Final views on news 07 march 2015 single pages smallest by viewsonnews

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THE CRITICAL EYE

SCOOP POWER

MARCH 7, 2015

The Shazia Ilmi, Shekhar Gupta spat proves the supersonic speed of social media 12

N NDTV SHAKE-UP S Barkha out, B D Dilip Bobb in 7

AIB ROAST He who laughs may not last 25

NEW MEDIA Zap your world with app power 18

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EDITOR’S NOTE

EMPEROR C-WORD NOW THAT THE World Cup—and we don’t refer to this

The C-juggernaut is our creation. The media, unlike other

championship trophy in the subcontinent as anything other

hyped-up subjects and issues and personalities, is, in this

than Cricket (with a capital “c”)—is upon us, we’re deluged

case, reflecting our passion rather than its own biases. It’s

by the C-word everywhere we look. It stares at us from wall

not as if Indians are any more or less sports-crazy than other

posters, signboards, hoardings, but most of all, from

nationalities. It’s just that they’re C-crazed and the spell cast

newspapers and TV.

by the Raj through pavilions and pitches and mats and gloves

Even as the fate of this season of the bat’s chock against

and pads and bats cannot be exorcised.

the whizzing ball is being scripted on some special Olympus

Cricket, is probably as important to the Indian as democ-

from where the gods look upon as spectators and manipu-

racy and Bollywood. There are probably tons of Indians who

lators, we mere cricketing mortals are bombarded by the wis-

care more about cricket than they do about some “democ-

dom of sports writers who sprout like wild mushrooms after

ratically” elected neta. Cricket spells rags to riches for tal-

a summer shower and lecture to us from pulpits involving

ented tribals who would otherwise never be able to leave their

not just TV and print but now, also the social media.

jungles. Cricket spells excellence, camaraderie, glamor, equal

And many of us groan as our brains bloat with this over-

opportunity, a level playing field and also provides the whole

feeding. Isn’t there anything else to talk about? Does anybody

nation—after a hard-fought victory—a glimpse of the pos-

give a damn during cricket season whether China has taken

sibilities, heights, valor, grit, hard work, unity, sacrifice, sec-

another bite out of our territory in the North-east or how many

ularism and determination which is the true but often hidden

more inches the Gangotri glacier has receded or whether the

face of a resplendent India.

speed of light had remained constant over the last decade?

At a technical level, thanks to TV, cricket has been in-

Frankly, my dears, to paraphrase Clark Gable, we Indians

creasingly riveted into the minds and hearts of the ordinary

don’t give a damn even if the scientists actually discovered

Indian after the stupendous victory of India in the World Cup

another Black Hole over the Thar Desert. During cricket sea-

in 1983 in the West Indies. And we have really never looked

son, that news would merit a half column on whichever page

back ever since. India conquered all forms of the game: 50

a junior sub-editor chose to dump it. See, guys, what really

overs, T-20 and Tests.

counts is the speed, line and length of the cricket

Nobody believed that the 20 over version would arrive

juggernaut. Not a very good time for India and

and change the landscape of cricket forever. It did. Its suc-

Pakistan to start firing at each other across the

cess in terms of money and popularity is unprecedented.

border. They’d probably both hit Jupiter instead.

Today, we have a World Cup dedicated to this format. In fact,

Strange, indeed, that this obsession should

it has given rise to a new audience who understands slam-

remain unabated despite the IPL financial scan-

bang cricket and the need not be clued into its intricacies.

dals, the betting revelations, involvement of

The way the game is televised has undergone a sea

organized crime, the Supreme Court investiga-

change. Celebrities, like already-ban-gaya-crorepati-Amitabh

tion and exit of evergreen superheroes. The

B sit cheek-by-jowl with cricket pundits commenting on

common explanation is that the media promotes

the game.

the hype and the public laps it up. There’s big

In this topsy-turvy C-world, it is not the media that creates

advertising bucks, good prime time rates, lots

a buzz about cricket, it is the other way round. Cricket com-

of new limelight for media matinee idols to bask

mands attention. Period.

in. Ok. Maybe once. Maybe five years in a row. But for endless decades? And without a let

Like Britannia once ruled the waves, cricket rules India— not as Emperor but as Leveler.

down? Tell me if you know a single person who missed the last Indo-Pak one-dayer even though he was heard screaming a day before that these matches are fixed and not worth watching. VIEWS ON NEWS

March 7, 2015 3

VOLUME. VIII

ISSUE. 11

Editor-in-Chief Rajshri Rai Managing Editor Ramesh Menon Deputy Managing Editor Shobha John Senior Editor Vishwas Kumar Associate Editor Meha Mathur Deputy Editors Prabir Biswas Niti Singh Assistant Editor Somi Das Art Director Anthony Lawrence Senior Visualizer Amitava Sen Graphic Designer Lalit Khitoliya Photographer Anil Shakya News Coordinator/Photo Researcher Kh Manglembi Devi Production Pawan Kumar

C O N

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4 VIEWS ON NEWS March 7, 2015

Social desi Mainstream media is facing stiff competition as headline moments and nasty brawls move to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, writes SHANTANU GUHA RAY

NEW MEDIA

The Ap(p)t Choice The popularity of news apps is on the rise, writes AISHWARYA RAMESH

EDITORS’ PICK

Lessons from Delhi Elections AAP’s success has many fathers. And Modi and his men have more convincing to do now, writes MIHIR SHARMA

18 20

T E N T S TOPIC

Smut and sensibilities 25

The furore over the AIB Roast shows that India is still not ready for this genre of comedy, reports PALLAVI DEWAN

REVIEW

All for a laugh

TVFâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s interview with Arvind Kejriwal provided wholesome entertainment, writes SOMI DAS

RADIO

David slays Goliath on radio

After the Delhi experience, radio is set to play a vital role in every local, municipal and state election, writes AKASH BANERJEE

29 BUREAUCRACY

A game of chess

POLITICS

Modi is making sure he has all his right men in the right place, writes VISHWAS KUMAR

The BJP and Modi paid heavily for their arrogance, and for not keeping promises, writes ASHIM CHOUDHURY

R E G U L A R S

Governance

PROTESTS

Love in the time of Hindutva

Blame it on Obama!

In recent times, there have been protests over attempts by hard-line, right-wing elements to curb fundamental rights. What they forget is that this is a democracy, writes SHREYA S

Edit................................................03 Media-go-round............................06 Quotes..........................................08 As the world turns.........................10 Vox Populi.....................................19 Breaking news..............................32 Grapevine.....................................50 Cover design: Anthony Lawrence

VIEWS ON NEWS

March 7, 2015 5

EDIA-GO-ROUND

Ex-scribe Saikia held for petrol ministry leak A DAY AFTER the Delhi Police detained five people for leaking classified documents from the petroleum ministry, former journalist Shantanu Saikia and energy consultant Prayas Jain were arrested on February 20. Saikia, who runs an energy portal, was arrested after overnight questioning. He runs an energy portal. There are other journalists also who were being questioned on the leak of information to energy industries, sources told News X.Jain is an energy consultant with Medit Business Solutions Pvt Ltd, an Australian Energy firm.

Nihalani’s abuse list

CENSOR BOARD CHIEF Pahlaj Nihalani, has issued a notice banning certain cuss words and the use of Bombay in films. The list consists of 30 English and Hindi, “offensive” words. The notice says: “All ROs (regional officers) are directed not to allow such words in any category of the certificate. This is also applicable to regional language films.” It also specifies that all double meaning words should be deleted from films.

A senior police officer said: “We have arrested Prayas Jain and Shantanu Saikia in this connection. Both of them are energy consultants who received stolen documents.” According to sources, top officials of four oil firms are under the scanner and more arrests are expected. As informed by police sources, the Essar general manager has gone missing after the police raided its offices. Sources told NewsX that one staff of a top industrial group is among the five who were arrested on February 19.

Shantanu Saikia

Deccan Chronicle owner arrested DECCAN CHRONICLE OWNER T Venkattram Reddy was qizzed and arrested by a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) team from Bengaluru on February 14, in relation to a Canara Bank fraud case. According to The News Minute, sources in the CBI alleged that the agency had found evidence that the newspaper’s promoters had “deliberately hatched a conspiracy to cheat and cause a loss to the tune of Rs 1,230 crore

to the bank over a period of four years, from 2008 to 2012”. “As this is a public sector bank, the DC has swindled public money,” a CBI official said. Last year, the CBI had filed a case of cheating, fraud and criminal conspiracy against Reddy, DC vice-chairman and managing director, T Vinayak Ravi Reddy, vicechairman PK Iyer as well as the company’s auditors, CB Mouli & Associates.

Diptosh Majumdar passes away SENIOR JOURNALIST DIPTOSH Majumdar passed away on January 8, at a private hospital in Delhi. He was 55. Majumdar, who was national affairs editor at NewsX, was suffering from Acute Myelocytic Leukemia (AML), a type of blood cancer. He was admitted to the Apollo Hospital in Sarita Vihar in the last week of January after being diagnosed with blood cancer just 15 days ago, The Times of India reported.

Budget to be streamed live on social media THIS BUDGET SESSION, the government has plans to live-stream both the Union Budget and the Railway Budget on YouTube and is also planning to invite questions from people through social media platforms, like Twitter. The Indian Express reported that the Informa6 VIEWS ON NEWS March 7, 2015

tion & Broadcasting ministry is likely to hold “talkathons” on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube simultaneously. The first talkathon was organized by the I&B ministry on February 16, in which Power Minister Piyush Goyal answered questions for 30 minutes.

EDIA-GO-ROUND

Barkha out,Bobb in

VON reports on the inside story behind the two switchovers

N a recent development, two top media personalities have switched over, taking many colleagues by surprise. While Barkha Dutt quit as NDTV Group Editor, Dilip Bobb resigned from The Indian Expess to move to NDTV Convergence. Barkha had been off NDTV’s payroll and working on a contract basis for the past couple of months, it is learnt. NDTV founders Prannoy and Radhika Roy emphasized, in an internal letter (see box) that Barkha would, “be available, as always, for analysis and inputs on big news events and stories”. However, it is understood that she would be completely out of the planning mechanism of news and programming. Officially, she would be the consulting editor. Her role remains confined to hosting her primetime show The Buck Stops Here and her weekend show, We The People. She would also be in-charge of the 9 pm news as against only conducting news debates on the prime time slot. The move is being seen as a reaction to Headlines Today surging ahead in the TRP race because of the combined

efforts of Rajdeep Sardesai and Karan Thapar. While Thapar grills the newsmakers and the opinion makers of the day, Sardesai has been successful in cutting out noise and bringing back news on the prime time. The consulting role suits Barkha’s interest as she would be heading her own company and wants to foray into capturing the digital market before the advent of 4G. It is understood that the US media mogul, Oprah Winfrey, whom she interviewed in 2012 at the Jaipur Literature Festival, inspired her to go solo and become an entrepreneur. Barkha has been talking with financers for her new company. It is believed that she had been in constant touch for an arrangement with Mukesh Ambani’s channel CNN-IBN. However, things didn’t work out there. The details of her new company are under wraps as of now. Barkha’s exit coincides with the hiring of senior journalist Dilip Bobb. He joined NDTV after quitting as Group Editor of The Indian Express (Features). He would be heading NDTV Convergence and would be responsible for synergizing content from different platforms. NDTV’s editorial team, apart from stars like Barkha and Srinivasan Jain, has always remained lightweight. Bobb is supposed to infuse intellectual weight to the channel and its online content. He would be responsible for creating original content for the channel and its website. While Sonia Singh and Nidhi Razdan would continue in their existing roles, Maya Mirchandani would take over the foreign affairs beat, which till now was completely under Barkha.

NDTV’S INTERNAL MAIL Dear All, Barkha Dutt was only 23 when she joined NDTV as a young reporter-cum-producer. NDTV was the first place she ever worked in, and for two decades we have seen her evolve into one of our most prolific reporters. She has been a key member of the NDTV family and a big part of our memorable journey from a production house that created a nightly news bulletin for Doordarshan to what we are today. She has worn many hats for NDTV: journalist, anchor, editor; NDTV has been both her learning ground and her second home. Now, twenty years later, we wish her all the very best as she embarks on yet another role with us...While her TV relationship with NDTV remains unchanged, in her new role, she will be setting up her own multi-media content company and policy group. ....I know you will join us in wishing Barkha the very very best. — Radhika and Prannoy

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March 7, 2015 7

U O T E S

This World Cup record is good and we are proud of it. But a time will come when we will lose to them. This record won't stay for the rest of our lives. — Mahendra Singh Dhoni,on winning against Pakistan, in IBNLive

Your (women journalists) role could be far better utilized, (in print journalism) without going out in the field. Not that you should not go out, in the sense of safety and security, the working hours, conditions, and different roles attached as a mother, sister, or a wife. — Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, at a

Subramanian Swamy, BJP member 250 temples vandalized in Delhi during last one year but not a squeak from liberals. One theft in a church howls from Obama downwards on VHP

Ajay Maken, Congress leader By banning the media from Secretariat, AAP committing same mistake as BJP in the Union. Fight corruption—be more transparent first.

Nilanjana Roy, author So I guess "comedian" is the new "criminal". (Because, old-type Criminal Elements either absconding or in public office.)

Suhel Seth, ad-man I hope the blokes who are bidding for THE SUIT know that they need to have a 56" chest. Where will they get that from?(On the auction of Narendra Modi’s pinstripe suit)

press interaction with women journalists

Why didn't Chekov say, ‘Write whatever comes to you from your heart. That is art’. Because he was not a bore. Encoded in great artistes is the accidental humility that pushes them to reach out and win the attention of the audience instead of assuming that the world has to be intelligent enough to come find them. — Manu Joseph, in Hindustan Times

8 VIEWS ON NEWS March 7, 2015

Seema Goswami, columnist Great story by @IndianExpress on 'terror boat'. Good to see solid news reporting in the morning after watching pointless TV debates at night

Shekhar Gupta, senior journalist & entrepreneur Terrible panic decision under media noise to let chemists sell Tamiflu. Will surely be misused, India will end up making H1N1 drug-resistant

Class X boards were better? I’ve the same feedback. A CABE sub-committee has studied this. Not just parents, CMs—even those from Congress-ruled states—say: Reinstitute it. I’ve met students from KVs, private schools, Navodaya Vidyalayas, teachers. Students want boards back. Parents, teachers, students say CCE (continuous comprehensive evaluation) bred a cut-copy-paste generation. — Smriti Irani on bringing back board exams at the secondary level, in The Times of India

Indian Society is a judgmental society. The biggest block for innovation and research in India is fear of failure. We as a society find faults easily. Hence scientists today are afraid to do new things and hence bank upon improving the old things because they go wrong in doing new things, and then people are ready to pull them down for their failure. — Bharat Ratna scientist CNR Rao, in The Indian Express

Mr Modi is a different man with a different mind and a different thinking from the previous prime minister. I think he will probably engage with Pakistan, but he would like to do that in his own way. — Former Pakistan NSA, Mahmud Durrani, in The Hindu

All who called me with foulest possible names, I am relieved my parents were not alive to see this. — Kiran Bedi on her electoral debacle in Delhi, in a blog post

If I had to be offended by a live show I would rather be offended by Arnab who invites people on his show and then doesn’t let them speak. I saw an episode where he is asking the education minister a question and then screaming over her answers. Now that’s just bad manners, at least in the AIB Roast they called guests over, let them say their bit, people laughed and went home. — Twinkle Khanna, in indiatimes.com

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March 7, 2015 9

S THE WORLD TURNS

Comedian Jon Stewart leaves show COMEDIAN JON STEWART, famed for his biting satire of politicians and the media, will leave his job as host of Comedy Central’s parody newscast The Daily Show later this year, he told his studio audience. Stewart, 55, has starred on the show since 1999. “Through his unique voice and vision, The Daily

Show has become a cultural touchstone for millions of fans and a platform for political comedy that will endure for years to come,” Comedy Central said in a statement. Although, Stewart’s exit is not being seen as an end to the show itself, there is anxiety over who could fill his shoes.

Gay rights pic wins World Press photo contest DANISH PHOTOGRAPHER MADS Nissen’s picture on gay love has been adjudged as the winner for the World Press Photo contest, 2014. An international jury of leading professionals in the field of photojournalism worldwide began judging the entries at the World Press Photo office in Amsterdam on February1, headed by Michele McNally, director of photography and assistant managing editor of The New York Times. The picture shows a Russian gay couple, Jon, 21, and Alex, 25, in an intimate

Sun News Network shuts down THE RIGHT LEANING Canadian Channel, Sun News Network, from the Sun Newspaper stable shut down on February 13, 2015 after a failed bid of finding a suitable buyer. The channel has been on air for 46 months. An estimated 200 employees lost their jobs. The Vice Presi-

10 VIEWS ON NEWS March 7, 2015

dent of the Network, Kory Teneckye wrote a somber mail to its employees informing them about the shut down, seconds after the channel was taken off air. He writes in his mail, “While I regret the outcome, I do not regret the fight for greater diversity in the Canadian media” According to Business Canada, “The channel promised to balance the "lefty bias" of traditional Canadian media, but its operations were plagued by tight production budgets which often left it with limited on-the-ground reporting and a large portion of its airtime dedicated to commentary and heavily editorialized news coverage.”

moment. The jury considered the fact the picture celebrates homosexual love at a time when life for the LGBT community is becoming increasingly difficult in Russia. Sexual minorities face legal and social discrimination, harassment, and violent hate-crime attacks from conservative religious and nationalistic groups. The 58th edition of the contest got entries from over 5,000 photographers of different nationalities. The winners were selected from a pool of close to 10,000 pictures.

NBC suspends Brian Williams for 6 months NBC ANNOUNCED ON February 10 that it was suspending Brian Williams as Nightly News anchor and managing editor for six months without pay for misleading the public about his experiences covering the Iraq war, Reuters reported. NBC chief executive Steve Burke said Williams’ actions were inexcusable. Williams apologized earlier for saying he was in a helicopter that was hit by a grenade while covering the Iraq war in 2003. Williams is a star anchor and one of America’s most popular journalists.

EVERY FORTNIGHT VIEWS ON NEWS WILL BRING YOU TELL-ALL NEWS, ANALYSES AND OPINION FROM THE SHARPEST INVESTIGATIVE REPORTERS AND MOST INCISIVE MINDS IN THE NATION Views On News (VON) is India’s premier fortnightly magazine that covers the wide spectrum of modern communication loosely known as “the media”. Its racy, news and analysis oriented story-telling encompasses current global and Indian developments, trends, future projections encompassing policy and business drifts, the latest from inside the print and electronic newsrooms, the exciting developments in ever-expanding digital space, trending matters in the social media, advertising, entertainment and books. e rnanc n Gove tion o CHIEF OR BOARD NI w sec NS e CE n ON HIS g VT ucin AJ NIHALA SHOULD GOTER Introd ROR PAHLTION HERO’ MODI 38 ‘AC CONTROL ? 44 RTING DI PO MO H RE UG TO HOW A AT WAS BUREAUCROULDERED 32 COLD- SH

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SOCIAL DESI Indians are taking to e-platforms like “locusts to a ripe field of wheat”. And mainstream media is facing stiff competition as headline moments and nasty brawls move to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube BY SHANTANU GUHA RAY

12 VIEWS ON NEWS March 7, 2015

VEN before the dust had settled in the elections to the 70-seat Delhi assembly in February 2015, a curious development in a television studio trolled for many hours, triggering debates on the might of the bare-all, hit-all social media. It happened at NDTV studio, where anchor Prannoy Roy had to intervene to check what could have been an ugly slugfest. The spat was between Shazia Ilmi, a former AAP leader, who switched sides to join the BJP months before the polls, and veteran journalist and author, Shekhar Gupta, currently a senior advisor to Living Media Group that publishes, among other newspapers and magazines, India Today. The vicious exchange was a surprise. Ilmi, irritated by Gupta’s

jibe that she was nothing but a defector and should be called an “Aya Ilmi, Gaya Ilmi”, rebutted strongly, calling the seasoned newshound “Aya Ambani, Gaya Ambani” and a “wheeler-dealer”. Ilmi was hinting at Gupta’s proximity to Mukesh Ambani, chairman of the billion-dollar Reliance conglomerate. Roy intervened and the two were separated. It is not known whether either one has consulted a lawyer to seek damages. A clip of the slugfest was instantly found on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. Phones buzzed across the Capital, and journalists, authors and lobbyists debated the issue and wondered how bad things could turn if social media is plugged in seconds after an incident.

Two things became clear. A politician could be ripped apart for flaws, and a journalist also could be ripped apart for being close to a corporate captain. MAKING BIG STRIDES “The writing is clear on the wall. Indians have to be very careful about what they say, what they do. The wall has broken and everything is on social networking sites,” remarks Prabir Sen, Singapore’s top data analyst, adding Indians are taking to social media like “locusts to a ripe field of wheat”. Sen should know. A few years ago, Shashi Tharoor, then the deputy foreign minister, lost his seat in the cabinet after tweets were exchanged between him and

GARNERING INTEREST (Facing page) Shekhar Gupta; Shazia Ilmi; (below) Tsunami lashing Ao Nang in Thailand in 2004

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March 7, 2015 13

Lede

Networking sites

over 2,30,000 people in 14 countries in December.

PIB

A band of liberals is happily fighting their rivals in a Twitter war between the ruling coalition and then opposition parties. It is called Operation Akraman by Congress sympathizers who have multiple handles.

FACING THE HEAT HRD Minister Smriti Irani ridiculed for her gaffes on Twitter

Indian Premier League (IPL) commissioner Lalit Modi, over a stake of Tharoor’s wife, Sunanda Pushkar, in Kochi Tuskers, an IPL franchisee team now disbanded. “Social media is now defining India’s headline moments. We better get used to it,” remarks veteran journalist and former editor, Ajay Upadhyay. And the use of this medium during elections has seen some parties getting a windfall. The BJP blitz on social media during the general elections is well-documented. Upadhyay said he would rather look at the enormous impact social media played during the 2004 tsunami, that killed

14 VIEWS ON NEWS March 7, 2015

ZEALOUS CAMPAIGN Bloggers from across the world started The TsunamiBlog and many of them like Sunil Nair, Dina Mehta, Peter Griffin, Bala Pitchandi, Angelo Embuldeniya and others pushed their stories to define global headlines in top media organizations like The Guardian, CNN, The New York Times, BBC and Ashai Shimbun. “They disseminated information—there was no Twitter or Facebook in 2004—faster than the mainstream media and garnered hundreds of volunteers. What the bloggers did in 2004 is now routine across the world, as well as in India,” adds Upadhyay. Upadhyay recalls the 2010 Radia tapes that were leaked to two news magazines. The mainstream media tried hard to ignore—it even pretended there were no tapes—but social media did not let it pass and kept up the pressure. This, says Sen, is a “natural corollary” to the media explosion in one of the world’s fastest growing democracies. India has around 500 big newspapers, over 300 news channels and over 400 radio stations and a little over 600 news portals. “Social media has pushed competition to an altogether different level in India. Everyone, especially the print and television media, are feeling the heat. Everyone has a smartphone in India and has the platform to trigger a Marxist-type revolution in the media space.” POLITICAL WARS The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA), which lost power to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in 2014, had faltered badly on social media but bounced back with its

shadow cabinet Twitter handles that continue to irritate the ruling NDA. The idea for the ongoing Twitter wars, claim Congress party insiders, came to them when Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was rebuffed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Congress, firm in its belief that silent sparks were flying within the new government, launched shadow Twitter handles to question “fake achievements” of the NDA government. Party workers were told to mark individual members of the new cabinet. Many joined; their names were kept secret. The system is in vogue in 23 nations across the globe. The shadow ministry for HRD ridiculed Smriti Irani for her gaffes. Now, a band of liberals is happily fighting their rivals in a Twitter war between the ruling coalition and the opposition parties. It is called Operation Akraman (on Twitter and Facebook) by Congress sympathizers who have multiple, strange Twitter handles like Dhakkar Tao @Bawli Booch, a Haryanvi alternative for Mad Max. #DholDebate ridicules the NDA whenever it announces a mega project, @KanchanAunty digs into tweets from Kanchan Gupta, a former journalist who worked in the PMO during Atal Behari Vajpayee’s tenure and the handle @Poonam_ Yadav carries tweets from a lawyer who had alerted Delhi when Modi shut down AIIMS during a health check-up. Actually, it started when Modi, then BJP’s PMaspirant, visited the Sri Ram College of Commerce in Delhi University for a students’ interaction. The Congress pushed the idea to make Modi look like Darth Vader, a fictional Star Wars character listed as the third most popular villain in the world, behind Hannibal and Norman Bates. And it is all working well in a country that is the world’s second biggest cellular handset market. Experts claim social network has pushed the mainstream media’s monopoly over “national debates, national conversations”. Is there any value of an editorial when many have already offered their opinion on the subject? The answer is a big “No”.

“The writing is clear on the wall, Indians have to be very careful about what they say, what they do. The wall has broken and everything is on the social networking sites.” — Prabir Sen, Singapore data analyst

“This is India’s new policy of engagement,” says Rahul Mehra, a seasoned lawyer and a spokesperson for AAP, which recently swept Delhi polls. “Even journalists who felt they were above everything have decided to stay on in the game and accept the rules.”

UNDER A CLOUD Shashi Tharoor had resigned as minister following his tweets

ENLARGED MEDIA CIRCLE Facebook and Twitter have effectively killed blogging that once produced great writing and the mainstream media has realized that it needs social media more than the other way round, almost like a sounding board for work, contacts and ideas. “Once trolling was hated, now it is loved,” says Mehra. In short, the media universe has been democratized. “Conversations are now discussed in metros, 3-tier cities, even villages. That is the kind of impact social media is having,” says Franz Gastler, a US football coach who trains impoverished girls in Jharkhand. In June 2014, as a billion plus India slept, Gastler’s girls won the third spot in a tournament in faraway Spain. One Facebook post triggered over a million hits and triggered nationwide discussions on news televisions. The post did not go unnoticed, especially in India where 90 per cent of its 93 million Facebook users VIEWS ON NEWS

March 7, 2015 15

Lede

Networking sites

GOLDEN MOMENT Football coach Frank Gastler’s team of girls in Jharkhand became famous after an FB post spoke of their win in Spain

are of voting age. What’s more, 11 percent of the country’s voting population is using Facebook. “The girls were seen on Facebook where a journalist wrote a post. Rest is all history. Many newspapers even copy-pasted the story and called it their own,” says Gastler. There are close to 52,000 pages for politicians and political parties in India, according to data provided by Facebook, and 60 of these are “verified” pages. Last year, Facebook launched India Election Tracker that tracks movement of Indian politicians. Consider the case of Mumbai resident and journalist Dhaval Valia, who took on Vodafone over its 3G services. Once Valia established that Vodafone

16 VIEWS ON NEWS March 7, 2015

had enabled 3G services in only half the cell tower sites in Mumbai, he wrote it on Facebook. Vodafone sent a legal notice. Valia sent them one in return. And then, the news became frontpage material all over India. Eventually, Vodafone backtracked. Similarly, in Bangalore when a guard at Leela Hotel turned away a customer because he was riding a bicycle, the issue traveled to Facebook. Later, many drove their bikes right in front of the hotel, embarrassing the management. Within a month, Leela had a bicycle stand in its parking lot. The word is no longer in the newspaper. It has spread across the country. Join, or perish. The choice is yours.

ONLY THE STORIES THAT COUNT EVERY FORTNIGHT INDIA LEGAL WILL BRING YOU NEWS, ANALYSES AND OPINION FROM THE SHARPEST INVESTIGATIVE REPORTERS AND MOST INCISIVE LEGAL MINDS IN THE NATION ON MATTERS THAT MATTER TO YOU INVESTIGATION How CBI under former boss Ranjit Sinha became a new employment exchange 24

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New Media News apps

THE AP(P)T CHOICE

Digital apps reach out to a large audience and provide a synopsis of newspaper articles, thereby assisting mainstream media BY AISHWARYA RAMESH

OR many who are used to the helpful applications (apps) on their smartphones, it’s difficult to imagine life without them. Periodic beeps, buzzes, pings and notifications help users remain connected to their personal interests, social world as well as news. This trend has given rise to the “commodification” of news, or simply making news typically suited to the reader’s interest. However, many times news apps may just be providing users the illusion of keeping them updated, as they are looked at mostly for headlines. Many readers Digital browse newspapers only when they want journalism has an in-depth analysis about a certain issue. two sides to it. “I like news apps because I get timely While it can be updates, wherever I am,” says Vidya short and Gowri Venkatesh Tarwady, a journalism precise like in student in Chennai. She adds: “Apps give the news apps, short and to the point news.” At times, in the hurry to be the first to commentary break the news, the quality of news realso thrives porting may be compromised. on the online “Sometimes for the sake of breaking platform. news, they (news apps) report without 18 VIEWS ON NEWS March 7, 2015

cross-checking. For example, many news apps first claimed that Jayalalitha had been granted bail. It was confirmed later that the news was false. Such instances have the potential to create a major flutter,” says Mythreyee Iyer, a journalism student of MOP Vaishnav College for Women, Chennai. “Sometimes the news is put forth in such easy terms that the gravity of the matter is lost,” says Aakanksha Srinivasan, Head Technical Writer, Lakshmi Subramanian & Associates, Chennai. “It’s a paradox. In an attempt to make it simple, the details get lost,” she points out. Digital journalism has two sides to it. There is a brand of long form reporting and commentary that lives on through digital journalism, taking advantage of the apparent lack of censorship of content in the online medium. Some of these websites include Caravan, scroll.in, Firstpost and so on. There are a number of publications that have had to design news websites or come up with mobile apps as their digital counterparts. Twitter is now rapidly emerging as a news-gathering tool that helps add depth and perspective. Think about writing a report of a cricket match. You might be able to access the cricketer’s quotes directly after a match, on Twitter. Mainstream newspaper reporting and commentary still holds sway, but even that is made more appealing by a nice introduction (of the same story) that shows up on the news app. So if you’re a reader who’s interested in a certain story, you’ll have access to the brief through the app on your smartphone. If the story generates enough interest, then the reader will automatically find the main story on the website as well.

OX POPULI NEWS APPS

In a tight schedule, where one hardly has much time to go through news columns or TV, apps are a must. I follow apps like TOI, Reuters and National Geographic. I have had the best experience with Reuters. — Rahul Bali, junior engineer, ASP Ship Management

I use the Snapdeal app very frequently. Most of the time I am not able to go out and spend hours checking out stuff for myself. It helps me in shopping. I find WhatsApp the best as it helps me stay in touch with my family and friends. Also, it is quite useful for my professional life. I also love the App Lock application that protects my phone’s privacy. — Shashi Bala, freelance media professional

Phone apps let users have everything they want to on their fingertips, they make functioning on phone very simple. My favorite app is Instagram. I also like NDTV’s news app. It's quick. I don't have time to go through news bulletins. So I rely on this app to keep me updated on what’s happening on the news front.

Apps are very helpful for a web journalist like me as they help ease my work and connect with people. My favorite android apps are Facebook messenger, WhatsApp, gaming apps and news apps. The best news app according to me is The Times Of India. It’s also the fastest. — Avinash Sharma, reporter, Niti Central

— Anubhuti Sharma, production assistant, Small Screen

Any day, I prefer getting my news on the apps on my phone. The convenience that news apps offer is amazing. I get news by the instant, and I feel better-informed. News apps also take lesser time to browse than newspapers. Moreover, in these days of e-books and e-papers, apps helps to save paper and hence are also environmentally better. I have NDTV and the TOI news app on my phone. — Aditya Bhandari, student, DPS, Noida

I don't like web browsing on the phone at all. So I totally rely on apps. Twitter is my favourite. More than half of the apps on my phone are news apps such as Guardian, Newslaundry, Huffpost, TOI. But there's a new news app, News in Shorts. It provides all the current affairs in just 60 words. You just need to swipe left. — Kartik Nijhawan, mass communications student

Phone apps makes life for us much more sorted. We can get everything clubbed in one place. My favorite apps are WhatsApp, Facbook,Twitter, Insragram, Islamic apps, and IAS related information apps. As for news apps, NDTV is the best. I also use the IBNlive app and Cricbuzz for updates on cricket. — Mubashir Bukhari, media professional

VIEWS ON NEWS

March 7, 2015 19

Editorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Pick Mihir Sharma

VON brings in each issue, the best written commentary on any subject. The following column from Business Standard has been picked in this category by our team of editors and reproduced for our readers as the best in the fortnight.

LESSONS FROM DELHI ELECTIONS

Most of the punditry is wrong. There is no one lesson from the Delhi election, only what the three parties choose to believe - but what will they choose? 20 VIEWS ON NEWS March 7, 2015

AST amounts of nonsense is already being written and said about the Aam Aadmi Party’s epic come-from-behind sweep of Delhi’s assembly elections. Some writing panders towards the Voter Decides School, in which genius pundits somehow manage to analyse a complicated electorate as if it were actually one rather stupid and predictable person. Another set of writing veers towards the I Told You So School, in which even a seven-eighths majority or whatever the AAP just won in Delhi can’t change anyone’s mind, and it just reinforces the point that they had been making for ages – that the government needs to reform more, or reform less; or Rahul needs to step up, or Rahul needs to quit; or that voters want Growth, or that they want Governance, or that they want Freebies. The truth is that the AAP’s victory, like all successes, had many, many fathers. Let’s take them one by one. First, the Congress. The math is stark: the Congress’ vote-share collapsed, and the AAP mopped up every single precious percentage point. Good candidates lost, people respected in their neighbourhoods, people with name recognition and track records. They lost because the Gandhi Congress is now a massive liability. Party posters on the street had already made that clear: they had the tricolour, the candidate’s face – but you really had to squint to see Rahul and Sonia Gandhi up in a corner. What does the Gandhi Congress do for any politician? It doesn’t give them enough money to fight an election. It doesn’t bring them ideological coherence. It doesn’t assure them of committed volunteers. If the leadership are toxic vote-losers as well, why would anyone stay in the party? Doubly so when all that the Gandhi Congress has to offer its leaders is lonely humiliation, the opportunity to be martyrs for the greater glory of the Gandhi name. The sight of Ajay Maken standing up on stage taking responsibility for mistakes that

weren’t his will unquestionably have convinced dozens of Congressmen to jump ship at the first available opportunity. No organisation survives without accountability for decision-makers. No political party should take such a string of defeats without the people at the top making public recompense. But in the Gandhi Congress is no public stocktaking, no contrition. On the day of the elections, as polls were closing, when Amit Shah was with his workers, and Kejriwal was with his workers, Rahul Gandhi was, very visibly, out with friends in a Vasant Kunj mall. Anger at the Gandhi Congress will not vanish until its leadership – Rahul, this means you – are visibly seen as chastened. Anger will not vanish – the Gandhi Congress will vanish instead. In Delhi, its credibility as a political force has been destroyed in a few months, leading old Congress voters to hold their noses and vote instead for those they think are anarchists. To destroy a party more than a century old will be a truly magnificent achievement. Does Rahul Gandhi really want that on his conscience? Second, the BJP. The hilarious sycophancy of its spokespeople, parading themselves arrogantly around television channels in an effort to insulate

KEJRIHAUL Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia wave at supporters after their stunning victory

VIEWS ON NEWS

March 7, 2015 21

Editors’ Pick Mihir Sharma

BAD CHOICE Kiran Bedi with Amit Shah and Arun Jaitley

FLOP SHOW Rahul Gandhi with Sonia Gandhi—both remained silent after the Delhi debacle

their High Command from one of the most disastrous electoral defeats in Indian political history, is a salutary reminder that in most of the ways that count, the BJP is the new Congress. The scale of the 2014 Lok Sabha victory seems to have done two things: it had convinced the BJP that 22 VIEWS ON NEWS March 7, 2015

nothing other than Narendra Modi was necessary to win an election; and it led them to assume that the end of the Congress was necessarily good news for them. The prime minister has promised a “Congressfree India” – my apologies, a Congress-mukt Bharat, I forgot that we live in the era of Hindi supremacy. In Delhi, the BJP sees for the first time what a Congress-free India might really look like; and it is not good news for the BJP. Its votaries mocked those who pointed out, in May 2014, that the party had won a majority with only 31 per cent of the vote. But those who live by arithmetic will die by arithmetic; and the numbers that were favourable to a BJP sweep when the Congress was a diminished force suddenly turn massively unfavourable to the BJP when the Congress is a negligibleforce. The biggest backer of the Gandhi Congress’ future should now be the inhabitant of 7, Race Course Road. The tragedy for the BJP is that it, in Delhi, was unable to pick up the vote that left the Gandhi Congress. This cannot be blamed on Kiran Bedi, or dissension in the local party. The fact that it all went to the AAP suggest that the BJP simply wasn’t able to convince Delhi voters that it was the best representative of the values that the median voter in Delhi desired of its government. If May 2014 is to be repeated or expanded upon, it will need the BJP to change that impression. And don’t tell me that Delhi is not India – that’s a trite and pointless statement. Delhi is far more India’s future than any other town; it is a place

where the old set-in-stone politics of kinship has already almost entirely given way to a new agendabased politics – if one that is no less communitarian, no less “populist”. Those who imagined that Modi’s appeal would not go beyond India’s urban constituencies were wrong. It would be amusing if, in turn, the BJP made an identical mistake when evaluating Kejriwal’s appeal. The question is: has the BJP reached its electoral high tide? Is it the case that enough of India despises the blatant communal polarisation that is the party’s raison d’etre, and that May 2014 was just because people had been fooled into believing that the BJP would defy its DNA? Frankly, I think that’s unrealistic. India’s centre of gravity has indeed shifted right. The reason Modi swept UP was that his message – the message that social inclusion, or “appeasement”, would come at the cost of prosperity, or “governance” – resonated with enough Indians to win, and more than ever before. And this is fundamentally a right-wing message, and the AAP’s success does not take away from that. What the AAP’s success does suggest, however, is that this is not yet completely Modi’s country. He, and his party, have more convincing to do. But we shouldn’t assume that the lesson the BJP will draw from this is that they must retreat from the Hindutva that has not appealed to half of Delhi’s voters. The lesson they could draw is that they need to preach more. They are a party of preachers, of pracharaks. They may well imagine they need to convert more people, become more active Hindutva evangelists, underline the link they see between strong, religious nationhood and effective governance and prosperity. Recognise, please that such a response is far more in their DNA than is a retreat from the values that drew them all to politics. Either way, the BJP will have to come to terms with a monumental defeat. Modi has squandered his honeymoon on atmospherics, on photo-ops and foreign trips and fancy clothes. He had no opposition; the scale of May 2014 gave him unparalleled

authority. That is now challenged. He is constrained. Can he summon the strength to make bold economic reform of the sort he has avoided so far? Or will he instead draw the lesson from Kejriwal’s success that a little light populism can go a long way? The Budget suddenly becomes an even more politically salient document than it was so far. And finally, the AAP. A party that, without any institutional bench strength, without a long history, nevertheless picks itself up from a devastating loss, from being mocked across India, and comes back in this manner deserves respect. Arvind Kejriwal did that rare thing for an Indian politician: he publicly apologised. More: he said, persuasively, that he had learned from his mistake. That, more than anything else, convinced Delhi. Kejriwal spent days and nights meeting people, going from seat to seat, even when his party was down and out. (Just read that and compare it to Rahul Gandhi, sitting in splendid isolation, apparently unable to change his mind or political approach.) The AAP has a template for success now. It can

POLITICAL LIABILITY? Sakshi Maharaj’s controversial remarks queered BJP’s pitch

VIEWS ON NEWS

March 7, 2015 23

Editors’ Pick Mihir Sharma

COMMUNAL POLARIZATION Security personnel keeping vigil in communally charged Trilokpuri

take over the Congress-plus space. It can move into areas where the BJP currently dominates, but the Gandhi Congress is not an easy or palatable alternative. Further, the Delhi success is bad news in places like West Bengal for the BJP, which has positioned itself there and in Telangana and in Tamil Nadu as the honest new outsider—the local AAP slot, in other words. Note that, quietly, Kejriwal has dropped his opposition to bringing in local-level political leaders

with dodgy pasts. He has dropped his contempt for politics-as-usual. That will help his party expand through cannibalising the Gandhi Congress’ increasingly disaffected local units – exactly what the Bahujan Samaj Party, for example, did in UP and the Trinamool in West Bengal. In UP last year, before the elections, I did see how Kejriwal had remarkable name recognition. But his name, then, was met with contempt. He had run from the battlefield, I was told; a man with no respect 24 VIEWS ON NEWS March 7, 2015

for power did not deserve it. He has been granted power again. All of Delhi’s vast hinterland – Punjab and Haryana, but also, crucially, Bihar and eternally up-for-grabs Eastern UP – will look to see how he uses it. Only Kejriwal can screw this up for himself now. If he is actually patient, if he tries genuinely to fix Delhi’s problems, then he can be India’s Jokowi. Indonesia’s new president parlayed a stint cleaning up the country’s capital into national power. This will mean compromise with power companies, compromise with the Centre, and an appearance of being a problem-solver. This is the last and most important way in which Kejriwal and his party have to transform themselves. It is pointless to try and work out what the Delhi Voter “wanted”. One can only note the facts: many voters, plural, stopped voting for the Congress, and voted instead for the AAP. The important question really is: what lessons will the parties in question draw from this?The Congress, I expect, will learn nothing. It will continue its smug decline, an arrogantly silent leadership still mystifyingly convinced that it is India’s default party. Clearly, it no longer is. The BJP: you can’t be sure. It may become more truly itself, a party of social conservatism. It may become more inclusive, thinking Sakshi Maharaj and company are political liabilities. It may become more populist; it may take more risks. It is not easy to work out which, because too much depends on the thinking of one man, and that too a man who has never before tasted defeat, let alone a defeat of this humiliating magnitude. Finally, the attitude of AAP must be the most interesting. Have they learned? Can they keep the 15 good years of Dikshit’s Delhi going – and perhaps extend the acchhe din to the slums that kept their faith with the AAP in the darkest days of 2014? If so, then we may have to redraw the electoral map of 2019. To read the article online go to: http://www.businessstandard.com/article/opinion/one-election-threeparties-one-result-three-lessons

Topic

AIB Roast

SMUT & SENSIBILITIES The furore over the show and the subsequent FIRs show that India is still not ready for a genre of iconoclastic satire that is de rigeur abroad BY PALLAVI DEWAN

OMEDY is no joking matter. After the recent Charlie Hebdo killings that triggered a worldwide debate on humor, satire, freedom of expression and its boundaries, in a different vein but touching upon similar issues is AIB Roast, which has hogged headlines in the last few weeks. All India Bakchod (AIB) is a small group of artistes that started uploading podcasts on social media sites from February 2012 onwards. It was started by comedians Tanmay Bhat and Gursimran Khamba; later, journalists Rohan Joshi and Ashish

COMIC QUARTET (From left) Rohan Joshi, Asish Shakya, Tanmay Bhat and Gursimran Khamba of AIB

Shakya joined the group. Though bakchod means “meaningless banter”, in the past, AIB has sent powerful social messages. Among their socially relevant videos that scratched the surface of humor and satire, were: “When India Spoke to Pakistan”; “The Times of Boobs” and “Rape: It’s Your Fault”. INSULT COMEDY The AIB Roast by Arjun Kapoor, Ranveer Singh with roadmaster Karan Johar took place in Mumbai on January 20 and some 4,000 people attended it. It was the first time that the roast-format came to India. This is a form of insult comedy, started in VIEWS ON NEWS

March 7, 2015 25

Topic

AIB Roast

Among AIB’s socially relevant videos, that scratched the surface of humor and satire, are : “When India Spoke to Pakistan”; “The Times of Boobs”; and “Rape: It’s Your Fault”. FACING CHARGES (From left) Karan Johar, Arjun Kapoor, Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh

26 VIEWS ON NEWS March 7, 2015

1949, where consenting individuals are subjected to jokes and insults. So what is a roast? It is to humorously mock or humiliate someone on his appearance, actions or personality. Internationally, roast shows have been on for quite a while and some of the popular ones include those of Hollywood actor Charlie Sheen and TV personality Donald Trump. But India is not yet ready for it as is evident from the fact that on February 12, the police registered an FIR against 14 people over the Roast, including Bollywood filmmaker Karan Johar, actors Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh, Arjun Kapoor and those who organized or participated in the show.

While there were no murmurs then—and interestingly, the participants merrily made fun of each other as well—as soon as the group released an edited version on YouTube, an outcry followed that forced the group to take down the three-part video four days later. The Maharashtra government and several other groups called it “an attack on Indian culture”. Several Catholic organizations also took offence. Opinion has been divided on the issue. Charul Prabhakar, a 22-year-old student from Pune, who attended AIB Roast, says: “It was heartening to see that people who are actually considered ‘big’ in our country do have a sense of humor. But I somehow saw the uproar coming. What else do you expect from a country that has a problem with the word ‘Bombay’ being used in a song?” Angel Bedi, creator of online art venture, TheFilmyOwl, says: “A roast is nothing without the people who get offended by it.” FREEDOM AND ITS LIMITS For some, the incident raises questions about the largest democracy in the world and Article 19(1)

(A) of the constitution that guarantees citizens of India the freedom of speech and expression. Explaining the restrictions to Article 19, Manharjit Singh, a Delhi High Court lawyer, says: “Article 19 (2) of the Indian constitution restricts the exercise of freedom of speech and expression on the grounds of public order, decency and morality. These restrictions must be reasonable and the judiciary has the power to test any such questions of decency and morality.” At the same time, he said that what may be offensive to one person may be a source of amusement to another. “What is important to understand is whether the people who went to see the show, were aware of what it was all about. Karan Johar, in fact, gave a warning before it started. I personally feel that the AIB performed under the ambit of law.” Decency and morality, incidentally, come under the purview of Section 294 of the IPC, often referred to as the “obscenity law”. The law states that whoever performs obscene acts in public is liable for punishment; it includes “any obscene song, ballad or words in or near any public place”. In the case of Miss Joyce vs The State of Maharashtra, in 1973, Justice Devidatta Mangesh Rege observed that when an adult consensually pays to attend such shows, he runs the risk of being annoyed by the obscene content or be entertained by the very obscenities. Vikas Pathak, political journalist, Hindustan Times, thinks differently. “Freedom of speech is practiced when there is a substantive point being made. What social, political or economic question was raised at this event?” Bangalore-based comedian Praveen Kumar says: “I loved the show. I am shocked to see the

kind of hate messages it has triggered. I think everything was fine till someone started putting negative comments on Twitter; and then all the closet critics sprang up. For every step we take towards being a broad-minded nation, we are forced to take two steps backwards. I am scared now to say what I feel. Where is our democracy?” On being asked about the future of comedy, comedian and former law student Naveen Richard says: “The Roast was a sudden jump …in India’s coming out of its shell of insecurities. Someone would have done it sooner or later. AIB took the test for us in terms of how far we can push the barrier, on YouTube at least! Looks like we have found our threshold.” It might be that offence was taken

THE JOKE IS ON US An eclectic audience of 4,000 enjoyed the AIB Roast

because celebrities were involved, and digs were made at people in high positions. It is interesting to note that while the event lasted two hours, what was put up on YouTube was only of 50 minutes. Critic and novelist CS Lewis once said: “Some people take offence like it’s a limited period offer!” Once the dust settles down and the slugfest ends, we might be able to understand better how we want to laugh. VIEWS ON NEWS

March 7, 2015 27

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Review TVF

ALL FOR A LAUGH It’s the season of laughter. While AIB Roast triggered debates, TVF’s interview with Arvind Kejriwal (before the elections) provided wholesome entertainment BY SOMI DAS

ITHIN a week of the All India Backchod (AIB) Roast, another comedy collective, The Viral Fever (TVF) released what would go a long way in setting a new trend in Indian comedy. Just a day before the Delhi election results, TVF came out with an endearing and sharply hilarious interview of Arvind Kejriwal.This is the first time an Indian politician exposed himself to a satirical attack willingly. With Arnub, TV host Arnab Goswami’s lovable caricature, firing the salvos, the show Barely Speaking was no less insulting than the Roast of actors Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor. The show started by Arnub asking Kejriwal for

some “tea, coffee or cough syrup”. Kejriwal’s bad dressing sense was funnily probed. “You represent the aam aadmi. Are you saying when you go out dressed like this, the aam aadmi has a bad dressing sense?” The issue of women’s empowerment was also brought up. “You say you are for women’s empowerment, but your actions speak otherwise. In the last election, you contested against Sheila Dixit, and you defeated her so badly that she went to Kerala. Now you are competing against Kiran Bedi. The only time you dared to fight against a man was in Benaras. And we all know how that turned out.” The funniest and the nastiest bit was when Arnub brought up the issue of cleaning garbage—the basic task of a broom, AAP’s party symbol. Arnub

ON THE HOT SEAT Arvind Kejriwal in conversation with Biswapati “Arnub” Sarkar VIEWS ON NEWS

March 7, 2015 29

Review TVF

The gen-next funny men The Viral Fever is a Comedy Collective and a YouTube channel that goes with the tagline “Sab Qutiyapa hai (All is funnily cute)”. Founder Arunabh Kumar, from IIT Kharagpur, was the assistant director for Om Shanti Om. Kumar forayed into the online platform, along with like-minded friends after MTV rejected one of his concepts. The channel’s first hit video was Rowdies, a spoof of the popular reality show Roadies. Since then there has been no looking back; now the channel has come up with India’s only web series: Roommates. VON catches up with Arunabh Kumar and his colleague, Biswapati ‘Arnub’Sarkar, also from IIT, Khargapur. Excerpts from the interview:

ARUNABH KUMAR Was it easy convincing Kejriwal? After interviewing Shah Rukh Khan on Barely Speaking with Arnub, we were aiming to get people from different backgrounds. We had been chasing him since November last year, but things materialized towards the end of January. This video is special—the first time in the history of India a politician has come on a satirical show. The only time this has ever happened anywhere else is when Barrack Obama came on the show, Between two ferns. Do you think you will now be able to rope in other

politicians? I think politicians should be open to these kinds of sketches, as this allows them to show a different side of themselves. Kejriwal has been very sporty in allowing us to take a dig at him. What is the revenue model of TVF? The TVF YouTube Channel is a part of TVF Media Labs, which also has arms in the fields of branded content, TV production, live events and content dissemination. A majority of our revenue comes from brand collaborations, where we feature a brand in our content and design a whole property around it. Even for Barely Speaking, the first two episodes were part of movie promotion campaigns, the video featuring Kejriwal was made in collaboration with The Times of India for their Litterbug Campaign.

stand, whether Sarkar’s popularity is proof of Goswami’s own popularity as a fearless news anchor or the degree of ridicule his style of anchoring attracts among viewers. Having perfected the art of playing Arnab, Sarkar has now has got more ambitious. He endedthe Kejriwal interview by daring the Newshour anchor: “Tonight, I take this platform to challenge the man who imitates me on national television every night. If you have a sense of humor, come to my show and face me one-on-one.”

THE REEL AND THE REAL Arvind Kejriwal with his spoof Jitendra Kumar

asksed Kejriwal: “If you are against garbage, why is Somnath Bharti still in your party?” ARNUB VS ARNAB? Arnub, played by TVF’s Biswapati Sarkar, is the perfect foil to the high decibel, TRP grosser Arnab Goswami. Sarkar is by far the most popular in the 23-member team of TVF. It is difficult to under-

30 VIEWS ON NEWS March 7, 2015

POLITICS ON THEIR RADAR Apart from mimicking news debates, TVF directs its satire at Indian politics and the film fraternity. Arnub’s last Barely Speaking with Shahrukh Khan was widely watched. A number of spoofs have been done on Kejriwal by TVF. Popular spoofs also include those of “Another Chopra” and “Meenakshi Lekhika”, (on the Congress and BJP spokespersons respectively). The spoofs target television debates, the film industry and political parties. The organizers sub-

BISWAPATI SARKAR How do you imitate Arnab so well? I play Arnub with a 'U', who is a silly, exaggerated version of a popular news anchor. It started with imitation but has transformed into emulation of a journalist who is the centre of attraction in his own debates. The character has evolved into a cartoon-watching Casanova, who likes to witch-hunt celebs. It is no longer a direct parody of anyone. In Arnub’s universe, he is the biggest star. He also believes that somebody imitates him on TV every night. I watch Newshour whenever I am free. Nothing on TV is half as funny as this. You can never write the stuff that people say in these debates. One of the publications compared your Kejriwal interview with Narendra Modi's Mann-ki-Baat on radio. Do you see that as a compliment? It would be unfair to compare the Prime Minister’s show Mannki-baat with our video with Kejriwal because that is a serious discussion. Our video, on the other hand, was made solely for the purpose of comedy and tried to capture the Delhi CM in his per-

tly point out the parallels between the Indian film industry and political parties in India vis-a-vis the predominance of dynasty, copy-paste scripts, stale party manifestoes and the prevalence of the VIP culture. Their video, Bollywood Aam Aadmi PartyArnub’s Qtiyapa, released in 2014, is one of their most popular political sketches that has got over 4 lakh views till date. LIKE OBAMA, LIKE KEJRIWAL The Kejriwal Barely Speaking episode did well not just because of Arnub’s histrionics, but also because Kejriwal, in true spirit of comedy, played along sportingly. When Arnub pressurized him to try bribing a ticket checker, Kejriwal retorted: “Which train are you talking about Arnub, the train in Appu Ghar?” He took the barbs sportingly and even chided Arnub for being childish. He talked about his family candidly. His daughter is from IIT, Delhi. He had a love marriage, he said. He also talked about how he proposed his wife. “I am not a Kejriwal fan but I am really im-

sonal space. It was fun to see a politician take jokes on himself and we would be glad to have more politicians on our show. Including Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Did the interview go according to a preplanned script or were there spontaneous responses from Kejriwal? A few answers were scripted. A few were improvised. Of course, all my questions were written beforehand. Kejriwal was sporty and was much more humble and polite than we expected. It was an honor to have him. However, despite whatever the media said about him, we found out that Kejriwal was a bad actor. Will we actually get the opportunity to see a Arnub vs Arnab? Arnub was born ready. But does his imposter have a sense of humor? The nation wants to know.

pressed to see a politician daring to come on a show like this and for also being so sporty. So obviously, he has set the benchmark for other politicians,” a browser commented on YouTube. Interestingly, around the same time, Barack Obama also did a skit, Things Everyone Does But Doesn't Talk About for BuzzFeed. The video shows him posing in front of the mirror with aviator sunglasses, playing around with a selfie stick and struggling to pronounce “February”. Obama has regularly allowed himself to be grilled by some of the top US comedians like Jon Stewart of The Daily Show and even danced with Ellen DeGeneres on her show. So in that sense, Kejriwal seems to be inching closer to Modi’s ‘best friend’ Barack, at least when it comes to sense of humor. With over five lakh followers on Facebook, over six lakh followers on Twitter and close to 10 lakh YouTube subscribers, TVF has built a loyal viewership for its kind of comedy. The huge success of the Kejriwal interview shows how channels like these could be the fresh breeding grounds for political opinion and discussion. VIEWS ON NEWS

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DATE 1/2/15

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NEWS Leander Paes-Martina Hingis win Australian Open Mixed Doubles title. Both added 15th Grand Slam title to their respective tallies with a win in Melbourne

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Narendra Modi to visit China before May 26, efforts on for new route to Kailash Manasarovar: Sushma Swaraj

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BJP attacks Kejriwal; says he is playing politics of caste, trying to consolidate Aggarwal community for political gains

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Volunteer group claims AAP funding scam, says four bogus companies have made donations amounting to Rs 50 lakh each to AAP

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EVMs being tampered with to help BJP in Delhi Cantonment, charges Kejriwal. He says whatever button was pressed on the machines, the light against the BJP sym-

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Arun Jatiley: AVAM not related to BJP, all allegations against AAP from parties former members, AAP must answer from where it got donations, should keep courts away from

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Threat of bomb attack on my Krishna Nagar office: BJP CM candidate Kiran Bedi

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Here are some of the major news items aired on television channels, recorded by our unique 24x7 dedicated media monitoring unit that scrutinizes more than 130 TV channels in different Indian languages and looks at who breaks the news first.

DATE 4/2/15

NEWS

CHANNEL TIME

ISIS video shows captured Jordanian pilot being burnt alive 10:14AM

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Plane crash in Taiwan, many people feared to be stuck, so far 10 people have been rescued; plane was carrying 58 passengers

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Jitan Ram Manjhi calls meeting with legislative party; meeting to be held on Feb 20

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LC Goyal replaces Anil Goswami as home secretary

AAP raises question on BJPâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ad-campaign, says they have their ads placed in all newspapers

Historic day for Delhi, must vote for development, voters must come out in large numbers and exercise their right: Kiran Bedi

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Vice-President Hamid Ansari casts his vote

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March 7, 2015 33

DATE 7/2/15

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NEWS Kejriwal casts his vote, Kiran Walia and Arvinder Singh Lovely along with Rahul Gandhi reach Aurangzeb Lane to cast vote

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Sushil Modi meets leaders close to Jitan Ram Manjhi

Sharad Yadav asks for Manjhiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s resignation from JDU, says Manjhi is no more a legislator

Nearly 60 accounts being probed, talks on with Swiss government on black money, action in 7-8 months: Arun Jaitley Nitish Kumar: Will parade my MLAs in front of the President, legislative party has chosen me as their leader

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Big setback for Nitish Kumar; Patna High Court declares JD-U meet electing Nitish as leader illegal 2:02PM

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AAP gets income tax notice; reply demanded by 16 February 10:15AM

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10:16AM

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NEWS Kejriwal and Sisodia meet PM Modi at 7, RCR; invite him for swearing-in ceremony; issues like full statehood for Delhi and illegal colonies discussed

Gujarat HC dismisses Teesta Setalvadâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bail plea; SC stays her arrest till tomorrow Jitan Ram Manjhi: Nitish is doing a big mistake, he tried to make me a puppet in his hand, I have expanded the votebank of JD(U) Cricket keeps SAARC nations united: Modi; he calls Nawaz Sharif, wishing Pakistan team best for cricket World Cup Arvind Kejriwal, will take direct charge of key portfolios such as finance, power and home; Manish Sisodia to get urban development

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Ireland beats West Indies, Ireland had to chase a target of 305 11:23AM

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March 7, 2015 35

Governance Protests

Valentineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Day

LOVE IN THE TIME OF

HINDUTVA

In recent times, there have been protests over attempts by hard-line, right-wing elements to curb fundamental rights. What they forget is that this is a democracy, and people have the right to assemble peacefully BY SHREYA S 36 VIEWS ON NEWS March 7, 2015

N recent times, one has come across novel ways of protest. For every display of moral policing that has taken place in parts of India, activists have found inventive ways to protest and voice opinions. In 2009, Sri Ram Sena leader Pramod Muthalik threatened to take action against couples celebrating Valentine’s Day and his organization attacked young men and women in a Mangalore pub claiming they were violating traditional Indian values.

Photos: Anil Shakya

That’s when journalist Nisha Susan came up with the Pink Chaddi campaign, leading thousands of people to courier pink panties to Ram Sena’s office. Last year, a couple in Kochi initiated the Kiss of Love campaign in response to moral policing in Kerala. The simple act of public display of affection became a political statement and polarized activists, with some arguing that this mode of dissent would alienate even potential allies. Nonetheless, the campaign spread like wildfire to cities like Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Calicut, Hyderabad and New Delhi.

LOVE REIGNS (From left) Kiss of Love protestors in Delhi; Public display of affection is part of the protest strategy

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March 7, 2015 37

Governance Protests

Valentine’s Day

It’s only when a protest is likely to disturb “public tranquility”, that Section 144 can be invoked. But this was invoked against the Valentine’s Day protestors, who were peaceful.

FIGHTING FOR LOVE The Pink Chaddi poster; (below) Protestors in Delhi

LOVE AND LET LOVE And this Valentine’s Day, Delhi saw another act of protest against moral policing by the Akhil Hindu Mahasabha, which threatened to marry off any couple they found expressing their affection on V-Day. That was enough to spur activists and more than 200 college students gathered to protest outside its office. They went in a mock wedding procession and sought to present themselves as people in love, be it same-sex, inter-caste or inter-religious. The tone of the protest was playful, even celebratory, but cannot for a second be mistaken as apolitical or devoid of anger. “Fall in Love, Not in Line”, read many of their banners. The protestors challenged the claim

38 VIEWS ON NEWS March 7, 2015

of the Mahasabha that there is only one “moral” way to exist. The protestors were not defending Valentine’s Day, which, in recent times, has been criticized for its commercialism and triteness. What they were protesting was the cultural nationalism espoused by fanatical groups. The protestors made it clear that they were here for something deeper than Valentine’s Day—it was their freedom to be diverse, and to be left alone to exist in peace. And this is the attitude of most progressive people in India and is reflected in social media. The absurdity of the Mahasabha’s threats was mocked and challenged. One tweeter wondered: “If I wish eleven ladies Happy Valentine’s Day on Twitter, how will the Hindu Mahasabha decide who to marry me off to?” Many expressed love for their favorite celebrity, publicly requesting that they be wed to that person. MISPLACED ZEAL Others urged the Mahasabha to focus on more pressing issues: “Woman raped, brutalized and murdered in Rohtak. Hindu Mahasabha, fight against crimes on women instead of Valentine's Day.” Still others wanted to firmly disassociate their own culture from the Mahasabha’s: “Seriously guys, do us a favor and drop the word ‘Hindu’ from your name. Don’t embarrass us all.” Strangely, even the police rounded up these protestors on a day when Arvind Kejriwal was being sworn in as chief minister of Delhi. Though the Mahasabha’s leader, Swami Omji, has notoriously threatened to assassinate Kejriwal, the police, keeping law and order in mind, decided to crack down on these peaceful protestors. Dhrubo Jyoti, one of the protestors, narrates the events: “As young people, dressed in wedding attire and otherwise, started gathering outside the Mahasabha’s office, the police rounded them up and shoved them into a bus. This happened for over an hour, filling up multiple buses.” The 225 protestors, who called themselves

“baraatis”, however, did not let the detainment and even the rough handling by police officers deter them. While their friends and supporters furiously shared updates on social media, they kept the wedding party going with raucous singing, dancing, and chanting. They were released in the evening. Another characteristic about these protests is that they often transcend traditional protest spaces. One protestor said: “The police asked us to protest at Jantar Mantar and wanted to know who had asked us to protest at the Mahasabha’s office.” This shows that the state wants to contain protests to certain designated spaces, thus making them lose their subversive potential. In fact, in 2014, a Delhi police ad even exhorted people to protest at Jantar Mantar. And subversion does remain one of the ways to protest.” As Dhrubo Jyoti says: “The protestors were trying to make a larger point about the institution of marriage. Rescuing the ideals of love from hardliners—religious or free-marketeers— requires subversion.” His argument seems convincing when one considers state control over peaceful protestors as against a group that has repeatedly and publicly threatened violence. In a functioning democracy, people have the right to assemble peacefully, but unfortunately, this is being repeatedly violated in India at the expense of civil liberties. STICK TO CONSTITUTION Under Article 19 (1) of the constitution, citizens have “the right to assemble peaceably without arms”. Section 144 of the IPC allows the state to intervene in specific circumstances, but lawyers and activists warn that the grayness of this provi-

sion is being severely misused by the police. It is only when a protest is likely to disturb “public tranquility” or cause a riot, that Section 144 can be invoked. But this section was invoked against the Valentine’s Day protestors, who were entirely peaceful and consisted largely of young students and were merely invoking their Fundamental Right. And action was taken not against the hatred-spewing group that provoked the protest. Police reforms activist Rikky Minocha argues: “Does the Valentine protest affect public tranquility? If so, are we saying that a political group threatening to marry off couples is doing a ‘tranquil’ thing?” Minocha says that many high courts have noted the unlawful extensions being given to Section 144, and have barred the police from doing so. He says this deserves greater media attention. Meanwhile, the “baraatis” are back home. And members of the Hindu Mahasabha have publicly threatened their safety. It waits to be seen what Delhi’s new CM, a veteran of many dharnas, does about such protests in future.

CENTER OF DISSENT Akhil Hindu Mahasabha’s Swami Omji in Delhi

VIEWS ON NEWS

March 7, 2015 39

Governance Radio

Airwave rule

David slays Goliath on radio FM Radio went a long way in delivering the stunning victory to AAP in the Delhi polls. The medium is set to play a vital role in every local and municipal election now BY AKASH BANERJEE

F and when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) gets down to doing an honest electoral postmortem of the Delhi drubbing, it will realize that its radio campaign was disastrously off-track; especially when the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) used the same medium to slay the Goliath that had been on a panIndia political conquest. While there may be many reasons for the 67-3 upset, in the communication-with-the-masses department, radio was a critical factor that swung the verdict in AAPâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s favor. Much before the election on February 40 VIEWS ON NEWS March 7, 2015

7, it was clear that the AAP had a winning campaign on its hands. While the Lok Sabha elections are fought with a national message, through national delivery mechanisms; assembly elections require a local, personal and an emotional touch. The crushing defeat of the BJP has ensured that in future, regional elections will never be able to ignore the powerful connect of radio. The BJP spent nearly Rs 60 crore on advertising during the assembly elections; this is roughly four times APP’s electoral expenditure. Arvind Kejriwal and his men didn’t have the resources to wage a television/print war with the BJP. For a city spread out

like Delhi, outdoors’ campaigning too is expensive and a logistical nightmare. Radio, therefore, becomes the perfect medium to engage the masses. Like in the previous assembly election, AAP realized this well in time and stated its campaign months in advance. AAP bet a significantly large part of its budget to a blistering and sustained radio campaign. The smart deployment of Rs 6 crore to 8 crore on the personalized medium yielded rich dividends for AAP.

HIS MASTER’S VOICE (Above) The man who steered the AAP windfall, Arvind Kejriwal; (Facing page) Radio’s wide reach connects the masses

PERSONAL TOUCH Radio gives solid salience and recall if used for a long period of time. AAP’s radio campaign stretched VIEWS ON NEWS

March 7, 2015 41

Governance Radio

Airwave rule

LACK-LUSTRE CAMPAIGN Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal got severely dented in the Delhi elections

well over six months and the party kept chipping in its message regularly. That included its apology for stepping down from power and its vision for the national capital. By the time other parties came to the radio fray, AAP had already carved out a top-of-themind space with listeners. AAP’s experience in the previous assembly elections had taught it the central axiom of radio: you don’t address the masses, you talk to people personally. Through most of the AAP campaign, Kejriwal came on air and chatted with people, building a oneon-one rapport with them. Even in the final stage of the campaign, the personal touch was never lost. A college girl talking about how she’s harassed on the streets, a housewife talking about the rising cost of living in the city and a rickshaw-puller narrating how he gets hit by corruption and bribery on a daily basis— all helped to create a strong connect. The pinnacle of this personalized campaign was a young “reporter” visiting various parts of the city and asking people who they were going to vote and why; the answer invariably being AAP because of the party’s transparency, honesty and vision. So powerful

42 VIEWS ON NEWS March 7, 2015

was the commercial that it appeared that a genuine radio jockey was asking the questions. The Election Commission had to intervene and AAP had to insert a disclaimer, stating that it was a political advertisement. But by then, the message had gone down well and the damage to the BJP was done. In the Lok Sabha, it was widely believed that the Congress’s handing over its campaign to Dentsu Inc., an MNC communications agency, was a critical error. Ironically, the BJP seems to have made the same mistake by entrusting Soho Square and Madison with its advertising; the companies had no understanding of the ground situation in Delhi. AAP didn’t employ the services of any advertising agency. “All our communication ideas were crowd-funded,” says party leader and strategist Raghav Chadha. “We took slogans that people made in the rallies, recorded voices on mobile phones and the scripts were drafted by volunteers. All we had was a clear, positive message. Only sometimes we thought it fit to reply to the BJP’s negativity.” When the BJP launched a radio commercial depicting an old women ruing over the fact that she had wasted her time and vote for a man who had

“All our communication ideas were crowd-funded. We took slogans that people made at rallies, recorded voices on mobile phones. Scripts were drafted by volunteers.” —Raghav Chadha, AAP leader and strategist run away from his duties, AAP was quick to hit back. In no time, it aired a counter-commercial where Kejriwal confronted the old woman and assured her that he hadn’t run away and that AAP would be back in a few days with full majority to serve her. The BJP’s negative campaign, in fact, helped AAP. OLD FATIGUE While the AAP’s focus was personal, the BJP stuck to the larger-than-life campaign that worked so well in the Lok Sabha. “Challo challe Modi ke sath (Let’s walk with Modi),” was an extension of the message that people had heard in May 2014. However, in the intervening months, there hadn’t been much delivery on the Acche Din promise and Modi’s impersonal “look down” approach and large rallies didn’t quite match up to the personalized offensive of Kejriwal. Even the BJP’s radio spots were poor reproductions of Modi’s campaign speeches—nothing more. While Team BJP couldn’t come up with an effective campaign slogan, AAP’s “Paanch saal Kejriwal (Five years for Kejriwal)” anthem was woven into a song by party supporter and renowned musician Vishal Dadlani. Played on endless loops on radio and

set to dance steps in roadshows, the BJP simply had no answer to AAP’s slick campaigning. Smart thinking by AAP managers ensured that all radio stations doing business with them played their commercials first, thereby segregating the party’s campaign message from the noise of regular commercials. This was an expensive move, but AAP reaped rich benefits. Also, while other parties kept repeating the same old creatives, leading to fatigue; AAP was coming up with new ideas on a weekly basis. From a radio perspective, AAP was faster, slicker and more innovative than the experienced, influential and cash-rich BJP. In the end, the personal touch worked wonders over theatrical performances. FM Radio as a mode of political campaign was virtually non-existent 18 months ago, yet now, it’s set to play a vital role in local, municipal and state elections in the years to come. The advent of Phase 3 will see more than 500 radio stations open all over India, making it an even more potent tool. About time other parties learnt some tricks form AAP’s radio campaign. Akash Banerjee is an author and works with Radio Mirchi.

GRASSROOTS ‘ SUPPORT AAP men left no stone unturned in reaching the masses

VIEWS ON NEWS

March 7, 2015 43

Governance

Bureaucracy Reshuffle

A GAME OF

CH ESS

Modi knows better than anyone that it is bureaucrats, not ministers, who get work done. And he is making sure he has all his right men in the right place BY VISHWAS KUMAR

Tâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S been eight months since Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been in power at the center. Slowly but steadily, he is shaping up the bureaucracy to his liking. In February this year, within a week of each other, he sacked two top-level bureaucrats, both appointed during the tenure of the previous UPA government. First was foreign secretary Sujatha Singh, followed by home secretary Anil Goswami. They were immediately replaced by handpicked officials, S Jaishankar and LC Goyal, respectively. After this reshuffle, there is no doubt in anyoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mind that Modi will take the final call regarding secretary-level appointments. Government insiders say that Modi wants to send out a clear message to bureaucrats that their performances are under constant scrutiny. Since these bureau44 VIEWS ON NEWS March 7, 2015

Photos: PIB

crats have been given a “free hand” to innovate and quickly implement government programs and policies unlike previous regimes where ministers called the shots, the prime minister also wants them to be accountable. TRUSTING OFFICERS Political leaders who have watched Modi’s working style in Gujarat are not surprised by these developments. They know he places a lot of trust on the bureaucracy, often more than ministers. But he also has strong likes and dislikes, so favorite bureaucrats get a free hand, plum postings and job extensions and post-retirement jobs. Those he doesn’t like are often shunted out, punished and victimized if suspected of working against his interests. But the next round of appointments to constitutional posts will be much more challenging for the government. The post of Central Vigi-

lance Commissioner (CVC), Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) and head of the newly created anti-corruption unit, Lokpal, have to be filled up. Appointments to these crucial posts, which fight corruption and transparency in government organizations, have remained vacant for several months because of procedural delays and court cases. CVC Pradeep Kumar and the Vigilance Commissioner JM Garg completed their terms on September 28 and September 7 respectively. Similarly, CIC

TAKING CHARGE Prime Minister Narendra Modi greets newly-appointed foreign secretary S Jaishankar

As bureaucrats have been given a “free hand” by Modi to innovate and implement government programs unlike previous regimes where ministers called the shot, the PM also wants them to be accountable.

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March 7, 2015 45

Governance

Bureaucracy Reshuffle

REJIG DRAMA (From left) Ousted foreign secretary Sujatha Singh; outgoing home secretary Anil Goswami; newly appointed home secretary LC Goyal

Rajiv Mathur completed his tenure on August 22. According to sources, the process to fill up the posts of CVC and CIC has started with around 70 retired government officials applying for it and the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) is in the process of short-listing candidates. Selection of a Lokpal too will start soon. The government is under pressure to move fast after anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare recently threatened to again sit on fast. APPOINTMENTS SOON Union minister Jitendra Singh, however, denied charges of delay in the appointments in Lokpal, CVC and CIC and said they would happen in due course. Delay in the CVC appointment, Singh clarified, was because of a litigation going on in the Supreme Court over it. Many changes have taken place among the top bureaucracy. It includes transfers of seven IAS of-

46 VIEWS ON NEWS March 7, 2015

ficers, whereas one retired IAS officer of the 1977 batch, DK Mittal, was appointed Mission Director, Direct Benefits Transfer Scheme for three months. Lov Verma, a 1978 batch officer, was transferred from the post of health secretary to the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities. Labor secretary, Gauri Kumar, a Gujarat cadre officer, was shifted as secretary, co-ordination in the Cabinet Secretariat.This has fuelled speculation that she could be elevated as cabinet secretary after Ajit K Sethâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s extended term ends in June this year. Meanwhile, in this round, special secretary of DoPT, Bhanu Pratap Sharma, was made health secretary, while urban development secretary, Shankar Agarwal, was appointed secretary, Ministry of Labor and Employment. Commerce ministry's special secretary, Madhusudhan Prasad, was appointed secretary, Urban Development Ministry. Anita Agnihotri, an Odisha cadre officer in the Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation (HUPA) was appointed secretary, Department of Social Justice and Empowerment, while Nandita Chatterjee, a West Bengal cadre bureaucrat, has taken her place.

Governance Politics

Delhi elections

BLAME IT ON OBAMA!

CRUCIAL TIES Prime Minister Narendra Modi with US President Barack Obama in New Delhi PIB

Arrogance often has a fall. And how! The drubbing received by the BJP in the Delhi polls shows that it can ignore the common man only at its own peril BY ASHIM CHOUDHURY

T was Obama who did the BJP in! Okay, that was a jumla (a figure of speech meaning it was a joke). Had the US president not come, Prime Minister Narendra Modi would not have changed his clothes five times a day. He would not have worn the pin-striped suit with his name written all over. That suit became his undoing. It got talked about ad nauseam for all the wrong reasons. He was mocked on social media for his das-lakh-ka-suit. Many thought it ill-fitted the VIEWS ON NEWS

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Governance Politics

Delhi elections

Modi’s silence on a string of sensitive issues, whether it was love jihad or ghar wapasi or four children for Hindu mothers, was deafening.

WINNING STREAK Arvind Kejriwal’s steadfast campaign unsettled Modi in Delhi

prime minister of a country, where hundreds die each winter for lack of protective clothing, to wear a suit that cost so much. And the poor, mockingly voted him out. “But this was a small state election, not Modi’s test,” BJP men lamely say. But, of course, it was Modi’s test! From the word go, they put Modi’s face to the campaign. It was brand Modi on sale. It was a bad idea to start with, and against the BJP’s stated policy. Remember how they riled at the Congress for not having a “PM face” to their campaign? The people of Delhi were left wondering if the PM would also double up as the chief minister. There were murmurs saying whoever became CM was irrelevant, the remote, anyway, would be with the PM. It was only towards the end, when the BJP belatedly realized that there was no buzz around the PM, that they quickly imported “Crane Bedi”. People soon found out she was a “faking crane”, and BJP’s trump card turned into a joker. On Facebook,

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people were having a laughing fest. Some of that middle-class laughter trickled down to the streets. Bedi’s utterances didn’t help much. The BJP’s rankand-file in Delhi was sniggering at her. They felt betrayed, humiliated and demotivated. And she behaved like she was already CM. Soon, there was a gag order on Bedi. Putting a finger on your lips, particularly during election time, is not a bright idea. COSTLY SILENCE Modi’s own silence on a string of sensitive issues, whether it was love jihad or ghar wapasi or four children for Hindu mothers, was deafening. Suddenly, in a city like Delhi, churches were burning or being vandalized. When pressed, cronies like Arun Jaitley said the prime minister of the country did not need to comment on every minor issue. True, the events were minor, but the issue was larger. And, that message was brought home by, guess who? Obama! After all that backslapping and bonhomie—the namak haram, as a FB post endearingly put it, gave Modi a parting jab in the rib. “India will succeed so long as it is not splintered along the lines of religious faith…,” he said at a town hall meeting in Delhi, with polls just a few days away. After his return, the White House issued a clarification that the remark was being misconstrued. That consolation was soon snatched away when Obama reiterated at a solemn National Prayer meeting that had Gandhi been alive, he would have been “shocked”. The real shocker was the Delhi poll results. A FB comment by a Muslim girl summed up the minority mood. She wrote: “Ghutan kuch kam si mehsoos hui aaj subah humein (I felt a bit less stifled this morning).” By the time it was time to vote in Delhi, Modi’s image had taken a severe beating. He came to be seen as a charlatan, high on promises and slow on delivery. The Swachh Bharat campaign he launched on Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday was a masterstroke that had won over even the cynics. But that goodwill was frittered away. The streets and by-lanes of Delhi (like in the rest of the country), where ordinary peo-

ple lived, saw little improvement. All he needed to do was to pull up the municipal officers and workers. After all, Delhi has a huge army of workers, mostly absent, on its payrolls. So where was the action on Swachh Bharat? It became a farce. BJP netas were jostling, clicking pictures of themselves with the broom. A great opportunity was lost. The poll promise of bringing back black money met the same fate. It was one of their main political planks. Months later, Amit Shah, the “tainted” BJP chief, who many saw as the party’s winning mascot, said sheepishly that putting Rs 15 lakh into every account was just a jumla. The jhadu (broom), the poll symbol of the AAP, too became a jumla in the hands of the people, sweeping away the BJP’s rising fortunes. It’s unthinkable that just nine months ago, Modi’s BJP, riding the crest of an antcorruption wave, had won all seven parliamentary seats in Delhi. What is it that so alienated the people? Arrogance. COMPLETE IMAGE TURNAROUND At that election, with his grand oratory, Modi assiduously crafted his image as a humble tea-seller capturing the hearts of ordinary Indians. But in the nine months, despite improving the economic outlook, or India’s image as a great investment destination, Modi consistently gave the perception that he was corporate India’s man up there, not the humble chaiwala. They saw him mollycoddling the Adanis and the Ambanis. They were there at the high table, during his grand swearing-in, during the banquet with Obama. Not inviting Kejriwal, a former chief minister, to the Republic day parade not only showed him as mean, it also betrayed his aversion for the aam aadmi. The rest, as they say, is history. The analogy of the rabbit-tortoise race is not out of place either. Smug in the victory of the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP was happily napping when the AAP had already oiled its poll machinery, geared up by its young spirited volunteers. Moreover people wanted an alternative to the usual set of politicians who they see as rogues. AAP, with its young

idealistic workers, and the Anna movement behind them, was an alternative at hand. That Kejriwal had abdicated a year back did not help. There was a ring of sincerity to his unconditional apology in meeting after meeting. It worked. People forgave him. But the BJP, in panic by now, began its one-point agenda of mudslinging. Bhagoda, bandar, baazaru, manhoos, were some of the words they used to describe him. The final straw was when half of Modi’s cabinet, led by the vitriolic Seetharaman attacked AAP for its Rs 2-crore “hawala” money, when day-afterday they were running front-page ad campaigns that cost a bomb. That one boomeranged. Two days before people actually went to the polling booths, a smug Arun Jaitley said: “People have two choices before them, development and anarchy.” Clearly, they voted for anarchy. And now they want the anarchy of the policeman and other extortionists on the streets to end. Kejriwal has a tough job ahead. He has to fulfill his promise of free water and cheap electricity, at least to the poor. And the BJP will do well to cooperate with the AAP instead of trying to scuttle him. Already, people are saying that BJP-ruled Haryana will not give water, as promised. Such disruptive and vengeful politics will only erode the credibility of the BJP with the poor. Let’s not forget, a majority of Indians are poor. The vote is the only weapon of mass destruction they carry, as Delhi has just shown. Another lesson, the sensex is not the best indicator to gauge the mood of the people.

CORPORATE WELL-WISHERS Prime Minister Modi with Mukesh and Nita Ambani

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Governance

All That Matters Grapevine

Target Jaitley for the debacle Kiran Bedi was to be the BJP’s masterstroke to halt AAP in its tracks. It appears that there was an Amritsari connection, that made Bedi the party’s last-minute choice for Delhi. A high-profile friend of the BJP masterminded the script, along with Bedi. The whispers going around in the BJP corridors are that following reports of the rising popularity of

AAP, Union Minister Arun Jaitley, in consultation with the “friend” of the BJP, zeroed in on Bedi. He then landed at Amit Shah’s doorstep, and on a cold evening, the trio reached 7, Race Course Road to get the final nod. The strategy, as is now wellknown, backfired. The daggers are now drawn within the party, with Jaitley being the first target.

Maharashtra CM is a man in a hurry Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is learnt to have set up a war room to speed up key ongoing infrastructure projects. Aiding him in the process is the Mumbai-based NGO Bombay First and the global consultancy firm, McKinsey. The CM is himself identifying the reasons for the delays to sort out the issues. Mumbaikars have reason to be happy now with finally a ray of hope in their horizon, which could make mega pet projects like the Navi Mumba Airport, the Trans-harbour link and the Mumbai Metro see the light of the day.

The Bothersome

Sainiks

Bad PR by minister Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman is the last person the government can rely on for good publicity. Sometime back, Air-India misplaced her luggage when she arrived in Australia. Unable to control her ire, she instantly tweeted her agony. Recently she was off to the North-East when her flight was delayed for an hourand-a-half due to dense fog. She lost no time telling the world through her tweets (yet again!) that she had to cool her heels for more than an hour awaiting take-off. This government airline surely needs better publicists.

The Shiv Sena headache for the BJP government does not seem to end. After the Delhi election debacle, it has just increased with the Thackeray brothers not mincing their words. Isn’t it high time that the BJP called the Sena’s bluff, and sided with the willing NCP. The NCP does have a reputation of being a less cumbersome ally. Modi also chose to spend the Valentine’s Day with Pawar. Does this signal a new alignment?

Free Wifi at Varanasi ghats People in Delhi are waiting with bated breath to see the newly-crowned Chief Minister Arvind Kejriewal deliver his poll promise of giving complete Wifi coverage to the Capital. Meanwhile, two ghats at Varanasi, the Dashashwamedh and the Shitala Ghats, have free Wifi now for 30

minutes every 24 hours. Providing free Wifi is not just Kejriwal’s promise; it is one of the important poll promises of Prime Minister Modi as well. So long as the common man gets to gain, let the leaders fight it out as to who will provide better connectivity! —Compiled by Roshni Illustrations: UdayShankar

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