims of the Gujarat riots who have been isolated and have been living in pitiful conditions in stinking ghettos. If the recent bomb blasts are the work of Islamist terrorists, it is people like Mr. Modi who are responsible for producing them. If the government is serious about tackling terrorism, the Modis of India should also be brought to book.

Deepak Joshi,
http://www.hindu.com/2007/12/07/stories/2007120753821002.htm

Wow!!! Isn't Deepak brilliant?He must be a JNU product. Modi is responsible for producing Islamic terrorists. Fair Enough. But, weren't Islamic terrorists in action before 2002?Who is responsible for Godhra,Indian Airlines hijack, Ethnic cleansing in Kashmir and Evicting Pandits from the valley? Weren't Islamic terrorists attacking the Indian army decades before Modi "killed" Muslims? Deepak, with this kind of brain, you stand a great chance of becoming a Special Correspondent and rubbing shoulders with "intellectuals" like Khare, Neena , Vidya and our very own Ram.

Venezuela - A heavan on Earth

Chindu has been devoting pages and pages in praise of Hugo Chavez. Seeing the Guardian do a better job of it, Chindu chose to faithfully reproduce the entire article. Chindu wants us to believe that there is no illiteracy in Venezuela. And that Chavez is god.

Since Mr. Chavez came to power, the poverty level has been slashed from 49 to 30 per cent, extreme poverty from 16 to below 10 per cent; free health and education have been massively expanded; subsidised food made available in the poorer areas; pensions and the minimum wage boosted; illiteracy eliminated; land redistributed; tens of thousands of co-ops established and privatised utilities and oil brought back under public ownership and control.

http://www.hindu.com/2007/12/07/stories/2007120753841100.htm

Why stop with this?Chindu could have also added that right from the minute Chavez assumed power, the per ca pita income of the Venezuelans doubled, the GDP grew 129.9% , unemployment dipped to -5%, and the Venezuelans were never happier. Then how did Chavez end up with egg on his face in the referendum? What else is Bush for? Blame him and American capitalism.There is a careful attempt to downplay this defeat.

The purpose of the Article? Socialism works wonders. Chavez is a president par excellence. Under him Venezuela is on the road to overtaking the US. Bush is working overtime to keep Venezuelans poor. Though defeated, 'charismatic' Chavez is hugely popular.

Will we ever get to see an article- forget an editorial- even mildly critical of the Left philosophy? I wonder whether there is an end in sight for this never ending stream of Left wing praising and Right wing bashing.

Fwd: "Numbers will give Congress a landslide victory : Avidya"

nice comment by anonymous poster...

--------
The names may be Vidya, Khare, Swami and so on. But, they are all Ram
surrogates. Chindu seems to be somewhat modest in understating its
calculations.

The "secular minorty" groups such as the
muslims, Christians and other "weaker sections" of the society will add
up to another 10 to 15%. To this, add another 5 to 10% from the ranks
of anti-communal Hindus. Then all the anti-Modi BJP wallahs who are in
majority, but still within the party. Then you have the traditional
artists, authors, liberals, leftists and other intellectuals
constituting about 5%. The undecided, cat-on-the-wall category who will
eventually tilt towards the secular side, falling for the charm of the
"charismatic" S(acrificing)onia, making up 15 to 20%. This way Congress
can easily get more than 75%.

The Congress party has aready won,
by a sweeping margin. Modi has been disgraced, reduced to a non-entity
and BJP has been derecognised by the election commission etc. etc. (all
in the imagination and wishful thinking of Chindu).

Numbers will give Congress a landslide victory : Avidya

Like Naxal R and Khare, "Vidya" assumes that Chindu's readers lack common sense. So she does simple mathematics to predict landslide victory to Congress. That all evidence is contradictory means very little.

And again, she goes on to show how Congress is adopting Hindutva, while Modi is talking of development. But she blames Modi for communalism. "You, the imbecile reader shove it down your throat ...", says A-Vidya.
What do you people think of her analytical skills?

The Hindu : Opinion / News Analysis : Behind the sparkle in Gujarat

The Congress, by contrast, has the look of the classic loser. The party is in glorious disarray, its leaders have little recall value, its philosophy is a mish-mash of knee-jerk Hindutva and secularism, it has made a mess of ticket allotment, and above all, it has to contend with the omnipotent, omnipresent Mr. Modi, who taunts and berates it constantly, forcing it at every point to follow the agenda he has set.

Today there is little evidence of this synergy. This is so in part because the Congress has dissociated itself from Gordhan Zadaphia, Minister of State for Home during the 2002 pogrom and the financial and organisational muscle behind the anti-Modi campaign. And in part because of internal discontent arising from the allotment of Congress ticket to some of the BJP rebels. Last week, irate Congresspersons smashed the party office in Ahmedabad. And in Amreli district in Saurashtra, once the epicentre of the anti-Modi revolt, the Congress and the BJP rebels are in a state of war.

On the campaign trail, BJP rebels-turned-Congress candidates can be heard slamming Mr. Modi for his alleged renunciation of Hindutva. Mr. Zadaphia, who remains the mentor of the rebel group, told The Hindu that the fight in Gujarat was between Moditva and Hindutva.

So is it all over for the Congress in Gujarat? No. If the Modi campaign is dazzlingly savvy and the support of his fan following deafeningly loud, the Congress has arithmetic on its side. In the surcharged atmosphere of the 2002 election, a section of the Congress’ traditional voters, especially tribals and Dalits, had voted for the BJP. Today they seem inclined to retrace their steps, though admittedly the Congress has scored a self-goal by prevaricating on the notification of Tribal Right Acts. Just how much damage this will inflict on the Congress is not clear. But one thing is certain. Tribals and Dalits are done with the BJP. In a State where tribals account for 14.8 per cent and Dalits another seven per cent, the significance of this hardly needs stressing. In addition, the Congress can count on the support of a section of the Kolis, estimated at 22 per cent, and Leuva Patels, the largest sub-group of the roughly 16-18 per cent upper caste Patel community.

Avidya does her arithmetic here
Tribals and Dalits are done with BJP. No reasons. Just take that. : 14.8 + 7 = 21.8
A section of Kolis and Leuva Patels , who constitute 22 + (16-18) i.e. 38 to 40 percent - Congress will get more than BJP, claims Avidya.

Thats a whopping 40+ percent to Congress. Avidya is predicting a landslide victory for Congress.

Now you see why she says, "
If propaganda alone were to decide the verdict in Gujarat, Narendra Modi would have a walkover." It is numbers and not propaganda which will decide the verdict. That is the reason why Congress is sitting and doing numerical problems and not campaigning. And when they are bored, they are fighting among themselves. Obviously this is better than working for the people or campaigning.

A narration of contradictions

rotfl. This article by Vidya is absolutely hilarious stuff. She should be voted the "official spin machine", as she herself puts it. How can a large crowd, who cant see the stage, and do not understand Hindi, be captivated by a monotonous speech? Yet, Vidya goes on with hers!!! She deserves a category along with Naxal R and Khare.

The Hindu : Opinion / News Analysis : A tale of two rallies

In the absence of anyone to take on Mr. Modi in the Gujarat Congress, the burden has unsurprisingly fallen on Ms. Gandhi. And she never ceases to surprise. The Congress chief is almost colourless by comparison. Forget humour and witticisms, she is distant and sedate, reading her lines like an automated machine. Nonetheless, her mesmeric hold on the audience is to be seen to be believed.

If the Mahuva meeting was held under a protective shamiana with Mr. Modi in close, mirthful conversation with his audience, in Idar, the stage was a distant blur in a maidan
the size of a football ground. And the crowds came in waves, by foot
and on tractor. By 1 p.m, when Ms. Gandhi arrived, the ground was
filled to overflowing. Ms. Gandhi spoke in Hindi. Her listeners
understood only colloquial Gujarati. Yet they heard her in rapt
attention.

Ms. Gandhi — not to forget Rahul Gandhi — has always been a crowd
puller, with the attendance not always converting into votes. That Mr.
Modi has a vocal fan following across Gujarat is also evident. Go to
any shop, go to a random mohalla, and even in rural Gujarat, you will hear hosannas sung to Narendrabhai.

The viper with the double-tongue

Karat accuses Congress of inaction during Babri Masjid demolition. And BJP is accused of "action" during Gujarat riots. Strangely, CPM is not faulty on either counts for the Nandigram genocide although it was ruling the state and was directly responsible for the genocide.

The Hindu : Front Page : Don’t equate Left with communal forces: Karat

Accusing the Congress government at the Centre of ‘inaction’ when the Babri Masjid was demolished, Mr. Karat said that while the ‘culpability’ for the incident lay primarily with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Bharatiya Janata Party and Hindutva forces, the Narasimha Rao government was “also culpable and complicit in letting this dark, dastardly thing happen.”

Speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee warned against the RSS, which never supported the Indian independence movement and has no belief in either the Constitution or a democratic government.

Communists acting as British stooges during India's Independence struggle is well-known and documented. What an irony, Buddhadeb is blaming the RSS.

Force feeding commie crap

How much of commie crap can the readers stomach? Ram is expecting his readers to share his insatiable appetite for the Karats, Yechurys and Rajas.

The Left parties on Wednesday made a strong plea in the Rajya Sabha for a legislation to provide job reservation for dalits in the private sector. Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Brinda Karat (CPI-M) said thousands of dalits were in the capital to press the demands against discrimination and for reservation in private sector jobs.

Associating himself with the demand, Communist Party of India leader D. Raja sought a legislation for enforcing job quota in the private sector.

http://www.hindu.com/2007/12/06/stories/2007120660351400.htm

Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury, who initiated the debate, said he was not convinced by the Minister’s reply. “In an honourable way we [the government] can tell the world that the majority is not with us,” he said

http://www.hindu.com/2007/12/06/stories/2007120658270100.htm

Communist Party of India (Marxist) MP and Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury
described Mr. Modi’s speech as “shameful” and said that “even if a person was a
known criminal, it was not for the Chief Minister to decide his fate; not even
the Prime Minister can do that.”

His party colleague Brinda Karat said Mr. Modi clearly thought that he was above
the law.“He has virtually admitted to killing [Sohrabuddin]. The court should take suo motu notice. There should be no double standards. After all, the court takes notice of demonstration and traffic lights. This was also a fit case for action by the Election Commission,” she said.

CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta said: “This is barbaric. He has spoken not like a politician but like a criminal. The law should take immediate action.”

http://www.hindu.com/2007/12/06/stories/2007120660980100.htm