More biased news from cHindu

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

Wen cHindu celebrated

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

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

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

Descent of India into Oligarchy

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

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

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

Chellaney names corruption as security threat no.1

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sidd V blasts corporate India - editorial on Radia scam

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

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

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

Krishna links Kashmir to Tibet and Taiwan

Finally an Indian minister (SM Krishna) tells the Chinese that if they increase their interference in Jammu and Kashmir, India would raise its voice on Tibet and Taiwan.

Drawing a dramatic parallel between the territorial red lines of both countries, India on Sunday told China that just as New Delhi had been sensitive to its concerns over the Tibet Autonomous Region and Taiwan, Beijing too should be mindful of Indian sensitivities on Jammu and Kashmir.

Having followed our foreign policy which has been pitiful in recent years, this is a welcome change that someone has grown a pair and tells China to mind its business.

Comparing Suu Kyi and Benazir

Some wise person said, "History is written by the winners". cHindu proves that a very insane short sighted media in the modern age is redefining how history is being written. Nirupama Subramanian in her piece Two daughters of the East, their different flight paths details a weird comparison of Nobel winner Suu Kyi and former Pak PM Benazir.
The larger context is vague, since anyone could make a comparison between two people like for example George Bush with Abraham Lincoln or Nehru with Lee Kuan Yew and so on. This article intends no disrespect to the dead but one should look at facts.
Nirupama has portrayed a very favorable impression of Benazir as a leader who tried to transform Pakistan into a vibrant democracy belied by the Army. She seeks to conveniently forget that this is the same Benazir who ordered the support for Kashmir militancy and increased funding to the ISI and growth of the Taliban in the 90s. Or the fact that her husband and current PM Zardari, has by most accounts, been the alleged lynchpin of corruption in the Pakistani Government (think his nickname was Mr. Ten Percent or something).

The expectation was that she and Gen. Musharraf would rule Pakistan together, she as the Prime Minister and he as President. That would have eased the world's conscience as it supported a military ruler seen by the West as essential to its plans in the region. He had become extremely unpopular in Pakistan but Benazir's democratic credentials were to come to his and the world's rescue.

Whats next Nirupama, comparing Rahul with Obama?

Hypocrisy on freedom of speech

Let us look at 2 recent examples, one where a person lambasts an entire nation and another where a person questions the allegiance of one person. Guess where there has been a debate on freedom of speech?
There is very little equanimity in these cases. Sonia Gandhi has been an extra constitutional authority and has wielded significant influence over the nation's largest party without ever being honest about her past or current. Hell she has not even been open with the media, rarely giving interviews.
I understand the significance of libel, but when the media is acting irresponsibly capitulating on the Congress' holier than thou attitude it is incredibly annoying.

Fear mongering and excessive quotations

Maybe Siddharth Varadarajan got dumped by a supermodel once, or perhaps dropped on his head as a baby. It might seek to explain his tactless rantings against the US moving towards closer relations with India. The whole article A partnership built on flawed assumptions is written like a movie on self loathing. The principal hero being an up and comer is approached by a out of his league girl and rather than build a relationship with the girl (knowing her motives and furthering his), he would try double guessing the principles of the girl. Not to mention the comic buddy who tries to point at the girl's flaws to make him fall for his ugly sister instead.

The U.S. sees the macro growth data and has a fair idea of where India will be in economic terms two decades from now. It sees the rise and wants to get in at the ground floor. This was the meaning behind the gratuitous promise, made during the presidency of George W. Bush, of helping India emerge as a world power.

Abysmal writing style
Anyone reading Sidd V's writing style knows that he's the master of using unnecessary super grandiloquent invectives akin to using a samurai sword where a butter knife would suffice. Now he adds a new tool to the arsenal, the super quotations. Believing that an article would have more depth if it had the needed sarcasm, almost every punch line has a couple of sarcastic adjectives. For example in this article,

For all its appeals to “shared values” like democracy as a counter to China
...
the development of capitalism in India than in the rest of the “free world”.
...
But India is not in need of that “help”.
...
They are also upset with India's reluctance to sign “foundational” defence
...
One test of the Indo-U.S. “strategic partnership” will be if it is able to survive an Indian refusal
...
While the “unreliability” of the Americans is not in dispute

You would have thought that anyone with a modicum of understanding of journalism would have the sense to temper the theme of the article without dousing it completely in unnecessary demarcated sarcasm where subtlety would've been effective.
So we award Sidd V the "Glorious writer of the week" award here.

Celebrating birthdays - super legal mind Krishna Iyer turns 95

I knew cHindu's favorite legal mind, Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer was old.
But until CodeNameV pointed out, I did not know he was 95 years old.
His birthday was celebrated by a bunch of his legal cronies and chelas:

The birthday was celebrated by the Sarada Krishna Satgamaya Foundation for Law and Justice, named after Justice Iyer's wife who died several years ago, by launching the Justice Krishna Iyer lecture series at a public ceremony. The series was inaugurated by Chief Justice of India Sarosh Homi Kapadia. Justice Kapadia, who called Justice Iyer a ‘great son of India,' said he had never dreamt that he would one day be sitting with Justice Iyer.

If the Chief Justice speaks such rubbish one can only be scared of the verdicts he delivers on a daily basis. Sadly the article does not provide us any "enlightening" thoughts from the birthday boy ;)

Dancing with the devil - Indo-Chinese meeting

Every Indian Chink meeting is given an aura similar to a teenage girl reviewing a Twilight movie by cHindu's writers. Case in point, Ananth Krishnan's love fest detailing the recent meeting.
With a flourish of a drunken geezer, he quotes some dolt in a Chink think tank.

“This meeting is very significant, as it has become increasingly important for both sides to better communicate their interests,” Rong Ying, vice-president of the China Institute of International Studies (CIIS), an influential think tank, told The Hindu on Thursday.

Really and I thought the Indian Chinese meetings were to exchange dinner recipes.
He then goes on banally to detail the problems between the 2 nations,

Officials here acknowledge that a lack of trust has been particularly evident in recent months, as the year designated to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties became marked by a series of diplomatic disputes.

The article goes on to perpetuate a set of views by diplomats and provides no insight barring this last douche. Shen Dingli, a leading strategic analyst at Fudan University who stated,

“I hope China, Pakistan and India would have maturity in developing win-win-win relationships.” On suggestions that China itself was concerned over increasing U.S. influence in Pakistan, and hence recently accelerated its engagement there, he said: “Some people may have that concern, but I think there are positives out of the U.S. relationship with Pakistan, too.”

Win-win-win relationship between a disorganized democracy, an Islamic terrorist fundamentalist and a pseudo Communist dictatorship? Keep dreaming Ananth, perhaps you will develop some writing skills out of thin air as well.

Hiding behind technicalities - Arundhati Roy charges

Being a journalist in many parts of the world is a tough job. Not wanting to banal, other than the TV heads and the heads of print media, most of the remaining journos have to fight multiple things like competition, lack of imagination, lack of news, reader fatigue to publish good stories. However given a great story like wacky "intellectual" Arundhati Roy pushing for separation of Kashmir from India, N.Ram and his team of jackasses publish what is probably the most banal articles possible titled '‘Sedition' versus free speech '.
Defending Ms.Roy for her treasonous activities, LiC initiates his salvo at the BJP,

It is deplorable that three sentences uttered at a seminar relating to the status of Kashmir within India should have evoked such zealous hyper-patriotic anger and resulted in demands for invoking harsh sedition laws.

He makes it claim as though she was charged during the Spanish Inquisition and burned on a stake!
The primary claim of all left wing journos is that they want freedom of speech when one of theirs makes treasonous statements. But when a nationalistic person makes a statement bashing China or Communism or a certain violent minority, the hypocritical N.Ram and his minions would be in a mad rush to beat them up.

In his classic defence of free speech, On Liberty, John Stuart Mill laid down what is known as the ‘harm principle.' It postulates that the only justification for silencing a person against his will is to prevent him from causing harm to others. It is to this powerful libertarian mid-19th century principle that we owe the idea that free speech cannot be proscribed merely because we find it disagreeable, and that curbs may be imposed only if such expression constitutes a direct, explicit, and unequivocal incitement to violence.

What Arundhati Roy did was exactly that. Supporting the rock throwing militants of Kashmir, who have for years sucked on the funds from the "special" status provided by Article 370 is a clear unambiguous evidence of treason. For all the free speech thrown around by the jerk N.Ram, how about publishing articles of the pogrom conducted by these stone throwing militants? Or the plight of the Kashmiri Hindus who were evicted from their homes?
But these are not the voices N.Ram and his minions like Sidd Varadarajan want to listen to. This is the real BS pushed as editorials by cHindu.

cHindu celebrates American sponsorship from benefactor Pakistan

Many hypocritical Indian media outlets have claimed a holier than thou attitude on the paid news scandal. Now this news release US gives $2 billion aid to Pakistan to fight terror.

The United States on Friday announced that it would provide a whopping $2.29 billion as military aid to Pakistan to bolster its army's anti-terror capabilities, notwithstanding India's concerns that Islamabad has been diverting a portion of such assistance against it.

You might ask why is this important here. But a careful observation of cHindu's editorial and news policies clearly expose it as THE main outlet in India which exposes Pakistan's cause.
It has continued to support Pakistan even when it sponsored terror attacks on Indian citizens, fomenting troubles in numerous Indian states. Is this anything to do with ideology?
cHindu's Communist loving ideology has nothing to do with the Islamic fascist state. Then logically the only scenario is that of money. cHindu not only supports Pakistani ideology within its editorials, but also its views on Kashmiri separatism.
At least the Americans showed some sensibility in portraying it as a Indian-Pakistani issue rejecting calls for intervention by Pakistan.

Meanwhile, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley, addressing journalists at the Foreign Press Center here on Friday, rejected fresh calls by Pakistan seeking Washington's intervention on the Kashmir issue. The U.S. made it clear that it was for India and Pakistan to find a resolution through “additional dialogue.” The American position was affirmed after Mr. Qureshi insisted earlier in the day that the U.S. played an active role in the resolution of Kashmir and other disputes in the South Asian region.

Who is Sonia cheering for in the CWG?

cHindu has a snap of Sonia and Prince ignorant Rahul cheering on someone in the CWG.


Wonder who they are cheering for? India or Pakistan?

cHindu recomends azaadi to Kashmir

The jerks at Anna Salai have added one more to their growing brood. In an article by Dr. Vithal Rajan - The Kashmir imbroglio: thinking the unthinkable , the author recommends giving Kashmir its freedom by offering it on a platter to Pakistan. He follows that up with several ideas which in normal circumstances would put him in an asylum. But since he writes for cHindu, he would be in an editorial positions as his opinions suck up to those of LiC.

If Indian troops are out of Kashmir, would it jeopardise the security of Indians? Not really. The mountainous barrier between the Kashmir Valley and India is a better defensive line to guard than the present long untenable frontier of the Line of Control. Should we be there in Kashmir against all odds out of moral obligation, because the people of the Valley are dependent on our protection?

While I agree with the writer that Kashmiris have hated India, speaking to many they would prefer India to the hell hole currently known as Pakistan.
The writer then goes on to state foreign policy which has nothing to do with this article,

It has taken Great Britain 60 years to realise it is no longer the centre of an empire. Indian rulers have yet to realise they are no longer in charge of ‘the jewel in the crown.' Indians are not the leaders of Asia — the Chinese are.

Even an egomaniac like Late Pandit Nehru had no illusions that India was the de facto leader of Kashmir. The current leaders have no such illusions of grandeur. Then he states how India should forget the hapless citizens of Tibet,

India should not play dirty pool with China, and harbour Tibetan governments-in-exile. Let it not be forgotten that one of the causes of the India-China border war of 1962 was the covert activities of the CIA from Indian bases.

And states India should become a surrogate or puppet to China,

India should mend its fences pronto with China, and accept the glaring fact that they are bigger, and better

I'm sure LiC would be happy rubbing his cats belly like one Dr. Evil reading this sentence. I'm surprised it was not headlined.
Though I do agree with the writer's last statement which should be extended to Kashmir immediately.

India might have to redraw the frontiers, absorbing Jammu and Ladakh into India without any special status. Whatever the final shape of the outcome, India must be proactive in demanding an immediate international settlement of a problem created by Nehru.

cHindu chokes on hearing Liu winning Nobel prize

In what was a sensational announcement by the Nobel committee,

Jailed Chinese political activist Liu Xiaobo, 54, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, a decision the Chinese government has criticised as “a blasphemy.”

The committee said,

the award went to Mr. Liu, who is in prison for his calls for political reform, “for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China.”

Of course cHindu with its top dog LiC and others were probably shattered to hear the news that Norway had shown the symbolic finger to China and did not address this news in an editorial which it richly deserves but rather in a news article by Ananth K.
In response the Chinese had this to say,

The Chinese Foreign Ministry warned that the award would adversely affect the ties between China and Norway. “Liu Xiaobo is a criminal who has been sentenced by Chinese judicial departments for violating Chinese law,” it said. The award ran “… counter to the principle of the [Nobel Peace] Prize."

I'm sure no one in Norway is quaking in their boots at this saber rattling. Here's hoping that more Liu's step up and clean that cesspool which is India's northern neighbor. India should take cue from Norway and probably award one of the Gandhi family awards, Priyanka Kutha Gandhi award or something to Liu and piss of the Chinese.

Mushy confirms Pak sponsored terrorism

Former Pak prez Pervez Musharraf confirmed what all (other than writers in cHindu) have said all along that Pakistan has been training and funding terrorism in India over the last few decades.

In an interview to Der Spiegel, General Musharraf said militant groups “were indeed formed” to fight India in Kashmir.

Now that their former President has accepted their culpability in this issue, can we go ahead and flush out the rats in Kashmir?
Not so surprisingly the Indian media has been slow in jumping on this issue to force Pakistan to officially address this issue. The next time you hear someone in the media claim how the people of Pak are not to blame for this, you should forward this article to them.

Douchebag of week- Siddharth Varadarajan

There are several jackasses in cHindu writing "articles" or "pieces of opinion". But the person who takes the cake is Siddharth Varadarajan or Sidd as we call him here. This post by Srivathsa cleanly exposes this big cheese of prima donnas.
This pompous douche tries to play the part of expert lawyer,

the court has inadvertently provided a shot in the arm for a political movement that cited the very same “faith” and “belief” to justify its open defiance of the law and the Indian Constitution.

Literary expert,

Tulsidas wrote his Ramcharitmanas in 16th century Ayodhya but made no reference to the birthplace of Lord Rama that the court has now identified with such exacting precision five centuries later.

Indiana Jones,

This was done in 2003, during the time when the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government was in power at the Centre. Not surprisingly, the ASI concluded that there was a “massive Hindu religious structure” below, a finding that was disputed by many archaeologists and historians.

And ends up looking like a prime jackass which he is. For each of the above there are numerous reliable archeological sources proving that the temple existed, was demolished by Babar's generals and the building known as Babri Masjid was another dilapidated unused building. The court ruling itself covered thousands of pages of reports and Sidd somehow digested all of these in a few hours and wrote his judgment piece on the irrationality of the court judgment. Must have some awesome speed reading skills.
But then again when did 'secular' bigots like Sidd Varadarajan ever bother to do things like research or balanced reporting?
Even if there were detailed proof of evidence, these sickular writers would question the judgment:

• Written proof by Babar on a stamp paper that he ordered demolition of Ram Mandir
• Birth certificate of Ram that he was born in Ayodhya
• Portraits from Babur's architects on how Masjid was built on foundation of temple

They play to their audience which is other sickular monkeys or JNU jholawallah crowds who despise everything in ancient Indian culture that is of Hindu origin.
You know what I'm sick of this and gladly show my proverbial middle finger to Sidd Varadarajan and his paymasters at cHindu.

CWG fiasco is Nehruvian socialism's dirty secret

The widespread publicity received by the CWG mess has drawn equally diverse responses from across the globe. A common emerging thread seems to be the loss of national pride even among those who otherwise consider nationalism a dirty word. As if it were not quaint enough, there is a palpable--though hitherto non-existent--sense of embarrassment and shame at the way soiled linens from the CWG complex were splashed across the web.

Such curiously misplaced sense of national honor and public dignity is quite baffling. Though several facile excuses have been served to reclaim spent glory, the CWG rot being a function of birth pangs seems to possess most takers. Sadly, even those more restrained and detached from the "Yippee" exuberance are nonetheless tarred by this phenomenon. Once international interest subsides and foreign teams return, court historians and Delhi sultanate's mandarins will declare victory and head home--TV studios and broadsheet pages that is. It is precisely why there now is a serious urgency to decouple national pride from the success or failure of CWG.

While the perceptive causes are 'Jugaad' and 'chalta hai,' themselves a bastard progeny of the protectionist era, the root cause is Nehruvian socialism, the lifeblood of protectionist tendencies. The dynasty's patriarch bequeathed the country with a deadly ideology and a moribund culture that wiped out the dignity attached to responsibility and enterprise. In pandering to the lowest common denominator of a newly unshackled populace, it offered a numbingly false sense of security that rested in continuation of a stolid status quo. With mediocrity thus metastasized, and then duly lionized by his daughter Indira, it was only a matter of time before the bills came due. That inception has now engulfed the nation, and will perhaps consume it, if it hasn't already.

Whatever the outside chance for salvation, lies within. The culture of grievance and sleaze will need to make way for a public hunger for merit, accomplishment, and recognition. Whoever manages to fire the imagination of a sulking public in some such way will have a wonderful job waiting for him...or her.