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While Kejriwal govt claims to have transformed education, here is a reality check

The 10th of February marked the fourth anniversary of the Aam Aadmi Party Government in Delhi which stormed to power with the largest mandate since the establishment of the Delhi legislative assembly.

Ever since they have taken over Delhi, there has been relentless propaganda across the spectrum with regard to its transformative policies in the education sector. Only recently we saw full page ads in newspapers by the state government and the Aam Aadmi Party showcasing their achievements, which included laying down sewer lines in some areas.

While an extremely rosy picture of their ‘achievements’ has been painted in the mainstream and social media about the Education sector, there is little discourse or deliberation on how the situation of primary schools leaves a lot to be desired.

I would have been happy if this was the truth. However, this is far from the truth. There are several uncomfortable facts that the common people, both in Delhi and outside the city, must know.

Money for ads, not for schools

Pre-primary and primary education in Delhi are mainly the responsibility of the local bodies and fall under the purview of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). However, due to the nature of our urban finances, the MCD is largely dependent on the Delhi state government for spend on the 1695 schools which fall under its ambit. Therefore, it is incumbent on the state government to provide as much support possible to MCD schools given its ‘self-proclaimed’ commitment towards education. Nevertheless, the current scenario is to quite contrary to what is being marketed.

At the crux of the matter is a twofold problem – the continuous decline in funding of the MCD schools by AAP Government and the delay in release of funds to MCD schools. While situation is especially grim in North and East Delhi, it is equally bad in South Delhi, the more affluent part of our national capital region.

To begin with, the budget allocated to South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) schools (581 in number) has been slashed by the state government from an expected Rs. 89 crore to nearly just half i.e. Rs. 46 crore. The second concern is that in the preceding two years, fund releases from the State Government took place between mid-February and mid-March, extremely close to the financial year end. This makes it impossible for civic bodies to spend this money, say Rs. 46 crore within the available time frame of 15-45 days, keeping in mind the strict procedures such as tendering, bidding etc; to be followed.

The ripple effect of this fund crunch and fund release delay has been wide ranging and is potently catastrophic as the mandate of civic bodies is to cater to the demands of more than nine lakh students when the MCDs themselves are in deep financial crisis.

Poor Enrolment

The first impact has been felt on enrolments. The enrolment rate of students in primary classes of SDMC schools continued to decline with 17,535 fewer students being enrolled in the 2017-18 session compared to 2016-17. The number of students enrolled in 2017-18 is 2,48,297 which is lower than each of the previous six years due to the systematic decline in funding for the corporation schools.

This is despite the fact that continuous efforts have been made by the civic body to ensure better schools with limited money using initiatives like smart classrooms, better desks and benches, nursery facilities, extra classes, computer classes, English lessons and holding street plays.

Missing Teachers

The withholding of funds has not allowed any of the MCDs to fill up the over 5,000 vacant teacher positions in the schools falling under their jurisdiction. The student teacher ratios are bludgeoning to 80/90:1 which far exceeds the RTE requirement of 35:1. In addition, 120 principal posts lying vacant in SDMC schools and the fund crunch has forced the civic body to appoint senior teachers to the position of acting principals. There has also been a freeze on ability to hire specialized teachers for computer classes.

The intensity of the problem is even higher with respect to already existing teachers. The Delhi High Court had to repeatedly give a rap on the knuckles to the State government to clear the salary dues of Rs. 273 crore to nearly 13,000 North and East MCD teachers which they had kept pending for over six months.

Anguished over non-payment of salaries of municipal school teachers, a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar said this was “intolerable”, “completely improper” and an “inefficient system”. The salaries were paid only after the Bench went to the extent of threatening to attach the Delhi government’s bank accounts.

The silver lining here is that the SDMC has developed innovative financing mechanisms such as education cess on property taxes to ensure that our ‘Gurus’ are always paid their due share on time for their noble and selfless service to our kids.

With no money for such basic needs, teacher training and equipping them with the latest methods and pedagogies has become a far cry across all schools. On an average, teachers from 55% MCD schools reported to have a medium level of teaching quality based on the various parameters under School Standards and Evaluation Framework (SSEF) whereas 34% reported to have a high quality of teaching,

Poor Infrastructure

With schools as the temples of learning where kids spend a third of their time every day, it is imperative to provide a conducive environment for them to learn and grow. However, due to the inordinate delays in release of money for capital expenditure, the infrastructure at MCD schools is worsening at an alarming pace.

For instance, more than 5,000 students in 14 schools are forced to sit on floors, as there no desks and benches, and 44 schools do not have Jal Board water connections. Same is the plight of 40,000 students in 100 schools of North MCDA. There are 14 schools without a campus of their own.

I am reminded of a quote from Education Commission’s 1964-66 report which said – “The destiny of India is now being shaped in her classrooms.” And if classrooms remain underdeveloped and understaffed as they are today, there is very little glimmer of hope for our future.

Despite SDMC staying committed to spending a major chunk of its budget on sanitation and education, the shortfall in money released has made it impossible to construct new toilet blocks in schools or take forward its novel initiatives like e-toilets with auto-clean systems and mobile toilets for improving access and increasing conservation of water.

Furthermore, in a place like Delhi which is prone to extreme temperatures every season, there exist schools with no ceiling fans or necessary heating amenities. Lack of such basic infrastructure discourage students from being in schools and increase dropout rates. There is routine delay in giving notebooks to the students and the plans to install CCTV cameras in schools to improve safety for the girl child had to be postponed.

Consequent to the lack of facilities, shortage of teachers and massive gaps in the delivery systems of primary education in SDMC schools, there has been a major rise in the dropout rates in MCD schools as per a study conducted by the Praja Foundation. Over a lakh students have dropped out of schools from MCD schools since AAP has come to power and the estimated dropout percentage rate is 6% for SDMC. To make matters worse, as per the MCD data in 2016-17, 53,100 students enrolled with the primary schools in three municipal corporations have not attended the academic sessions for up to two years.

Petty politics of Kejriwal government

While Arvind Kejriwal keeps blaming Prime Minister Narendra Modi of not allowing him to work – and yet claiming that he has worked hard and converted Delhi into some top class city – it is him who in reality is obstructing development in Delhi.

This constant step-motherly treatment of MCD schools by the AAP state government is costing our kids dearly. Most experts agree that the state government has taken a vision-less approach to reforming our primary education system. It has shied away from enhancing the quality of education in MCD schools and resorts to nip and tuck jobs such as the ‘Buniyaad’ scheme (accelerated programme to improve learning outcomes). Such grand PR exercises will continue to fail in delivering the desired results as long as the core and critical issues mentioned are not addressed.

Instead of sitting on dharna for full statehood, it will be good if the Delhi Chief Minister focuses on these issues.

(Author is an elected member and Chairman of the Education Committee of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation. Data and information cited in the article has been obtained from multiple sources by the author, including from documents submitted and available in the house and committee meetings, which she has access to owing to her position.)

Triple Talaq petitioner claims that Deoband is the stronghold of terrorism

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Advocate Farha Faiz, a Supreme Court lawyer, has claimed that Deoband is the stronghold of terrorism, reports Amar Ujala. Faiz who was one of the petitioners in the Triple Talaq case made the claims after two suspected terrorists hailing from Kashmir were arrested from Deoband. Jihadi literature, cartridges and weapons were also seized from them. The arrests were made following the security operations being initiated across the country after the Pulwama terrorist attack.

Faiz also claimed that one of the persons who had attacked her in 2016 was a suspected terrorist and was arrested by the National Intelligence Agency (NIA). She said that she had once seen the suspected terrorist at Deoband railway station. Faiz revealed that a report submitted in the Tees Hazari court during the monitoring of the attack on her showed the number of students enrolled in the Madrassas as 30, while when Delhi police inquired about the number of students by sending a notice, the number of students turned out to be 6000.

Faiz also told about how students in Madrassas are taught about Gazwa-e-hind. “Those who come to study in Madrassas are prepared for Gazwa-e-hind so that they can become puppets of terrorists like Hafiz Saeed to carry out their destructive activities in India”, said Faiz.

Gazwa-e-hind is a prophecy of Jihad which foretells battles between Muslims and non-Muslims in the Indian subcontinent, resulting in the victory of Muslims in the end.

In a first, EAM Sushma Swaraj to attend Organization of Islamic Cooperation session as guest of honour

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Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj will attend the inaugural plenary session of the 46th Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of Organization of Islamic Cooperation, as the guest of honour next month. This is the first ever OIC session that India will attend.

India on Saturday accepted the invitation sent by the foreign minister of the UAE, HH Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

“We see this invitation as the desire of the enlightened leadership of the UAE to go beyond our rapidly growing close bilateral ties and forge a true multifaceted partnership at the multilateral and international level” A statement issued by MEA said. It also added that invitation sent to India acknowledges the presence of 185 million Muslims and their “contribution to its pluralistic ethos“.

The OIC sessions agenda this year is ’50 years of Islamic cooperation: Road map for prosperity and development’ It will be held between March 1-2, in Abu Dhabi. It will be attended by delegates of 56 member states, 5 observer states and India as ‘Guest of Honour’.

The move has been hailed as significant, as currently India is trying to corner Pakistan, after the Pulwama attack that claimed lives of more than 40 CRPF jawans.


Invitation to India to speak in the congregation of Islamic countries, cannot have come at a better time when it is launching several diplomatic offensives against the state of Pakistan for its continued backing to Islamic terrorist who perpetrates terror attacks like Pulwama attack in India.

India’s first International win against Islamic terrorism has already come in the form of condemnation by UN Security Council. The UNSC in its statement condemned the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir while naming Jaish-e-Mohammad, the Pakistan based terror group. It also urged other countries to comply with India and other relevant authorities in the investigation into the dastardly terror attack.

Barkha Dutt: How the paragon of women empowerment has been reduced to a victim-playing attention seeker

Barkha Dutt, the drummer boy of Rahul Gandhi, is a woman of many talents. Some say her talent lies in getting stone pelters, who admit they are waging Jihad in Kashmir, to say that they are fighting for the ‘Azaadi of Kashmir’. In her illustrious career, she has accomplished more than one could possibly imagine. From ruining a bloggers life for asking questions, to hounding a budding journalist, to whitewashing terror. Her greatest talent, which has recently come to the fore, is how beautifully she plays the victim. After the time when she used a fellow journalist’s death to spread lies and play the victim, this is perhaps the one time, where the has proved that nobody can possibly ‘harvest’ victimhood as she does.

There is something to be said about women of substance. Of professional women who stand their ground and never waver. Who weather through the ups and downs and emerge victorious. Who excel in a man’s world, on their own terms. And then there is something to be said about women who did all of that, and then, instead of retreating graciously, start vying for their lost space again by painting themselves to be the eternal victims. Like the entire world is out to get them. Barkha, while we love to her hate, did excel in a man’s world. Did make her mark, albeit, with the help of Niira Radia, in the field of journalism. She reached a point in her career where she could peddle the ‘poor headmaster’s son’ narrative for a dangerous terrorist without any real punitive action accruing to her. That is saying something.

The advent of social media left the old guard of journalism mostly scampering for cover. Their lies have been exposed. Their spins have been untangled and their true intentions have been revealed. Barkha is one such “journalist”, and we use that term loosely, who has been revealed for what she truly is. A loose talker who has an agenda. A motivated fascist who gives context to the genocide of Kashmiri Pandits by bringing in the ‘economic argument’, much like the Nazis.

Barkha Dutt was propped up by an ignorant country who admired women of substance. When it was revealed that the substance was a mere mirage, her demigod stature was reduced to rubble. The perfumed elite like her don’t take kindly to being displaced from their pedestal. And so, Barkha proceeded to create the narrative that the entire world is out to get her. That she has been disgraced as a journalist not because she is bad at her job, but because people are out to victimise her.

For the past several days, while the country mourned our braves and ached for retribution, Barkha, was busy declaring to the world that she is a victim. Let that sink in for a moment. While soldiers lay blown up to pieces, Barkha was playing the victim.

First, to prove her undying love for Kashmiris, she proclaimed that her number is public and that Kashmiris who are being troubled should reach out to her. Then, she complained to the police about her number being public because she, unfortunately, started getting several unsolicited, harassing messages. When she received the unsolicited picture, she took to Twitter to claim that it was an expression of ‘nationalism’. Nobody knows how she concluded the phallus’ political ideology, but she did.

While the harassment was atrocious and one must take action against it, the self-proclaimed paragon of feminism reduced a serious issue of harassment to ideological debate. She got an unsolicited p*nis picture. That was harassment, plain and simple. However, instead of focussing on the harassment, she proclaimed that the p*enis had a political ideology, thereby reducing the cause of all women who fight this sort of horrific harassment on a regular basis.

After days of playing the victim, last night, she outdid herself.

A hilarious video of a Pakistani journalist went viral on social media. The journalist was rather outraged about India refusing to export tomatoes to Pakistan and kept saying ‘Tauba Tauba’. At one point, the journalist also asserted that ‘Pakistan can live without tomatoes’ and that ‘it is time Pakistan nukes India’ because of this tomato fiasco.

Following the video of the Pakistani journalist frothing at the mouth, several spoof videos were made. One of those spoof videos came from a hilarious handle called ‘@SuperLonday’.


Barkha popped a vein. Metaphorically, of course.

She not only tagged Twitter functionaries, but also the Delhi police. She wrote, “this video is being brought to your attention to see what you are going to do’.


It was a simple video really. One recalls how the entire Left cabal had defended AIB (All India Bakchod) when they had used PM Modi’s picture and applied a dog filter to it via snapchat. One wonders how this was any different? If that was justified as humour, why should Barkha get all sensitive now about her picture being used as a spoof?

Did she do this to wash away the ‘Pro-Pakistan’ image that she has? She is often reminded that Hafiz Saeed himself had praised Barkha’s journalism. Was this outburst so that would not be raked up again? Or she wanted to overcompensate by outraging on this video?

One wonders if this is the last arrow left in her quiver. With her shattered credibility, dwindling career, next to nothing clout and ignorable existence, one wonders if drawing attention to herself by playing the eternal ‘abhla naari’ is a Hail Mary Pass for her. Whether she hopes that this would breathe life into a disgraced journalistic career. That people, might just think of watching her asinine channel that has recently been started with Kapil Sibal’s money if she constantly whines and becomes the butt of all jokes.

Imran Masood, who threatened to ‘chop Narendra Modi into pieces’, included in Congress’ 2019 Lok Sabha Election Committee

Former Uttar Pradesh MLA from the Congress party, Imran Masood, who had allegedly threatened to “chop Narendra Modi into pieces” ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections is now part of the Congress party’s Election committee in Uttar Pradesh ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, reported ANI.

The Congress party on Saturday had announced various committees like Election Committee, Campaign Committee, Election Strategy & Planning Committee, Co-ordination Committee, Manifesto Committee and Media & Publicity Committee for Uttar Pradesh ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Imran Masood has been inducted into the Election Committee of the Congress party.

Congress Party’s Election Committee in Uttar Pradesh. Image Source: ANI

With the selection of Congress leaders with a history of instigating violence and hurling cheap slurs at the leaders of other parties, Congress seems to be mainstreaming fringe elements like Imran Masood in the party. Recently, Masood was also in the luxury bus with Priyanka Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Jyotiraditya Scindia during Priyanka Gandhi’s first roadshow in Lucknow. He was the Congress candidate from Saharanpur in 2014 when he had declared in a public rally that he will “chop Narendra Modi into pieces”

Interestingly, the Congress party’s election committee in Uttar Pradesh will be headed by Uttar Pradesh Congress Chief Raj Babbar, who had also abused the Prime Minister by targetting his humble background and his family. Uttar Pradesh Congress Chief Raj Babbar had used the devaluing rupee reference to mock the age of Prime Minister Modi’s mother.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi is busy spinning tales of the ‘politics of love’, but on the other hand, he has also shown exemplary affection towards those who make extremely distasteful remarks against the Prime Minister of India. With inducting Imran Masood into an election committee only indicates that certain behaviour of the Congress party remains the same despite its party president Rahul Gandhi expressing false love in public.

The Congress party understanding the inability of Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s inability to lead the party to take on the might BJP led by PM Narendra Modi resorted to parachuting his sister, another dynast- Priyanka Gandhi to the Congress party. Within hours of joining the Congress party, the younger Gandhi was made a general secretary of the party and was installed as the party’s in-charge in Uttar Pradesh East.

Priyanka Gandhi, who hardly has any experience in electoral politics has been fighting hard to save her husband Robert Vadra, accused in irregularities pertaining to various land dealings. Priyanka Gandhi may have been pushed into taking responsibilities by the Gandhi Parivar to create an extra pressure on the Centre to go slow on cases against the son-in-law Robert Vadra.

India can’t stop laughing as ‘tauba tauba’ Pakistani journalist wants to nuke India because he loves tomatoes

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On the fateful day of February 14, a ghastly terrorist attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama which claimed the lives of more than 40 CRPF soldiers shook whole country’s conscience. The responsibility for the deadliest terrorist attack against the security forces in decades was claimed by Pakistan based terrorist organisation Jaish-e-Mohammad. However, Pakistan, being its usual self, denied having any hand in the terrorist attack and instead played the victim of terrorism.

India, however, took some strong steps to pressurise Pakistan into stopping it from assisting terrorism including withdrawal of Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status conferred on Pakistan, hiking customs duty on Pakistani goods exported to India by 200%, vowing to divert water of 3 rivers flowing into Pakistan into the Yamuna. Interestingly, tomato growing farmers have decided not to export tomatoes to Pakistan.

The last step of not exporting tomatoes to Pakistan seems to have irked Pakistanis the most. A journalist from Pakistan who is famous as the ‘Tauba Tauba journalist’ appeared particularly disturbed by this.


The journalist even threatened that Pakistan will retaliate India’s decision of banning export of tomatoes with an ‘atom bomb’ attack. His hilarious ‘threats’ have left people in splits. “Tauba Tauba ab vo vakhat a gya hai ke tamatar ka jawab atom bomb se diya jaega“, the journalist said.

Netizens were left in splits at this hilarious outrage over tomatoes.


Some empathised with the tamatar loving journalist.


India has increased its efforts to pressurise Pakistan so that it stops assisting terrorism on its land.

Jammu and Kashmir Anti Corruption Bureau Director transferred to Home Department

14th February 2019 saw one of the greatest acts of Pakistan sponsored terror attack being carried out in Kashmir. 44 CRPF jawans lost their lives in a suicide attack in Pulwama for which Jaish-e-Mohammad claimed responsibility.

In response, India took a number of steps to isolate Pakistan diplomatically, and last night, it was reported that 100 companies of paramilitary forces to Kashmir. Reportedly, Pakistan had also started preparing for conflict by evacuating the areas surrounding the Line of Control.

OpIndia has reliably learnt that now, the Director of Jammu and Kashmir Anti Corruption Bureau has been transferred to the Home department.

IPS SJM Gilani has been transferred to the Home Department ‘in the interest of administration’. Tomorrow, Sunday, separatists have called for a ‘hartal’ in anticipation of the rumours that Section 35A, which disallowed non-Kashmiris from buying property in Kashmir might be abrogated.

If South Africa can be banned for apartheid, why not Pakistan for terrorism: Mohammad Kaif calls for strong action

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Cricketer Mohammad Kaif has called out for severe action against Pakistan in the wake of Pulwama terrorist attack. The cricketer reminded via Twitter how India had boycotted South Africa and had severed all trade ties with the country following the ICC ban on South Africa over the South African government’s apartheid policy.


Kaif said that racism is a serious issue but terrorism is an even bigger issue and a country that indulges in terrorism should be dealt with in the most severe way. There are speculations that India might consider withdrawing from the 2019 ICC world cup to boycott playing with Pakistan.

While cricketers like Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar spoke in favour of playing with Pakistan saying that this would only help Pakistan in the World Cup, there were others like Harbhajan Singh, Sourav Ganguly who supported an absolute boycott. Captain of India Cricket team Virat Kohli said that he stands by what the nation wants. “Our sincere condolences to the families of CRPF soldiers who lost their lives in Pulwama attack. We stand by what the nation wants to do and the BCCI decides to do. We will go by what the government and the Board decides, we will respect that”, Kohli said.

‘India is looking at something very strong,’ US President Trump on tensions between India and Pakistan

President of the United States of America, Donald Trump, appeared to confirm that India is exploring the means to give a befitting reply to Pakistan in the wake of the Pulwama Terror Attack. Talking to reporters at the Oval Office, Trump said that India was looking at a “very strong” response.

“India is looking at something very strong. And I mean, India just lost almost 50 people with an attack. So, I could understand that also,” he said in response to a question about India’s right to self-defense.


“We are talking and a lot of people are talking. But, it is a very, very delicate balance going on right now. There’s a lot of problems between India and Pakistan because of what just happened,” he said before adding, “We’re very much involved in that if that’s what you’re referring to.”

President Trump also remarked that he would like to see the tensions stop. “It’s a terrible thing going on right now between Pakistan and India. It is a very, very bad situation and it’s a very dangerous situation between the two countries. We would like to see it stopped. A lot of people were just killed and we want to see it stopped,” he said.

The United States has stopped giving over $1 billion in aid to Pakistan, the President remarked. He said, “I stopped paying Pakistan the USD 1.3-billion that we used to pay them. In the meantime, we may set up some meetings with Pakistan. Pakistan was taking very strong advantage of the United States under other presidents. We were paying Pakistan USD 1.3 billion a year. I ended that payment because they were not helping us in the way they should have.”

Earlier, NSA Ajit Doval was assured by his American counterpart that the USA supports India’s right to self-defense. Meanwhile, Pakistan has started preparing for war. And earlier today, Prime Minister Modi assured the country that “scores will be settled” this time.

Rahul Gandhi takes a scripted question from a Congress worker he refers to as ‘miss’ Kapil

In what appeared as a staged interaction with Delhi University students, Congress President Rahul Gandhi pulled off yet another gaffe when he addressed the Delhi Youth Congress General Secretary Kapil Sharma as “Miss Kapil” while answering a question raised by him.

Rahul Gandhi was at the JLN stadium to interact with the Delhi University students. However, the questions asked by some of the students appeared scripted. As can be seen in the video, students were not allowed to ask questions of Rahul Gandhi at their will. The questions were already submitted to the organisers who then scrutinised them to be answered by the Congress President.

This raises suspicion as the organisers had full authority to edit and omit questions that appeared critical to Congress agenda or were uncomfortable for their President to elucidate.


As one Kapil Sharma’s name was announced, Rahul asked him to wave his hand to locate him among the students and addressed him as ‘Miss Kapil’. A quick glance at the profile of Kapil Sharma suggests that he is actively involved in politics and is an avowed Congress supporter. He is none other than a Delhi Congress worker who is the current General Secretary of the Delhi Youth Congress. His question only exhibited his ‘pliant’ disposition in favour of Congress.

Twitter Profile of Delhi Youth Congress General Secretary Kapil Sharma

Rahul Gandhi has been repeatedly lying with impunity in his press conferences and public interactions. Interaction with the students of DU was no different. In fact, one of the reasons, he is emboldened to incessantly lie is his firm belief that the questions that will be hurled at him will have already gone through extreme vetting and sanitisation by the Congress ecosystem that is desperately longing for a Congress regime.

Even on some rare occasions when he is being asked tough questions to prove his outlandish claims, Rahul Gandhi has either disparaged the media by calling them ‘pliant’ or simply deflected the question by indulging into rhetorics.

The latest interaction with the Delhi University students brings to light how Rahul Gandhi and Congress has been managing their public relations to cast aspersions on Modi government. Recently, Rahul Gandhi and Congress’ also ran a smear campaign against PM Modi regarding PM attending a Discovery channel shoot post Pulwama attack. All the claims made by Congress and its President Rahul Gandhi were debunked as false.

As the elections are approaching, one can expect a flurry of such smear campaigns against the Modi government along with increasing number of Congress workers posing as ‘independent concerned individual’ asking pliant questions to reinforce their President’s narrative.