YOUR METHODS WERE UNORTHODOX AND UNCONVENTIONAL MR.KEJRIWAL

YOUR METHODS ARE UNORTHODOX AND UNCONVENTIONAL MR.KEJRIWAL

Dear Mr. Kejriwal,

I will do a disservice to myself and to all right thinking citizens of this patriotic nation if I congratulate you on your assuming the mantle of Delhi. In fact, the kudos go to Congress for playing their dice cunningly. You do not deserve congratulations as you gambled your way to power by playing the dice game with them. As you are perceived honest (a thin line divides honesty from dishonesty, in your case it is a mere perception), I am giving the benefit of doubt to you and comparing you to the 'blot less' Dharmaraja, who too told a 'sweet lie' to win war. But as you played this game of dice for power, you stand in the opposite camp too.  And, in the process what did you bet at stakes? Is it not the trust and confidence of few lakh voters that voted to your candidates? Draupadi, one of the most pious women, taken aback on hearing that her husband lost her in gambling, asks, "Did he lose first and lose me then or did he lose me first and then lost himself?" Delhi voters are as pious too. Now, they are asking, "Did AK lose himself to Congress before bartering our trust to the "most corrupt party" (your own words) or did he barter our interests first without our knowledge and then lost himself?  To add salt to the wounds the TV channel that worked over time projecting your party is now asking the question, "Did the split begin?" within 12 hours of your announcing the "marriage of convenience" or "live in and out relation" , one inside and the other outside. The answer is as imponderable as your own personality traits.

I adhere to the dictum that in politics personal life of a leader, even a 'bete noir' should not be commented upon as that speaks poorly about the commentator. But, when personality traits of a leader reflect in his qualities of leadership that affect the state, as is your case, it is but apt to discuss your life pattern as known to me. You were born into a rich family with all comforts and well educated in reputed institutions. From then on, you placed your two feet on two boats that reflected a sense of indecision and vacillation in deciding which way to go. You were in and out of work. The same trait was evident in your 'fight against corruption' under the banner of IAC. While being a loyal follower of Anna Hazare you set your eyes high on fighting the system from within by leading it. Mahatma never had this ambition in his life. Nor did Mother Theresa, whose life had been inspiration to you. There is nothing wrong in trying to cleanse a system, of which you too have been part all these years but now suddenly realised that only you could cleanse it. But as Mahatma Gandhi said always, " Means should justify ends". But you went the opposite direction. For you, ends justified means.

To discuss this, I shall quote a minor event in your life that speaks for itself about the way you think and act. After all, masks are masks and one day the real faces come out. You resigned your post in IRS, a high paying job, in 2006. In fact it goes to your credit that you donated your money won under Ramon Magsayasay Award to an NGO. (I do not have details of the NGO or its organizers).  There was a condition attached to your service that you should work for minimum three years on rejoining after two years' study leave . To circumvent this clause you worked for 18 months and went on unpaid leave for 18 months and claimed this period on unpaid leave as "on duty". As a well educated, socially responsible citizen in high government job you must have known that "unpaid" leave did not count as service. But you feigned ignorance and fought the 'system'. Why? Was it to find a 'loophole' somewhere? What happened was part of history. Here, your ends of avoiding paying back 18 months' salary to the government justified the means you adopted, feigning ignorance of CCS rules. The larger question here is, " If you wanted to circumvent a CCS rule for your benefit, what moral right do you have to question the system and call all others as corrupt?" Corruption too is a state of mind. A person need not be physically corrupt to be called "dishonest". 

Your very intention of not paying the dues of government knowing fully well that you needed to pay amounted to dishonesty. I will narrate a small moral story. Two friends wanted to spend an evening. One suggested they go to a "dancing girl" programme and the other went to a temple. The one that saw the dance went to Heaven and the one that went to temple went to hell. The latter asked the King of hell the reason. He told, "You went to temple but rued about what joy you missed. He went to dance but mused over what righteous pleasure you were having in the temple." You were in government service for 11 years out of which you were on leave for  3.5 years. Do you call that honesty? If all in government service in Delhi emulate you, will you be able to run government? We make the system or mar the system. What did you do? Please just ponder over.

Another major trait evident in your personal or public life is that you leave a job half finished and jump on to the other. I go back to the days when you were conducting press conferences to expose the corrupt. One day you claimed you got 'clinching' evidence on the trust run by the wife of  Salman Khurshid. You went the whole hog of challenging him on his own turf. But suddenly you changed tack as if there was pressure on you from unknown quarters. You shifted gears and targeted Nitin Gadkari with flimsy charges. I still remember the day. I commented that this was being done to malign a particular party, as they were right wing, and whatever corruption charges were being hurled on Congress leaders were only a red herring. And you stopped pursuing the case of even Gadkari too after he was not given extension. As per Khurshid he was promoted and you seemed happy about it and kept quiet. From then on you shifted gears again and started projecting yourself as a "protector" of the rotten system. And you forgot to target "corrupt" leaders in the process. Your leap from IAC to AAP is another indicator of this trait. 

Then comes your real trait. You tend to criticize for the sake of criticism. Fact of life is that after some time people tend to ignore you. Criticism is the very essence of public life. But there are variations. Criticism can be constructive, destructive and/or self-destructive. From day one I saw you in public life, you adopted a destructive and self-destructive method of criticism. It is unorthodox, though it may give immediate results as has happened in your case. In the long run, though, it will destroy the system as a whole and consume you too. You started with a "Jan Lokpal" demand that was reasonable. Then you shifted gears. You gave an impression that all in the system were corrupt except you and your cronies. Yet, the fact that you are untested in public life leaves a question mark on your claims. In all your wisdom, you should have known that no system is foolproof. There was a Ravan where there was  a Lord Ram and a Duryodhan for a Dharmaraja. Angels and demons are said to be cousins and co-exist. It is not like that there is only one angel for all the demons to be fought with.

Another trait is you tend to make promises beyond your capacity. You told Delhi voters that you would slash power bills by 50% and supply 700 litres of water free of charge. You never calculated the financial implications of such promises. You can sign an order and say you have fulfilled the promise. But what will be the long term implication? Will it not lead to more unorthodox and bizarre practices? Will you tax the public to make up the deficit? You promised Jan Lokpal knowing fully well there would be no Lokpal at state level. Lokayuktha is already in place and you could have promised improvements in the existing laws to make it foolproof. No. But you wanted the whole credit. Then, on statehood yours was a hollow promise. Now, you say that you will sit on dharna at Raisina Hill. Most laughable, to say the least.

Now that you will be Chief Minister of Delhi for at least a few months, people or at least the 30% voters who voted you want answers for the nagging questions given your track record in your professional and public life. 

1) Now that you are in an "unnatural relationship" with your avowed bete noir, the most corrupt  Congress party, will you opt for a divorce by yourself or wait for them to walk out on you? Or will 

 you continue the unnatural relationship much to the discomfiture of your voters? 

2).Out of a total service of about 14 years, you were on leave for about four and half years. Leaving aside private service, you availed leave of absence of about 31/2 years of public service shirking your responsibilities almost 25% of  time. Can an Aam Aadmi that has to work daily for meeting both ends meet, have this luxury at  tax payers' money? And as CM will you assure him of such a luxury?

3) The moot question is, will you, who are accustomed to go on long leaves in pursuit of other avocations, be not tempted to repeat the feat as CM too and go on long leaves? Your assurances

have no value. We already knew you assured us that you would prefer opposition benches than unnatural allies and today you did the opposite. For this, you adopted another unorthodox method, mostly used by Hitler and Mussolini, of referendum. There is no audit of the results of referendum. It was an in-house job.

4) Will you follow rules by the book and abide even if they affect you personally or will you feign ignorance of rules, as you did in the past, to abdicate responsibility?

5) Will you still be tempted to jump from one task to another, in the process leaving all jobs unfinished, 

 as has been your trait through life?

6) Will you, at least now, stop picking holes in all others or will you fit into the system that you were 

highly critical all these years?

7) Finally, will you excuse any citizen that revolts against the system in the name of civil disobedience, 

if he finds your methods unpalatable to him? That was what you did by reconnecting power supply 

climbing an electric pole. Do you not feel it will lead to lawlessness?

Either you do not know how government functions or you wear the mask of ignorance. You wanted to interpolate the functions of civil society and government. Civil society is a watchdog that oversees the functioning of governments. It is difficult for them to govern in the normal course. And governments can not afford to be all that civil as civil society expects. Intricacies of governance involve compromises here and there. Only when these exceed limits and those governing involve in violations for selfish interests, civil society has a job on hand. To paint each by the same brush is not art. It is recipe for disaster. And you chose one of the best Chief Ministers Congress ever had in the country to be painted bad and you are attempting to do the same with some BJP Chief Ministers. In the process, you are only killing the system instead of curing it. Do you want to be a professional surgeon or a quack that operates with a butcher's knife? We wait to see.

On a cautionary note, let the initial aberrations of your behavioural patterns not lead to a bigger chaos in future. Being highly erudite you must be aware of the "theory of chaos" in mathematics, where the present is deterministic of the future but the approximate present does not approximately determine the future. Let not the Delhi citizens suffer from future chaos for minor aberrations in their initial preference of the party to be in power.

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Disclaimer: The information on the professional life of Mr.Kejriwal was taken mostly from Media reports and internet. The blogger does not vouch to the accuracy of the information so collected, as part of it might be hearsay too. The blogger wishes the AAP government success in the best interests of the state but disapproves the unorthodox methods adopted by the party and their leader in pursuit of their objects. The blogger believes that democracy works on some established principles and nations world over tried them successfully.

P.S.: By the time I am posting this, news channels are agog with news that fissures developed in AAP on ministry formation and one top member of the party is trying to strike a compromise. This proves my above point, " Intricacies of governance involve compromises here and there."

IS AAP AN ABERRATION THAT NEEDS CORRECTION?

By the time this blog is written, fate of Delhi Government formation still hangs in balance, the voters kept in a "Trishanku" , a Heaven created by Sage Viswamithra, between earth and Heaven. Delhi voters, who wanted the VVIP culture gone once and for all, were unwittingly caught in VPP culture (Value Payable By <repeated> Polls). 

A gullible family man (like the average Delhi voter), suffering from the menace of bed bugs for a decade saw an advertisement. "Get rid of the bugs; depend on us" and responded. He received a parcel and paid the cost by VPP. (Value Payable by Post). Happy that he could get rid of bugs, he opened and found one bottle of liquid and a knife, with instructions to use,"Catch hold of the bug, open its mouth and pour the liquid in the bug's mouth. If it does not die, kill it with the knife". 

What happened in Delhi was a repeat. The "bug poison" company is AAP. "Elect us and receive 'Value Post polls' (VPP)" was their slogan. Yes! the publicity was perfect. What more does a voter, suffering from all the ills of VVIP culture want? The sight of a hero who can climb an electric poll to reconnect the power supply disconnected by the corrupt system is great publicity. The promise of reduction of power bills by 50% and jailing all the corrupt officials/politicians within six months heated the blood of the youth Whatever be the other economic policies, the construction of a number of jails to imprison all would have provided enough employment to all them. So the voter responded. And he got a parcel of twenty eight MLAs. He got to know  the reality then. The pack of MLAs  cant do anything to kill the  'bug' of VVIP culture or corruption. They have no experience. They are haughty outwardly but pusillanimous inside. It is left to the gullible voter to kill the bug by going through the rigorous exercise again. (By vote or by "NOTA")

It was a matter of faith to the voter. He was under tremendous psychological stress due to reduction in real wages, rising costs, a rotten and corrupt system and lack of proper living conditions.  It is at such a time that the voters look towards a "Messiah". They thought they found one in Delhi too like they found various regional leaders that India produced. But he failed them by opting for another election. This was not unexpected. A person who ran over his own mentor for selfish ends could do so to the voters. Did Delhi voters learn a lesson? Let us wait. Aberrations are corrected by intelligent voters over a period of time. If emotions could win elections over a long period, AGP or TDP could have ruled their states forever. 

Ambition runs in Kejriwal's blood. He joined Anna's army riding on the high tide of anti congress mood in the country because of the various scandals involving crores of dollars. His ambition soured. He was propped up by self-interest groups who found decimation of congress inevitable and wanted the rightist party not to come to power. Fear of persecution might be one reason. So, once he found a platform to project himself, his mentors saw in him a possible tool that could divide the anti establishment vote and see that the 'rightist' party would not win absolutely.(Congress itself might not have been privy to this). A sustained media blitzkrieg was launched by these self-interest groups. Despite all this, he could win only 30% of votes and 28 seats. This shows that his message was taken with a pinch of salt by 70% of voters, who voted in large numbers. 

The biggest aberration is the thinking of Kejriwal, his followers and their invisible mentors. Soon after winning in good number of seats in Delhi their ambitions were further fuelled by their mentors. Result was the announcement of a contest over Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi. This is the anti thesis of Kejriwal's original agenda of fighting a corrupt system. Till now, if there are two politicians that were untouched by allegations of corruption directly, we can take these two names. (along with some others). For, though congress was rocked by many a scandal, Rahul was never involved in the decision making process nor was willing to do so. He never openly supported any corrupt act by any politician. Personally he maintained a dignity that few 'apparent heirs' in India maintained. He never showed pomp in public life.

If we take Narendra Modi, he was lauded by even foreign dignitaries as the most 'incorruptible' politician in the country. He ruled a state for more than a decade. His administrative acumen was lauded by even his political adversaries. He took his state to the highest level of growth in a decade. He gave people of his state better living conditions. His connect with the people of his state was unparalleled. Few politicians won three consecutive elections in the country, despite sustained campaign by rival political parties, fringe groups in the guise of NGOs and self-centred media. So, it was laughable that Kejriwal chose these two over others to fight "corruption". If he was really interested in fighting corruption he should have taken on Karunanidhi's family in Tamilnadu, Y.S.Jagan's family in AP, Mulayam's family in UP, Mayawati in UP, Lalu Prasad in Bihar, Pawar family in Maharashtra or Sibu Soren's family in Jarkhand etc., against whom serious corruption allegations were made at one point or other whether proved or still pending. The reason for his leaving the 'faces of corruption' is that the news won't create as much sensation as the news of contesting the 'untouched by corruption" Rahul or Modi. The agenda is clear that they want Modi not to come to power. Rahul's name is only a"red herring" to mislead the voter that he is taking on the "dynasty" also. 

"All ambitions are lawful except those which climb upward on the miseries or credulities of mankind." quote

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This is part 1 of my blog "Is AAP an aberration, a sensation or media creation?" Part 2 covers the "sensation" part. 

ADVANTAGE BJP BOTH WAYS

On one occasion Mr. P.V.Narasimharao told a story. “A layman told the King that he could make a

horse fly in six months. The King was taken aback but accepted the offer with a rider that he would knock off his head if he could not do it. One friend asked the challenger. “How could you do this? You could face the noose” The man replied, “ In six months, the King may die, I may die,the horse may die or who knows? The horse may fly.”

Six months is a long time in a man’s life. It is more so with elections. Parties that are posturing for re

election in Delhi may not be doing so on any of the above premises. But each player is confident “their horse will fly’ first and higher. The two players forget that ‘a dark horse’ may enter the fray and fly with the honours and spoil the party for them or that the other player adept in the game of bringing ‘dark horses’ as B teams may, as well, do that. So, where do parties stand in the game of numbers?

Let us start with the latest entrant AAP. AAP was a sensation for many reasons. But the main reason, per my opinion, is the “ hype” created by people connected with Media and who contested election on

AAP ticket.  Or, there is no meaning to say they have created history of sorts when they could not gather more than 30% of votes in comparison with 34% and 25% of votes polled by the most corrupt parties (in AAP’s own words), the BJP and the Congress. They mostly ate into the votes of BSP, a non serious player now. They reduced the vote share of BSP by 12%. Now, what may happen in case of a re election?

A joke here.  A wife was wailing on a Friday before her husband, “You ate baingan curry on Monday and applauded me, on Tuesday too you ate and said ‘baingan curry’ was delicious and kissed me too, on Wednesday you were all appreciation for the ‘baingan curry’ I made, on Thursday you ate the ‘baingan curry’ without uttering a single word and  I am shocked that you have thrown the baingan curry on my face today. What is this?” The lesson here is any thing in excess, even if it were good,  produces a negative effect. It is so in case of elections too. Too many of them can make voters fatigued.

If we bring a new toy to a child, he plays with it as if it were the only toy he has in his possession. But after 24/48 hours he switches back to his old toys and makes the new toy too as part of his collection. This is human nature. So, within six months AAP too becomes an ‘old toy’ to play with and part of the collection along with BJP, Congress and BSP. And any new attractive toy that may come into their possession may gain voters’ attention. So, what happens? Chances of AAP repeating the show of getting less than 1/3 rd of votes diminishes further as old players recoup their strength, correct their mistakes, present a unified show of strength and do all the tricks to see that the new sensation remains a paper tiger only.

Further, the re election will be held along with LS elections in 2014. Hype will be mostly on the national

election, where even if AAP contests, the main contest will be between UPA led by Congress and NDA

led by BJP. Issues will be different, far and wide and in the melee the media hype on the new sensation

will be reduced considerably. Attention of voters will be riveted on the national election and with a

strong leader like Modi and the heir apparent Rahul slugging it out, it becomes a fight between two

giants.  All the other minor parties will be on either side of the spectrum or in a loosely cobbled third or

fourth front. With the high moral ground adopted by AAP leader Kejriwal that all other parties except

AAP were corrupt, he would not be in a position to join sides with anyone. It will be a lone battle.

There are positives too. For good or bad, 30% Delhi voters decided that AAP could provide them the much needed soccour and came out enthusiastically to vote for them. If media is to be believed, even the aristocratic voters that never move out to vote, voted for them. So, basic human psychology suggests that these voters will not allow their vote to go waste and hence they may come out again in large numbers to vote to AAP. Added to this the undecided voters too may come out in large numbers and correct their mistake, if it were a mistake, of not being  part of the change. This may add to the vote share of AAP. But, there is a rider. The elections will be held during summer and most of the voters that voted for AAP may not venture to move out in the heat  or may be busy with examinations or may be relaxing with summer vacation. Will this not reduce their vote share? There is no core vote to AAP like Congress or  BJP. Core voters vote to their party, come what may.

If we come to Congress, it is a party that has withered many a storm. Victory or defeat does make no

difference to them.  As the longest surviving political party at the national level, they have

many tricks up their sleeve. They know how to get back from the same place what they have lost. Except in few states it remains a force to reckon with. A rough estimate suggests that they lost 15% vote share compared to 12% of BSP. This 27% vote used to shift between Congress and BSP alternatively in view of the  nature of ‘vote banks’ these two parties nourished over a period. AAP made the difference by grabbing this share of vote. The possibility of Congress targeting this section with sops and promises or Congress allying with BSP too can not be ruled out. If Congress can wean away even 5% of this vote it will be a force to reckon with and the clear loser will be AAP. Congress further losing ground of the vote share it has got now, is remote. If the party is further targeted by AAP with the same type of ammo they have used now, it will produce a negative effect due to sympathy. Now that Congress is not in power AAP will not be able to target them with the same intensity as they have done now. To that extent anti-incumbency factor will be nullified at the state level. It is our experience that memory of voters is short lived and they easily excuse their  oppressors.

BJP lost 3% vote share and got 34%. In 29 seats it stood second and in many seats it lost the election by a whisker. It is the analysis of BJP that due to the late entry of the CM candidate Dr. Harshvardhan, no less a clean aspirant for CM post than Kejriwal, they lost a few votes. The 34% vote is BJP core vote share and possibility of this vote going away in six months without any incumbency is remote. And many of those voters who voted to AAP in a fit of rage against established parties may be tempted to rethink in view of AAP not being able to form a government despite the chance offered to them. In normal course voters are likely to see the imposition of another election on them as arrogance of AAP leaders or their pusillanimity to govern. It is easy to spread a message that AAP leaders are just “men of empty noises”. This will help BJP more than Congress as Congress still suffers from incumbency at the Centre. And the high decibel campaign by BJP PM aspirant Modi nationwide will have a very positive impact on voter psyche that will help BJP to a large extent. The temptation of AAP leaders to target Modi personally may boomerang as it is happening in case of other parties.  A 3-5% addition in BJP vote share with a 3-5% addition to Congress share will swing the pendulum heavily in favour of BJP and possibly decimate AAP.

Even if BJP forms a minority government now and performs well and at a later date they are dislodged,

the pro-incumbency and sympathy of an elected government dislodged by Congress or AAP will help

them in the coming polls. Both ways it seems advantage BJP.

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THE UTOPIA CALLED AAP

Today, AAP (Aam Admi Party, so named after common man) released its manifesto. I read the salient features of the same. Nostalgia took me to my school days, when I was studying history subject, with much contempt. Is this any different from "Ashoka planted trees on both sides of the roads"? Any man with a brain would have asked "How can any one plant trees?" Once seeds are sown and watered, they grow into plants and if they are rightly protected they grow into trees. Is it not?

When I read that, the party formed for the cause of the Aam Admi, fighting the battle of ballot with billionaire candidates, said it would reduce the electricity tariff by 50%, without going into the nuances of the whole exercise, I wondered whether they were planning at directly planting trees. All other promises sounded in the same vein. 

This took me back to the day I had a tiff with a family member about the real intentions of Mr. Aravind Kejriwal. That day it was a Press Conference conducted by the inimitable AK flanked on one side by Mr. Prashanth Bhushan, the noted lawyer and on the other,Mrs. Anjali Damania from Maharashtra. Both me and my relation had high regard about the honesty of Mr. AK. The issue that day was the "Purti Group of Companies" led by Mr. Nitin Gadkari. After hearing the lame submission of the leader and the triumphant Damania's face, I made a comment that this group was only trying to score points to gain popularity and a personal issue of one of their members was being sought to be made a national issue. BJP, not being as thick skinned as Congress in these affairs, asked Nitin Gadkari to lie low after a sustained vilification campaign led by Media. My relation objected and said I was a sceptic and should appreciate that AK was doing something to improve the system. That day I told him, "This man is real ambitious and his true colours will be known soon." I don't think, my family member still holds the same high opinion about Mr. AK, as our whole family now wish BJP wins everywhere.

So AK branded the whole political system corrupt and joined the same political system ostensibly to fight it from within. I remembered a fairy tale my mother was telling. A person prayed to God that the whole world be annihilated in an Apocalypse, so that he could rule the world without any interruption. The God asked, "Whom would you rule?" In a system where all political elements are corrupt, Mr.AK floated a party and against saner advice decided to contest Delhi Assembly elections almost immediately. He wanted 69 candidates other than the "only honest" himself. He had to draw most of them from the same "corrupt" political system. So, it turned out that besides himself, eight others of the eighteen declared as candidates to fight elections were Billionaires. That closes the subject there.

Then, AK himself is reportedly facing nine criminal cases. Most of these are for "civil disobedience". This included non payment of electricity bills and reconnecting the disconnected power supply lines. Both are criminal acts as per the law of the land. He might argue that he was protesting the high power bills. Though it is a distant dream, if he is elected as CM of Delhi and  citizens like him feel the pinch about exorbitant train fares and pull the chains of all Metro trains everyday or travel without tickets and defy the law of the land what would be his reaction? Will he not say it is not in his hands as train fares are under Union Railway Ministry? Even then, if the citizens demand the State Government subsidize the train fares, will he be able to do it? So too,  power, water and transport charges, though under State Government, are subject to many inter related issues. Costs increase due to many factors, though corruption too contributes. None is a "fairy tale prince" to save the princess held hostage in a tower. This is only one example. Lawlessness, an example of which he has himself set for the citizens, may crop up anywhere in any form. How will he tackle? Will the voters who vote him today not show fingers at him? 

Dr,. Johnson said rhetorically, "Patriotism is the last resort of a scoundrel." He elaborated that under the guise of patriotism rabble is roused against the State by self-interest groups to promote lawlessness. Let us hope it will not happen.

Then, the issue of funding came up. There were complaints of funding from foreign sources and Union Home Ministry was asked by the Court to investigate. As the matter is monitored by court we are always confident the truth will come out. In the same breath, we should welcome investigation into the funding of other parties too. But the core issue is the direct castigation of AAP by Anna Hazare that the funds collected by IAC were used by AAP wrongfully. The response was meek and muted. It was denied outright. But Anna followers and Anna himself seem to be sure about their allegation. Let us suppose the allegation was wrong. Even then,is it not in the best interests of polity that AK resign as Party President just as Gadkari did not seek second term pending enquiry? Denial is what all politicians do. Then, where does he stand as different from others?

It is most interesting to see Mr. Kejriwal brazenly lying on CNN/IBN Q&A session that EC gave clean chit to them in the CD controversy and in fact, called it a "political conspiracy". On one hand EC gave clarification that it did not view the CD and it is layman's knowledge that EC won't make such comments. And this man aspires to lead the Capital of the nation! And in the Q&A session, his poor knowledge of administrative and legal issues came out openly. One hopes that he is not given a chance at the hustings and make one more Chirnjeevi, who merged his party in Congress, out of him.

Mahatma Gandhi fought the system of governance of the British. He used his political and religious beliefs as accessories in the fight. He never aspired for positions of power, as he knew power corrupts. He called civil disobedience as a last resort. That was against the rulers from an alien country. He stood his ground when charged with 'sedition' and spent many years in jail. He did not "deny" when he was wrong. That made him "Mahatma". 

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THE NUISANCE HOUR SHOWS

"Cigarette smoking is injurious to health" . This is a statutory warning printed on Cigarette boxes. I don't think much changed after this warning was begun to be printed. It arouses more curiosity, I feel. So smoking might, in fact, have increased. 

And then we have these "cookery" programmes. Anchors invite "chefs" and 'housewives' to cook variety of foods and they do it enthusiastically. At least in one such programme I noticed a fat dietician lecturing about the effects on the body of eating the items cooked that day. More often than not we find they are unsuitable for health. We wonder why the items were allowed to be cooked and shown on the channel.

Then there are U/A pictures. "Children above twelve should be allowed to view the picture under parents' surveillance". This is the biggest joke that need not be elaborated.

So, when I see on social media, frenzied reactions about the 'talk shows' on TV, I feel why, in the first place, viewers view these shows that they know are mostly biased. There lies what is called the temptation. Like the 'cookery' programmes are bad for bodily health, these shows are injurious to mental health. The only difference is these 'talk shows' are not judged by a "psychiatrist". Like a cigarette smoked and butt thrown away,  like an item cooked, tasted, judged and forgotten or like a U/A picture seen and enjoyed by the entire family, each in his/her dream world, shell life of these talk shows is one hour. Anchors shout, panellist moralize and counter shout, threats of defamation suits fly like sixes in a 20-20 match, BP of viewers increases by leaps and bounds and when we wake up next morning, we won't find even a passing mention of the issue discussed hardly twelve hours back. 

So, this one hour show can be termed "nuisance hour". It should, in fact, be News Sense Hour. But we do not find any sense in the topic or discussion. A few days back, a jailed IPS officer in Gujarat wrote a letter openly castigating the Home Minister and Chief Minister of the state. The letter lacked conviction, prima facie though the content might have run into pages. And the 'nuisance hour' debate raged on. And the anchors predicted a 'huge controversy' and 'fierce political battle' in the one hour available and judged the whole issue and concluded that the two would face serious consequences. The issue was lost in the din of more "huge controversies". 

Today, it was the "snooping" allegation. Congress, unable to take on Modi politically and unable to convince the voters positively, took to the studios naturally on an issue that is, at the most, a state and a citizen issue. There was no complaint from any aggrieved party. Nor the state denied the act. But, the 'nuisance hour' hosts thought it fit to discuss the issue threadbare, present irretrievable evidence, fix responsibility and send the culprits to gas chambers. The website that claimed to have conducted a sting operation or obtained tapes by means best known to them, claimed they do not vouch for authenticity of the tapes. But, relying on the same tapes a discussion is raged and blood pressures increased. Those who demand an SC monitored investigation can as well approach the SC for such investigation. They don't do that. They know, once it goes to court, it is sub judice, and there is no scope for shadow boxing. 

The intent is clear. It is to defame a leader whom the public view as the future Prime Minister. And the ruling party knows it is losing ground very fast. They are already in deep sea searching for moorings and an anchor. They know, at this rate, they don't find the shore and might drown in the middle of the sea. So, instead of trying to save their ship, they started firing empty shells on a fast sailing ship ahead of them. Most of these empty shells misfired. And the Captain and Vice Captain of the ship are very distressed. 

And in their anxiety to find an anchor they found  anchors of the "nuisance hour" show. May God save them! My advice is "enjoy' this one hour with your family. They need your BP under control. If anybody tweets about the show read and enjoy, as I do and blog if you wish. Spread smiles. 

                              

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OF KINGS, SAINTS, GOLD, PRINCES AND SWISS BANK ACCOUNTS

A news item and an Editorial in a Telugu News Paper of repute, “Eeenadu” attracted my attention and I thought that there might be something beyond what met the eye. The news is about a Hindu “saint”

(Saadhu), whom Congress leaders deride as an agent of BJP.  This Saadhu is said to have dreamt

of a King. The king told him as follows as per the news item.

“Oh! Saadhu! (Like a story in Chandamma) About 150 years back, I hoarded a thousand tons of gold in my Dandiya Khera Fort in Unnav District of UP. Dig it and use it for the welfare of 67% of the poor.” I imagine he may have told him to get a GSB (A Gold Security Bill) passed and if somebody can not vote to let him/her cry and get tears.  The Saadhu promptly told the UP Government authorities and they laughed it off.  True! If anyone told that they hoarded onions, they would have believed. But “gold”? Who will hoard?

There was a twist in the tale here. As per the report the Saadhu met a very secular Congress leader, who had been his friend in need and deed and narrated  the dream story. This leader  happens to be a disciple of the“Prince in waiting”. So he informed him and the Prince did not call it nonsense but instead reportedly unofficially instructed the ASI officials to dig the ‘gold’ and as per the report ASI obliged and started digging. It is“digging” only and not “Diggying”. After digging they seem to have stumbled upon a ‘hard object”. So, it might be the hoarded gold. Nobody from media asked the question “Will you dig the whole of India if the 1.25 billion population dream about kings, queens,princes and sycophants hoarding gold? ”But I am asking. “Will they do?” They did not ask as the Saadhu was not an Asaram or it was not a BJP leader who ordered the digging. It was reportedly the “nonsense” Prince. If any BJP leader did this, he would have been branded communal and all the channel anchors would have asked questions waving their left hands to all rights activists. "Can you believe such things happen in secular India? Are they not polarising?" And all Ananthamurthys and Amartya Sens would have wryly smiled and said "yes". There would have been a “huge controversy”. Let us wait for further news.

Now, let us come to the editorial.  The headline reads. “Swiss Bank doors to be opened”. The editorial is about the recent decision of Switzerland Government to sign the multilateral agreement to co-operate in getting details of accounts held in banks there by all countries. The news paper editors strike a note of optimism about bringing back the black money from there. It is good if it is brought.

Now, it is not in my purview to speculate. It is election time. Exactly at a time when  the Swiss Bank bubble is about to burst a Hindu Saadhu dreams of huge gold hoarding. And the Prince who is the secularest of the secular orders ‘digging’ out the fact behind the dream. He does not brush it aside the Hindu as communal or the hoard as ‘nonsense’.

The news paper says the ‘digging’ on orders is ‘speculative’ but was from reliable sources. So, I also report in the same vein. If it were true you can draw an inference you like to draw. I have no objection. “The Swiss Bank Accounts and the hidden gold” are not important. What is important is the purported interest the“Prince” showed on the gold. To save the poor of the country or to wipe out tears of his mother? 

JAI HIND!

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Disclaimer: The news is taken "verbatim" from a news paper report. I can not vouch for the report's correctness. But, read in unison, the news and editorial tell us another "dream story".

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ANCHORS WITH RANCOUR-FOURTH ESTATE DEGREE METHODS

The other day I tuned TV and turned on channel 606.  As usual a histrionic  anchor, the inimitable “talk show connoisseur”, was judging the BJP leaders from Gujarat from the CBI point of view. CBI Officers must be vying with the idea of inviting this “anchor with rancour” for a talk show on how to  use “fourth estate degree methods” to down and drown ‘witnesses’ and make them “accused.” It may not be surprising as we have the example of “Lalu on rail” (now in jail), having been invited by ‘secular’ management schools to talk on how it helps to be a rustic and how to survive on fodder. I saw it only a few minutes as further viewing would have been a nauseating experience. On one side was a BJP man or fan and on the other side, a self-styled lady rights activist or who so ever it was. He was seen saying this. “My question is ‘Why was it necessary for a leader in the position of State Home Minister to talk to the officer of the level of DIG? (As per him, DIG post is too low in the police hierarchy.)  BJP has a duty to answer this question. Yes, they should answer. There is no escape. I repeat that BJP should answer the question.”  He repeated this many times. The unfortunate BJP leader wanted to open his mouth to answer but was not allowed to do so by the repeated “BJP should answer” shouts from the anchor. All the time the purported rights activist or who so ever, was seen mockingly smiling at the discomfiture of the BJP leader not being allowed to answer. I switched the channel.

Issue here is whether the anchor possesses total knowledge of how CBI works. If so, there is something seriously wrong with CBI, whose modus is highly confidential. Still, the anchor wants to pluck hairs from a perennially bald head or feathers on an egg. There is nothing in the rule book to prevent a Home Minister talking to even a constable in the course of duty. So, the anchor does not know what he wants to prove and to hide this fact he shouts so the other person has no chance to express.

I will share my personal experience with the CBI.  Long back, I was summoned by the CBI, Hyderabad as a witness/possible accused in a case related to indiscriminate lending to unidentified beneficiaries under a government scheme called “DRI” Scheme. The rate of interest on this scheme was 4% p.a., in itself an incentive for misuse. Around 1500 loans granted under the scheme went bad and it came out that there was large scale misuse. I was the second in line in the branch in Hyderabad during a part of the period and was 30 years of age. Considering my high voltage reputation in the bank those days a lot of interest was generated and many rancorous anchors predicted I was called to be arrested for being a ‘conspirator-glove-in-hand’ with the perpetrators in the misuse.

The questioning went on for two days each spanning two/three hours. They placed before me a set of about hundred documents where I made remarks on the borrowers and recommended loans. The Inspector asked me, “Did you see the beneficiaries?” I said “No”. He asked me how I recommended so many loans when I did not see them. I replied that in a “target oriented approach in banking, where we were given unreasonable targets by the higher officials under advice from political bosses it was not possible to verify each borrower’s credentials for loans of Rs.500/- to Rs. 1000/-. I also told him that we were trained to be part of the social uplift of sections of society. He told me that they had information that I was in collusion with the beneficiaries. I replied that if it were proved so, I was ready to be punished. So went on the investigation. They asked me to name any one who might have been involved in the scam. As I did not know, I said I did not know. Later, the culprits received two years’ imprisonment.

By the time I returned from the questioning many stalwarts of running commentary started questioning me and most of those envious of me started speculating my doom. After two weeks two CBI officers came to my house, might be for further questioning. I was living in a two room tenement then with my wife, three children and mother. By the time they came, my wife was seen carrying buckets of water from the ground floor well. One officer asked me, “Is this where you live?” I said “yes”. In fact I was not having proper furniture in my house then to make them comfortable. We offered coffee. They said or did nothing. They started talking general issues to my wife, mother and showered affection on my children. They asked me about my financials. Finally, they thanked us and left.

Later, I did not hear from them. They obviously gave me a “clean chit”. Might be they made their own investigations. There were no anchors to question them then. I was informed by our higher officers that my name was dropped even as a witness.  All freaks in the bank were disappointed.  I narrated this to show that institutions work within a framework of rules. If they are misused there are courts to intervene. To brand all officers of CBI or any other institution bad and to brand each one that they talk to as a culprit is sacrilege.

Investigations are done by the officers of CBI. In the course of duty they talk to many people. It is not in the media houses that judgements are passed. There are set rules. These rules are not framed by talk show hosts or rights activists. If, by any chance, the institutions or officers exceed their mandate and harass innocent people or take political sides then question them in proper forums.  Sources do not do investigations. There are specialists for that. Let us leave it to them. If something is amiss, let us question them in courts or people’s courts. Let us not forget that media investigation turned the Arushi murder case take ugly turns.  First it was parents, then servants and again parents. Still, the investigations are on. CBI is looking into it. But media did not stop to stoop to further levels. Let CBI officers do their duty. Mr. Anchor! Investigative journalism does not mean demeaning people. It is a “pious” duty dedicated to national interest. Do not sabotage real investigations by your biased investigations. You can not be the investigator, witness, advocate and judge at the same time. Confine to journalism, the job you are best suited for!

Once, one SP in a district, called me to witness how difficult a police officers’ job was. He was addressing a Press Conference on an alleged encounter in the district. After the conference I told him that it was a horrible experience. The Press was asking all inconvenient questions and trying to get the answer they wanted. He smiled it away. He retired from service now at DGP level.  Once, I approached another SP of a district for protection as I was under threat and one of my family members went missing for a day (probably taken away by miscreants). As I entered his cabin, his finger was on the trigger. I asked him, “When I sent my card, why are you still paranoid?” He replied, “We can’t say. Making a visiting card is not that difficult”. So, anchors! Know police and investigating officers risk their lives for a better society. There are black sheep everywhere. For that, do not blacken the institutions. Live your job. Let them live theirs!  

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Disclaimer: With lot of criticism against CBI for being partial there is a possibility that I be misunderstood that I defended them from any wrong doing on their part. It is not so. I wanted to show that in our over enthusiasm to take political sides, we are slowly killing the ‘spirit’ of institutions and making out ‘villains’ out of everyone. There are politicians to play politics.  Let the media not do it. On our part let us vote for a change in the whole system.