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

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

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

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

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

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

Company law board response for cHindu succession battle

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

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

cHindutoon celebrating the DMK CPM divorce

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

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

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

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

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


(Disclaimer: All analysis for parody purposes only)

Save cHindu, prevent Sidd V from becoming editor

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

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

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

Will CPM stronghold West Bengal be stormed?

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

cHindu demeans Anna Hazare.. kind of

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

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

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

Someone in Indian Govt. remembers 26/11

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

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

Lets see some action behind those words.

Afridi exposes true colours bashes India

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

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

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

Twisting wikileaks - Jaitley's remarks

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

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

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

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

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

The curious case of cHinduLeaks

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

cHindu censors China's Jasmine revolution

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

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

Celebrating MMS the new-era Dhritharashtra

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What about corrupt journalists Mr. Siddharth Varadarajan?

Churches support Maoist terrorism activities

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

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

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

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

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

SC super stars say Haj subsidy not discriminatory

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

cHindu proves "Paid news" in Indian Media

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

Setalvad caught in falsifying evidence 4 Gujarat riots

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

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

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

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

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

How to spin Bihar results 101 by LiC

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

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

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

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

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

cHindu-NDTV silence on barkhagate- Friends with benefits

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

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

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

Blame the process not Raja - LiC

Hat tip to reader Balaji for pointing this out.
If you read any cHindu article or editorial you will find some editorializing going on. Even if say a dog bit a old woman Bangalore, cHindu would probably tie it to the BJP government's lack of social responsibility. However in the case of what appears to be one of the biggest scandals in Indian Parliament history cHindu has staunchly supported the DMK and A.Raja ('A' standing for acidic, acerbic?)
Now LiC from his perch in Anna Salai comes out and blames the process of allotting the spectrum as the culprit and not any one individual. Its a bit like blaming the German judicial system for the Holocaust and not Hitler. Or Indian Army for losing the Indo-Chinese war of 1962 and not Nehru. It sets a wrong precedent
of future allotment of blame in such scandals.

The integrity of the process always determines the quality of the product that comes out of it. If a process is wrong, the product seldom turns out right. It is now a common conclusion that the procedure for the allocation of spectrum in 2007-08 for the second generation (2G) telecom services was flawed, and grossly so. When there were many more aspirants for the licences than there was frequency spectrum, and an auction should have been the obvious method to decide on the winners, the licences were handed out instead in a non-transparent, first-come-first-served basis and at a low price set seven years earlier.

Hindsight is indeed 20-20. Where is the issue of incompetence of A.Raja and his steadfast refusal to resign?
Or for that matter the kickbacks he received?

The Manmohan Singh government has no option but to take serious note of the glaring non-performance by these companies. Perhaps it was inevitable they would fail, because as the CAG discovered, many of these companies did not have any experience in telecommunications. Revoking their licences would therefore be a rational and appropriate response.

If this is a cover-up article aimed at fooling the reading public of cHindu, then LiC better start packing his desk.

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.