Chindu's false reports on SIT summons to Modi

The Hindu : Front Page : SIT summons Modi in Jaffrey murder enquiry
The Hindu : Front Page : SIT summons to Modi evokes mixed reactions
The Hindu : Front Page : ‘Gujarat cooperating in probe'
The Hindu : New Delhi News : Modi will exercise his legal rights, says BJP

Angry reactions from readers on Modi and celebrations that justice is being delivered.
The Hindu : Opinion / Letters to the Editor : Road to justice

This correspondent goes a step further with the acknowledgment receipt in his pocket.
The Hindu : Front Page : Modi yet to respond to SIT summons
Although Mr. Modi acknowledged the summons issued to him to appear before the SIT for questioning

Neena Vyas jumps into the fray.
The Hindu : National : Modi praised

Despite the summons issued to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Thursday

Finally, we have the stamp of authority coming from N.Ram himself that Modi was summoned by SIT on March 21.
The Hindu : Opinion / Editorials : The long road to justice

The Special Investigation Team tasked by the Supreme Court of India to enquire into the communal violence that shook Gujarat eight years ago has summoned Chief Minister Narendra Modi to appear before it for questioning on March 21.

This is a very good example of truth by repeated assertion. And it also shows the deep hatred the media holds towards Modi. As Modi says, this is an act of instigating people.

CM unravels the truth about supposed SIT summons in his letter to people.

CM unravels the truth about supposed SIT summons in his letter to people.

Dt: 22.03.2010

My beloved countrymen,

Namaskar,

I am constrained to write to you with a deep sense of anguish. Since last eight years canards have been spread against me. For the past one week if we analyse the allegations leveled against me, then the truth will become evident. Truth cannot be suppressed. It is now my duty to place before you the facts that brings out the importance of understanding what the truth really is.

After the 2002 Godhra incidents, I had categorically said in the Vidhan Sabha and in public that no one is above the Indian Constitution and the law, even if he happens to be the chief minister of a state. These are not mere words. My actions have reflected this statement in its true spirit. I assure you that this would be my stand in the future.
In spite of that, some vested interests without losing a single opportunity and with malicious pleasure and without bothering to ascertain the truth based on mere whims and fancies have been tarnishing the good image of Gujarat, my government and me.
Recently a systematic campaign to defame Gujarat through propagation of false reports titled “SIT summons Narendra Modi”; “Narendra Modi did not appear before SIT” and “Modi has shown disrespect to Supreme Court and SIT.” Such baseless allegations are being leveled once again against me to defame Gujarat.
I am therefore compelled to place the facts before my countrymen.

FACTS:

· As soon as newspapers began reporting that Modi has been summoned by the SIT, the government spokesperson immediately said that Shri Modi is bound by the law of the land and the Indian Constitution. He has always extended his cooperation to every procedure of law. And he is committed to do so in future.

· It is a matter of grave concern and needs investigation as to why and who started spreading lies that “SIT summons Narendra Modi on March 21, 2010”.

· The purveyors of untruth failed even to think that March 21, 2010 happens to be a Sunday and a public holiday.

· These purveyors of lies even did not once bother to check whether the key SIT officers, who are appoited by the Supreme Court, were present in Gujarat on March 21, 2010.

· SIT had not fixed March 21, 2010 for my appearance. To say that I was summoned on March 21 is completely false. I shall respond to the SIT fully respecting the law and keeping in view the dignity of a body appointed by the Supreme Court.

· The date of 21st March 2010 was invented by some vested interest and as a part of their effort to interfere in the due process of law. They wanted to paint me as a person who refused to respond to the SIT. This country has in the last twenty four hours witnessed a campaign of disinformation in which a section of the media became an instrument of the disinformers. I hope this section will now take corrective steps.

My beloved countrymen,

The people of Gujarat and this country have identified those who are defaming Gujarat continuously since 2002. But I want to tell the truth that spreading falsehoods has only one single purpose and that is to instigate people. It is a sinful action which will harm the working of a democratic state. Seen in the backdrop of events in the last 24 hours it shows that there is a nexus among the vested interests in spreading lies against me in order to defame me. This machination has come unstuck and the people have seen through this charade.

Government of Gujarat has always honoured and cooperated with the investigative agencies, commissions and Supreme Court looking into Godhra and post-Godhra incidents. And that is why I never thought of giving a public statement on this issue. Despite unbearable pain, I decided to maintain silence in the belief that due process of law would take its own course.

But now as the lies reach a crescendo as never before I am compelled to bring the facts before the countrymen. I also consider it as my humble duty.

I hope the truth is not twisted by the purveyors of untruth to misguide the investigation. And I expect that the media would bring my deep pain and despair to the notice of the people.

Thanks,

Narendra Modi

Bait Modi, get rewarded

The Pioneer > Online Edition : >> It’s official: Bait Modi, get rewarded

Javed Akhtar	Filed a petition in the Supreme Court that put the Narendra Modi Government on the mat, by raising a stink on all encounter killings in the State	Padma Bhushan
Teesta Setalvad	Her petition filed in the Supreme Court laid the foundation for reopening of riot cases, shifting of trial outside Gujarat in several cases and protection to witnesses	Padma Shri
Mallika Sarabhai	Was vocal in her criticism against Chief Minister Narendra Modi after the Gujarat riots	Padhma Bhushan
VN Khare	Former Chief Justice of India castigated Modi Government for failing its “raj dharma”	Padma Vibhushan

Siddharth Varadarajan must be aiming for a Padma award and that is why we see him repeatedly gunning for Modi.

SIT questioning Modi on riots

One of the good things about SIT questioning Modi on the Gujarat riots is that guys like Siddharth Varadarajan will drop their regular catch phrases (eg: genocide of muslims, etc) and get into the details.

Basically, SIT does not think Modi commissioned the crime. You would think that such a leader could not directly commission a crime. Not if you look at the history of Congress leaders. Sajjan Kumar, Jagdish Tytler, etc directly lead rampaging mobs during Sikh massacres and were duly rewarded by Congress.

SIT wants to explore angles of ommission by Modi and his government. This line of questioning is fundamentally flawed but is also the one which gives enough latitude to arrive at predetermined conclusions.

- First and foremost, it acknowledges that SIT does not have a strong case against Modi. This is what we have suspected all along anyway.

- Given that we are talking about crisis management over a large administrative area, it is hard to conclude with some degree of confidence whether an incident was an administrative failure (arising out of any of endemic inefficiencies within our system, poor capabilities to handle such
situations, overstretched resources, etc), or an act of ommission by responsible authorities. There must be hard, compelling evidence to prove that there was a deliberate act of ommission by the authorities under direct instructions from Modi to put the blame on Modi.

- Has our record of handling of riot situations been far superior than that witnessed in Gujarat to suggest that what we witnessed was an aberration?

- Worldwide Crisis management record including developed countries is not very comforting. New Orleans saw an administrative collapse. Chinese government had trouble controlling (or orchetrating?) the anti-Japanese riots in 2005. The muslim riots in France in 2005 led to a three month "state of emergency". Are we assuming that India has the best record in the world in the matter of riot control along?

Reasonable actionswere taken for the VHP bandh call. The paramilitary was deployed on the next day of Godhra and the army was put on alert. The day after, 13 columns of army was
deployed. Parading dead body to burial ground is a hindu ritual, isnt it. In hindsight, it could have been done differently. But the parade effect couldn't have been felt across Gujarat as the parade was not across Gujarat. Does the SIT have evidence to prove that the bodies were paraded beyond the usual norms?

I am only trying to illustrate that the SIT must provide compelling evidence to prove there was a motivated campaign by the administrators to target muslims. Otherwise, there are several questions that SIT could raise but they dont necessarily mean anything other than proving the benefit of hindsight. I am sure that just like Baneerjee, who was given a mandate to produce a theory on spontaneous combustion, the SIT will find "evidence" that will please the seculars. And we will have to brace ourselves for more breast beating by Siddharth Varadarajan.

The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : The buck must stop at the very top

The petition asks whether senior police officials told the Chief Minister or higher officers in writing about the likely repercussions of parading the bodies. Why was no preventive action taken when a bandh call had already been given by VHP? Why was the Army not called out immediately and why was there a delay in its deployment when it finally reached Ahmedabad? By themselves, none of these questions implies the commission of a crime.

One more from N.Ram on his pet theme

The Hindu : Opinion / Editorials : The long road to justice
What N.Ram wont tell you is that the Secretary of Citizens for Justice and Peace, Teesta Setalvad, was caught forging documents submitted to NHRC and lying to our Courts. Citizens for Justice and Peace has hardly any credibility left to be taken seriously. In fact, Citizens for Justice and Peace should be de-registered as a Trust and criminal proceedings be initiated against Teesta Setalvad. But our secular establishment wont be doing anything to upset their constituencies. So, we will have the spectacle of secular henchmen like N.Ram asking for justice against Modi.
Chandan Mitra once called Teesta Setalvad an overground terrorist. N.Ram is acting like her accomplice. Both Teesta and N.Ram are trying to take good mileage out of Gujarat riots.

SV on Modi's 'action-reaction' quote

Riots often occur in reaction to a perceived grievance or out of dissent. Godhra was the ghastly incident which triggered off Gujarat riots. The secular, left lib, intellectuals have gone to great extent to mis-represent the riots and misinterpret Modi's statements.

Reality, one bite at a time: Modi's 'action-reaction' quote

‘Kriya pratikriya ki chain chal rahi hai. Hum chahate hain ki na kriya ho aur na pratikriya. (What is happening is a chain of action and reaction. What I want is that there should be no action and no reaction).’ Asked about the violence which erupted throughout Gujarat on the day of the VHP-sponsored bandh, he said:

Godhra mein jo parson hua, jahan par chalees mahilaon aur bacchon ko zinda jala diya, is mein desh mein aur videsh mein sadma pahunchna swabhavik tha. Godhra ke is ilake ke logon ki criminal tendencies rahi hain. In logon ne pahele mahila teachers ka khoon kiya. Aur ab yeh jaghanya apraadh kiya hai jiski pratikria ho rahi hai. (It is natural that what happened in Godhra day before yesterday, where forty women and children were burnt alive, has shocked the country and the world. The people in that part of Godhra have had criminal tendencies. Earlier, these people had murdered women teachers. And now they have done this terrible crime for which a reaction is going on).

Modi's statements are given above, along with the translation. Whether taken within the context or without, there is no call for violence in Modi's remarks. Unlike Rajiv Gandhi's infamous statement (“Some riots took place in the country following the murder of Indiraji. We know the people were very angry and for a few days it seemed that India had been shaken. But, when a mighty tree falls, it is only natural that the earth around it does shake a little.”), there is no classification of violence into bad and good in Modi's statements. But the media has taken excessive liberties with truth. Here is the interpretation by our 'secular' journalists.

Apart from being a crude attempt to deflect criticism of his failures as chief minister, Modi’s ‘action-reaction’ theory is also morally repugnant. As Vir Sanghvi has argued, ‘What Mr Modi and his ilk are really saying is this: Because the riots were a response to a horrific and immoral act at Godhra, they are somehow less morally reprehensible . . . But cause-and-effect cannot be a moral philosophy. You cannot whitewash an event, wipe away somebody’s guilt or provide moral justification by pointing to the cause of their behaviour.

On an ending note, here is Siddharth Varadarajan again:

But though Modi did not himself invoke Newton’s name when he spoke of action and reaction, his reference to the law was obvious.

Even Newton might find it hard to deduce the reference to his law from Modi's statements. There is no talk of "equal and opposite" reaction but a cyclical action-reaction chain of escalating events (which is a characteristic of riots). SV is trying to put words into Modi's mouth.

Move beyond politics of memory : Chindu on 84 riots

Chindu blames Nanavati for trying to seek the truth instead of firmly putting behind the "politics of memory". By contrast, it blames all Gujaratis for looking beyond 2002.

From its 9th Aug 2005 edition:


The Hindu : Front Page : Credible evidence against Tytler: Nanavati

The Nanavati Commission, which probed the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, has found "credible evidence" against senior Congress leader Jagdish Tytler

The Hindu : Opinion / News Analysis : Politics of forgetting and forgiving

Above all, a society ought to move beyond the politics of memory. Justice Nanavati has failed civil society. Rather than firmly close the book, he has given enough ammunition to those who want to keep the pot boiling.

05th Jan 2008 on Gujarat forgetting 02 riots and voting for Modi:

The Hindu : Opinion / News Analysis : Gujarat elections: some reflections

What should worry us, then, is not whether Mr. Modi is a demon, but the change in the Gujarati psyche. What has happened to Gujarat? Is it still redeemable?

Thankfully, some sane voices found their way to the "Letters" section. And Mr.Iyer's question should be reworded: "What has happened to India? Is it still redeemable?" I don't think Chindu is listening anyway.

The Hindu : Opinion / Letters to the Editor : Gujarat elections

The article argues that while Gujarat 2002 and Delhi 1984 were both deeply horrifying and profoundly disturbing, they cannot be compared. The victims of the 1984 riots have not been rehabilitated even after 23 years and the perpetrators have got away. If the Congress and the Delhi populace could move ahead and put the riots behind them, why doubt the Gujaratis’ ability to do the same? It is not proper to question the Gujarati psyche on the basis of the electoral results. I would like to remind the author that there were riots in Gujarat even before 2002, during the Congress regime. The 1969 riots were worse.
- P. Venaktasubramanian, Chennai

Concerns such as those expressed in the article have existed over Gujarat and other places — Delhi, Meerut, Moradabad, Bhiwandi — at different times throughout the six decades following independence. To fault the Gujarati psyche for the recent election result risks alienation of the community. What the Gujarat electorate seems to have done is to put 2002 where it deserves to be — five years backwards — and look to the future. The reasons the Congress lost were it could not think beyond 2002 and conceive a vision better than Mr. Modi’s. Election results should be accepted gracefully and the electorate’s sentiment acknowledged.
- Devraj Sambasivan, Alappuzha

All Gujaratis responsible for 02 riots, thunders Chindu

Weclome to the new kid on the block - Ramaswamy.R.Iyer

The Hindu : Opinion / News Analysis : Gujarat elections: some reflections

It is indeed possible to argue with some justification that the Commission was excessively concerned about appearing to be even-handed, and that the issue of a notice to and the passing of an order on Ms Gandhi was not really called for.

Sonia Maino should be excused for her remark because it was justified. Can it get better than that? You bet.

The expression “merchants of death” that she used was not personal vilification but a criticism of a grave failure of rajya dharma (recall Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s exhortation to Mr. Modi at an early stage). If this understanding is correct, the Commission’s judgment that she had violated the code of conduct was questionable.

Ramaswamy has his logic twisted here. The understanding is obviously wrong because Congress party said it was a personal attack on Modi, which it later tried to withdraw after EC's notice.

In scale, duration, and the number of people killed, Delhi 1984 was possibly worse than Gujarat 2002. However, in comparing the two events and trying to be “fair” and “even-handed,” we fail to note two points. First, it is meaningless to compare the two horrors; abhorrence, grief, and shame are the appropriate responses in both cases. One horror does not mitigate the other.

We agree. There is no point in comparing Sikh riots to Gujarat riots, because the Congress politicians' involvement in Sikh riots is very well documented, whereas there is still no clear incontrovertible proof of State Government's involvement in Gujarat.

Secondly, while some politicians and groups might have been actively involved in Delhi 1984, the Hindus of Delhi as a whole were not complicit in the anti-Sikh violence, nor did they condone it. Of course, the state was complicit, and ipso facto the citizens could be said to be indirectly complicit too, but we cannot say that the madness of those few days had social sanction.

Extra clever use of vocabulary - "some politicians and groups", very typical of Chindu. The truth is much simpler and very well known for Ramaswamy to force-fit it into his theory. The sikh riots were not perpetrated by Hindus but by the "secular" Congress party. The Hindus have no enmity against Sikhs.
The 84 riots were Congress party's pogrom against Sikhs. It was not a social conflict.

In Gujarat, one fears that the horrors of 2002 had, apart from direct participation by some, widespread social acquiescence among Hindus. In Germany, the people renounced the Nazi madness, undertook severe self-criticism and experienced remorse. One is not aware of any similar development in Gujarat; perhaps it will happen in due course.

Just in case you missed it, I am repeating Ramaswamy's assertions: In Gujarat, one fears that the horrors of 2002 had, apart from direct participation by some, widespread social acquiescence among Hindus.
Ramaswamy is making a sweeping statement against all the Hindus of Gujarat that they supported the "pogrom". What a "secular" assertion.

On the other hand, there is anger at “Gujarat bashing.”

Gujarat should not be upset with all that is written against it. After all, Ramaswamy, by virtue of his position in Chindu, is sanctioned to write anything against the Hindus.

Either Mr. Modi was the demon that he was said to be, or he was not. If he was, it was right to describe him so; there is then no question of demon-ising, much less “unduly.” If he was not, it was simply wrong to have so described him.

What justice!

We can draw our inferences from a study of what happened in 2002, the manner in which the Gujarat Government responded to the outbreak of violence, the Chief Minister’s role in that context, the inferences that can be drawn from the Tehelka tapes (if they are authentic), his impugned election speeches, and the Election Commission’s finding on them. Plenty of material is available: reports by persons such as Harsh Mander, Swami Agnivesh, the National Human Rights Commission, and so on, and now the Tehelka tapes.

Note that all the demonisation is purely based on "inferences". Sources used? -- "secular" cohorts, hearsay and Tehelka "porn" tapes.

What is needed is a proper investigation. Investigations and consequential action must not be put off merely because he is back as Chief Minister with a strong popular mandate. Those who boasted on camera about criminal actions must be brought to book. State failure and possible complicity must be looked into, and the officials concerned proceeded against. If the trail leads to the Chief Minister, that too must be followed up and action taken.

What should worry us, then, is not whether Mr. Modi is a demon, but the change in the Gujarati psyche. What has happened to Gujarat? Is it still redeemable?

We ask the same question - Is Chindu redeemable?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Modi is doing good, so throw him out : Khare

Once again, Khare comes out with communist logic to say Modi is good on all fronts, he must be thrown out.

The Hindu : Opinion / News Analysis : Stake-holders and their opportunities

Since 2002, he has managed to graft on the Gujarat citizens impulses and attitudes that are very much at odds with India’s liberal political culture — as also against Gujarat’s own history and Gandhian legacy.

Allegations fly thick and fast against Modi

The "gutter inspector" saw only what she wanted to. ELM is looked down upon as worse than scum in Gujarat. It is a surprise if anyone even glanced at her, leave alone give an interview.

The Hindu : Opinion / News Analysis : The going may not be easy for Modi

Saurashtra was visibly hostile to the Chief Minister.

But there was also simmering anger against the BJP for the way it was
seen to have exploited tribal susceptibility. The tribal participation
in the anti-Muslim riots of 2002, the subject of much intellectual
agonising in Delhi and elsewhere, is recalled with shame in these
parts, and the emotion bursts forth like a torrent: “He [Modi] used us
against Muslims during the riots, and then sent us to jail for it.”

Unsurprisingly, Mr. Modi treated the rebels with contempt.

In the case of Leuva Patels, this was compounded by a kinship feeling
towards Mr. Keshubhai Patel, “next only to Sardar Patel” in stature but
“humiliated” by a BJP leadership more keen on Mr. Modi.

An interesting feature of the Leuva Patel bitterness was that it was directed only against Mr. Modi.

The Koli resentment against Mr. Modi is of more recent origin and can
be traced to a double incident of rape and murder that shook the
community in mid-May. The two Koli girls had gone to a shrine in
Junagadh where one of them was raped and the other killed. Today with
the criminals still at large, the inconsolable Kolis are disillusioned
with Mr. Modi and the BJP — a party they have largely been voting in
the past 15 years.


Some of the anger was visible at the Tarnetar mela which came to a
close with the visit of the Chief Minister. Mr. Modi waved to the
crowds which refused to return the gesture, remaining sullen for all of
the time he was there.

At a recent function in Bhuj in the Kutch region, he called Mr. Modi a “dictator” comparable to “Adolf Hitler”

As I returned to Ahmedabad, the negatives seemed to outweigh the
positives for Mr. Modi in an election which the Gujarati intellectual
class — barring a minuscule section — said the Chief Minister could
find tough but which he would win anyway.

Opposition more important than Modi's development schemes

Rather than focussing on Modi's schemes and the benefits, The Chindu prefers to repeat the "allegations" of Opposition.



The Hindu : National : Rs. 13,000-crore package in Gujarat

The Opposition, however, organised a "parallel mock session" outside the Assembly premises to "expose" the Speaker's alleged partisan role.

When the BJP raised the same objection against Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, The Chindu said it was undermining the Speaker's office.

Helpless Chindu cribs

This is highly commendable, isn't it - a leader stressing on development rather than taking a dig at political opponents. Instead of showering praise on Modi, The Chindu indulges in partisan politics. The central government is trying to replicate -- like "Chiranjeevi" -- several schemes of Modi in other states. Modi's another innovative programme, Vidyalakshmi, which provides a Rs 1,000 bond to every girl child who enrols in the first grade in villages with a low female literacy rate, has attracted countrywide attention. Modi is rightfully stressing on his development feats. But The Chindu calls it "harping" - in a derogatory sense. It also complains that he isn't mentioning about the Central Government schemes.



The Hindu : National : Modi harps on development feats

Except for oblique references to the "failures" of the previous Congress governments to take the State on the path of progress, Mr. Modi avoided direct attack on his political opponents in the State or the Congress-led UPA Government at the Centre. Even in Godhra, the scene of the train carnage that sparked off the brutal riots in 2002, he made no reference to the communal passions and his 40-minute address was totally dedicated to his Government's schemes for women's empowerment.



...he avoided reference to Central Government schemes for the poor and backward classes.

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?