NDTV goes gaga over Rahul quotes in Bengal

'Bengal has to go back to the Bengali people'

Not sure what he meant by this. Bengal is ruled by a Bengali even today, the Govt there is elected by Bengali electorate

Politics is in your shirt, in your pants: Rahul

Politics is in my pants!! Definitely a George Bush movement!

Head You lose; Tail I Win

Bihar election is scheduled in next 30-45 days and it is not surprising that you keep hearing ‘news’ on how JDS is going to split from BJP. 

And how to media report when the much anticipated split is not happening. IE reports  Nitish coming to Delhi, JD(U), BJP deny rift

Taking a “strategic position” ahead of the September 24 Ayodhya verdict, the JD(U) and BJP have dispelled speculation of any fresh rift in the alliance.

So if you read inbetween the lines, does it mean they actually wanted to split but this time round they have taken ‘strategic position’ not to split!

 

Media Are you sure?

Indian Media has gone to town claiming Congress sells its way to Rs 600 cr corpus

The oldest political party, Congress, generated Rs 598.4 crore during 2007-08 and 2008-09 through the sale of coupons 

Now this gets me thinking….

India's total population in 2009 was 119.8 crore. lets do some maths

Option 1: Every Indian Citizen would have brought coupon worth Rs 4.99. 

Option 2: Since it is not practically possible for every Indian to pay Rs 5 to INC, lets assume 37%  of Indians i.e Vote percentage of INC bought coupons. That would mean 44 Crore Indian brought coupons worth Rs 15 from congress!!

I leave it to readers to make their own judgment.

IBN & its famed Restrain

On Sept. 11, 2010 Pakistan flag was hoisted at lal Chowk by Kashmiri separatists. Shockingly, none of Media houses reported this incident. When questioned, IBN Editor in chief retorted to us in twitter

@i_panchajanya is the aim of a channel to exercise restraint, or to inflame passions? we live in troubled times. 

Noble intentions indeed. How can one question the need for ‘restrain’ during these troubled times. Though doubt lingers on what was Rajdeep worried about? Was he worried that this act by few mislead youth in Kashmir can cause communal trouble in rest of India or was IBN worried that visuals of Kashmiri protestors hoisting enemy flag in Indian territory will cause adverse impact on peace moves which UPA was planning?
Its not first time IBN has demonstrated such noble intentions. Last time they exercised similar restrain when CNN-IBN did not telecast trust vote sting as they felt the story was not complete and their rigorous editorial protocol demanded that even a hidden camera shoot is absolutely water-tight. I hope Rajdeep will excuse some of less mortals who ‘stupidly’ believe on ‘speculation based on hearsay, conjecture and mere guess-work’ that IBN chickened out under intense pressure from UPA.
Having seen such fine examples of restrain by IBN, I was intrigued by following news  at http://ibnlive.in.com
The headline read Ram temple in Ayodhya will solve the issue: RSS. It also  quotes Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat

"A nation's identity is based on Ram. There is a lot of suspicion in society. Issues can be solved by building Ram temple. If a Muslim supports building temple, no one will accuse him of being a traitor,"

Tough words indeed which can infuriate any person. I wonder why IBN didnot show their exemplary restrain while reporting this. Especially since Ram Janam Bhoomi issue has been one of most contentious issue India is facing during ‘these trouble times’ and when nation waits for Sept 24 verdict with batedbreath
Its more intriguing considering none of Media Houses has reported the above para. In fact, most of Media houses reported Bhagwatji saying

RSS' response to the verdict will be "within the limits of law, Constitution and democratic way."
"Hamare taraf se koi jhanjhat nahi hoga (there will be no trouble from our side). We don't want any type of divide in society, we don't see it as a Hindu-Muslim dispute but an issue of respect of our national values...in fact, if the temple is built there, it will help in integration of the society."

Noble words indeed. Words which can have calming effect on the society.
India Express: Response to Ayodhya suit verdict will be within law: Bhagwat
DNA: Response to Ayodhya suit verdict will be within law: Mohan Bhagwat
Finally, Rediff has reported what Bhagwat actually said

If tomorrow, Muslims say that let the temple be built then nobody will be able to say in India that Indian Muslims are 'foreign-bound'. (Bharat main koi nahin kahe sakega ke yahan ka Muslman videsh-parsat hai)!"

Lastly, Bhagwatji captured did capture the essence of Sangh

Whoever wants to see 'Bharat mata ki jai' in this world can join any branch of the RSS.

Please note the source of IBN news is CNN-IBN while for IE & DNA its PTI

IE: Please use adjectives with discretion

News article “Irom award shot in arm for anti-AFSPA campaigners” from Indian Express informs us that activist Irom Sharmila has been conferred with “prestigious peace award” by Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM).
I was wondering how IE has arrived at the conclusion that this is a ‘prestigious’ award?
Has this been conferred before to other eminent personalities? Fact is this is first time such an award has been given!
Has this been given out by a prestigious institution? The award is being given by IIPM which has comein for some severe criticism. In fact, The University Grants Commission (UGC) has recently issued another public notice against the Indian Institute of Planning & Management (IIPM) saying that it is “not a university within the meaning of Section 2(f) of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956”. It added that as per Section 22 of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956, IIPM does not have the right of conferring degrees as specified by the commission under Section 22(3) of the UGC. It has also clarified that IIPM is neither entitled to award MBA/BBA/BCA degree nor it is recognised by UGC.
IE should me more discreet before using using adjectives which may be misleading!
Interestingly even Hindu carried same news but gave ‘prestigious’ a miss.