#Political News Anchor in Bihar

[rajeshraj1]

Latest bihar news

Bihar News: Latest Updates on the State of Affairs in Bihar Bihar is a state in eastern India that has been in the Bihar news a lot lately. Here you will find the latest updates on the state of affairs in Bihar.

1. What's new in Bihar? The state of Bihar is seeing a lot of development and change recently. There are new businesses and industries opening up, and the state is becoming a more popular destination for investment. The infrastructure is also being improved, with new roads and bridges being built. The people of Bihar are benefiting from all of this development, as they are now able to find better jobs and enjoy a higher standard of living.

2. Political developments in Bihar In the year 2015, there were a number of political developments in the state of Bihar. One of the most notable was the election of Nitish Kumar as the Chief Minister of the state. Kumar had previously served as the Chief Minister from 2005 to 2013, but he had then stepped down after his party, the Janata Dal (United), joined the National Democratic Alliance. In the election in 2015, Kumar's party won a majority of seats in the state legislature, and he was subsequently sworn in as Chief Minister.

Another major development in 2015 was the formation of a new political party in the state, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). The RJD was formed by Lalu Prasad Yadav, who had previously been a member of the Janata Dal (United). Yadav had been expelled from the Janata Dal (United) in 2013, after he was convicted of corruption. The RJD went on to win a majority of seats in the state legislature in the election in 2015.

 Finally, in 2015 there was a change in leadership of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state. Sushil Kumar Modi, who had been the Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar since 2005, replaced Nitish Kumar as the leader of the BJP in the state.

3. Economic conditions in Bihar Bihar is one of the poorest states in India, with a high level of poverty and unemployment. The state has a weak infrastructure, and a lack of industry and investment has led to low levels of economic development. The government has made efforts to attract investment, but the results have been mixed. The economic conditions in Bihar are improving, but there is still a lot of work to be done.

4. Social conditions in Bihar Bihar is one of the poorest states in India, with a significant proportion of the population living in poverty. This poverty is exacerbated by the state's poor social conditions, which include a lack of education and health care, and widespread corruption. The state government has made some efforts to improve social conditions in Bihar, but these have been insufficient. As a result, the quality of life for most people in Bihar is very poor.

5. Culture and heritage of Bihar The culture and heritage of Bihar are some of the most unique in all of India. The state is known for its colorful festivals, intricate traditional dances, and delicious cuisine. There is a rich history behind the culture of Bihar, and it is evident in the many ancient temples and monuments that dot the landscape.

One of the most notable aspects of Bihar's culture is its music. The traditional Bhojpuri music is a distinctive genre that is beloved by people all over the state. Bhojpuri songs are often filled with joy and happiness, and they are always a joy to listen to. The food of Bihar is also famous throughout India. The state is known for its delicious curries, flatbreads, and sweets. Every dish is packed with flavor, and there is something to please everyone's taste buds.

Bihar is a fascinating state with a rich culture and heritage that is worth exploring. If you are interested in learning more about this unique part of India, be sure to visit Bihar and experience it firsthand. Bihar is a fascinating place with a rich history and culture. I hope that the latest updates on the state of affairs in Bihar will help to improve the living conditions of the people in the state.

If you are looking Political News in Bihar click here: http://rajeshraj.in/

[xtruss]

Ravish Kumar, centre, with World’s Most Wanted Criminal Fascist Hindu Extremist Narendra Modi, left, and a BJP rally in Kolkata, right. Photograph: Observer Design

Media: ‘Resistance Is Possible’: Ravish Kumar, The Broadcaster Risking His Life To Tell The Truth About Extremist Hindus’ Fascist India​ (The Largest Hypocrisy of the World) Today​

The eminent journalist’s fearless reporting on India under Narendra Modi cost him his job and freedom. Now broadcasting to millions on YouTube, he is the subject of a new documentary

— BY Tim Adams | Sunday 02 July 2023 | The Guardian USA

Ravish Kumar was born near the same Indian city – Motihari in Bihar – as George Orwell. In his early years as a TV journalist and nightly news anchor, Kumar did not imagine that he would live to be part of a modern-day Nineteen Eighty-Four nightmare. But that changed almost a decade ago with the election of Narendra Modi’s government in India. In the years since then, Kumar has become an increasingly lone voice of truth-telling in an Indian media landscape in thrall to the Hindu nationalist politics of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party (BJP). Kumar’s one-man campaign to maintain journalistic integrity, as mainstream news organisations became promoters of politicised fake news, earned him the “Nobel prize of Asia,” the Ramon Magsaysay award, in 2019. It also led to an unending campaign of harassment and death threats from government supporters.

Kumar, the Indian equivalent of, say, Jeremy Paxman in his prime, finally resigned from his post at NDTV in New Delhi last November, after the station was taken over by Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, a close friend of Modi. He now lives in virtual hiding with his family and broadcasts through a personal YouTube channel. His story, one of repression in modern India and of the existential crisis in truth-telling worldwide, is the subject of an urgently compelling documentary, While We Watched.

Ravish Kumar in While We Watched. Photograph: Ⓒ Britdoc Films

The director of that documentary, Vinay Shukla, tells me he knew he had to make his film when he turned on to watch Kumar’s news show back in 2018: Kumar interrupted the bulletin to berate his own viewers, telling them they had to start questioning the lies they were being fed, had to stop watching TV and look for information from other more reliable sources. “Most news presenters are always praising their audience, saying: ‘We are here to serve you’ and so on,” Shukla says. “Ravish, on the contrary, was chastising his audience, saying: ‘You’re the problem.’ I could see that here was an unusual protagonist – this huge figure in the [Indian] media – who has begun to wonder if the society for whom he is doing this work even cares for him any more.”

For the next two years, Shukla, who had previously made an award-winning documentary about the creation and struggle of an Indian opposition party, An Insignificant Man, essentially moved in with Kumar, filming him five days a week over that period. The result is an intimate portrait of a man struggling to preserve his conscience and freedom in the face of overwhelming hostility and political and commercial cynicism; a man trying, in Orwell’s terms, at 9pm every night, to tell the nation that two plus two actually equals four.

When I speak to Ravish Kumar himself on a long Zoom call, he describes himself now being “in exile” in his own country. He assumes our call is being monitored by his tormentors; before he joined it, he received the usual anonymous texts saying: “We will see you.” Once he left NDTV in November, he became “persona non grata” in Indian media, he says. He continues to try to get at the truth in the world’s largest democracy, researching and writing “about 8,000 words a day” for his YouTube broadcasts.

I wonder, looking back, when he first felt that things were falling apart? “It was June or July 2014,” he says. “I sensed that a kind of avalanche was coming in Indian media. At that time, many of my colleagues would say: ‘Well, power comes and power goes.’ And: ‘We have enough experience, Ravish, we have seen many leaders.’ But my gut was saying: ‘No, this is not something that has happened before. Something new is coming.’ In a very short span of time, the structures of newsrooms were demolished completely. That was not done step by step. It was done in one go.”

Shukla’s film contrasts Kumar’s meticulous efforts at reporting sectarian violence, or the desperate conditions in rural villages, with the shouty populist news channel Republic, which quickly became the Fox News of Indian media after Modi was elected prime minister. Republic’s excitable presenters are seen to fuel division and mistrust of the Country’s Minority (200 million) Muslim Population, to Routinely Call Political Opponents of the BJP Traitors, to promote Warmongering Against Pakistan and to neglect to report on the complex issues faced by ordinary Indians. In its manufactured culture wars and unhinged sloganeering, it is, you sense, the channel GB News aspires to be.

Now 51, Kumar, a history graduate, had by 2014 been at NDTV for 15 years, having risen from the mail room to become its most trusted and recognisable face. For a long time, the station supported his mission to call out what was happening elsewhere in the media. “NDTV started running a campaign that said: ‘We do not profit from hate,’” he says. “The owners were trying to save their core values. But in that process, everything became very tough. It was very tedious to always defend themselves.” Within the station, Kumar occasionally came under pressure to moderate his tone. “But if I said no to an editor,” he says, “they took it at once that this is my final word.”

The aftermath of sectarian clashes in Delhi in February 2020 between Hindus and Muslims protesting a contentious new citizenship law. Photograph: Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP

Did it come as a shock to him how shallow the ethical foundations of much of the media proved to be? “I wasn’t shocked,” he says, “but I was very pained and deeply hurt that no one stood up to stop this. A lot of [journalists] started making adjustments and those adjustments led them into that room with no windows, only the voice of command, saying: ‘You have to do this.’ And that is what they did.”

The film records something of the inside story of that playbook of fake news that we have all witnessed happening in plain sight: the undermining of properly sourced information across social media, the seeding of conspiracy theories, the targeting of individual journalists and organisations. There were, and remain, pockets of resistance to this pressure, Kumar insists: “But the force of avalanche was such that nobody was untouched in their newsroom, whether he was a senior reporter or whether he was an intern.”

“I’m a very fearful person. I wasn’t ready to handle that mental trauma. It destroyed me.”

Kumar’s eventual resignation is referenced in the recent scathing Index on Censorship report into the escalating repression by Modi’s populist government. “It has the structures of democracy but it has weakened democracy’s functions… it has a media which is eager to demonstrate how nationalistic and patriotic it is in order to curry favour with the ruling party.”

That determination is fuelled in part by fear. Seven journalists are now in prison in India and many more have been subject to targeted harassment; eight journalists at the Wire website were charged with sedition in 2021 for reporting that the family of a protester, killed at an anti-government rally, believed he was shot by police. Other news organisations have been subject to blackouts, while some have been raided by police, including the BBC offices in Delhi and Mumbai, which appear to have been singled out after the corporation produced a two-part investigation into Modi’s alleged history in sectarian violence. India – the world’s most populous nation – has been consequently sliding down the UN’s human rights tables; among the top 10 nations that jails writers and journalists, it is the only “Nominally Democratic” one, according to PEN, the international charity that supports freedom of expression.

A threat received by Ravish Kumar, as shown in While We Watched. Photograph: Britdoc Films

Shukla’s film examines the effect that the wider climate had on Kumar’s mental health. “I’m a very fearful person,” he insists, in the face of plenty of evidence to the contrary. “I had this strong feeling that I should not do anything immoral, but I wasn’t ready to handle that mental process. It destroyed me. When they launched [the continuous] attacks on me on social media, I could not handle it. I was very terrified, petrified. NDTV understood I needed security – but I also needed counselling. I stopped sleeping. I was awake all the time assessing the threat to my life and my family.”

In addition to the constant wave of texts and calls from people promising to cut his throat, Kumar was pushed around in the street while working. On one occasion he was chased down the road by men with clubs and iron bars, only just making it to his car. The family – his wife is an academic and they have two teenage daughters – stopped going out together; on the rare occasions they did, he would walk on the other side of the street so they would not all be subjected to any attack.

“If TV news is designed to desensitise you, I wanted to use the same form and sensitise people.” — Vinay Shukla, director

Watching all that again on Shukla’s film, he says, was almost too much for him to bear. “The first time, I had to shut my eyes because I could not see myself again, going through that process. My daughters haven’t watched it yet,” he says, “My wife saw it and she was very saddened too, but she’s a rational person. She said that people who watched the film would be able to see the story of any journalist, not just me.” He smiles a little ruefully. “The other thing I was surprised and amused about,” he says, “was that I finally saw what Vinay had been doing filming me for so many months and years. I used to tell him every day that my life was not exciting: who wants to watch a man get up from the bed and go to work?”

Director Vinay Shukla.

The director trusts that his story has a wider reference than that. “I think of the film,” Shukla says, “as my love letter to journalism, so that people understand, really, the price that proper journalists have to pay to be able to do their job. We are living in a time of disinformation. The dehumanisation of journalists is [part of that].”

Shukla is just about of the generation who came of age with social media. “I used to watch the news,” he says. “But it used to make me anxious all the time.” Much of that anxiety, he suggests, is built-in with the attention deficit structure of television news channels, which jump quickly between crisis and disaster and outrage. He has used the fast-cut techniques for his own film – but in order to dwell thoughtfully on a single life. “There are lots of quick cuts [in While We Watched] but I was hoping to have the opposite impact. If TV news is designed to desensitise you, I wanted to use the same form and sensitise people, to do the complete opposite.”

He sees an increasing desire for that kind of slowness and depth of inquiry among an emerging generation of Indian documentary-makers, who are using the form as a counterpoint to the noisy chatter of the mainstream media; presenting proper complexity as a political act. Kumar recognises that opportunity and is encouraged to be exhibit A in it.

“I hope that whoever watches this film will see that resistance is possible,” he says. In the film, he insists that even if one person witnesses the truth, then the political and sectarian lies cannot prevail. “I have a very deep sense of gratitude to the community of viewers who support me,” he says. “They offered me anything, from a car, to a house, to money, to food. We do not know how many journalists have sacrificed their lives around the world to save this profession. I hope this film brings a ray of hope that it is not easy to kill journalism.”

The film is released in the UK and the US this month. Shukla is working hard to get it shown in India, lobbying cinemas and streaming platforms, referencing the documentary awards it has won at the Toronto international film festival and elsewhere. Still, as Kumar says, the culture of fear is such that: “I can’t imagine that anyone is saying: ‘Bring your film, I will put your big poster for it on the front of my cinema hall.’” Even so, he suggests, he is confident that the film will be seen: “Lots and lots of people have been asking me how they will be able to see this film in India. Everyone should watch this film. Mr Modi should watch this film.”

A video on Kumar’s YouTube channel, which has more than 6m subscribers. Photograph: Ravish Kumar / Youtube

Kumar is not hopeful that fundamental changes in the news media in India – equivalent to the dismantling of the BBC – can be reversed. The vested interests, including at his old channel NDTV, are now too great. The politically favoured billionaires have taken over.

There’s a point in the film where he suggests that “people don’t question what they see on TV”. Given some of the extremes of what they now see, does he imagine that they may start to question that more? “To destroy Indian democracy,” Kumar says, “Indian media destroyed itself first. And it’s now very difficult to change this, even if there is a regime change. The news anchors who are spreading hate lies will not go away overnight. This media will never return for democracy. That’s gone.”

He does believe, however, that politics may find a way to bypass those structures. “The problem with social media,” he says, “is that it is rarely getting first-hand information. In India – and elsewhere – we have seen that social media can run in parallel and [amplify] compromised mainstream media. For this reason, the political opposition in India is going for a lot of mass contact. Rahul Gandhi [the former president of the Indian National Congress party], for example, is constantly on the road. Rallies, meetings, travelling by bus, by car, on foot. I cannot give a deadline that next year’s election, 2024, will mark the sunrise of new democracy. But I can see that the force of those who believe in democracy is multiplying at a fast rate.”

How, I wonder, before he finishes our call, is that colonial son Orwell viewed these days in his home town? “There is a museum to him,” Kumar says. “But most people are not very aware. It’s funny, over the years, I started talking about Nineteen Eighty-Four in my various programmes. Recently, the book has been translated into Hindi, along with Animal Farm. When [Donald] Trump was elected in the United States, I remember that Nineteen Eighty-Four suddenly became a very popular book to read and to buy.”

Perhaps, he suggests, that appetite will also be awakened in India. If so, the film of his life makes the perfect primer.

— “While We Watched” is in UK Cinemas from 14 July

[mutimedia]

हमारे देश में जब भी युथ icons की बात होती है तो ज्यादातर किसी फिल्म स्टार या स्पोर्ट पर्सनालिटी का नाम सामने आता है। लेकिन अब चीज़े बदल रही है।  अब करोड़ो युवाओं की प्रेरणा ऐसे शिक्षक बन रहे है जो यूट्यूब के माध्यम से देश की शिक्षा में ��दलाव लाने का प्रयास कर रहे। खान सर ,अवध ओझा ,अलख पांडेय, विकास दिव्य… #khansir  #AvadhOjha  #AlakhPandey  #VikasDivyakirti #hindichannel #youtubechannel #youthicons2.0 #bihar #delhi #teacher #drishtiias #physicswallah #gsresearchcentre  #tranding #khansirpatna #khansircomedy #khansirnews #khansirmotivation #khansirvideo #vikasdivyakirtisir #vikasdivyakirtibiography #vikasdivyakirtimotivation #khan_sir_biology #khansir_bihar_news_hindi #kon_hai_khan_sir #historyofkhansir #khansirnewvideo #AvadhOjha_biology #AvadhOjha_bihar_news_hindi #kon_hai_AvadhOjha #historyofAvadhOjha #AvadhOjhanewvideo #AlakhPandey_biology #AlakhPandey_bihar_news_hindi #kon_hai_AlakhPandey #historyofAlakhPandey #AlakhPandeynewvideo #VikasDivyakirti_biology #VikasDivyakirti_bihar_news_hindi #kon_hai_VikasDivyakirti #historyofVikasDivyakirti #VikasDivyakirtinewvideo Team Work List Content Writer:- Sangrilla Thakur Anchor :- Sangrilla Thakur Video Editor :- Aniket Tiwari Graphic Designer :- Divya Shukla   Digital Marketer :- Anuj Kumar     ▶️Please Don't forget to Like, Share & Subscribe to This Youtube Channel. 🌏Website:-  http://www.mgbdigitalindia.com 👍Facebook:- https://www.facebook.com/MGBdigitalin... 👩‍💻Instagram:- https://www.instagram.com/mgbdigitali... 👉 Profile :- https://linkmix.co/11578680 ✔️Twitter:- https://twitter.com/MGBdigitalindia 🚩Pinterest:-  https://in.pinterest.com/mgbdigitalin... Breaking News Fb :- https://www.facebook.com/groups/83607... Bollywood News Fb :- https://www.facebook.com/groups/17865... Politics News Fb :- https://www.facebook.com/groups/12527... Thanks You..................🙏👩‍💻🌍 #mgbnews #beakingnews #headline #top10news #mgbdigitalindia #trendingnews #aajtakkibadikhabre #dinbharkikhabre #todaybreakingnews #breaking #news #breakingnews #breakingnewshindi #hindibreakingnews #delhi #todaynews  #breakingtop10news #topnews #toptenhindinews #breakingmgbnews #mgbbreaking #newsupdate

[auntynationalsblog]

Politics,Police and Prime-time: On Paatal Lok

Tumblr pe likha hai, lekin padha maine Whatsapp pe. 

Television in India has recently witnessed a surge in thrillers. Sacred Games, Mirzapur and The Family Man sent shock-waves across the entertainment industry. The latest that can be added to the list is Paatal Lok, starring Jaideep Ahlawat (Alia Bhat’s trainer from Raazi), Neeraj Kabi (the corrupt cop from Sacred Games and the ultimate villain in Detective Byomkesh Bakshi!), Abhishek Banerjee (our very own Compounder from Mirzapur) and Ishwak Singh starring in lead roles. 

The stage for Paatal Lok can be best described as Indian society today, and when I say today, I mean literally today. Communalism, casteism, sensationalism, nationalism, the ill-treatment of transgenders, fake news and vote-bank politics are just few of the themes ingrained in Indian society today that are covered in the show.  

The plot is confusing, to say the least. A failed assassination attempt on a prime-time news-anchor Sanjeev Mehra (Kabi), who is depicted in the show as a milder version of Arnab Goswami, sets in motion a series of events that eventually make us realize that politics and society isn’t as chaotic as we might perceive it to be. It is indeed a ‘well-oiled machinery’. Inspector Hathi Ram Choudhary (Ahlawat) and constable Imran Ansari (Ishwak) are assigned the investigation by the CBI itself, as they start grilling the four ‘hit-men’ who failed to finish the job. 

This article is a brief overview of all the themes that are involved in the show. I’ll start with the elephant in the room - TV journalism, or as Newslaundry puts it, TV Newsance!   

Sensationalism 

You can be reminded of only one man (let’s refer to him using a random alphabet, like A) when you see the above picture of Sanjeev Mehra, especially after that man was attacked by the Indian branch of the ‘Italian Mafia’. Although the assassination attempt failed, Mehra did not fail to take this opportunity and gloat about it about on his prime-time show. With his job on the line, Mehra’s words are identical to A’s, as his show’s ratings explode overnight. The resemblance is uncanny. Whether Sanjeev mattered at all to the master-plan is for you to watch and know, but to quote a character who is talking to Sanjeev, you don’t look too happy knowing that you are safe now.   

Nationalism 

Allow me to first present the difference between patriotism, nationalism and jingoism. Patriotism is love for the motherland, nationalism is the insistence of one nation’s superiority over others, and jingoism is nationalism in the form of aggressive foreign policy. The ‘nationalist’ theme of the show is evident when the CBI (the mistress of the central government) links the assassination attempt of Mehra straight to Pakistan and the ISI. That makes Pakistan look like the usual villain, and the CBI, along with the Delhi Police and the Central Government look like usual heroes. As you might have guessed, the ISI link was bullshit, but the idea to include it in the plot was an awesome one, since it provides us with an accurate representation of politics and governance in Indian society today. 

Religion and Caste  

No Indian TV show that involved politics and police-work could be remotely realistic without the inclusion of communalism and casteism. 

Constable Ansari is often the target soft Islamophobia. As he prepares to top the IPS exam, the CBI director is seen remarking, so many people from his community are joining the force these days, these will boost their image also. Yeah, because Indian Muslims, as proven time and time again by the Indian media, have to consistently prove their loyalty to the motherland. Being born on Indian soil was never enough, now it has become a crime, a crime in which they are guilty until proven innocent. 

A throwback to the early life of Tope Singh (Jagjeet Sandhu), one of the four in the assassination team, reminds us of the ugly truth about caste and its active role in Indian villages today. 

Tope, a low-caste ‘Manjaar’, whose scarred childhood made him the man he is today, runs away to the city after retaliating against an attack on him by his fellow upper-caste villagers, the punishment of which is borne by his family members. 

There are other instances of casteist and communal slurs as Inspector Hathi Ram’s investigation takes him to Chitrakoot, which brings me to the final theme of the show. 

 The Eminence of Bahubalis 

Two of the most intriguing characters in the show are Vikas ‘hathoda’ Tyagi (Banerjee) and a man named Donnulia, the Bahubali of Bundelkhand. 

 I’ll start with Donnulia, a man whose face is never shown. One could say that the inspiration behind this character is Mohammad Shahabuddin, the don who held Bihar in the palm of his hand for years. Donnulia happens to be involved in the plot due to his close connections with a politician, who is suspected to have ordered the hit on Sanjeev Mehra, thinking that it would boost his re-election chances. Where does Tyagi fit in then? 

Well, ‘hathoda’ is Donnulia’s most lethal weapon. A grim throwback to his school-days show us what turned him into the cold-blooded assassin he is today, with forty-five murder charges against him. But a killer as lethal as him, fails to kill an ordinary journalist? Seems a bit weird right? 

WATCH THE SHOW. Thank me later. 

P.S. The dogs might be the most deciding factor of the show. 

[apnnews]

APN NEWS Owner, team member details | Who is APN news owner?

APN NEWS Owner, team member details | Who is APN news owner?

APN News is the fastest-growing Hindi news channel in India known for its fair and unbiased journalism. This fast-paced, dynamic 24x7 Hindi News & Current Affairs TV channel with the tagline "Khabar Hai to Dikhegee"  speaks much about commitment to the authenticity, impact and power of news. 

Who is APNNEWS owner?

The owner of the APNNEWS channel is Sobhagaya Media Pvt Ltd. Well-known media personality Rajshri Rai is the Managing director and Editor in chief of apnnews. Veteran journalist Inderjit Badhwar worked as the Head of the editorial department. An excellent journalist and incredible advocate Mr. Pradeep Rai is an editorial advisor at APN News. 

A special focus of APNNEWS Channel

With a strong footprint across India, the channel has a special focus on Hindi heartland—Delhi-NCR, Uttar Pradesh & Uttrakhand, Bihar & Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh & Chattisgarh. APN News maintains its reputation as a people's channel. Its cutting-edge formats and cutting-edge newsrooms. Here, news coverage is supported by a well-planned and defined product promotion and branding strategy that aids in the consolidation of our media market foothold.

About APN NEWS Team Members

Rajshri Rai

Rajshri Rai is Managing Director & Editor in Chief APN News. She is a well-known media personality who has hosted and produced national television shows for major networks. Rajshri has covered a wide range of news events and hosted a number of shows since the beginning of her career, often reporting live from the news scene. She has written extensively for leading news organizations such as NDTV on a wide range of key political, economic, and social stories from the Indian subcontinent. Rajshri is the driving force behind the APN's vision of "Khabar hai too dikhegi."

Inderjit Badhwar

Inderjit Badhwar is Head Editorial Operation. He worked in the United States for more than two decades, where his work was published in prestigious magazines and newspapers such as the Washington Post.

He was also connected to ABC TV. In India, he oversaw the editorial team of India Today for over ten years. He was also the president of the Sahara TV network. His novel The Chamber of Perfumes (originally titled Sniffing Papa) won France's most prestigious international award for "best foreign debut" in 2004.

Pradeep Rai

Senior Advocate, SCBA vice president, and excellent journalist Mr. Pradeep Rai is an editorial advisor for APN News. He began his career as a journalist, producing excellent reports. He joined the Bar in the 1990s and quickly made his mark. He has over two decades of experience at the bar, having appeared before the Supreme Court of India, various High Courts, Commissions, Regulatory Bodies, and Tribunals. Mr. Rai represents the Union of India, as well as several states such as Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, and Andhra Pradesh. He has represented a number of major corporations, celebrities, film stars, politicians, and others.

Vinay Rai

A creative thinker, problem solver, decision maker, and law graduate Vinay Rai is Managing editor of Apn news. Vinay also holds a professional diploma in journalism and mass communication from Lucknow University. He has more than 16 years of experience in electronic media in hosting jobs like production and reporting. He has been a part of leading media houses like zee. He effectively balances employee needs with mission objectives.

Shweta Rai

Shweta Rai is currently associated with APN as Senior Anchor/Editor - Special Programming and has handled a variety of responsibilities in her 14 years with the company. She leads a diverse team and is in charge of coordinating the various departments (editors, camera operators, production control room, and master control room) and content producers, which ultimately leads to the broadcast or production of all content on television channels.  Shweta has worked in leading production hubs and news channels for the past 15 years. Her interest in anchoring for unconventional shows such as Navrang, Kalam ke Sipahi, Face to Face, and Ek Mulaqat- which are particularly popular in India.

[pegasusindiaspy]

Pegasus India List

Pegasus Project : Names Revealed

Amnesty International worked to analyze the phones of 10 Indians. Each phone showed signs of either attempted hacking or successful compromise.

The presence of a number within the database does NOT necessarily indicate that the target's device was successful. Without evidence from forensic analysis, it's impossible to tell if there were successful hacks or attempts. The list's names have been distinguished. Potential targets are those whose numbers appear on the list but whose devices have not been forensically analysed by Amnesty. If the phones of potential targets show evidence of successful hacking attempts, then they are classified as such.

161 names were revealed that were potential targets or targets for surveillance by clients at the NSO Group. The data was distributed over multiple stories. They are all listed below. This list does not include names that were disclosed by Pegasus project partners. Lets see Pegasus India List.

Journalists

At least 40 journalists that were either surveillance targets or targets. Seven journalists had their phones examined by an investigator. Five showed evidence of Pegasus infection.

1. M.K. Venu Founding editor. The phone of the victim was also forensically examined and Pegasus-related traces were discovered.

2. Sushant Singh:A former journalist for Indian Express, who now writes about national security. Amnesty came to the conclusion that his phone was compromised following a forensic investigation.

3. Siddharth Varadarajan: Founding editor The phone was then forensically analysed. Pegasus had compromised the phone, according to the analysis.

4. Paranjoy Guha Thakurta:FormerEPWNow, editorNewsclick. Pegasus compromised his phone and forensic analysis revealed that.

5. S.N.M. Abdi:FormerOutlookAccording to forensic analysis, journalist whose phone was stolen.

6. Vijaita Singh: The HinduReporter who covers the ministry of home. Her phone was examined by an investigator. However, there was no evidence that a hacker attempted to access it.

7. Smita SharmaFormer TV18 anchor. Although evidence was found of a attempted hack, it did not indicate that the phone had been infected.

8. Shishir Gupta: Executive editor atHindustan Times

9. Rohini Singh:Freelance journalist, who has written numerous exposes. About controversial business dealings by politicians or their families.

10. Devirupa Mitra: Editor in chief of the diplomatic section.

11. Prashant Jha:Views editorHindustan TimesPreviously, he was the chief of the Bureau.

12. Prem Shankar Jiha:A veteran journalist who was in editorial positions at Hindustan Times TheTimes of India He is also a regular contributor to several newspapers.

13. Swati Chakravedi She wrote a book that focuses on the infamous BJP IT Cell.

14. Rahul Singh:Defence correspondentHindustan Times.

15. Aurangzeb NaqshbandiAn ex-political reporter who worked previously forHindustan TimesIncluding coverage of the Congress party.

16. Ritika ChopraA journalist for theIndian ExpressWho covers education and Election Commission beats.

17. Muzamil JaleelAnotherIndian ExpressKashmiri journalist

18. Sandeep Unnithan India TodayJournalist who covers defence and Indian military.

19. Manoj Gopta:TV18 Security and investigations editor

20. J. Gopikrishnan:Investigative reporterThe PioneerHe also broke the 2G telecom fraud.

21. Saikat Datta:Formerly, I was a national-security reporter.

22. Ifthikar Gilani:FormerDNAReporter covering Kashmir.

23. Manoranjan Gupta:Frontier TV's Northeast editor in Chief

24. Sanjay Shyam:Bihar-based journalist.

25. Jaspal Singh Sheran:A Ludhiana-based Punjabi newspaper editor-in chief, this octogenarian is also the editor-in–chiefRozana Pehredar.

26. Roopesh Kumar Singh:A freelancer based in Jharkhand’s Ramgarh.

27. Deepak GidwaniFormer correspondentDNALucknow.

28. Sumir KaulPTI News Agency: A journalist

29.Shabir Hussain:Kashmiri-based political commentator, based in Delhi.

Politicians, political figures, and anyone associated with them

1. Rahul Gandhi:The Congress party leader, who was presumed to have been the prime ministerial nominee for the two previous general elections.

2. Alankar SawaiRahul Gandhi was a close friend.

3. Sachin RaoRahul Gandhi has another aide who is a member on the Congress Working Committee.

4. Prashant Kishor:An election strategist who worked for multiple political parties, including Congress and the BJP. His phone was forensically examined and indicated signs of a successful hack.

5. Abhishek Banerjee:Trinamool Congress MP and nephew to Mamata Banerjee, West Bengal chief minister.

6. Ashwini Vaishnaw:Former IAS officer made Union cabinet minister in recent expansion.

7. Prahlad Singh Patel:Another cabinet minister in Union government. His wife, secretaries and assistants. Cook, gardener, etc.

8. Pravin Togadia:Former head, Vishwa India Parishad.

9. Pradeep AwasthiVasundhara Raje Skindia was the former chief minister in Rajasthan.

10. Sanjay Kachroo:Smriti Iraniani, the then minister of human resources development, chose a corporate executive to be her officer on special duty in 2014. She was never officially appointed. His father and minor son are also listed.

11. G. ParameshwaraDeputy chief Minister in the JD(S) - Congress coalition government in Karnataka. It was toppled following several MLAs defecting to the BJP.

12: SatishPersonal secretary to H.D. Kumaraswamy, the chief minister in Karnataka.

13. VenkateshPersonal secretary to Siddaramaiah who was the Congress chief Minister of Karnataka during Kumaraswamy.

14. Manjunath Muddegowda:H.D. Devegowda. They are also part of Pegasus India List.

Constitutional authority

1. Ashok LavasaHe was a career bureaucrat but was also a target of surveillance as an election commissioner.

Academicians, lawyers, and activists

1. Hany Babu M.T. :An accused at Delhi University in the Elgar Parishad case is a professor

2. Rona WilsonAn activist for prisoners' rights who is also an accused in the Elgar Parishad trial.

3. Vernon Gonsalves:An activist for human rights. Elgar Parishad: He is also charged.

4. Anand TeltumbdeElgar Parishad: Academic and civil rights activist.

5. Shoma Sen:Retired professor, and one of the suspects in the Elgar Parishad trial.

6. Gautam Navrakha:Journalist and rights activist, Elgar Parishad is his case.

7. Arun FerreiraOne of the Elgar Parishad lawyers.

8. Sudha Bhardwaj:Activist, lawyer, and accused in Elgar Parishad case

9. Pavana:Varavara Rao is the daughter of a Telugu poet. She is charged in the Elgar Parishad trial.

10. Minal GadlingSurendra Gadling's spouse is being charged in the Elgar Parishad trial.

11. Nihalsing Rathod:Surendra Gadling's associate and lawyer.

12. Jagadish Mehram:Surendra Gadling has another lawyer.

13. Maruti Kurwatkar:He was charged in several cases under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Surendra Gadling represented him.

14. Shalini Gera:Sudha Bharadwaj has been represented by an attorney.

15. Ankit GrewalSudha Bharadwaj is a close associate in law.

16. Jaison Cooper:Anand Teltumbde's friend, a Kerala-based rights activist.

17. Rupali Jadhav:Kabir Kala Manch, a member of the cultural troupe.

18. Lalsu Nagoti:Mahesh Raut is close to a lawyer, and he is being accused in the Elgar Parishad matter.

19. Soni Sori:Bastar-based tribal rights activist.

20 Lingaram Kodopi:Soni Sori's nephew, a journalist.

21. Degree Prasad ChouhanA Chhattisgarh state president for the People's Union for Civil Liberties.

22. Rakesh Ranjan:A Sri Ram College of Commerce assistant professor

23. Ashok BhartiChairman of All India Ambedkar Mahasabha (an umbrella organization of Dalit rights' groups).

24. Umar KhalidJawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), former student. During the notorious JNU sloganeering trial, he was first arrested for sedition. He is currently being held in prison, and is awaiting trial for the Delhi riots conspiracy case.

25. Anirban Battacharya:Khalid, a former JNU student was also taken into custody on suspicion of sedition.

26. Banjyotsna Lahiri:You can also be a JNU student.

27. Bela BhatiaChhattisgarh's lawyer and human rights activist.

28. Shiv Gopal MaishraA leader of the railway union.

29. Anjani Kumar:Delhi-based labour rights activist.

30. Alok ShuklaA prominent anti-coal mining activist who was also the convenor of Chhattisgarh Bachao Andolan.

31. Saroj GiriA Delhi University professor.

32 Shubhranshu Choudhary:Bastar-based peace activist.

33. Sandeep Kumar Rai:Former BBC journalist and trade union activist.

34 Khalid Khan:Sandeep Kumar Rai's friend.

35 Ipsa ShatakshiA Jharkhand-based activist.

37. S.A.R. GeelaniProfessor at Delhi University who was later convicted in the Parliament Bombing Case. His phone was forensically analyzed and showed signs that it had been infected by Pegasus.

38. G. HaragopalHe was a retired professor at the University of Hyderabad. He was also chairman of the Saibaba Defence Committee. Three of his smartphones were forensically examined, and the results were non-conclusive.

39. Vasantha Kumari:G.N., an ex-university professor from Delhi, was married to G.N. Saibaba was convicted in connection with a banned Maoist group.

40 Jagdeep Chhokar:Co-founder of Association for Democratic Reforms.

Civilians : Pegasus India List

1. A former Supreme Court staffer:The woman had accused Ranjan Gogoi (then chief justice of India) of sexual harassment. Her family members were also possible targets.

Figures taken from the Northeast

1. Samujjal Bhattacharjee:Assistant to the All Assam Students Union. Also member of the high-level advisory committee for the Assam Accord.

2. Anup Chetia:The leader of the United Liberation Front of Assam.

3. Malem NingthoujaManipuri writer based in Delhi.

Naga leaders

1. Atem VashumAn assumed successor to Th. Muivah, the leader of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim. Muivah.

2. Apam Muivah:Th. is another NSCN (I-M), leader. Muivah is Muivah’s newphew.

3. Anthony Shimray:The commander-in-chief of the Naga Army of NSCN. (I-M).

4. Phunting ShimrangFormer commander-in-chief of the NSCN's Naga Army (I-M).

5. Kitovi Zhimomi:Convenor, Naga National Policy Groups (NNPGs). Narendra Modi was in talks with the groups to find a 'one solution to the Naga question'.

Scientists or others in the health sector

1. Gagandeep Kang:One of India’s top virologists was involved in fighting the Nipah disease.

2. Hari Menon:The Indian head for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

CBI officers, and those who are related to them

1. Alok Verma:Verma, who was the former chief of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), was added to the list shortly after Modi was removed from office. It would be possible to add the personal phone numbers of his wife and daughter as well as his son-in-law to the list. This would make it 8 numbers total from this family.

2. Rakesh Athana:Verma was also added to the list at the same time Asthana, a former senior CBI officer. He is close to Modi and currently leads the BSF.

3. A.K. SharmaAn additional CBI official of high rank was added to this list along with Asthana, Verma, and Verma.

Businesspersons

1. Anil AmbaniReliance ADAG chairman. Anil Ambani used the phone number in 2018. This was after controversy over Rafale had intensified.

2. Tony JesudasanADAG is the corporate communications chief. Ambani also added his number. Jesudasan’s wife also has a number.

3. Venkata Rao Posina:India representative of Dassault Aviation.

4. Inderjit Sial:Ex-head of Saab India.

5. Pratyush Kumar:Boeing India boss.

6. Harmanjit Nagi:EDF is the head of the French energy firm.

India's Tibetan activists, officials and clerics

1. Tempa Tsering:Long-term Envoy for Dalai Lama in New Delhi

2. Tenzin Taklha:Senior aide of Dalai Lama.

3. Chimmey Rigzen:Senior aide to Dalai Lama.

4. Lobsang Sangay:Former head of exile Tibetan government.

Figures from Kashmir

1. Bilal Lone:An independent leader and brother to Sajad Loone, Peoples Conference leader. His phone was forensically analyzed. The forensic analysis of his phone revealed Pegasus spyware, even though it is different from the one he used to be targeted in the leaked database.

2. Tariq Bukhari:Altaf Bukhari is the brother of Apni Party leader. He is a businessman, and political leader. In April 2019, he was questioned by NIA for a 'terror financing' case.

3. Syed Naseem GeelaniSyed Ali Shah Geelani, a prominent separatist leader, is a scientist.

4. Mirwaiz Umar Farooq:Separatist leader, head of Hurriyat Conference. He is also chief cleric at Jama Masjid.

5. Waqar BhattiProminent human right activist.

6. Zaffar Akbar Bhat:Influential Shia cleric, associated with Hurriyat and prominent separatist leader.

Figures of national security : Pegasus India List

1. K.K. SharmaWhen he was identified as a possible target of surveillance, he was the head the Border Security Force (BSF).

2. Jagdish Mathani:BSF inspector General who was integral in the Union home ministry’s comprehensive integrated border management (CIBMS), smart fencing project.

3. Jitendra Kumar Ojha:A senior official in the Research and Analysis Wing. He was made a target of surveillance in the wake of his January 2018 retirement.

4. Colonel Mukul dev:An army officer who refused to accept the government's request that rations be cut for officers posted in peace-areas.

5. Colonel Amit Kumar:Another army officer, who petitioned the Supreme Court in support of 356 Army personnel for relief from what they had discovered was an imminent dilution under the Armed Forces Special Forces Act (AFSPA), filed a Petition.

Bureaucrats and officials of investigating agencies

1. Rajeshwar Singh:His agency had several high-profile, high-profile investigations led by a senior enforcement directorate officer. Potential targets for surveillance included his wife and both of their sisters.

2. Abha Singh:Rajeshwar Singh's brother is a Mumbai-based lawyer. Although her mobile phone was forensically analyzed, the results were not conclusive.

3. V.K. JainA former officer in the Indian Administrative Service, who was a personal assistant of Arvind Kejriwal, chief minister of Delhi.

Official Bihar cricket

1. Rakesh Tiwary:The current chief of Bihar Cricket Association.

PSU bureaucrats, lobbyists and businesspeople

1. NareshGoyal:Jet Airways ex-boss who ran into legal problems.

2. Ajay Sing:SpiceJet managing director and chairman

3. Prashant Ruia:Director of Essar Group.

4. Vikramkothari:Associated with Rotomac Pens - a group that was investigated as a suspect in loan fraud.

5. Rahul Kothari:Vikram Kothari is Vikram's son.

6. C. SivasankaranAircel maverick entrepreneur and former promoter, who was also under surveillance.

7. B.C. TripathiFormer head of GAIL India state-run GAIL India. As non-executive chairman, he joined Essar January 2020.

8. V. Balasubramanian:Reliance Industries' long-time lobbyist.

9. A.N. Sethuraman: A lobbyist associated the Reliance AD Group.

Tamil politicians and activists

1. SeemanLeader of the Naam Thaamizhar Katchi, this man is vocal in support of Sri Lankan Tamils.

2: Thirumurugan Gandhi:The founder of the May 17, which fights for Sri Lankan Tamils' rights, He was also a supporter of the anti-Sterlite protests, and other civil rights movements.

3. K. RamakrishnanAn activist with decades of expertise. He was with Dravidar Kazhagam but later left to create the Thanthai Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam.

4. Kumaresan:Periyar founded the Dravidar Kamhagam as its treasurer.

Supreme Court Judges, Officials and Lawyers

1. N.K. Gandhi:Former Supreme Court registrar, who worked in the crucial "writ" section.

2. T.I. RajputAnother Supreme Court Register.

3. Justice Arun MishraRetired Supreme Court Judge who is now the head of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). The potential target of surveillance was a number that had been registered in the name and address of the judge. Sources at the BSNL said that there were no sources. Justice Mishra had the number registered from September 18, 2010 to September 19, 2018. The judge stated that he had given it up on April 21, 2014.

4. Vijay Agarwal: Counsel for fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi. After signing on as Modi’s lawyer, he was chosen as a target of surveillance. His wife's number was also a potential target.

5. Aljo P. Joseph:Lawyer representing Christian Michel in the Agusta Westland fraud. Amnesty's tech group says that preliminary indications point to Pegasus targeting his iPhone data.

6. M. Thangathurai:A junior lawyer working for Mukul Rohatgi, the former attorney general. He stated that his telephone number is listed under the name of his boss in many places, such as the bank, so that the senior advocate doesn't get disturbed by "routine".

The world's leaders

1. Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador:While he is currently the president of Mexico, he was also targeted before his election in 2018 His aides also were targeted.

2. Emmanuel MacronFrance's president.

3. Imran Khan:The prime minister, Pakistan.

4. Mostafa Madbouly:The prime minister in Egypt.

5. Saad-Eddine El Othmani:The prime minister of Morocco.

6. Barham Salih:The president of Iraq.

7. Cyril RamaphosaThe president of South Africa.

8. Mohammed VI:Morocco's King.

9. Saad Hariri:Former prime Minister of Lebanon.

10: Ruhakana Rugunda:Former prime Minister of Uganda.

11. Noureddine Beoui:Former prime Minister of Algeria.

12. Charles Michel:The current president of European Council is a former prime minister of Belgium.

13. Panah Huseynov:Former prime minister, Azerbaijan.

14. Felipe Calderon:Former Mexican president

Jamal Khashoggi-related people

Jamal Khashoggi was a Saudi dissident and wrote for the Washington Post. Assassins sent by the Saudi government allegedly murdered him at the Saudi embassy. His associates or the investigation into their deaths were all targets or potential targets of surveillance.

1. Hatice CengizTurkish doctorate student engaged to Jamal Khashoggi Her phone was forensically analyzed.

2. Hanan Elatr:Khashoggi was the man she married. Her phone was also forensically examined.

3. Wadah Khanfar:The former director-general ofAl JazeeraTelevision network. His phone was forensically examined.

4. Turan Kislakci:Cengiz was introduced by a Turkish journalist.

5. Irfan FidanChief Turkish prosecutor responsible for investigations into Khashoggi’s murder.

Dubai rulers are individuals who are connected

1. Sheikha Latifa:A member the Dubai royal family, and the daughter of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum (the UAE's prime minister). She attempted to flee from her father's care but was captured by Indian forces in Goa and brought back to Dubai.

2. Haya bint Hussein:Estranged spouse of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum

3. David Haigh:British activist and lawyer who participated in the campaign for Sheikha Latifa's release. Pegasus was confirmed by forensic analysis of his phone.

It was the Pegasus India List and will be updating it when we have new information.

[tvdas]

Buddhism was born under a giant fig tree, which, today, grows at the center of the remote and unbeautiful town of Bodh Gaya, in India’s destitute northeastern state of Bihar. The tree is about three crooked blocks from the Be Happy Café and a few minutes’ walk from a used book store where a middle-aged Krishna devotee from Iowa, named James, works, reselling old paperbacks by Hesse and Murakami.

The sacred Bodhi Tree is surrounded by a wall and guarded by police. (Islamic extremists bombed the site in 2013.) At dawn, before pilgrims begin their daily perambulations around the tree’s massive trunk, local children forage under its sprawling canopy—some branches are propped up by iron columns—to gather fallen leaves. Pressed inside clear plastic, the leaves are sold to visitors from Bhutan, Myanmar, and Manhattan, and to outposts of Buddhism around the world. The historical Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, a reputed prince from what is now Nepal, is said to have achieved nirvana while meditating under the tree, in the fifth century B.C. The Awakened One purportedly spent seven weeks under the Bodhi Tree after achieving liberation from the wheel of suffering that binds humankind to selfhood, aging, disease, and death. So Deepak Anand told me.

Last winter, I met Anand not in the Be Happy Café but at one of its competitors, the Tibet Om Cafe. The menu offered a staple comfort food of Western spiritual seekers in Asia: banana pancakes. Anand, who was forty-five, didn’t eat. He was tall, pin-thin, had a shaved head, and was so intense and talkative that he ordered a cup of tea but forgot to drink it. Anand is a self-taught cultural geographer. For the past twelve years, he has analyzed historical texts and used G.P.S. technology to chart what he says are the pathways walked by the Buddha as he spread his philosophy of mindfulness across northern India, about twenty-four hundred years ago. Anand hopes to promote this spiritual legacy by reviving a network of “Buddha trails” for pilgrims and tourists to walk in Bihar, the cradle of the world’s fourth-largest religion. Yet Buddhism largely vanished from the region centuries ago, eclipsed by Hinduism and Islam. Today, farmers plow up stone effigies without realizing that the sculptures are antique representations of the sage. “People long ago tore down the stupas and built their homes using the old bricks and stones,” Anand said, referring to Buddhist monuments that once dotted the Ganges River plains. “They simply didn’t know.”

To test his ideas, Anand suggested we hike from the Tree of Enlightenment, in Bodh Gaya, to the ruins of the Nalanda university—an important center of Buddhist learning, which was razed by Turkic invaders in the twelfth century. The four-day trek effectively spans Buddhism’s rise and fall in the subcontinent—many scholars believe the university’s destruction contributed to the religion’s decline. No one in recent times, Anand assured me, had retraced the Buddha’s footsteps along the fifty-mile route.

The Buddha’s only concession to hiking kit was a begging bowl. He sometimes strode through the villages of Bihar with a large crowd of followers in tow. Our own walking party numbered four: the Bangalore-based journalist Bhavita Bhatia carried a Free Tibet flag in her rucksack; Siddharth Agarwal, a river conservationist from Kolkata, lugged a leaden hardback copy of “Ganges: The Many Pasts of an Indian River”; I packed the electronics needed to transmit stories from the trail. Only Anand practiced Buddhist non-attachment. All he brought was a light sweater. “Sorry, sorry, sorry,” he said, when we caught up with him on the trail, after he repeatedly surged ahead. “I’m a high-energy person.”

In the Buddha’s day, northern India’s religious landscape was in a time of spiritual crisis and social upheaval. Disillusioned, rudderless, Siddhartha renounced his gilded life—a childhood with thirty-two nursemaids, a kingdom with seasonal palaces and private gardens, and his princess wife and their child—to join other ascetics meditating in forests along the Neranjara River.

Today, plastic trash spangles the river’s sandy banks. Miles of rice fields steam where giant trees once threw blue shadows. “British records reported a leopard at the train station as late as the nineteen-thirties,” Anand said, wistfully. “It’s all gone.”

A carload of sightseeing Malaysian monks stopped to ask us directions. They ended up debating Anand about the location of Ratnagiri Rock, the site sometimes identified as the place where Siddhartha finally abandoned the hermit life, broke his fast with a bowl of gruel, and invented a “middle way” to transcendence that rejects both extreme sensuality and extreme austerity. Anand informed the monks that he had geotagged the exact coördinates of Siddhartha’s epiphany. The monks smiled in polite silence. “There are so many sects in Buddhism,” Anand said. “It’s impossible to convince them all.” We walked on. We passed the mountain cave where Siddhartha was said to have mortified himself for six years, by some accounts sleeping on a bed of spikes. And, after that pilgrimage stop, Bihar became just Bihar.

Chronically listed as one of India’s poorest states, Bihar isn’t usually associated with spiritual revival. Its news cycle instead tallies droughts, floods, fatal encephalitis outbreaks, and the violent aftershocks of a failed Maoist insurgency.

Following Anand, we plodded through abandoned sand mines. We stepped over railroad tracks. Inert villages slipped by, hollowed out by urban migration. In granaries, families hand-cranked large mechanical fans to generate a breeze for threshing their harvest. The Biharis, though, are ritually kind. They offer a cup of well water, a spot of shade, a narcotic betel nut to chew on the way. A day’s walk from the global tourist bubble of Bodh Gaya, where lamas broadcast meditation tips on YouTube, the world grows so insular that young village boys, peering up at me, exclaimed, “Look at that face! Have you ever seen a face like that?”

“What our people and the government don’t realize,” Anand told us, in frustration, “is that they are living on top of a global treasure—inside a living museum.”

Anand isn’t Buddhist. He was a Hindu by birth and is an empiricist by nature. Mostly, he is a proud Bihari.

The middle-class son of a military father and a housewife mother, Anand studied engineering and hoped to become a fighter pilot. But his curiosity kept drawing him to the mounds of Nalanda. The grassy hillocks are rubble from the powerful Magadha empire, whose kings funded the world’s first Buddhist monasteries, more than two millennia ago. Anand began poring through early travellers’ accounts of his homeland’s largely forgotten past. His hero is Xuanzang, an adventurous Chinese monk who travelled to India, in the seventh century, to study the roots of Buddhism. Working as a pilgrimage interpreter and cultural consultant, Anand became an unlikely Buddhologist. An entry on his blog, announcing his purported discovery of Ratnagiri Rock, and citing a fifth-century Chinese monk named Faxian, contains paragraphs like this:

According to Faxian the rock was 2 Li (400mts-700mts) north of the place where Sujātā, the village girl offered rice-gruel (milk-rice) to Siddhārtha. The place of offering food by Sujātā was 2 Li north of where Siddhārtha went to bathe-in river Nairaňjaňa. And, the bathing place was 3 Li west of the spot where Siddhārtha took austerities.

Anand has compiled hundreds of such waypoints in his Buddha-trail database. He is a keen admirer of his predecessors, the nineteenth-century British archeologists whose excavations proved that Buddhism was a South Asian idea. (Earlier scholars had maintained, based on curly-headed statues, that the Buddha was Ethiopian.) “The British were colonizers,” Anand said, “but they gave India the Buddha.”

“And they took everything they found away to London,” Agarwal, the river conservationist, said.

When we walked into a village called Lohjara, every household seemed to wave at Anand. He was hailed for pressuring the local police into investigating the theft of the village’s stone Buddha. The weathered statue, contemplating eternity in the lotus position, had been sitting in a local field for generations. In 2014, art thieves hefted the heavy sculpture into a car trunk and made off into the night. Two years later, acting on a tip, officers raided a nearby warehouse and found the Buddha packed for export. “We felt very bad those two years,” Rattan Pandey, a village elder, recalled. “We protested to the authorities to recover it immediately. We even blocked the roads.”

The restored Buddha was anchored with steel hoops beneath a village tree. The statue’s face was hacked off centuries ago, possibly by a Turkic soldier. Pandey worshipped the figure as Nakti Shiva, or Noseless Shiva, a mutilated version of the Hindu god.

We climbed the Jethian valley, plucking tart berries from jujube trees. According to the explorer-monk Xuanzan, a local man had tried to measure the Buddha’s height when he visited the place, but gauging the immense soul by any earthly means had proved impossible. In frustration, the skeptic had thrown down his bamboo yardstick—which sprouted to green life. Canebrakes still feathered Jethian’s high ravines. There were also faded village posters advertising Anand’s first effort at resuscitating the sacred landscapes of Bihar—a pilgrim’s walk organized with a charity from California.

A remote mountain road patrolled by rhesus monkeys led us to Rajgir, the former capital of the Magadha empire. The area was a bewildering Venn diagram of India’s singular spiritual history: Jain caves, Hindu temples, Muslim shrines, Ashokan stupas. Anand was well-known here, too. At Vulture’s Peak, a shrine where the Buddha taught his Heart Sutra—“Form is only emptiness, emptiness only form”—a crowd of touts, stevedores, rickshaw drivers, and cold-drink venders ringed Anand. They complained about being bullied by a pilgrimage mafia. He advised them to unionize.

On day four, we limped into Nalanda under clouds the color of polished lead. Anand showed us around. At its peak, Nalanda, in central Bihar, was the largest center of Buddhist learning in the world. It housed as many as ten thousand student monks. They argued about Buddhist doctrine and studied cosmology, astronomy, and art. Scores of villages nearby were dedicated to feeding resident scholars. Nalanda’s graduates helped carry Buddhism to Tibet and points along the Silk Road. “They used big mirrors to reflect light onto the Buddha statues inside temples,” Anand said, highlighting the monastic center’s architectural wonders.

But the manicured ruins felt comatose. Bhatia, the journalist, unfurled her colorful Tibetan pennant—the only touch of color on Nalanda’s barren squares.

How Buddhism ghosted away from its Indian source, between seven and nine centuries ago, remains one of the great mysteries in the history of religion. The Hindu nationalists now in power in New Delhi take an official stance: they insist that Muslim hordes from Central Asia—first Turkic invaders and later the Mughals—wiped out the pacifist Buddhists at sword-point. The general who razed Nalanda, Bakhtiyar Khalji, couldn’t even read the millions of Buddhist manuscripts he torched. But other scholars, Anand included, believe the reality is more complex. For centuries, Buddhism’s influence was waning in India. The monasteries created a brain drain, sapping innovation. The monks grew isolated from the people. Hinduism and Islam attracted more followers. It was as if Buddhism evanesced the same way that its master teacher did. The Buddha reputedly died, at age eighty, near what is today Kushinagar, in Uttar Pradesh. His ashes were taken from the scene of his life and scattered far across the Buddhist world.

According to some scriptures, the Buddha spent a week “walking a long way up and down in joy and ease” after attaining enlightenment. Our own little walking party sputtered to an end at the Nalanda bus stop. Bhatia left for Sikkim. Anand returned to his base, at Bodh Gaya. Only Agarwal and I slogged on—toward the Brahmaputra River. A dense ground fog hugged the fields, making navigation difficult. We stumbled along sodden canal trails. Crows appeared and vanished in the white. Anand had asked, before we parted, for endurance-walking advice. I’d forgotten to tell him that, on any long walk, he will get lost. And that being a little lost isn’t bad. It helps you stay awake. And being found is overrated.

                                                                                             —PAUL SALOPEK

[brajeshupadhyay]

How Sonia Gandhi has walked into a trap by going after Arnab Goswami

This piece is not about Arnab Goswami and his journalism. One journalist issuing a journalism certificate to another is vain.

Nor is it about television drama spilling on to streets and courts with real consequences, or a fading dynast’s desperate jabs at power and intimidation.

It is simply about the Congress party’s political wisdom in reacting the way it has to a news anchor’s provocation of calling its president Sonia Gandhi biased and silent on the lynching of two Hindu monks in Palghar.

It is also about how the party took Arnab calling Sonia by her maiden name ‘Antonia Maino’, dog-whistling about her being Italian, and thereby unboxing the baggage of old allegations.

Old questions tumbled out. Why did she take 16 years to become an Indian citizen after marrying Rajiv Gandhi in 1968? Has she ever been an Indian at heart, even while running the country as the power centre with Manmohan Singh as prime minister?

The episode is undoubtedly personal and sensitive for Sonia Gandhi. But those two are bad words in politics. Politicians train not to react in anger or hurt, and respond when waters of the mind are still.

Five blunders of Congress

First, reportedly attacking Goswami and his wife near their Mumbai home and filing a slew of cases against him in states like Chhattisgarh where it rules, the Congress has re-established itself in the nation’s mind as the party of Emergency. It has a distinguished record in quashing criticism and muzzling freedom of expression, captured in this Twitter thread by scientist and political commentator Anand Ranganathan.

From jailing actor Utpal Dutt to banning investigative journalist Jack Anderson’s documentary ‘Rajiv’s India’, to Kabil Sibal bringing the repressive Section 66A of the IT Act, Congress’ handiwork shines from Ranganathan’s thread (274 posts and counting).

It gently holds the mirror to the savagery the party is capable of on press and artistic freedom. The latest incident only acts as a national reminder of that.

Second, hounding a journalist brings under stage lights the Nehru-Gandhi family’s well-known intolerance to criticism. Scores of works like the movie Aandhi in which the protagonist resembled Indira Gandhi, or Xavier Moro’s book The Red Sari on Sonia, faced censure.

It was in under Congress rule in Bihar with Jawaharlal Nehru at the Centre that Kedar Nath Singh was slapped with sedition in 1962 for saying, “Today the dogs of CID are loitering around Barauni…today these Congress goondas are sitting on the gaddi.”

In the UPA years, there was an unwritten diktat in newsrooms to not openly criticise the family; one could take on its minions, if at all. The incidents over Palghar have proved that the much-weakened Congress has not changed.

Golden gift to the enemy

Third, the reckless aggression somehow gives one the sense that mentioning her roots gets Sonia very uncomfortable and defensive. The moment the BJP tasted blood, it pounced more fiercely on her father Stephano Maino’s story, who reportedly had served in Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini’s army. Discrepancies about her university education, citizenship, name on electoral rolls and even alleged KGB links are being dug up.

Fourth, it puts the Congress’ senior partner in the Maharashtra coalition, Shiv Sena, in a bind. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray is constantly being chided by his core Marathi-Hindutva constituency for actions of the NCP and the Congress, or the ones Sena is taking to keep the alliance alive. The Congress’ brashness makes his position weaker.

Fifth and last, this gives potent ‘what about’ ammunition to the BJP. Every sin of the Congress in the past 70 years has come to the BJP’s rescue each time it got cornered in the last six years. From allowing communal violence to toppling governments, the Congress has a much better record to show. And the latest one, even with crippled power, paves the road for the BJP to travel with fresh precedence as a weapon.

This violence and vengeance is an opportunity worth in gold for the BJP. It won’t let it go.

via Blogger https://ift.tt/3cOIA34

[optimisticprincepainter]

For Col H and Col K (names withheld), the moment of reckoning arrived on the afternoon of 18 September 2016. Throughout that morning, the Commanding Officers (COs) of two separate Para (Special Forces) battalions were like most of their colleagues posted in Kashmir Valley, following the increasingly grim news coming out of Uri, the garrison town not very far from Srinagar. Well-trained and well-informed terrorists of the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) had infiltrated across the Line of Control (LoC) and attacked an administrative camp in the 12 Brigade HQ located in Uri with deadly effect. At least 19 soldiers of 6 Bihar battalion, camping in tents — days before they were to take their assigned positions along the LoC — were killed in the early morning attack. Majority of the soldiers died in their sleep, resting as they were in highly inflammable tents. Although all the four terrorists were neutralised eventually, they had set off a chain of events that would culminate on the morning of 29 September.In Udhampur, Northern Army Commander Lt Gen DS Hooda was distressed. He had been the GOC-in-C for over two years and witnessed his share of successes and setbacks as the head of India’s most active Army command. Nevertheless, this was possibly the worst moment of his long and distinguished career, spent fighting insurgencies and terrorism in the north-east as well as Jammu & Kashmir. “It was terrible. Very difficult to justify what happened. There were definitely lapses on our part,” Hooda says in retrospect.But an Army Commander doesn’t have the luxury of wallowing in his own state of mind. He has to set an example by leading from the front. As he accompanied Army Chief Gen Dalbir Singh to Uri, Hooda knew the time had come to implement a plan, the seeds of which had vaguely taken shape in his mind some fifteen months ago. Even Gen Dalbir, aware of how the Prime Minister’s mind worked, was thinking of something different.Gen Dalbir was drawing on his experience during the cross-border raid in Myanmar more than a year previously when the PM had quietly authorised the strike against north-east militants holed up in the jungles of Manipur-Myanmar border after killing 18 Indian soldiers. Gen Dalbir had a hunch then that the Prime Minister may demand a Myanmar-like action if push came to shove in J&K. Cut to mid-June in 2015. In June 2015, it was under his watch as Army Chief that the soldiers of a Para SF unit of the Indian Army, based in the north-east, had carried out a precise attack on an NSCN (K) camp located inside Myanmar and eliminated at least 60 insurgents in the process. While the cross-border raid inside Myanmar was making waves and dividing opinion (see separate chapter), discussions in TV studios in India centred around the possibility of similar raids against Pakistan. Minister of State of Information & Broadcasting, Rajyavardhan Rathore told TV anchors  that the option of cross-border raids against Pakistan are a possibility. He also told Indian Express in June 2015: “This is a message for all countries, including Pakistan, and groups harbouring terror intent towards India. A terrorist is a terrorist and has no other identity. We will strike when we want to.”The success of Myanmar operations had planted the seed of thought about a surgical strike in Pakistan in everyone’s mind. Once during his visit to the Northern Command, then Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar too had exhorted top commanders to be prepared for every eventuality. “Although I didn’t spell it out explicitly, I knew some day a grave provocation by Pakistan may require a Myanmar-like operation. So I told the Army Chief and his senior commanders to look at every possible response,” Parrikar recalls. On his part, Lt Gen Hooda called the two COs (Col H and Col K) and told them that they needed to start looking at targets across the LoC, although frankly at that point in time (June 2015) neither Gen Dalbir, nor Lt Gen Hooda or the political leadership would have thought of such an eventuality arising. Till then, the thinking at the highest levels of India’s political and military leadership was any major trans-LoC strike would be deemed escalatory. Remember, in Kargil, the Vajpayee government had imposed the strict restriction of NOT crossing the LoC in spite of a grave provocation.“I thought to myself, if tomorrow someone asks us to go, how can I, as Northern Army Commander say we are not prepared?” Hooda remembers thinking. Gen Dalbir says: “From my experience in planning and executing the Myanmar raids, I wanted my commanders to make sure that any cross-border raid should be carried out with minimum casualties. My instructions were, not one single soldier should be left behind in enemy territory even if we suffered any setback.” Hence, in the immediate aftermath of the Myanmar operation, the two COs were told to seriously plan to hit targets inside PoK. Other senior officers in Northern Command’s planning staff also held discussions a couple of times with the MO (Military Operations Directorate at the Army HQ). They identified targets, looking for more intelligence inputs on them, and consolidating a thought process in the presence of the Army Chief and the Northern Army Commander.But were not cross-border raids carried out earlier too, I asked Gen Dalbir. “Yes, they were,” he agreed “but most actions taken in our younger days were, what we call, BAT (Border Action Team) raids on specific post(s) as retribution for something that the Pakistan Army troops would have carried out on our position(s),” he said. “What we were now planning for was much larger with greater ramifications,”  he explained.For two months in the winter of 2015, the two battalions trained as whole units after years of operating in small, agile teams against terrorists in J&K. This training was to prove crucial in sharpening the set of skills needed for raids across the LoC.In a way, it was like revisiting their basic tenets for the Special Forces men. And they loved it. Although no one could have anticipated that they would be called in to strike across the LoC, the very thought of crossing a line that was seen as taboo motivated the troops further. Indeed for over two decades no one at the highest political level had ever expressed willingness to sanction, or had demanded such an action inside PoK for the fear of escalation. “The two to two-and-a-half months that these boys spent together helped them hone their skills in surveying targets, mount surveillance, practising infiltration and exfiltration, which in the final analysis helped them achieve what was asked of them,” a senior officer in MO Directorate, privy to the development now agrees, looking back at that decision. As a result of the reorientation, by the time the summer of 2016 arrived, the two battalions had added an extra edge to their repertory of formidable skills. However, no one—not even the most imaginative scriptwriter in Bollywood — could have anticipated the events as they unfolded in September 2016.Across the board, the langar gup (mess gossip) was full of frustration and rage. I remember speaking to some middle level officers posted in J&K in the immediate aftermath of the Uri incident. The anger was palpable. “If this is not the last straw, what is,” many of them wondered aloud when the possibility of the Indian army’s retaliation was discussed. NSA Doval too remembers Prime Minister Modi telling him: “This attack should not go without a response.” Gen Dalbir adds: “During one of the meetings in the immediate aftermath of Uri, the Prime Minister said the retaliation should be immediate to send an unambiguous message.” Parrikar, Doval and Gen Dalbir however knew they had to plan for several contingencies before attempting a Myanmar-style cross-border raid. For one, unlike on the Myanmar border, the Pakistani forces strung all along the LoC were on highest alert in the wake of the Uri attack. The terrorists would have also been told to lie low and shifted to camps located farther away from the LoC so that hitting those targets would have become harder. Moreover, no matter how remote the possibility, India had to wargame the likely escalation by Pakistan if retribution was ordered.The Diplomat : 23rd. Sept,18

INSIDE STORY OF INDIA’s 2016 SURGICAL STRIKES AGAINST PAKISTAN-BASED MILITANTS IN LATE-2016 : For Col H and Col K (names withheld), the moment of reckoning arrived on the afternoon of 18 September 2016.

[mutimedia]

क्या संचिता बासु करेगी भोजपुरी फिल्में? बिहार की संचिता बासु का टिकटोक से साउथ तक का सफर इंटरनेट पर हंगामा मचाये हुए है। संचिता की पहली साउथ फिल्म " फर्स्ट डे फर्स्ट शो" 2 सितम्बर को रिलीज़ हुई, जिसके बाद से वो लगातार ख़बरों में बनी हुई है। नेशनल मीडिया से लेकर स्थानीय मीडिया तक हर कोई उनका इंटरव्यू ले रहा है। हर कोई जानना चाहता है की पहली फिल्म रिलीज़ होने के बाद अब संचिता आगे किस फिल्म में दिखाई देगी? क्या वो बॉलीवुड या भोजपुरी सिनेमा में काम करती नज़र आएगी ? संचिता के आनेवाले प्रोजेक्ट्स को लेकर लोगो के मन में कई सवाल खड़े हो रहे है। संचिता ने इन सवालों का जवाब एक इंटरव्यू में दिया। उन्होंने बताया की उनकी पहली फिल्म जो तेलुगु में थ… Team Work List Content Writer:- Sangrilla Anchor Voice :-  Sangrilla Video Editor :- Vishal Graphic Designer :- Divya Shukla Digital Marketer :- Anuj Kumar ▶️Please Don't forget to Like, Share & Subscribe to This Youtube Channel. 🌏Website:-  http://www.mgbdigitalindia.com 👍Facebook:- https://www.facebook.com/MGBdigitalin... 👩‍💻Instagram:- https://www.instagram.com/mgbdigitali... 👉 Profile :- https://linkmix.co/11578680 ✔️Twitter:- https://twitter.com/MGBdigitalindia 🚩Pinterest:-  https://in.pinterest.com/mgbdigitalin... Breaking News Fb :- https://www.facebook.com/groups/83607... Bollywood News Fb :- https://www.facebook.com/groups/17865... Politics News Fb :- https://www.facebook.com/groups/12527... Thanks You..................🙏👩‍💻🌍 #sanchitabasu #tollywood #bihar #proudbihari #मधेपुरा #मधेपुरा_न्यूज #Breakingnewslive #Breakingnews #Murliganjnewslive #Madhepura #MadhepuraNews #MadhepuraSanchar #MadhepuraLatestNews #MadhepuraSancharNews #MadhepuraLiveNews #मधेपुरा_संचार #मधेपुरा_संचार_न्यूज #mgbnews #beakingnews #headline #top10news #mgbdigitalindia #trendingnews #aajtakkibadikhabre #dinbharkikhabre #todaybreakingnews #breaking #news #breakingnews #breakingnewshindi #breakingtodaynews #hindibreakingnews #delhi #todaynews  #breakingtop10news #topnews #toptenhindinews #breakingmgbnews #mgbbreaking #newsupdate

[visionmpbpl-blog]

New Post has been published on http://www.visionmp.com/karnataka-elections-2018/

Karnataka Elections: BJP down, Congress second fiddle, Opposition counts gains

Faced with a growing BJP, Opposition leaders across party lines welcomed the developments in Karnataka Saturday. Apart from stopping the BJP juggernaut, parties such as the BSP, Samajwadi Party, TDP and Trinamool Congress see the Congress willingness to pay second fiddle to the JD(S) in the state as a positive development on way to 2019.

There were indications that several Opposition leaders would attend the swearing-in of the JD(S)-Congress government, with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee tweeting that she had been invited.

BSP chief Mayawati, whose party fought the Karnataka polls in alliance with the JD(S) and won one seat, Kollegal, said the entire Opposition had remained united to foil the BJP designs in the state. Addressing the media after the BJP conceded defeat before the trust vote in Karnataka, she accused the Narendra Modi government of misusing government machinery to “capture power in states despite being in minority”. The party had failed to do in Karnataka “because of Opposition unity”, Mayawati said, adding that this might prompt the BJP to change its strategy for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. She did not spell out what that change would be.

The BSP chief also thanked the Supreme Court “for taking a firm stand” during the Karnataka crisis. Alleging that governors appointed by the Modi government were under pressure, she said, “They should resign if not able to function freely.”

Going one step further, SP president Akhilesh Yadav sought resignation of the Modi government “on moral grounds”. He tweeted: “It is a day of win of public mandate over money power in Indian politics. Those who think they could buy anyone, they have got a lesson today that there are still people who do not take politics as business.”

Addressing a press conference at Khajuraho, Akhilesh also hailed the Supreme Court for its role in the Karnataka crisis, saying it had protected democracy.

Mamata Banerjee tweeted to say that the fall of the short-lived BJP government in Karnataka was “a victory of the regional front and democracy”. The use of words by the Trinamool Congress leader was significant, hinting at a federal outfit instead of a broad grouping anchored by the Congress. Mamata has of late been trying to put together such a front, reaching out to her Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana counterparts.

TDP president and former BJP ally N Chandrababu Naidu’s office issued a statement on his behalf, calling the Karnataka developments “a victory of democracy”. “As a chief minister and as someone who believes in democracy, I am welcoming this. Everyone in the country will be happy about this development,” the Andhra Pradesh CM said.

Naidu, who was said to have helped the Congress and JD(S) in the recent elections, added, “(The) Prime Minister and BJP national president have tried to deride democracy… What message have the Prime Minister and BJP president combine given to the nation by encouraging the corrupt? What is the message they are giving to the youth?”

Drawing a parallel with Tamil Nadu, where the DMK has accused the BJP of propping up the AIADMK government, Naidu said, “The BJP brought back Gali Janardhan Reddy who looted the mineral wealth of the country to the forefront and did politics… On the lines of Tamil Nadu, they tried to misuse the institution of the governor in Karnataka too.”

RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav tweeted: “Truth can never be defeated! Truth will always defeat a lie or liar!” Tejashwi had led a delegation of the RJD, Congress, CPI-ML and HAM leaders to Bihar Raj Bhavan Friday to ask Governor Satya Pal Malik to invite them to form a government in the state as the RJD, like the BJP in Karnataka, was the single largest party.

[jjamwal]

https://ift.tt/2IuULDI Why are the TV news anchors squirming like never before as BS Yeddyurappa is sworn in as Karnataka CM? Do you think these people do not know the long history of Congress governors acting in an arbitrary manner? Do you think they do not know how Congress dictators/Prime Ministers would dismiss Opposition state governments en masse … sometimes up to nine state governments at a time? Of course, it is about partisanship. Some of it is about personal embarrassment. After all, many of India’s most well-known anchors spent much time covering Karnataka, following Siddaramaiah around, declaring him a “folk hero.” Then, the folk hero lost by 36,000 votes. Now, these anchors want to discuss everything except their shocking incompetence in analyzing election outcomes. They also want to keep people from discussing how Rahul Gandhi failed again. But there is one more factor. And I believe its the biggest one. It’s their anger and surprise at a new Modi-fied BJP that refuses to play dead. Let me explain. The year was 1999. Atal Behari Vajpayee’s government collapsed because it was one vote short. One vote! That was the old BJP, always getting blindsided, fooled or taken for a ride. The BJP struck a deal with BSP in the 90s to form the government in Uttar Pradesh based on a rotational CM post. Of course, Mayawati would go first. And of course, when it was the BJP’s turn to have the CM post, the BSP refused to support. Same in Karnataka. In 2006, the BJP struck a deal with JDS to rule the state based on a rotational CM. Of course, Kumaraswamy would go first. And of course, when it was BJP’s turn to have the CM post, the JDS refused to support. How could it possibly be otherwise? In the Bihar elections of 2000, the Samata Party (precursor of JDU) won just 34 seats. The BJP won nearly twice as many, i.e., 67 seats. Guess who the BJP offered the CM post? Nitish Kumar! And while Nitish’s government didn’t last, he had become the face of NDA in Bihar, a mistake for which BJP continues to pay even to this day. The BJP is, by any standard, an electoral behemoth. In the last seven elections, the party has always won at least 100 Lok Sabha seats. To see how big this is, just try to count how many parties in India have ever touched 50 Lok Sabha seats even once! But the BJP always punched below its weight and often laughably so. I wouldn’t say the durbaris “liked” the old BJP … but they were at least capable of coming to terms with it. As long as the BJP, even after emerging victorious, was willing to fall to the ground and beg forgiveness for winning … and promise the nobles in the ecosystem that their high status would not be affected. As long as the BJP with 182 Lok Sabha seats in 1999 was willing to grovel before allies, willing to give them all the key Cabinet positions. Even the ministries that were technically with the BJP were offered to people who could be best described as newcomers and/or outsiders. Stool pigeons of the Congress saw it as an acknowledgement of intellectual inferiority on part of the BJP. You will see folks like Ram Guha often write fondly and with much satisfaction about this. In other words, the ecosystem could make some sort of peace with the BJP, as long as they were willing to prostrate before the elite and play dead. This is the sort of mentality with which an arrogant Amartya Sen declared after 2014 results that he would “allow” Modi to rule. At that point, they were still very much consumed by the belief that Modi would ask them for their “permission,” whatever that means. The thing is that their “permission” meant absolutely nothing to Modi. Zero. Zilch. Nada. In fact, Modi would positively revel in showing how little he cared for that class. And this is what they cannot digest. The BJP has been an electoral behemoth for a long time. But in terms of institutions, the party had almost no influence. Arguably, the BJP’s institutional imprint is smaller than even a tiny party like the CPIM. Twice in the last 20 years, the CPIM fell short of the minimum electoral performance required to maintain the status of a ‘national party.’ Both times, the Election Commission rewrote the definition of a national party, tailored it to suit the CPIM’s requirements and hand delivered them to the CPIM’s headquarters at A K Gopalan Bhavan in Delhi. This is what *real power* looks like. When the institutions proactively surrender before you. The CPIM barely needed to ask. The Election Commission fell at their feet proactively without a murmur. Compare this to the BJP which was running circles around the Election Commission in 2007 begging to keep its recognition merely as a political party. Do I even have to remind people of the time the Supreme Court of India humbly agreed to the Emergency, pointing out that Indira Gandhi’s dictatorial move was almost “maternal”? This status of the BJP as an outcast endured right up to the moment of May 16, 2014. Let me remind you that Narendra Modi, even in the campaign summer of 2014, could not get permission to address so much as a rally in Varanasi city, in the heart of a seat that he was contesting himself. The place where Modi was allowed to address a rally was so far from the population that hardly anybody could make it there: it was his only thinly attended rally in Uttar Pradesh that year. A day before voting, the EC raided Modi’s offices in Varanasi. A smug NDTV announced to its viewers that “campaign material was seized” from the election office.

[wionews]

Opinion: Is news dead in India?

News, it is being said, died in the abominable coverage that ensued superstar Sridevi’s death. I do not agree. News would have to be alive first, for it to die! News, as I know it, as an avid follower and consumer, has been dead for long. It did not die in one shot but died little by little, part by part over past several years.

I have been watching and reading the news right from the time of 1989 General elections. I was in awe of news when I saw the brazen booth capturing of the 1989 Bihar elections, captured on camera by Nalini Singh. I was filled with respect for news when I saw Madhu Trehan brilliantly capture in Newstrack (then available for viewing only on rented video cassettes) the demolition of the disputed structure in Ayodhya in 1992 and its aftermath. Was filled with admiration at the power of news when the Media led the outrage of the nation against the dastardly burning of the Christian Missionary Graham Staines and his two sons in 1999.

The awe and admiration, however, soon began to be dented. The first major dent came in 2002 when 59 people - men, women and children - were burnt alive in a train in Gujarat. The indignation and outrage seen on the burning of 3 people in 1999 was found totally missing from the media narrative even though this time 59 people were burnt alive. Most, if not all, the news establishments, strangely, seemed to underplay the incident and many even seemed to justify the ‘deaths’ alluding to the fact that those burnt alive were all Kar Sevaks returning from Ayodhya – almost as if to suggest that they perhaps deserved to die for being Kar Sevaks or VHP members! One of the then famous editors raised this issue about the media reaction but instead of this leading to introspection, it led to the widespread castigation of this editor. For the first time, it set me thinking if the news was actually news or was it a mere acquiescence and obeisance to an established and entrenched, politically correct narrative.

The next big body blow to news, I saw land in the way many news establishments handled the 2G spectrum scam and in the way the “zero loss theory” was allowed to be peddled in the garb of objectivity and of presenting the view of the other side. The truth of this objectivity lay exposed threadbare in another big blow that was dealt with the entire news establishment in form of the Radia tapes wherein celebrated journalists were caught acting as cheerleaders for corporates and as power brokers for political parties. “What more would be left of news,” or so I thought. 

The final and mortal blow to news, however, came when most of the established media houses almost ganged up to defend the convicted terrorist Yakub Memon – who was responsible for one of the most ghastly attacks that India has seen - and overnight transformed him into a hero who was ‘wronged’ by the nation. Columns after columns in print and anchor after anchor on television, especially of the “secular” kind – prayed and seemed to strengthen the campaign to save this traitor and murderer. 

To talk of saving Yakub was termed liberal, intellectual and magnanimous and that of executing the Supreme Court’s order to hang Yakub to death was treated as a fanatic, jingoistic and communal! This one instance lay to rest all doubts in my mind about news. The news was no longer about disseminating information but was about pushing agendas – personal, political and corporate – even if it meant harming the nation itself in the process. And they hanged news to death with that cringe of a headline “And they hanged Yakub!” The image of thousands of people mourning the death of “Shaheed” Yakub Memon at his funeral is still fresh in public memory – most certainly in my memory. That was the day when I penned the following lines on my facebook page. I had stopped watching news on television and stopped taking the news in print media seriously. 

Is desh ki barbaadi ke liye, ab Dushmano ki zarrorat nahi. Desh ki yeh Media hamaari – Kaam poora kardegi wahi!

(Why does India need any enemies for its destruction, when it has its media which is doing the job of the enemy better than the enemies could even imagine)

Too blunt this is, I know. I also understand that many in media, and I count many friends among them, might take offence to it. But, unfortunately, this is what many news consumers have come to believe off late. 

What remains today of news, even more so on television, is not news but pure political entertainment of a very crass kind. Reclassify the news channels as such and suddenly you might find everything falling into place. The live shallow debates every day, constant screaming at each other, ‘ripping apart’ someone on TV, the reporter laying down in the bathtub, the bathtub of death - all would seem just about appropriate. 

BARC (Broadcast Research Council of India), I suggest, should give a serious thought to the reclassification of news channels as political entertainment channels for the purpose of its TV ratings. Such a step, perhaps, may lead to some rethink and resurrection of ‘News’ into a genre that we can well and truly call news and not #TKHBC (google for this acronym if you don’t get what I am referring to).  

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL) 

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[brajeshupadhyay]

This piece is not about Arnab Goswami and his journalism. One journalist issuing a journalism certificate to another is vain. Nor is it about television drama spilling on to streets and courts with real consequences, or a fading dynast’s desperate jabs at power and intimidation. It is simply about the Congress party’s political wisdom in reacting the way it has to a news anchor’s provocation of calling its president Sonia Gandhi biased and silent on the lynching of two Hindu monks in Palghar. It is also about how the party took Arnab calling Sonia by her maiden name ‘Antonia Maino’, dog-whistling about her being Italian, and thereby unboxing the baggage of old allegations. Old questions tumbled out. Why did she take 16 years to become an Indian citizen after marrying Rajiv Gandhi in 1968? Has she ever been an Indian at heart, even while running the country as the power centre with Manmohan Singh as prime minister? The episode is undoubtedly personal and sensitive for Sonia Gandhi. But those two are bad words in politics. Politicians train not to react in anger or hurt, and respond when waters of the mind are still. Five blunders of Congress First, reportedly attacking Goswami and his wife near their Mumbai home and filing a slew of cases against him in states like Chhattisgarh where it rules, the Congress has re-established itself in the nation’s mind as the party of Emergency. It has a distinguished record in quashing criticism and muzzling freedom of expression, captured in this Twitter thread by scientist and political commentator Anand Ranganathan. From jailing actor Utpal Dutt to banning investigative journalist Jack Anderson’s documentary ‘Rajiv’s India’, to Kabil Sibal bringing the repressive Section 66A of the IT Act, Congress’ handiwork shines from Ranganathan’s thread (274 posts and counting). It gently holds the mirror to the savagery the party is capable of on press and artistic freedom. The latest incident only acts as a national reminder of that. Second, hounding a journalist brings under stage lights the Nehru-Gandhi family’s well-known intolerance to criticism. Scores of works like the movie Aandhi in which the protagonist resembled Indira Gandhi, or Xavier Moro’s book The Red Sari on Sonia, faced censure. It was in under Congress rule in Bihar with Jawaharlal Nehru at the Centre that Kedar Nath Singh was slapped with sedition in 1962 for saying, “Today the dogs of CID are loitering around Barauni…today these Congress goondas are sitting on the gaddi.” In the UPA years, there was an unwritten diktat in newsrooms to not openly criticise the family; one could take on its minions, if at all. The incidents over Palghar have proved that the much-weakened Congress has not changed. Golden gift to the enemy Third, the reckless aggression somehow gives one the sense that mentioning her roots gets Sonia very uncomfortable and defensive. The moment the BJP tasted blood, it pounced more fiercely on her father Stephano Maino’s story, who reportedly had served in Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini’s army. Discrepancies about her university education, citizenship, name on electoral rolls and even alleged KGB links are being dug up. Fourth, it puts the Congress’ senior partner in the Maharashtra coalition, Shiv Sena, in a bind. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray is constantly being chided by his core Marathi-Hindutva constituency for actions of the NCP and the Congress, or the ones Sena is taking to keep the alliance alive. The Congress’ brashness makes his position weaker. Fifth and last, this gives potent ‘what about’ ammunition to the BJP. Every sin of the Congress in the past 70 years has come to the BJP’s rescue each time it got cornered in the last six years. From allowing communal violence to toppling governments, the Congress has a much better record to show. And the latest one, even with crippled power, paves the road for the BJP to travel with fresh precedence as a weapon. This violence and vengeance is an opportunity worth in gold for the BJP. It won’t let it go.

http://sansaartimes.blogspot.com/2020/04/how-sonia-gandhi-has-walked-into-trap.html