“Is it true that while NRI firms such as India Uncut of USA, Sepia Mutiny of Britain and AnarCap Lib of Netherlands have been allowed to invest in Indian SSIs, the reputed German investment firm Desipundit has been denied permission? If so, the reasons thereof? Is the Union Government of India planning to make automatic the long procedure of permission for SSIs to import new technologies such as Trackbacks, Pingbacks, Blogrolls, Splogs and Hitcounters?”
Read that again carefully.
India Uncut, Sepia Mutiny, AnarCap Lib and DesiPundit are all leading Indian blogs, which were taken unawares by this question, and which are now worthy of discussion in political science classes the world over.
The online magazine, Cobrapost, which conducted the sting operation, is run by Anirudha Bahal, who had distinguished himself earlier at another online mag, Tehelka, when they videographed other politicians accepting bribes for weapons purchases. The hue and cry resulting from that operation led to seismic shifts in the polity, and may have contributed to the downfall of the government in power at the next elections. It also caused insane allegations to be brought against the magazine by the government in an attempt to discredit them.
This operation, called Operation Duryodhana,
succeeded in capturing the acts of 10 Lok Sabha and one Rajya Sabha members as they accepted money from representatives of a fictitious body called the North Indian Small Manufacturers’ Assosciation (NISMA) for asking questions in the Indian Parliament. In all more than 60 questions were submitted by 11 MPs of which 25 questions (at last count) were tabled in the Parliament.
The operation, which is named after the villain in the Indian epic, the Mahabarata, has the politicos flailing and giving vague responses to questions from their parties and the Secretariat. A few have resigned or been suspended. Video clips are available on the website of Aaj Tak, the television channel that participated in the operation, and gave it greater legitimacy. The following exchange is typical of the interaction between the politicians and the undercover reporters, who spent almost a year in the operation, and risked death, sexual advances and more if they were exposed.
Patil: Main... Kitna amount karenge. Aisa monthly basis pe (What amount will you pay me on monthly basis).
Reporter: Aap bataiye. Aap jo kahein (Tell me whatever you want).
Patil: Bhai dekho. Aapko bhi to helpful hona hai is sab se (You see it is all going to be helpful to you).
Reporter: Haan (Yes). What...What...What is the...Aapke samajh se kya (What do you think it should be)? Because Parliament is in session four - five months in a year.
Patil: Yes.
Reporter: Jo bhi hai (Whatever it is). But we will pay you throughout the year.
Patil: Yes.
Reporter: Haan (Yes). To (Then) that is the...Throughout the year.
Patil: Mutual nature.
Reporter: Mutual relationships.
Patil: Mutual relationships ka agreement.
Reporter: Haan (Yes).
Patil: To mujhe lagta hai ki kam se kam chhe lakh rupya to saal mein aana chahiye.(Then I think I should get at least six lakh rupees a year).
Reporter: Theek hai (Okay).
Patil: To 50 hazaar kam se kam hona chahiye.(Then it should at least be fifty thousand).
Reporter: Theek hai (Okay). Done sir. Usko ....that is not a problem. Because we want trusted people even if they are very small. 2 -3 trusted people. That is enough.
Patil: Yes, yes.
All the questions were classic put-ons, and prima facie false to anyone with a basic knowledge of popular culture. Some examples:
Whether the Railway Ministry has placed any order for purchase of the Yossarian Electro Diesel engine from Germany? Is the ministry aware that the Tom Wolfe committee report in Germany has halted its induction into the Euro Rail system?
Has the ministry lifted the 1962 ban it imposed on the book “For whom the Bell Tolls” by Ernest Hemingway and the 1975 ban on Ken Kesey’s book “One Flew Over a Cuckoo’s Nest” and Hunter Thomson’s book “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”? If so, when were the bans removed?
Anirudha Bahal raises an interesting question, of interest to citizenry the world over, when he notes,
While nearly all the questions had a public interest element in them, some, like the one above [...about blogs...] , were passed on to the MPs with the intention of showing how easy it was for amateur teams to infiltrate the system and get bogus questions submitted in the balloting process. While, in this case, these were harmless, humour inducing efforts, in the hands of powerful lobbies this power acquires a sinister dimension.
Technorati Tags: duryodhana, politics, corruption, india, cobrapost, aajtak, news, media, blogs
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