What they hide

Media houses should be known more by what they hide than what they publish. They get paid on the basis of time and eyeballs. They try to get more eyeballs. They keep the item on display till eyeballs thin out. Some augment their income to a varying degree by charging for providing publicity to those who are seeking it (politicians, aspiring artists and so on). Most rarely tell you whether a program is paid for by any party. Some also make a good amount of money by NOT PUBLISHING things some parties don't want people to know. Some individuals associated with media take this idea further. They get money by locating information that a party might not like to be published, and then charge the party for not publishing it! That has to be a very lucrative business.

Now, scan the Indian media sites for G20 news. How many are discussing the secret tax havens? Is anyone making money by keeping the item folded?

Just in case this gets you thinking that mediamen are bad and that Indian mediamen are worst, let me add that they are party-neutral in this matter. Just as Congress would not like some things publicised, BJP must also be working towards hiding some facts from the public eye. It is easy to guess what each party tries to hide if you stop to think about it. For example, the owner of the blog with a Hindu Nationalist perspective censors most comments that really try to expose the fact that BJP merely talks about Hindus, it rarely does anything for Hindus . TOOTBHAWNP is an expert in editing. It is a good example how power corrupts, and how Indian followers rarely question someone who has power. So, don't blame the mediamen. The buck stops at us. Till we don't force fair and just editing, and transparent media accounting, we will never have a fair and just society.

The PUB owner wants to grow.

The owner of the blog with a Hindu Nationalist Perspective has now declared his intention to grow.

He wants more hits. There are new guys commenting on the post. Old guys do not seem to have much opinion about this. It seems that not all can be fooled all the times. New posters will of course get fooled for a few weeks before they come to know about the vicious truth of the pub culture.

In one of the responses, the TOOTBWAHNP writes "in effect maald this is what we have now. only the abusive posts are deleted." Thus far, the J L Nehru of the blogworld was writing truthfully, mostly about his feelings about many situations, many of them masquerading as theories. Now, he has taken recourse to falsehood.

"Only the abusive posts are deleted?" Are you sure Mr. Rajeev? We can pull out dozens of posts that were deleted and ask users whether they were abusive. We will do so with one post every week.

The truth is, a liquor bar cannot grow organically. If you wish to grow, keep the pub separate from the discussion forum. Civilised people will not care to join the pub, but they would happily participate in a truly free and independent forum.

Congress is losing touch with India

For long, we firmly believed that the main difference between BJP and Congress was that the top BJP leaders did not connect with Indian masses. Leaders like Advani and Bajpayee
were/are more concerned about the moral characater of a common man than his next meal. The congress very well understood that the meal was far more important. The voters rewarded
Congerss for that.

Today, the common man needs a few more things. Entertainment, for example. The common man of 21st century most enjoys cricket and reality TV shows, not movies and rallies. BJP
sensed this in 2004 and tried to attract Muslim voters by sending Indian cricket team to Pakistan. (In Indian politics, Congress and its friend have had to attract Hindu votes by exploiting casted divisions and appealing to the basic tolerant and sympathetic Hindu mind while BJP has tried to attract Muslim voters equally 'chupke chupke' by trying to please Muslims in subtle ways. As long as Hindus vote BJP without asking tough questions, BJP will continue to play this game.)

In the meantime, Congress is losing its connection with the common man. This is the inevitable result of too much power getting concentrated with one party. It is evident in the way
Congress leaders are talking to people. Mr. Chidambaram, the home minister, is giving sermons about security prioties and even the younger leaders in Congress are talking in loud voices
about their moral position - like their outrage over Varun Gandhi's speech.

The result? The biggest cricket show on earth has got shifted out of India. Indian common man has lost his entertainment. Indian hoteliers, drivers, watchmen, caterers, small newspapers will lose a total of a few billions of rupees of income.

Mark our words - Congress has made a serious mistake here and she will rue her stand in this matter. This is very very very unlike Congress to moralise and sermonise. Congress, for once, has caught on the risky ivory tower mentality of BJP 70+ leaders. BJP will soon be ready without them and Congress will have caught on the bug. It is going to be thrilling election. If BJP acts smartly, and right now, it will be able to make this the main plank of their propaganda. But then, BJP has squandered 100's of such oppportinities in the past. I would not be surprised if Advani issued a statement supporting Indian government on this matter.

Practise what you Preach, Mr. Rajeev Srinivasan

The title of the latest post of TOOTBWAHNP (The owner of the blog with a Hindu Nationalist Perspective) goes "How the UPA devalues democracy". Also, there are many new posts about lack of freedom in the Indian society. Unfortunately, the TOOTBWAHNP is unable to see how he is contributing to the gagging of freedom. Here is a blogger (and his devout followers) who has failed to promote any kind of freedom on his blog. We have noticed that neither the owner of the rejeev2004 blog nor any other poster there EVER tried to instill a sense of freedom, fairness, or justice on the blog. I would like to tell him that Congress and UPA have only perfected what he practises in a halfhazard manner.

Hindu litereature often talks about microcausm, the 'Pinda and the Brahmanda' relation. So, my advice to Mr. Rajeev Srinivasan - follow the Hindu religion and principles. Work for freedom and democracy on your own blog. The wider society will soon pick up what its constituents stand for.

Total bankrupcy of ideas.

Sometime ago, we had asked whether there is any dialogue at the rajeev2004 blog or whether it is only jalpa or vitanda. Last week, a self-evident answer appeared. Some curious student enquired about cultural and religious clashes in India. We were hoping there would be useful answers so that the enquirer knows the truth. Unfortunately, not one straight answer has been forthcoming so far. We tried to post our answer but were unsuccessful four times. As you all know, the blogowner has a policy of deleting comments from some posters summarily. That is how much he cares about the status of Indian society and Hindus!

Charity begins at home

Mr. Rajeev Srinivasan cracked the biggest joke of this century earlier this week when he posted an item about freedom of expression.

This is what the article in the link says about freedom. "The principle is quite clear: it does not matter how you feel about what is being expressed, who is doing it, or who is gaining politically by it; .the right to free expression itself is sacred and a common good and nothing can be allowed to do anything even remotely like abridging it. "

And the article also says "The picture that emerges, then, is that of a people with various political and personal axes to grind, but all united in their authoritarian drive to use any handy tool--administrative, civil, political, or the lynch mob--to suppress any expression that they find inconvenient, distasteful or dangerous. And it's no use blaming politicians either: there has been no politician in history with the ability to exploit an urge that is not already present in the people. We're all perverse freedom fighters, in brief."

Mr. Rajeev Srinivasan, Practise what you preach. Stop deleting comments on the basis of the identity of posters. (It is quite ok to have general rules for posting and follow them fully, but it is not ok to delete comments based on poster's identity) Show the world that you really believe in freedom of expression. For once, act like a Hindu instead of acting like a muslim fundamentalist!!

Finally, a young leader from BJP says it straight.

Finally, BJP mustered enough courage to call the bluff of well managed economy.

"You the economic Prime Minister, cannot manage the economy, cannot manage India. Please quit," BJP spokesperson Ravishankar Prasad told reporters in New Delhi.

I guess Advani and the old members must be quite friendly with the PM so they keep praising him for something or other - honesty for example. Younger leaders might take time to develop that friendship and so common people might have some chance of parties competing and hopefully ending up helping people.