In an extremely inhuman incident, a CPI(M) leader and his friends allegedly dragged a pregnant woman out of her car and kicked her in the stomach, because her car allegedly brushed against theirs. CPI (M) panchayat member Antonio Williams, accompanied by his friends, who were reportedly drunk, were travelling by car on Thursday night when the incident took place.
According to police, after the woman’s car hit the vehicle Antonio Williams and his friends were driving, a scuffle broke out where they dragged the woman out of the car and kicked her stomach. They also tried to attack other motorists who tried to intervene and question their action. The woman and her husband are currently undergoing treatment at a private hospital. Two policemen who reached the spot were also attacked by the trio. More cops were called in to arrest the accused.
The pregnant woman was on her way to the hospital when the incident occurred. The CPI (M) Kollam district said the party will take action against the accused leader.
Police later registered a case under sections 332 (voluntarily hurting a public servant and disrupting his work), 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide) and 354 (assault or a criminal force on a woman with the intent to outrage her modesty) of the IPC.
Part I of what are being called the “Paradise Papers”, is out. Paradise Papers, is a collection of 13.4 million corporate records, primarily from Bermuda firm Appleby, and from Singapore-based Asiaciti Trust and corporate registries maintained by governments in 19 tax haven jurisdictions, often referred to as “tax paradises”. This story is being broken in India, by The Indian Express, As a partner of International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which had access to these documents.
The people named in this list are a cross section of Indians, across political and social spheres. Some of the prominent names linked to the Papers are: Vijay Mallya, Omdiya Network (which funds left-leaning media houses like Newslaundry and Scroll.in), MoS Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha (via his position in Omdiyar Network some years ago), Nira Radia, Amitabh Bacchan, Havells India and names from the Congress stable such as Ashok Gehlot; Karti Chidambaram, Sachin Pilot, Ravi Krishna, etc.
While some of the above are directly named in the Paradise Papers, some are linked to some of the companies which figure in the Paradise Papers. Given that the names are from different political spheres, one can expected politically motivated attacks from different political parties, cherry-picking the data from the leaks, and exchanging barbs of corruption on one another. But what is the real picture?
Before we go there, lets rewind to 2015, when another set of such documents were leaked via the ICIJ and The Indian Express, known as the “Swiss Leaks“. Many on social media had dubbed this, the “Black Money List”.
The Indian Express had back then, clarified this in a separate post, where it said that it is “Unlikely” that all these accounts have black money and haven’t been disclosed to the Indian tax Authorities. It further said that the list “may include legitimate account-holders who had taken permission and have declared the accounts, as well as holders of undeclared accounts who currently have to pay taxes and penalty, even face prosecution ”
For the Paradise Papers also, The Indian Express gives a similar disclaimer, in a separate post:
Yet, the likes of Preeti Sharma Menon, who had earlier provided legal support to the man who falsely claimed he had been attacked by Gaurakshaks, has gone on to declare that the names in Paradise Papers, had deposited “black money” in offshore accounts:
Have all the people or entities linked to the Paradise Papers deposited “black money” in offshore accounts? Probably No. So are all the the people or entities linked to the Paradise Papers innocent? Again, Probably not. While offshore accounts in tax havens are preferred routes to evade tax (which is illegal), they can also be used to employ legal means to avoid or reduce tax. A very recent study showed that 73% of Fortune 500 companies maintained subsidiaries in offshore tax havens as a part of their tax avoidance strategies.
As The Indian Express mentions, the basic use of such leaked documents, is to make Tax authorities aware of the existence of such offshore accounts and entities. From thereon, the Tax authorities need to investigate and determine if any fraud was orchestrated at any level.
And there lies the problem. Does any media agency have the right to publish names of legitimate account holders with legitimate “white” money, under a Paradise Papers list, and thereby fuelling theories in the minds of a lay reader that such accounts are of “black money”? This question should go to all agencies around the world, not only Indian Express. Also, the question arises, is Media competent to judge whether an account is related to tax fraud or not?
To use an analogy, the publishing the Paradise Papers list is akin to publishing a list of entities, who had deposited more than Rs 50 lakhs of cash during the demonetization period. Is all cash “black money”? No. Do all large deposits of cash during demonetization period relate to black money? No. Can an entity have perfectly legal sources of cash which it deposited in banks? Yes. Publishing such a list can only be called defamatory.
Ideally, media agencies should have gone for a more indepth investigation to ascertain if any of the names in the list, are linked to any known scams.
The story on one of the names above, Havells India, is in particular very drab. The thrust of the story is on the fact that Havells India floated over 50 subsidiaries beginning February 2000, most of them in tax havens, to acquire a global footprint through acquisitions and tie-ups. There is no additional information which can hint to any wrongdoing by the company. The response of Havells India, which is also (fortunately) published in the same story, says that the entire structure was duly filed with the Reserve Bank of India as per extant regulations and that tax has been duly paid in the respective jurisdiction as may be applicable. Prima Facie, nothing appears to be explicitly illegal.
On the other hand, a story like the one on Vijay Mallya, adds much more value than what the leaked documents show. Mallya’s name comes up because he allegedly approached a London-based law firm Linklaters LLP to undertake a massive restructuring exercise to simplify the complex group structure. From this data, the reporters at The Indian Express, have found evidence of some further possible wrong-doings – alleged diversion of funds through entities in Tax Havens. The story details various transactions which come to light via the leaks, such as waiving off of $1.5-billion debt owed by subsidiary companies of the Mallya-USL group and absolving another USL group entities of some dues. The USL group spokespersons though maintain there is no wrong doing.
All the other stories, could be as innocuous as the Havells story, or as damning as the Mallya story, or may fall between the two, occupying more than fifty shades of grey between “white” and “black” money. But for public consumption, all the names linked have been put in the same bracket.
A simple contrast of the two above stories Havells vs Mallya, demonstrates how the Paradise Papers list, much like the Swiss leaks, will achieve only the following:
1. Reveal names and details of legal account holders with legal money, thereby invading their privacy. Be prepared to see the anti-Aadhar, privacy activists gleefully share the Paradise Papers lists stories.
2. Clubbing of such legal names with people who have “black” money in such accounts, thereby defaming such legal account holders.
3. Giving fodder to conspiracy theorists: When the Government, after investigation, will reveal the names against whom cases of Tax fraud have been established, there will be a section of people who will compare the Government’s list with the Indian Express list and start claiming that the people against whom the Government hasn’t acted have paid off the Government and that the Government is “XYZ agent”
It is tragic that the media today would create such unnecessary sensationalism to recover some of that fast dwindling readership. Demonising legitimate business transactions is a dangerous and slippery slope, but at the same time, it is important that stories which demand the attention of tax sleuths are covered. A nuance approach was needed, which seems to be missing.
One of the 1st decisions which the Yogi government took after coming to power in Uttar Pradesh was, ordering the closure of all illegal slaughterhouses operating in the state and putting a ban on cow smuggling. This had led to the perception that the protection of cows was one of the priorities of the Yogi government.
CM Yogi now again seems to have asserted this stance of his government while addressing the Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s Gauraksha Vibhag (cow protection wing) on Sunday.
As per the report, CM Yogi refuted allegations that Uttar Pradesh is the largest cow meat exporter by calling them absolutely wrong and incorrect. He claimed that not even a single iota of cow meat can be exported from the state. He also stressed that no one can have the audacity to export such meat, as it is banned in the state.
He also made a statement that apart from killing cows, if someone even indulges in cruelty towards the cows he would find himself in jail.
He announced cow welfare schemes like opening a ‘gaushala’ (cow shed) in all 75 districts of the state which would be operated by the local societies without the involvement of the state. Such an act is considered to be a boon in those regions where people have been known to abandon their cows after they stop milching or during times of water scarcity.
As per Yogi, grazing ground too would be made available which had otherwise been illegally encroached. A special anti-land grabbing cell had been setup for this purpose which has successfully vacated about 43,000 hectares of land.
As reported by us time and again, cow smuggling poses a grave threat to India’s internal security.
Recently a Bengaluru techie was brutally attacked by a mob for simply reporting an act of illegal cow slaughter happening in the city. A few months back an incident of cow smugglers brutally attacking tourists and molesting women had come to light. This was a result of these tourists having dared to oppose the cow smugglers’ actions.
These cow smugglers haven’t even spared India’s security personnel. In October, a BSF official who had been attacked by cow smugglers along the Tripura-Bangladesh border had succumbed to his injuries. In June as well, a BSF Jawan was brutally attacked by cow smugglers along Meghalaya’s border with Bangladesh.
The Internet is unforgiving. Recently, the leftist propaganda website, The Wire, which seems to be on a mission to spread innuendoes, lies, propaganda, misrepresentations, and other such canards, has reduced itself to a joke. After the recent ‘exposé‘ by abusive troll Swati Chaturvedi masquerading as a journalist, twitterati donned their creative cap and brought us some entertainment on an otherwise sleepy Sunday.
It all started when it was brought to people’s notice that under the UPA, Rajya Sabha TV, which came under the control of former vice president Hamid Ansari, was allegedly used to spread agenda and pay the ‘loyalists’ handsomely.
Well known Modi hater and another Editor of Wire, US citizen @svaradarajan was hired by RSTV at Rs 15,000 per appearance for his propaganda. pic.twitter.com/YvvkCLZoe8
Both, M K Venu and Siddharth Varadarajan, founding editors of The Wire, were paid handsomely, Rs. 15,000 per appearance, totalling to Rs. 33 lakh and Rs. 14.70 lakh respectively, of the tax payers’ money in last few years. Varadarajan, who hosted a show discontinued it from April, while Venu was told not to host the shows he was hosting since August. It is only after August that the hit-jobs by The Wire have gone up.
People didn’t take too long to connect the dots and reduce them to a joke. Here are some of the funniest reactions.
Hey @mkvenu1 since you appreciate humor, have a look at this one also. This looks more appropriate than the one you tweeted. pic.twitter.com/BHY8516oXc
As a Twitter user pointed out, perhaps the change of guard and fear of probable scams being unearthed could be the reason some people might have felt ‘unease’.
The pollutant Diwali just got over. And since going through another horrendous of native festival – starting with Holi when insane amount of water gets wasted then onto Mahashivaratri where insane amount of milk is wasted, I realized the new set PILs we can filed to strangle all these anti-environment, un-secular, pagan festivals once and for all.
The Marigold massacre – The poor native flower in India is sadly used for all festivals in India. Hundreds of thousands of tons of these flowers are bought and sold across India just for it to be hung dry on the doors or gates. Worse, they are thrown indiscriminately in temples. Next day the dried flowers are simply thrown away with utter disregard to the precious life of the flower. So not only this beautiful flower is massacred but by throwing them away, our environment is irrevocably. I suggest to file a PIL in the courts to ban use of not just Marigold flowers but any flower for any of the festivals that are even remotely related to native majoritarian religion.
The Incense Burning – It is a truth that Diwali crackers cause biggest pollution in India. Though the truth cannot be substantiated by fact, does it need to? Another such pollutant are the wafts of incense burning from pagan prayer places in houses as well as temples of native majoritarian religion. This intensely sweet aroma not only pollutes the air but it also , indiscriminately if I may add, forces itself into noses secular people who may not be on board with celebrating the festivals. This may have negative impact on psyche of minorities and they may feel that such incense burning during festival is an imposition of majority religion. I suggest to file a PIL that will ban incense burning during all such festivals and limit the incense burning during non-festival days. Incense burning in non-native, minority worshiping places should obviously be excluded from this ban to ensure the spirit of secularism is maintained.
The Rangoli – No, not the long running TV program on Doordarshan (Sunday morning at 7:30 am!) but the drawings of Rangoli during festivals. Usually Rangoli is manufactured using dry charcoal etc. (Rangoli is made using non-dry charcoal material as well but let’s ignore that for now) This dry charcoal obviously causes pollution. And the designs usually drawn during majoritarian festivals are very un-secular in nature. Per Sagarika Ghosh (something she never said!), if a Rangoli is drawn in temple during Diwali, similar Rangoli should be drawn in Mosques and Churches. To take Sagarika’s argument further (argument she never made), since Mosques and Churches may not want to have rangoli drawn during Diwali, to ensure spirit of secularism is maintained, rangoli should be banned in temples as well. A PIL should be file to comprehensively ban the barbaric tradition of Rangoli that not only pollutes the environment but also impacts the secular fabric of our country.
Indian Sweets – To be sure, we as a secular nation should not oppose sweets. But specifically Indian sweets can be opposed. The argument is little tough here but please bear with me. Indian sweets are primarily made in ghee. Ghee, in turn, is made from milk. And milk in turn is made by cows (buffaloes should be ignored for the purposes of our objective). If cow slaughter is to be allowed and universally accepted and executed (no pun intended) in India to maintain the secular fabric of…you know what. So, Indian sweets is one of the reason the followers of majoritarian native religion opposes cow slaughter. If a PIL is filed to ban Indian sweets altogether then it will remove one (distant) impediment towards changing constitution that allows cow slaughter.
Remember, this is just the beginning. India is infested with so many festivals. And we need to go after all of them methodically, one by one.
I was quite taken aback when on the evening of 31st October, a bunch of kids from my society came “trick or treat” -ing at my door. I was terribly unprepared for the poorly mimicking Halloween visitors, both mentally as well as a ‘household running aunty’. Barely managed to get over my shock and scrambled around to fetch some of my chocolate stash and sent off the visibly happy kids!! The one thing I couldn’t shake off was my feeling of complete displacement viz a viz to those happy halloweeners.. What was wrong?!
I immediately shared my agony to a bunch of like-minded friends group, and a wise one tried to calm me down telling me “it’s alright Joga, in a globalized world celebrations are going to cross over. As far as they celebrate ours properly, that should be fine.” That’s a wise, rational thought indeed.. But I couldn’t pull my “Halloween Spirits” up, for what I see is not a case of – adding more celebrations to our basket of festivities, BUT replacing ours for theirs!! Do we actually see our kids getting as excited to dress up as Krishnas, Radhas, Rams & Hanumans etc for Janmashtami, Dussehra anymore?
It’s pointless getting into the celtic pagan roots of Halloween before it got appropriated like everything else, but in the process of trying to settle my mind I sat down to recollect what other “desi” festivals we celebrate around this same time of the year? In my limited-ness of knowledge I reached out to own roots and wham! It hit me… it was the Jaddhatri Puja just 2 days before Halloween. As a kid I remember Ma telling me about this third, yes that’s right the “third” annual Durga Puja celebrated back in Bengal. She told me – the first and the original puja was the Basanti Durga Puja, next the Sharadiya Durga Puja & then was the Jagaddhatri Puja.
Basanti Puja as the name suggests is a spring season puja observed in the Chaitra month of the Bengali/Hindu calendar corresponding to the Northern Navaratri culminating with Ram Navami. Ritualistically Basanti & Sharadiya Durga pujas are the same, the difference only lies in their season of celebration and origins of course. As I’ve been told, it is stated in the Markanda Puran that while wandering in the jungles after losing his kingdom, King Surath met sage Medha and upon his advice performed the first Basanti Puja invoking Goddess Durga and got his lost kingdom back. What Ma told me was, that once Basanti puja used to be celebrated with equal fervor and grandiose in Bengal. But over time the spring festival lost out to the autumn celebrations, and presently only a handful of Bengali households there perform the Basanti Durga Puja.
The second Durga puja in the Sharad or autumn season which now happens to be the main and the biggest festival for Bengalis all over the world, came about thanks to Lord Ram. He performed the “Akalbodhan” (‘Akal’= untimely and ‘Bodhan’= awakening) to invoke the Goddess and seek her blessings before going to war with Ravan. Since then, it’s said that his devotees started performing the Sharadiya Durga puja which kept gaining popularity and relegated the Basanti puja to a limited audience. Though from a non competitive practical aspect, I think the costs involved in carrying out two massive ten-day rituals and festivals, especially after the Rajas & Zamindars lost all their show off money, led to people choosing and settling for one of the two Pujas!
The third Durga puja or Jagaddhatri puja takes place exactly one month after the Sharadiya puja, celebrated on Gosthastami. This year 29th October was the date. Jagat-Dhatri or the “Holder of the World” is just another form of Goddess Durga worshipped mostly in West Bengal and Orissa. According to the ‘Puranas’ and ‘Tantras’, this form of Durga is depicted in the color of the rising sun, she has four arms as compared to Durga’s ten. Ma Jagaddhatri is the calm form Goddess Durga symbolizing the ‘Sattva Guna’, while Durga and Kali represent the Rajas & Tamas gunas. Together these three forms of ‘Aadi Shakti’ make up the ‘Prakriti’ or ‘universal nature’. This ‘tri-netri’ Goddess is armed with chakra(disk), conch, bow and arrow and adorns a ‘nagajangopaveeta’ which is a symbol of Yoga and the Brahman. She rides a lion as well and is seen standing over the elephant demon called Karindrasura, which gives her the name Karindrasuranisudini (Slayer of the Elephant Demon).
As far as the origin history of Jagaddhatri Puja in West Bengal goes, it’s disputable and I’ve come across about three to four possible stories of how and who started it. It is said that Ma Sharada, wife of Shri RamKrishna Paramhans initiated the Jagaddhatri puja and so now it is celebrated across all Ramkrishna Mission ashrams. The other two popular yet very contentious origin stories are that of the pujas of Krishnanagar and Chandannagar started by Maharaja Krishna Chandra of Nadia and Indranarayan Roy Choudhury of Chandan Nagar respectively.
Krishnachandra Roy (1728-1782) of the Nadia Raj family was a very prominent figure in the Hindu Bengali society of that period, who is remembered for his resistance to the then prevailing Mughal rule as well as being a generous patron of the Hindu culture and arts. Later he was given the title of ‘Maharaja’ by Lord Clive. Before establishing the Jagaddhatri puja in Krishnanagar, it is said that the Raja was known for conducting grand Durga pujas(sharadiya) in his palace with full ritualistic rigour and pashu-balis and festivities.
So the story around his starting Jagaddhatri puja is – in the background of Krishnachandra’s skirmishes with the Mughal rule of the land, he along with his son were imprisoned by the Nawab of Bengal right before the Sharadiya Durga puja. Knowing very well how fond he is of his Puja,this was a plot to break the will of the Raja and take over his kingship. The Raja was only released on the last day of the puja, but despite his ragged state he ran towards Krishnanagar still wanting to worship Durga in a grand fashion. Unfortunately, he fell unconscious on the way due to weakness from the imprisonment and couldn’t make it for the Durga puja. That night he saw a divine dream in which Durga comes to him and tells him to worship her now in her Jagaddhatri form during the upcoming Kartik Shukla Navami. Maharaja Krishnachandra formally initiated this puja in the year 1754 it’s believed.
Apart from Krishnanagar, the Jagaddhatri puja of Chandannagar is equally famous and often said to be predating Krishanachandra’s puja. Indranarayan Choudhury, the Zamindar of Chandannagar was one of the richest businessmen in Bengal and a good friend of Raja Krishnachandra. It’s said he started the Jagaddharti puja at his residence around 1713 and the Raja was a regular visitor. Though neither of the dates or claims can be verified now due to the lack of any written evidence, there’s no doubt that this particular form of Durga Puja does go back to about 250 years in antiquity. There are a few pujas in Nadia, Chandannagar, Hooghly, Kolkata areas which claim to be hundred plus years old and have the originating families still associated with the current pujas. Like the Bose family who used to conduct the Jagaddhatri puja at their ancestral home in Murshidabad in the 1700’s which was later moved to its present location in Chandannagar. The family claims the puja to go back as far as 1640 as per their family’s records.
In popular culture, Ma Jagaddhatri finds mention in the famous ‘Anandamath’ written by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee where he shows his protagonists worshipping the trio of Dura, Kali and Jagaddhatri as the three aspects of “Bharat Mata”. In Orissa, the Jagaddhatri mela of Bhanjpur is the second biggest mela after Ratha Jatra in the Mayurbhanj district. The small cities of Krishnanagar and Chandannagar also owe their renown to the Goddess of the whole world, Ma Jagaddhatri!
I share this today to reconnect with my roots, history and culture once more, so that next time no strange borrowed festivals would make me uncomfortable. I share this today to learn and re-learn what I may have forgotten and what I didn’t know at all, so that tomorrow I may pass it to my next generation and when they go out to embrace newer celebrations, they’ll do so with their roots firmly in the ground… The chain unbroken!
Dev Deepawali, or Kartik Poornima (full moon of the month of Kartik) holds a special significance in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. The ghats of Varanasi are light up with thousands of diyas. According to legends, Lord Shiva killed a demon named Tripurasura, who had conquered the whole world and defeated the gods. It is believed that all gods come down to Kashi, the town founded by Lord Shiva, to celebrate Diwali. The energy in Varanasi is so spiritually charged that it takes you to another dimension. Here are some glimpses of celebration from one of the oldest continuously inhabited city of the world.
The Wire seems to be on a mission – to spread innuendoes, lies, propaganda, misrepresentations, and other such canards. They choose to call this ethical travesty “journalism” for some very odd, misplaced reason.
They seem to have realised that going after seasoned politicians would not be fruitful. Especially, given their penchant for rhetoric and shoddily researched screeches that they pass off as “investigative journalism”. The next “logical” thing to do, to target the politicians they despise, would be going after their families.
They did so with Amit Shah, with their Jay Shah story that fell flat on its ill researched face in a matter of hours, and as if to trump their own idiocy, they have done with again with Shaurya Doval, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval’s son, with an even more ridiculous article than the last.
In an article that talks about India Foundation — a think-tank where Shaurya Doval is one of the directors — The Wire essentially makes the following “charges”:
Foundation has Directors who are also Ministers in the Union Cabinet, and this is ‘conflict of interest’
Foundation hosts or partners with events, where people can potentially meet and ‘influence’ these ministers
Foundation is thus in a position to extract revenues in form of sponsorships and endowments from parties that do business with the government
Boeing is one such potential sponsor, which is under CBI radar for corruption
Foundation is not transparent about its source of earnings
Foundation could be receiving foreign funds
The first thing that came to my mind when I read this “exclusive” report by The Wire was that EACH of these “charges” are applicable to any leading mainstream media organisation; including the first charge, for we all know how various politicians, who have been ministers at some point of time in their political career, directly or indirectly hold shares or control in media entities.
The Wire confusing a legitimate business as something improper is not new, as they displayed their lack of understanding even in the case of Jay Shah, where a legitimate business was slandered with innuendos. They have done it again.
India Foundation is a think tank which is run by several people of which, Mr. Shaurya Doval is one of the Directors. The subtext of this article clearly attempts to establish guilt by association almost contending that the sons and daughters of serving government officials should not work in institutions that are funded by corporates that might seek contracts from the government. That would be an amusing argument considering many journalists, especially those from NDTV, are children of bureaucrats and media organisations often partner with government on projects apart from receiving government ads. This logic doesn’t hold water by any ethical or industry standard.
Essentially, if The Wire thinks that the business of running such events or activities should worry a common man, similar events by every mainstream media organisation should also worry a common man. And actions of organisations like The Wire, whose founders have made a mockery of ‘conflict of interest’ and earning money through ‘networking’ should worry even more. But I will come to that later, first let us really see whether these “charges” even stick.
In the interest of clarity, I will analyse each allegation in isolation :
1. Foundation has Directors who are also Ministers in the Union Cabinet, and this is ‘conflict of interest’
The article in ‘The Wire’ says that the Foundation has directors who are also Ministers in the government, and hence, that points towards Conflict of interest. What is interesting is, the said Ministers who are Directors in the Foundation, have held the position of Director before they even became Ministers. In fact, they became Directors when BJP wasn’t even in power at the centre. Thus, their conflict of interest by virtue of holding both posts has no evidence whatsoever.
Also telling that somehow, nobody has made such allegations against Sonia Gandhi, P Chidambaram and Manmohan Singh who were involved in the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation.
2. Foundation hosts or partners with events, where people can potentially meet and ‘influence’ these ministers
As explained earlier, this is something every media organisation does, including The Wire, which itself partnered with ‘The Raisina Dialogue’ in 2016, hosted by ORF (pdf), which is funded by Reliance, which in turn is always vying for Government contracts. This event was also based on bringing Ministers onto the stage. Since ‘The Wire’ has now published a slanderous article attempting guilt by association, would it be fair to assume that Mr. Varadarajan and The Wire’s association with The Raisina Dialogue was a ‘conflict of interest’?
(One can see Mr. Varadarajan’s name in one of the Panel discussions and also The Wire’s logo in the second photograph)
Interestingly, Mr. Varadarajan was also present at the Chaophraya Dialogue which was sponsored by Australia India Institute as can be seen from the illustration below. The Australia India Institute is in turn sponsored by the Australian Government’s Department of Education and Training and the Victoria State Government, among others.
Again, I am making absolutely no allegations here. But the logic applied by the author of the article and The Wire, when turned around on Mr. Varadarajan himself, should hold the same depth, shouldn’t it? Since the article in The Wire insinuates that hosting or tying up with events that have the participation and/or funding from international sources could result in lobbying, would the same logic be application to him and The Wire?
3. Foundation is thus in a position to extract revenues in form of sponsorships and endowments from parties that do business with the government
The Wire’s funders (donors) seem to be a consortium of companies that seek government contracts regularly. Are we then to assume that all the stories The Wire does on the government, are in fact negotiating tactics by its funders to extract concessions? Of course, do keep in mind that these aren’t allegations I make personally. I am simply applying their own logic to draw parallels to prove just how ridiculous The Wire’s claims are.
Mr. Varadarajan and The Wire say that one of their greatest donors is “Independent and public – spirited media foundation”. When one looks at the people who donate to IPSMF, the list consists of people who regularly seek government contracts. Can a “conflict of interest” case be made against Mr. Varadarajan and The Wire itself, by his own logic?
Moreover, all leading media companies like Times Group, NDTV, Indian Express, and India Today regularly run sponsored events in which ministers are brought out. The event brochures boats of all the ‘influential’ people who will attend it. Is The Wire claiming then that any platform that bring together ministers and corporate houses is essentially a corrupt platform, and this would also apply to all these media companies?
Curiously even here, there is not one single example given of a corporate house that might have got some contract owing to some event, or for that matter any actual example of any form of unethical conduct. Indeed if bringing Ministers and Funders on a stage is unethical conduct, the entire plethora of Delhi’s policy & press community including The Wire and Mr Varadarajan would stand indicted.
It is curious that a platform such as The Wire that constantly castigates the government for being removed from ground reality, does not want free and frank exchanges between government and industry facilitated precisely in order to make the leadership feel the pulse of industry.
As for ministers not being involved in events where funders are present, this is a laughable suggestion and goes very much against the grain of multi-stakeholder consultations. If Government does not hear from industry on issues like defence who exactly are they meant to hear from? The Wire?
4. Boeing is one such potential sponsor, which is under CBI radar for corruption
Just like their article on Jay Shah tried to hide turnover vs profit distinction, this article too tries to hide a crucial information, albeit in more sinister and dishonest way.
While throwing the charge that India Foundation could have partnered with Boeing even though it was under the scanner of CBI in a corruption case, the article hides the fact that the assumed ‘partnership’ happened in 2016, while the CBI started its probe only the following year.
The jugglery here is amazing – That funding obtained from Boeing for the 2016 Indian Ocean Conference held in September of 2016, has questioned over an alleged malfeasance committed not just before BJP’s tenure but during the tenure of the previous government.
To hide this fact in a very dishonest way, The Wire uses a photograph that is cropped to remove the year in the background so that a reader’s attention doesn’t go there. Full marks for the propaganda.
Picture as uploaded on The WireThe information about the year of the event that The Wire edited out
5. Foundation is not transparent about its source of earnings
The Wire then goes on to claim that the Foundation is ‘opaque’ and not transparent about its source of earnings. What they fail to realise is that a trust is not bound to put their Balance Sheet online for public scrutiny. Had the reporter (more on her later) been interested in truly investigating the truth, the conclusion of which might not have suited the pre-determined agenda, she could have simply gone to the Registrar of Trusts and acquired the Financial Statements. She clearly failed to do so.
6. Foundation ‘could be’ receiving foreign funds
Firstly, the report makes wild speculations, which is supposed to be an exclusive expose of wrong doing. And the reporter has provided no proof, this allegation is moot to start with.
In spirit of the article that his website has published, should one ask The Wire editor Siddharth Varadarajan, that considering he got the Foreign Secretary’s son, Mr. Dhruva Jaishankar to write for his website in March 2016, and two months later ended up going to China for a junket, was there a conflict of interest with tangible results in just 2 months?
Mr. Varadarajan was a part of Media Delegation [pdf] that went on the State visit of the President to China again in May 2016. These are not allegations I make, but his logic which is being applied to him.
If The Wire thinks that Shaurya Doval is making money due to his ‘connections’ and ‘networking’, perhaps it’s a manifestation of what the founders of The Wire have done themselves. This is not just about getting foreign junkets.
At least two of the website founders — MK Venu and Siddharth Varadrajan — have made bundles of money from Rajya Sabha TV, which if funded by taxpayers, thanks to their ‘networking’ with the then Vice President Hamid Ansari, who controlled Rajya Sabha TV. The ‘networking’ between Ansari and founders of The Wire can be gauged from the fact that Ansari was the person who launched the Urdu version of The Wire earlier this year.
Well known Modi hater and another Editor of Wire, US citizen @svaradarajan was hired by RSTV at Rs 15,000 per appearance for his propaganda. pic.twitter.com/YvvkCLZoe8
Honestly, I felt like rejecting The Wire’s story the moment I saw who had written it. The “exclusive expose” was written by a reporter named Swati Chaturvedi, who has a colourful history when it comes to journalism.
Swati enjoys perhaps the lowest credibility among all journalists. Swati Chaturvedi, the author, is an abusive social media troll, who has been repeatedly exposed for lying. She had falsely claimed that Leonardo Di Caprio would be a at an RSS event. She has been caught lying on prime-time TV. Most recently she was accused of plagiarism, by another journalist! Chaturvedi’s stories usually come from some or the other “source”, and the credibility (or existence) of the source can be judged by the events happening after the story.
For example, in July 2017, days before JDU and RJD parted ways, Chaturvedi wrote a piece titled: Why Nitish Kumar’s Bihar alliance with Lalu Prasad is safe. Prior to that, Charturvedi had claimed that Shivraj Singh Chauhan would be elevated to the Centre as Defence Minister. That too didn’t work out. It is puzzling as to why The Wire chose to carry an article by such a discredited journalist who equates this shoddy, rehashed “investigative report” laced with unsubstantiated insinuations, with the alleged improprieties committed by Mr. Robert Vadra, without providing a shred of evidence to prove any impropriety on the part of Mr. Shaurya Doval.
Unsurprisingly, The Wire has done two such shoddy stories recently, among many others. One by another journalist who quit twitter after her biased reportage of the Uttar Pradesh elections, and the other, Ms. Chaturvedi and both shoddy stories were shared rather promptly by Mr. Rahul Gandhi himself and goes to show the substandard editorial stand taking by The Wire, as well as the subpar political acumen of Mr. Rahul Gandhi.
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Addendum :
The official statement from India Foundation was uploaded moments before this article was published, and hence a screen grab of the same is being included in this article :
Choudhary Aurangzeb, the current chairman of Haryana’s Haj Committee has reportedly been at the receiving end of death threats, after he advocated the construction of Ram Mandir at the Ram Janmabhoomi in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh. He had followed it up by saying that Islam doesn’t permit the construction of a Mosque on a disputed land.
Aurangzeb, who was also the state President of BJP’s Minority Morcha, had made such a statement at Nuh on the occasion of Haryana Day, which was celebrated on 1st November. He later told reporters that after making the statement, he was swarmed with abuses and death threats on Facebook and WhatsApp. Many such Muslim fanatics even taunted him for spoiling the “good name” of Aurangzeb, which is in line with what some so-called liberals think about Mughal tyrant Aurangzeb.
As per a report, in a viral video on Facebook, he has also been called a broker of RSS and various obscenities were also hurled at him. He has now registered a police case regarding the whole matter, but no case was registered immediately.
The report detailed that a person named Raunak Ali had threatened on Facebook that he would shoot him. Also on 2nd November a video emerged on a social media website where a person named Abu Bakar was openly seen abusing him. Other such radicals were inspired by him and made filthy comments against the Haj committee Chairman, in the comments section of the video.
Going by reports, Aurangzeb has hinted at a conspiracy against him by alleging that a senior BJP leader is behind that particular video.
Such reports come in the light of various prominent members of the Muslim community having called for the construction of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.
This includes, the Shia Wakf Board filing an affidavit in the Supreme Court, where the board sought that a Ram Temple be built at the Janmbhoomi area. This was followed by a Sunni Cleric of Kichocha Sharif, coming out in support of its construction.
March 2015: 21 AAP MLAs appointed as Parliamentary Secretaries by the 67 MLA strong AAP Government in Delhi.
19th June 2015: Advocate Prashant Patel files a petition before the President of India to disqualify the 21 MLAs on grounds that the post of “parliamentary secretaries” was an “office of profit” and the MLAs could not hold such office.
23rd June 2015: Fearing disqualification of its 21 MLAs because of the above illegality, the AAP government passed a bill to give exemption to these secretaries from disqualification with retrospect effect.
June 2016: The President rejects the above bill of the Delhi government.
Since then, the Election Commission (EC) is seized of the matter and the sword of Damocles is hanging over the head of these 21 MLAs. But why is it taking so long to arrive at a conclusion. Why hasn’t the EC yet announced its verdict about whether the MLAs are disqualified or not?
The answer is simple: Multiple delaying tactics.
While the legal process in India by itself is slow, AAP has left no stone un-turned to slow it even further.
The Delhi High Court had on September 8 2016, set aside the appointment of 21 party MLAs as parliamentary secretaries. Citing this, AAP had contended that since the HC had declared the appointment null and void, there was no question of hearing a petition about an office that never existed. The EC found that the AAP MLAs “did hold de facto the office of parliamentary secretaries” from March 13, 2015 to September 8, 2016.
The 21 AAP MLAs in the dock had also asked the EC for individual oral hearings, a clear “delaying tactic”, as claimed by Patel. If each MLA had to be heard separately, the time and effort taken would be much more. Also, every MLA could rake up different arguments, muddling the case.
More recently, the EC had reportedly served a notice to the AAP MLAs on September 28 seeking their written submissions. Many of their replies did not address the central issue and ended up raising other queries including the “lack of quorum” in EC to conduct hearing on disqualification petition. The EC has now given them the final chance to place their defence on record.
The question arises: Why these delaying tactics?
The most obvious answer is, AAP knows they it is in the wrong and to avoid getting caught with their pants down, is trying to delay the inevitable. This is also borne out by the fact that within days of the initial complaint being registered, the Government moved retrospective amendments to save its MLAs.
But there may be another angle to it.
Three Rajya Sabha seats will fall vacant in January 2018. Congress nominees, Dr Karan Singh, Janardhan Dwivedi and Pervez Hashmi would be completing their six year term on 27 January 2018. All the seats would naturally go to AAP because of its brute strength of 67/70 MLAs in the Delhi Assembly. If before these RS elections, AAP is to lose 21 MLAs, it could make them struggle to get those 3 RS seats. And if the loss of 21 MLAs brings in political instability, matters could be worse.
Rajya Sabha members get a large number of benefits. A monthly salary of Rs 50000, Daily Allowance of Rs 2,000 per day for each day of residence on duty, Constituency Allowance totalling Rs 45,000 per month, Office Expense Allowance of Rs 45,000 per month. Besides they get Travel allowances and various travel facilities. Every member has the facility to avail 34 single air journeys during a year with spouse or any number of companions or relatives. On the strength of the Identity Card, a Rajya Sabha member is entitled to travel at any time by any railway in India in first class air-conditioned or executive class.
Besides the above, there are various accommodation benefits, telephone call benefits, free water and electricty upto a limit, medical facilities etc.
Can one blame the “Aam Aadmis” for wanting the “khaas life”?
