Who is a worse liar? Neena Vyas or Harsih Khare

Neena Vyas and Harish Khare are back with a bang. Even if you use an electron microscope, you will not find a trace of objectivity in their writing. I don't take them seriously and believe most other do not as well. However, the contradiction in their reports(yesterday) was too stark to be missed.

On the front page Neena Vyas wrote that the Left is not an 'ally', but a supporting party.

Some senior leaders said that it would be in the party’s interest to allow a discussion as it would clearly bring out the fact that the United Progressive Alliance did not have the backing of even its allies, not to speak of the supporting parties

http://www.hindu.com/2007/10/25/stories/2007102562190100.htm

In the opinion pages,Harish Khare commented that

The UPA-Left cooperative equation was premised on an assumption of a convergence of the political (and electoral) interests among the partners, beyond the
anti-BJP instincts.

http://www.hindu.com/2007/10/25/stories/2007102554401000.htm

How come the 'supporting parties ' suddenly became 'Partners' 'beyond political and electoral interests'.

There is no point in asking who is lying- both are. Who is lying more?

N.Ram blames Hindu groups for protests against Christ's penis

The Hindu : Opinion / Editorials : Hurt sentiments and moral policing

The charge that Chandramohan's works offended Hindu and Christian religious sentiments makes no sense given the context in which the works were displayed.



under pressure from extreme right wing groups.

For a better perspective on the incident, here is from www.dailypioneer.com, exposing the duplicity of the Left and Chindu.

Among the earliest to protest was the pastor of the Methodist Church in Baroda, Reverend Emmanuel Kant. A group of irate Hindus, led by Niraj Jain, a BJP activist, also marched into the exhibition venue.
After persuasion from the police, the paintings and other works of "art" were taken down and locked up in a room. Despite the anger of Jain and his compatriots, there was no major violence, no damage to university property and Chandra Mohan's creations were left untouched. They are still safe in that room.
The matter would have ended there had not, on May 11, Pannikar triggered another fire. Acting unilaterally and going against the orders of his superiors, he organised an impromptu exhibition of nude paintings under the rubric of "medieval art" and "Indian culture". He refused written orders from the registrar to remove the paintings and insisted on displaying them through the night. This led to Pannikar's suspension.
...on March 2, 2006, the CPI participated with Muslim organisations in a massive rally in Mumbai, protesting against President George W Bush's arrival in India and the Danish cartoons.
A month later, on April 9, 2006, the Hindu approvingly quoted from a recent article in People's Democracy, the CPI(M)'s organ. "It said," reported the Hindu, "that after the Iran issue, the Danish newspaper cartoons on Prophet Mohammed became an international issue, with big protest rallies organised by Muslims in India from February 2006 ... There was genuine anger against the cartoons. All secular parties, including the Congress, had condemned them."

Iran must fight back; India must tolerate

The Hindu : Opinion / Editorials : Britain in the wrong

Under the circumstances, it is hardly surprising that Iranian patience should be wearing thin.

I wonder when The Chindu will say India must end its patience with Pakistan...

but when intrusions are frequent and form a provocative pattern, Iran was within its rights to detain the crew and seek assurances that there will be no further violations of the country's sovereignty in future.

...and extend the same liberty to India as it has extended to Iran. To me, this sounds like the eternal damnation of the semetics.

With Tony Blair's credibility in tatters, there are few international buyers for his claim that the British soldiers were captured in Iraqi and not Iranian waters. Mr. Blair showed all the judgment of a schoolboy in rushing with his complaint to the United Nations Security Council, which in the event wisely confined itself to issuing a call for the early resolution of the problem.

But The Chindu never ceases to praise the sincerity of Gen.Musharraf inspite of his repeated failures.

Objective verification of the precise spot on the Shatt-el-Arab waterway where the arrests took place might not be possible. But with the Iraqi coast guard authorities pointedly disputing the British claim, the international community is likely to believe Tehran rather than London on this issue.

Coincidentally, the "international community" reposing faith in Tehran resides in the offices of The Chindu, and report to N.Ram.

Instead of raking up a pointless controversy over why the Iranians released television footage of their British captives — one can only imagine the hysteria that would have been generated about their safety in the absence of such footage — Mr. Blair should get off his high horse.

The Chindu must get off its dope here. The typical leftist cry of human rights and dignity is replaced by condemning the victims. While the worldwide outcry is condemned as "pointless controversy", publicly broadcasting the video footage is justified as the *only* way to assure the safety of the hostages.

I hope this outrages the British Guardian to cut-off the neo-liberal feeds to The Chindu.

N.Ram asks WB Governor to shutup

Lessons from Nandigram

Nobody takes seriously the call of the Trinamool Congress for the dismissal of the Left Front Government.

N.Ram is passing a judgment on Trinamool. This is not the first time he dismissed Trinamool or called Mamta a terrorist for opposing CPI(M). But he reserves his best for the Governor.


More disconcertingly, a usually sagacious Governor, Gopalkrishna Gandhi, stepped out of line in publicly airing his philosophical and tactical differences with the State government while expressing high-minded anguish over the Nandigram deaths. Under the Indian Constitution, it is surely not the job of a Governor to offer public judgments on how an elected government should have handled a tricky situation.

He asks the Governor to shutup and not pass public judgment on CPI(M) actions. Wonderful party loyalty by N.Ram. For a better perspective on the Nandigram pogrom read this article:


Narad among the Narodniks

He raises valid points:
1. In which State does a PWD convoy travel with a 4,000-strong police escort to repair roads?
2. Nandigram was not threatening to secede; heavens would not have fallen if the "road repair" mission had been delayed till tempers cooled.
3. So what was the big hurry? It was simply this: The CPI(M)'s writ had been challenged in an area that was traditionally its electoral bastion. The dissidents had to be taught a lesson and the Party's control had to be both re-established and seen to be re-established.
4. the initial provocation on Wednesday did not come from the "enemy". It arrived when the State administration marched in 4,000 policemen on a "road repair" expedition.

Ashok Mallik's sounds more like an editorial that educates its readers of the facts.

All you dear readers of The Chindu, dont you think you deserve a more balanced presentation than the one penned by N.Ram - asking everyone to just ignore Mamta, and the Governor to shutup.

Nandigram is not CPM's fault, reiterates CBCNN

Police moved to `check lawlessness'

The police are not be blamed here although atleast 11 people died because this is the CPM government. Contrast this with how CBCNN blames the police of every other state.

http://cbcnn.blogspot.com/search/label/Blame%20the%20police

Remember all those tears for Faizal?

In Nandigram, when the police were trying to control lawlessness, 11 people were killed. In Bangalore, the police targetted a 11 year old to control lawlessness. This is the CBCNN contrast in reporting.

After absolving the police in Nandigram, CBCNN launches a scathing attack on Trinamool and the people opposing CPI(M):

Trinamool Congress failed to respond to calls
"lawlessness prevailing in the area could no longer be allowed to continue"
Trinamool activists staged demonstrations
Some State buses were damaged and an attempt was made to set ablaze one.
Protesters squatted on rail tracks in various parts of the State and several trains, including the Rajdhani Express, were held up.
Unrest at Nandigram was sparked by rumours

The Chindu sees absolutely nothing wrong in firing at and killing the protestors.

Finally, it condones CPI(M), listing out all the steps it took to address the people's concern:
But the Chief Minister's had been holding out assurances that no land would be acquired for the project without the consent of the local people.
He had even reiterated that the proposed chemical hub would be set up elsewhere if the local people remained opposed to it.

So I figure the local people were opposed to the SEZ at Nandigram and the government deployed force to kill innocents.

Contradicting editorial stance on banning movies

The Da Vinci Code:

Clearance and the Code
CBCNN hailed the tolerant stance of Catholic bodies but lamented on the Government's procedure for clearing the film. It also wondered how the Government would have reacted if the clergy demanded a ban.

The movie was released and the inevitable mayhem followed. State governments imposed a ban. This when Christian nations did not have any problem with the movie. The Christian groups went on a rampage in India. CBCNN meticulously covered all the events. A few are given below:

`The Da Vinci Code' banned in State
Goa bans The Da Vinci Code
The Da Vinci Code banned in Pondicherry
Tamil Nadu suspends screening of The Da Vinci Code
Christian groups attack Imax theatre
`Da Vinci Code' banned (in Punjab)

But there was no editorial by N.Ram lambasting the ban by state governments and the violent threats by the Christians. When cornered, the communists scoot.

A lumpen foot soldier, A Srivatsan writes about the ban on DVC.
Films and the politics of convenience

And boy, is he sermoning!

The issue in focus is not which community the government supports and which it does not. In fact, such a discussion distracts from the important issue of allowing multiple views to circulate and foster tolerance of contestations and criticisms.

All the other movies in the list attack Hindu sentiments and they have not been banned. The only movie to be banned involves Christian sentiments. The author is cleverly asking us to ignore government support for Christians because it is *** a distraction ***.

In all these incidents, the films were not banned but screened. Rajaji's response to Parasakthi is worth recalling in the present context. He was unhappy with Parasakthi but allowed it to be screened. He said the course of freedom could not be dammed and things could go on until people learnt themselves about what was worthless.

But the Da Vinci Code movie is banned. So, the state government is wrong, isnt it?

But the State Government can suspend the exhibition of a film if it considers that it will cause a breach of peace. This arrangement has its logic and use. Hence discussion on how a State Government can ban a film like The Da Vinci Code, which is certified by the Central Board of Film Certification, is not entirely valid.

There you go. The State Government is justified in banning Da Vinci Code.

This was evident in the case of Fanaa, a harmless Hindi movie twisted and banned for untenable reasons.

And for further justification, the author is indulging in misinterpretation. Fanaa was not banned by the Government. It was a boycott by the community for social and economic reasons. The Gujarat police offered protection but the theatre owners acted in their best interests. Emphasis : the state did not enforce a ban.

Did The Chindu write an editorial on Fanaa and Parzania? You bet.

Fanaa : New heights of intolerance
Parzania : When bigotry blocks the truth

Soon after he expressed support for the Narmada Bachao Andolan, the State's movie houses were forced to withdraw his hugely successful Rang De Basanti, after party workers from the BJP and the Congress staged protests against him and declared they would not allow his films to run in Gujarat.

Both BJP and Congress protested against Amir Khan. So it is evident that the people of Gujarat entire the political spectrum boycotted Amir Khan. Inspite of all this, the government did not enforce a ban of the film to gain some political score or indulge in sectarian appeasement.

Five years later, his regime shows neither remorse nor respect for the rule of law — which is a good part of the reason why cinema owners in Gujarat are terrified of showing Parzania.

Baseless statement. Just as Gujarat collectively decided to boycott Fanaa, it decided to boycott Parzania. If the regime did not respect the law, it would have banned the movie just like the Tamilnadu government which "suspended" (why this bloody euphemism?) the Da Vinci Code. While Gujarat is willing to ignore communal violence and move ahead with development, The Chindu is indulging in slander and character assasination of Gujarati Hindus.


Is there a difference between the State Government banning films and people boycotting films?

How is it that the State Governments of Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Goa, Nagaland, etc which banned Da Vinci Code are more tolerant than Gujarat, which did not indulge in banning the films Fanaa and Parzania?

Why is it that the Gujarati Hindus and Modi are sinister, bigoted and intolerant whereas the Christian groups, which went on a rampage against Da Vinci Code, are peace-loving?