Total Pageviews

Tuesday 25 June 2013

UTTARAKHAND DISASTER & MODI-BASHING

Excuse the poor English in the cartoon displayed here. This is from Manoj Kureel

So let us examine the claims made by the deluded 'We hate Modi' group that manage to embarrass every rational Indian or human -
1)Modi's propaganda has boomeranged- False! It wasn't his 'propaganda' or claim at all. The TOI reported this and have not mentioned their sources.
One counter to this, is to ask ''What stopped Modi from coming out with a denial?".
There are multiple things said about CM Modi & the Gujarat govt every single day on the self-proclaimed mainstream media.  Modi just carries on working & doesn't respond to the media. He talks with them on certain occasions, on specific topics, but not everyday ie. He is not completely inaccessible. The media I'm afraid, thinks too highly of itself. It is important, but not all important!
In a perfect world, yes, you would expect a denial but the differences even here are clear - Modi gets into controversies for the allegedly 'imperfect' good work he is doing, while Congress leaders get into news with their perfect wrong doings!

Also, what stops Sonia & Rahul 'Gandhi' from coming out and denying ANYTHING said about them that is factually untrue? Or even speaking to the media every now & then? They are inaccessible people as Kejriwal - someone I rarely agree with - points out at the 7 minute mark here.
In fact which political party comes out and denies every single rumour about them in the papers or on TV? Does Mayawati do the same? Mamata Bannerjee? Mulayam & Akhilesh Singh Yadav? Jayalalitha? Who?
The norm is for party spokespersons to make appearances on various TV channels at night & explain the party position. And the BJP spokespersons did exactly that. ON various channels.

Another typical tactic, is to point out APCO's(An American lobbying company) role in spreading this story. Ofcourse this is rumour mongering & there is no evidence to suggest the same but it's Modi, so anything goes. It was decided by a show of hands that the story was 'planted'.

I shall quote from Binoy Prabhakar's report in the economic times(9 Dec 2012) on APCO - "APCO muscled out a raft of PR companies, including the now defunct Vaishnavi Communications of controversial lobbyist Niira Radia, to win the contract to promote Vibrant Gujarat, the showpiece investment meeting of chief minister Narendra Modi that often sees dizzy pledges to do business and lavishes praise on Modi's administration.

Vibrant Gujarat has evolved into the country's premier investment meet - it is billed the "Indian Davos" - and as Gujarat goes to polls on December 13 and 17, Modi has frequently used the massive publicity around the event as a plank in his campaign.

Until Apco appeared on the scene in 2009 to sell the event, Vibrant Gujarat was a modest show. At the first three events, investment promises were worth no more than $14 billion, $20 billion and $152 billion.

Enter Apco and in 2009 and 2011, the promises grew to $253 billion and $450 billion. The 2013 edition - from January 11-13 - is billed as the biggest yet. The United States-India Business Council (USIBC), along with counterparts from the UK and Australia, is sponsoring the event."

Two things are clear.
First, that Modi, believes in spending to earn. Of course the speculated spending, is much lesser than the potential gains.
Second, that this APCO, is a lobbying giant we are talking about. Not some amateur company. APCO is a professional, well-organised company. To conclude that they would do something as masochistic as 'planting' an easily debunked story about one of their clients(the Gujarat govt), in the most widely read newspaper in India, is a bit of a stretch.


Next,

2)That this episode has made the 'wannabe PM' into a 'laughing stock' - Aah, the irony! The irony is lost on these simpletons. I would think it is embarrassing to make false claims. Perhaps I am old fashioned that way. Shouldn't this embarrass the TOI then?
3)His supporters are claiming that putting words in CM Modi's mouth was the work of ''congress stooges'' -
Partly true! Some of his supporters are INDEED making this claim.
But is this claim completely false?

Aren't some parts of the self proclaimed MSM largely anti-Modi or pro-congress to the extent that they are fine with hiring people like Nilim Dutta(http://www.mediacrooks.com/2013/02/nilim-dutta-new-feather-in-media-mafias.html) ONLY because they have a visceral hatred of Modi or even Advani(until Advani opposed Modi since when he has become their pin up boy).
I am embarrassed that these people are this daft even after receiving an education.
How much can one embarrass oneself and their observers?
Something has most definitely happened to the English language TV media after CM Modi was made the BJP campaign committee chief.  For a good part of the decade, no prime time discussion on CM Modi would be complete without someone or the other using terms like 'Fascist', 'Communal', 'Hate Monger', 'Anti Muslim', 'Nazi', 'Hitler' & 'Mass Murderer' to refer to him. This changed in the last 1-1.5 years until the day before CM Modi was elevated in the BJP officially as the face of their campaign. Every single media story on Modi since then has been poorly researched and almost completely in the vein of 'Big/Major Blow to Modi'(Google this for much comic relief) muck-throwing.

A few more points -

a)Why would the BJP 'PR bandwagon' plant an easily debunked 'story' when the much more easy & obvious thing to do is claim the truth ie. Modi & the Gujarat govt did indeed help many gujjus(for that matter even mallus and Bengalis) get out of that unsafe environment.
b)More imp, why would the English language media in our country which is notoriously anti BJP, cover what - on the surface - seems to be a Pro-Modi story & blow it out of proportion?
c)I'm not convinced it was a plant at all. I think the media just cocked up. As they do! They found something related to Modi and went full blast because he makes news.
But IF, this by any remote chance WAS a 'plant', it makes MUCH MORE sense for this to have been a Congress one. It takes attention away from the pathetic  failure of the congress govt to control the damage in Uttarakhand & evacuate stranded pilgrims safely.
d)The same columnists that were having a go at 'evil high growth & fast development models' for the tragic events in Uttarakhand, are now bagging Modi and his supporters for 'planting' hyped stories in the media.
Strangely the inefficiency & quality of the development and THE party or the govt in power at state and centre level, is not being questioned or talked about as much as Modi. Why?


4)CM Modi only helped gujjus -
Another false claim. This has to be some sort of record.
Bengalis are gujju now? - Read about this here.

Mallus are gujju now(can you read Malayalam? This is the original) - http://www.mathrubhumi.com/story.php?id=371061

The Translation vaguely is this - According to them a Gujarat govt booth exists in every nook and corner of the affected area and also they are providing non-stop bus service from Utharakhand to Delhi and this family also had used the service of the Gujarat govt.

5)Next, clutching at straws and shifting goalposts ie. They say that, since the claims around CM Modi made by certain media agencies and not by him are false, he(Modi) didn't help at all & deserves no credit -BS mongering and expected.
a)Manish Tewari or the TOI be
ing false embarrasses them and the simpletons who buy into this on both sides & draw conclusions, no one else.
b)Modi's contribution is being acknowledged by people from different states and ofcourse from the Gujjus who received help from the Gujarat govt & have come out to openly declare the same. And this has also been reported by some sections of the media which are not cheerleaders for Modi, like firstpost(here) and rediff(here) & the economic times(here). As for media that is indeed Pro-Modi, we have right wing Niti Central(here, here, here) who also report the help that CM Modi and his team provided & the hypocrisy of the Congress party.
Hence, it is fair to conclude that a difference was made. That the Gujarat govt didn't bother counting heads & were more bothered about saving lives. And that a section of bumpkins don't have the decency to give credit where due ie. to the Gujarat govt for being proactive.

6)The Armed forces deserve credit and not the Gujarat govt -
Another childish claim which deserves the lambasting it has and will continue to receive. To give the armed forces credit for doing something that frankly does NOT even constitute part of their j
ob & thanking them for doing what is generally a thankless job is the sensible thing to do.
However, this is not mutually incompatible with giving credit where due to CM Modi!! Note that this claim generally comes from people who complain about our armed forces and fail to trust them when they demand AFSPA. Now they love our armed forces. The same armed forces that this cottage industry built around outdated economic and political models(and hating a certain Gujju politician) absolutely hates at most times & refers to as being morally equivalent to terrorists of the Islamist or Maoist kind.

7)The Media is being nuanced & following a middle path -

More on the Uttarakhand tragedy and Rajdeep's pathetic games - http://www.mediacrooks.com/2013/06/rajdeeps-disaster-games.html

Also, more on the Anand Soondas 15,000 rescue TOI story here & here.
I don't mind people having biases The problems however are two.
1)Not disclosing those biases
&
2)Distortion of facts

Again, give credit where it's due instead of speaking for NaMo.

Fact: He helped people get out safely.
Fact: He was proactive unlike the flagging off nonsense by the Nehru-Gandhis rightly mocked by Ravinar in his 'Rajdeep's disaster games' media crooks blog post.
Fact: He didn't just help Gujjus. This is proved by the mallus and bongs who were helped by the Gujarat govt & are happy to give credit where due.
Fact: NaMo haters, continue to feed all the various stereotypes of them being dopey.

The 'Paid news' taunts aren't completely false either wrt the Indian Media -
http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2013/06/18/india-media-buries-paid-news-report/

The untouchability associated with CM Modi is such that Shahid Siddiqui gets sacked for merely talking to him(seen here).

More on NaMo and the economic & social indicator improvement COMBINED WITH improvement in provision/creation of basic infrastructure with sources & evidence for the same(from the planning commission, Professors and economists) along with my problems with his tenure will be posted on this blog in the coming weeks.