Arnab & Nidhi - What Really Happened

In the American justice system, where the charges against an accused are somewhat doubtful, prosecutions rarely go to trial unless they are 100% sure of a conviction. Prosecutions usually seek a confession or a “deal” that closes the case and thus avoids a trial. In such a case, the judge only has to pronounce the sentence and no hearing is involved. But if a defendant does go to court with a difficult case, then the job of his lawyer is to try his best to create a “reasonable doubt” about the guilt. Jury verdicts are required to be free of any doubts. In India, it’s the opposite. It is enough for “Reasonable proof” to convict a defendant than for “Reasonable doubt” to acquit someone. This is what two media morons are caught in right now – reasonable doubt.

Arnab Goswami and Nidhi Razdan made a thorough comedy of themselves on January 15 with some revelations. Both have covered themselves with ignominy and ridicule. I would have to say, all of it was unnecessary and senseless indiscretion that has got them here. We have to wonder what really happened. Let’s start with the “Larger picture” Nidhi. She is as dumb as they come in media – lots of noise and blabber and rarely anything credible. Add to this excessive contempt for the BJP or those who support the party. Nidhi announced to the world that she was a victim of a “Phishing” attack that appointed her “Associate Professor” at Harvard. She had got this appointment in June 2020 and was to join in September. But due to Covid it was postponed to January 2021 when she realised it was a fraud.

What happened? We will not really know but we can only estimate. Firstly, Nidhi claims she filed a police complaint against the “Phisher” but my suspicion is that no such complaint has been filed. If indeed such a complaint is filed, no crime reporter or daily police-beat reporter has reported it.

I estimate that Nidhi did get some mails on being referred by someone for a job at Harvard and that was followed up by a fake telephonic interview and an appointment letter by email. Since she claims “phishing” we cannot discount the possibility of an agency being involved and Nidhi having paid some money to them. She won’t admit that because it will make her look like a dumb fool. Within a week of all this, Nidhi resigned from NDTV and announced to the world that she is joining Harvard. Interestingly, she is neither qualified to teach at Harvard nor is there a journalism department in Harvard. But let’s not worry about that. Nidhi could have been a Math professor for all that matters. Since most journos are Math geniuses. Anyway, once she resigned from NDTV, there was no going back and, at the same time, nothing more was forthcoming from Harvard.

But Nidhi had already announced to the world that she was now a professor at Harvard and paraded herself as such on some debates and other news shows. From June till December, that is all of seven months, nobody asked her “Why aren’t you at Harvard teaching something?”. Maybe they did and Nidhi offered them the excuse that due to Covid her joining had been deferred to January 2021. During this period, she was making merry in Gupkar land probably with her boyfriend Omar Abdullah. Sometime in those 7 months she also put out a pic of her and Blabberdullah being on a flight. Although, this may be a trip to UK rather than Boston. I have to say it’s a very adorable pic with Dullah holding a rose for Nidhi. Time passed and nothing was moving and everyone was asking “When are you going to Boston?” just like they ask pregnant women “What is the due date?”

Naturally, this was upsetting Nidhi because she wasn’t able to apply for a Visa (for employment in the US) with the US Embassy as she didn’t have proper documents. She had shown all the communications she had to Dullah. But he being as dumb as she is, didn’t suspect anything. Amazing, that without any documents, without a Visa she promptly quit her job. Even average morons don't do this. So, she checks with that suspected agency again in December and they demand another instalment of payment claiming that due to passage of time some procedures would have to be done again and this would entail additional costs. Nidhi reluctantly must have paid some more money in December but when she didn’t hear anything till mid-January, 2021, she started having doubts. She had doubts because she is an intelligent woman.

As she grew more frustrated, Nidhi must have shown all the communications to some educated friend who is well-versed with Harvard. I guess that friend probably broke out in bladder-busting laughter and fell down the stairs of her house. When Nidhi rushed to him asking if he needed some first-aid, he must have said “No darling, it’s you that needs some Koolaid” and told her “You’ve been had”. In the meantime, Harvard had also noticed she was going around claiming to be their employee so sent her an email stating she has to immediately disown her claims or they will prosecute her for being an imposter and fraudulent misrepresentation.

Nidhi probably lost her temper and must have shouted at Dullah for not knowing anything, making her resign, making her lose money and now losing face all over the country. Finally, her lawyer told her to blame it on “Phishing” and let it die down. And that is where she left it for the moment.  I don’t believe there was any phishing and Nidhi had to come out possibly because Harvard itself may have threatened to prosecute her if she didn’t publicly deny her Harvard nonsense:

The story of Arnab Goswami is far less complicated. He has been hounded by the Maharashtra govt and the Mumbai Police ever since he ranted wild nonsense against SoniaG over the Palghar Sadhus lynching incident. Arnab didn’t stop there, because cases were filed against him, he went on a rampage against Uddhav Thackeray and the Mumbai CP, Parambir Singh, personally. It gave all the incentive to them to hound him. His arrest and jailing for a week has sobered him a bit but he hasn’t really learned anything. When he was arrested, the BJP govt at the Centre couldn’t do anything but they organised protests across India through their local leaders. What is now hurting Arnab is not some legal cases but his own big mouth. The Mumbai police had arrested a few people, included those from Republic, and charge-sheeted them in the TRP scam:

A few weeks ago, the former CEO of BARC, Partho Dasgupta (PD), was also arrested. It appears Arnab was very pally with him and his Whatsapp chats have now been leaked to on SM by Prashant Bhushan & co. Obviously, the Mumbai Police may have got the WA chats texts saved by PD on his computers in some form. Most of it is in text form but it is certainly all over Twitter and it is certainly not showing Arnab in a great light. Some of the chats also show Arnab having some “leaked” information about the Balakot strike which he discusses with PD. The chat doesn’t mention Balakot specifically though:

The chats also reveal Arnab gloated it will be a big success and will help the “big man” sweep the polls because of the action against Pakistan. All of this means nothing legally and nor would constitute evidence of anything in the court. But all the chats, 500 pages of it, may be quoted as “circumstantial” evidence of Arnab and PD screwing up the TRP system to favour Republic TV. The chumminess between the two is enough for anyone to doubt this. Apart from this, Arnab also claims Amit Shah called Navika Kumar “Kachra” (Garbage) which is not true. Amit Shah only called the claims of Navika as garbage. There is video of it on Twitter. I do have the video but saving space and length of this blog by not adding it here. This is poor back-bitching by Arnab against his peers. His constant abuse of “Lutyens” journos is also uncalled for because he too is pretty much a product of the same mob and no angel.

Arnab didn’t comment on Navika alone. He called Jaitley a failed FM, quoted Hrithik Roshan’s description of Kangana Ranaut suffering from an “Erotomania” which refers to a sex-obsessed person who has imaginary notions of someone being in love with her when it is not true. Kangana had recently almost been a furniture in Arnab’s studio with all her victimhood and nepotism tirade. Arnab calls Prakash Javdekar a “useless” person. A lot of such juicy stuff is being bandied around. With such chumminess with the CEO of BARC there is little doubt that TRP manipulation may have taken place. While the chats themselves are not illegal or incriminating in any way, it certainly tarnishes the discretion and maturity of Arnab as the Head of a news channel. He has made a thorough ass of himself with such wanton gossip. The ED is also questioning the CFO of India Today on the TRP scam. The CBI is also investigating. It is quite a muddle and nothing will come out of it.

All that the TRP muck confirms is that journos are involved in activities that could easily fall into the criminal category. Every channel chases TRP and tries to manipulate it. There is no exception. But the eternal chest-thumping Arnab was foolish to be chatting and back-bitching about people with the BARC guy. While these episodes may not cost Arnab or Nidhi anything in legal terms it certainly proves they are both morons and as I have said many times before “Journos are not very bright people”.

                        

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Tech Tyranny And ModiSarkar

On January 12, PM Narendra Modi held a “youth Parliament” meeting with an audience of mostly school kids. He then quoted from some of their statements touting “Vocal for local” and jingoistic stuff like that. These school kids are chosen, assembled and tutored to talk the stuff a PM would want to hear. To peddle this as their thinking is outright fraudulent lipstick. For all we know, most of these kids may be aspiring to study in Stanford or Harvard and may not have any interest in local or vocal. When you look deeper into what Modi really has been doing for over six years it will strike you that all this local, vocal, Aatmanirbhar is hollow nonsense that is a temporary, maniacal phase – a drug for the Covid-stricken economy.

There was yet another outrage when Twitter banned US President Trump’s account and another clamour to develop India’s own platforms. Obviously, those that shout loudly about such proposals live in a delusion that such platforms will not have the biases that Twitter or Facebook has or they want the govt to do it, which would be worse. How or why well-educated people come up with such stupid ideas baffles me:

The answer to Twitter or FB is not an “Instant noodle” substitute but for the govt to put in tough regulations so that they don’t misbehave with the users or abuse their data. For instance, it is being reported widely that Poland has framed a new law that imposes a fine of $2.2 mn for banning an account/speech that doesn’t violate their laws (although there isn’t official Polish statement). This is exactly the regulation that is first needed. No platform should ban an account unless it breaks an Indian law. The Indian laws adequately take care of any abuse or misuse of online platforms. But these platforms invariably have political pursuits, goals of dominance of economy, monopolizing their domains and killing freedoms and competitors. What Indians must realise is that ModiSarkar is too heavily invested and tied-up with these companies to be able to withdraw or do anything drastic. The moment he became PM, Modi was on to creating the MyGov app with Google:

You are already trapped. Your soil is already fertilized with imported chemical and the soil cannot live without it anymore so you have to keep importing that drug. That is what happens to these collaborations and it is difficult to control them after many years. These Tyranny Tech Tiffany companies want to control your country, your economy, your behaviour, your religion and your choices in life. Through their manipulations they want you to vote for the govts they want and a slice of the large economy that they want. They are here to profit and dominate and not for lipstick social service. They are as invasive as the British without physically taking over your country. And ModiSarkar feels more and more thrilled and happy getting investments from them without adequately regulating their invasive behaviour. Modi has had only limited success with the economy and the Covid pandemic has made matters worse. Unemployment was a problem even before Covid and is probably worse now. Foreign companies are businesses and naturally want to invest in potential profitable ventures. Therefore, not surprisingly, a large chunk of investment during Covid has gone to Jio-Reliance which is already a huge financial giant:

Apple is investing under the new “Production-Linked Investment” scheme which provides for incentives on sales for goods manufactured in India for 5 years from 2019-20. But the Apple production unit of Winstron in Bangalore was battered to bits by thugs and workers. And that will naturally frighten any investor to some extent. After they do invest and become successful, they start squeezing the locals. The local companies are exploited on commissions, terms and conditions of business and so on. Their grievances cannot be resolved easily as ModiSarkar wants more investments from the likes of Google. You cannot tell your funder how to behave when you are begging him for more money:

The other problem with the fake “Aatmanirbhar” and “Vocal for local” is that it is hypocritical of Modi to make such loud, jingoistic slogans just because the Chinese killed our soldiers at LAC and are still building troops according to reports. On many issues, Modi is not driven by national benefit but by his personal lipstick pursuits. He wants a pat on the back from every Western, Islamic and superpower state. He was waltzing for a long time with Xi Jinping of China before he was shown to be a sucker. All the Idli-Wada of Mahabalipuram led to indigestion. The monkeys gifted at Gandhi ashram didn’t swing, the boat-ride thrills in China was gone.

Now his “Legion of Merit” friend Donald Trump is gone – he will be out of office. So, Modi will have to make friends with Joe Biden all over again. And Biden hasn’t exactly sent a warm signal to Modi by inviting Pappu Bilawal Bhutto for his inauguration. The worst – the idiotic lust of lipstick by Modi lets him allow Jacks to meet him in informal punk-dress and sit cross-legged. What is the need to meet such people? Modi even meets Priyanka Chopra and Malini P of The Hindu. The desperation of cheap pats on the back and the pursuit of lipstick is the most abominable feature of Modi as a person. His second term looks terribly out of depth.

Why would the big techs not seek to dominate our lives, our politics and our financial systems? Modi directly invites them and sometimes almost begs them to invest in India. You can’t be Aatmanirbhar by day and beggar by night from those that seek to dominate you. You will not be able to regulate them or legislate against their misbehaviour:

When Modi goes to this length to beg these tech giants to invest in India and somehow airbrush his economic failures and lack of ideas to irrigate the economy, the GOI cannot impose tough regulations on them. You cannot take a loan from your bank and then lecture the bank on financial prudence and good behaviour. It is Modi’s job to protect fundamental freedoms guaranteed under Indian laws and the Constitution regardless of whether a business is private or public. It’s not different from protecting consumer rights. Twitter, FB or Google should not have such powers that they can ban anyone unless an Indian law is broken. But Modi won’t care and he doesn’t even understand the tyranny of these tech giants because he is too obsessed with his personal image with the world. Besides, Modi has proved too much of a coward in confronting lawlessness and protecting rights of honest citizens.

During the CAA riots, Shaheen Bagh and the current FAKE farmer agitation and riots at Delhi borders, Modi has let the problem linger and was busy with speeches, visit to Gurudwara like a film actor and emails to millions of Sikhs expressing his love for them. This is crass tomfoolery. In the end, the SC has Stayed the farm laws and appointed a committee to mediate. Modi and the courts have clearly turned India into a banana republic. The country has gone to the dogs while he is tweeting nonsense about kids being “vocal for local”. He pretends nothing is going wrong and everything is fine. He leaves it to his ministers to solve while he rushes to Kutch and other places to sermonize Sikhs and inaugurate milk plants or inaugurate freight trains by video. So, this mass clamour to build home-grown tech-substitutes is the fantasy of those who don’t get that Modi is happy with status quo and is not looking to change anything:

It doesn’t occur to those who want “Instant” substitutes for these tech-giants because they are angry that even a domain like education which is normally recession-proof had struggled during Covid. Many educational services had to shut down and the only thing that was working was online education. ONLINE EDUCATION? Well, it should strike us that even in Covid it is Online tech giants that had the best run, including their apps in the education domain. Many schools and institutions installed video and communication tools and used Microsoft, Google or even Chinese products. Even the “Aatmanirbhar” ModiSarkar  used Chinese surveillance products with all the attendant risks.

Even in other categories, Chinese products have taken a marginal hit and that too only because of the general slump due to Covid rather than any Aatmanirbhar substitute. This whole Aatmanirbhar thing is nothing but an emotional fraud which Modi plays very well. It will take a lot more than mere than anger and agitation for India to get out of the clutch of these Tyrannosaurus tech giants. Even during Covid, it’s the Tyranny Tech that had the highest investment plans for India:

Even Little Uganda has banned Twitter and Facebook in the run up to their elections. Twitter was suspending accounts that were supportive of their govt. ModiSarkar needs to formulate strict laws and punitive measures to ensure that these platforms do not attempt to influence elections or suppress voices for or against the govt. I am sure the US will sooner or later be compelled to legislate against political skullduggery of these companies. Google and Facebook were already summoned by their Congress. It would be in India’s interest to legislate protection of our elections and freedoms. This cannot be left to some “Good friend” chanter like RS Prasad, it needs an “educated” panel to draft such laws.

It will take a gutsy, tall leader to take these Tyranny tech giants on and protect Indians and Indian interests against their misconduct. Modi is NOT that man. In his “Youth Parliament” event on January 12, Modi was still complaining about dynasts being a big threat to democracy. They may be but he has done nothing to prosecute the corrupt and all the dynasts are roaming around freely, spewing venom against India and sermonizing Indians. But dynasts aren’t the main problem right now – it is violence, lawlessness, disruption of life that is the bane of democracy right now. While the GOI and Supreme Court are clueless, the ordinary citizens are left to lick their wounds and the destruction of their self-esteem. As for online freedoms, you can have only as much freedom as the tyranny tech giants allow your coward govts.

                    

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