If Narendra Modi has any competition for national headlines, it comes from his party’s chief minister in Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath.
Check out the main headlines on the day the prime minister delivered his carefully crafted address to the annual World Economic Forum session in Davos, held virtually this year. Find much mention of it? All of that prime real estate in the national mind space was occupied by the farmers’ protests, of course. Just that the cherry on that cake also was Yogi Adityanath’s police filing that ludicrous FIR under IPC sections as grave as sedition and conspiracy against six senior editors and a prominent politician.
Even the following day, this story dominated that one dimension of media the Modi-Shah BJP is most conscious about: Social media. Most of the political trends were UP-related. Sure enough, there were copycat strikes too. With Madhya Pradesh, where Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is now guaranteed to copy everything Yogi does, also filing FIRs against the same journalists over the same tweets. Major mercy: This FIR did not include section 124 of IPC (sedition).
Yogi Adityanath, born Ajay Mohan Bisht in what is now Uttarakhand, became a surprise chief minister of Uttar Pradesh in March 2017. In five weeks from now, he will complete four years in power. He was a surprise choice because nobody had until then seen him as a front-runner to don the most prized jewel in the Modi-Shah BJP crown. There were many more obvious claimants, old and new.
He was, in fact, seen as an outsider in several ways. He was seen as the leader of just one region of a region in a state, as we might describe Gorakhpur and its adjoining districts in the sprawling, thickly populated eastern Uttar Pradesh or Poorvanchal. He wasn’t originally from the BJP or even the RSS. His ‘monk’ dynasty had an order of its own, the Gorakhnath Math, a Hindu Mahasabha affiliation, and he had his own Hindu Yuva Vahini. He was also young by the standards of Indian politics, only 45, born in 1972.
Modi and Shah enjoy surprising Lutyens’ Delhi and its pundits, and take particular pride in proving all guesswork wrong. As they did with their choice of Yogi.
Four years from then, as he makes headline after headline, from Hathras to Budaun to Bareilly to Bijnor to Bulandshahar to Kannauj, Sakshi Maharaj, Kuldip Sengar, Vikas Dubey and now this scandalous sedition FIR over tweets written from New Delhi, Modi and Shah should be assessing whether they made the right choice. Especially as the state enters the election year.
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We need to bring in three earlier references as we take the argument forward. The first, and most recent, was an article D.K. Singh, political editor at ThePrint, wrote on how Yogi had now become a role model for other BJP chief ministers and wannabe leaders.
The second was an article I wrote in December 2018, asserting that the choice of Yogi as Uttar Pradesh chief minister was Modi’s worst mistake, not demonetisation.
I had then written he knows to do only one thing: Polarise. Which he will. But with this, he might lose control over his state and make it much too challenging for Modi to sweep it again in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Political analysts hate to remind their readers of when they got something so wrong, but the fact is, I said, with Yogi in Uttar Pradesh, Modi may struggle to get even 50 seats out of 80. He won 60.
And third is an article I wrote in my series ‘Writings On The Wall’, while covering the Uttar Pradesh elections in 2017, from Gorakhpur. Prannoy Roy and Dorab Sopariwala of NDTV and I had had a conversation with Yogi in his math.
Should Uttar Pradesh be divided into smaller states, I asked. He didn’t seem to object too much. Should one of those states be western UP, known probably as Harit Pradesh? He said no, not that. That would lead to a threat to national security. We don’t need to translate that. But, just in case, in a state of 23 crore where one in five is a Muslim, it is western UP that has the largest percentage of that minority. Should the east, or Purvanchal, be a separate state? I thought his eyes lit up. I then wrote that he fancies his chances as chief minister of that smaller state.
As you can see, I was proven wrong about both the things I had said. With him, Modi swept UP again, and within weeks of that conversation in Gorakhpur, he was the chief minister of the entire state. But, as much as I was wrong, D.K. Singh is turning out right. Yogi is the new role model for BJP’s other chief ministers and those nursing ambitions in the future. It is nobody’s argument that he is, or should be, your or my role model. But, if you look at the power people in the BJP today, the 1-2-3 count is not as easy as before: Modi, Shah, Mohan Bhagwat. Now you will need to fit Yogi somewhere there. Maybe just ahead of Bhagwat.
The hard political fact is, what Yogi does today, others in the BJP do tomorrow. He is also the only one who can compete for headlines with Modi. And ask any BJP leader in any state who are the three speakers guaranteed to attract a crowd, and who all of them want. There’s Modi, of course. But the second is Yogi. It’s an aside, but an indicator of the shape of things to come, that the third is relative newbie Tejasvi Surya. Be reminded once again, it is BJP politics we are talking about.
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While he was never the front-runner for UP chief ministership, Yogi’s elevation was greeted with a sense of euphoria in the party. Part of the euphoria also came from the belief that with the defeat of the caste-identity based parties, the state would now have a leader free of family encumbrances to rescue it from decades of decline. The state’s law enforcement is as much “better” as you find in your headlines.
Similarly, he was expected to turn the state’s economy around. It would seem that in the second half of Akhilesh Yadav’s term, UP had broken out of its stagnation. Its GSDP grew at 8.85 per cent in 2015-16 and 10.87 per cent in 2016-17. Yogi took over in early March 2017, just ahead of the new financial year. The growth rate under him over the next three years kept declining — 7.24 per cent in 2017-18, 5.33 in 2018-19, and 4.38 per cent by 2018-19. If anything, the state’s growth halved under his three years from what he had inherited. This pandemic year, let’s not talk about.
In spite of all this, Yogi is seen as the BJP’s future. He is the only BJP leader who seems like he can act on his own. He is the party’s number one polariser. If Modi and Shah dreamt of a Congress-mukt Bharat, he’s working towards his own idea of Muslim-mukt Uttar Pradesh, in the sense of completely marginalising them — five crore Indians.
His personality, power and politics is sui generis. He hasn’t done very much good for his state, but Modi and Shah will now need him if they want to win UP again in 2022 and India in 2024. This signals a Yogi Adityanath-sized change in BJP politics, even under Modi.
Also read: Do Muslims matter for Modi-Shah BJP, or India?
India is a big country. 4 or 5 northern states in and around New Delhi is NOT India. A claim to fame and limelight in these miserable states is a regional news and they do not belong in a national newspaper. Enuf said.
Harry: When you write stuff like:
“.. If Muslims had not burned alive 55 Hindus, including women & children, post Godhra riots would not have happened ..”
You sink to depths so low that even that I put you on par with violent man from the Bajrang Dal, Babu Bajrangi who boasted that he took delight in pouring diesel over Muslims women and babies. Babu Bajrangi was a semi-literate goon in the employ of the BJP’s lumpen wing, saved from prison terms by then CM Modi; you Harry, are a literate goon in the employ of the same forces. You should have known better but you don’t.
Let us employ your pathetic logic about collective punishment. Collective punishment i.s the legal term used to denote the practise of punishing innocent people from a given community when a member from that community commits a crime. Thus, when X commits a crime, punishment should be meted out members of X’s community or religion, even though they may be completely innocent. It does not matter to callous men like you and your BJP brethren that Bilkis Bano and her infant baby had utterly nothing to do with the train incident in Godhra. The arsonists who set fire to the train were Muslims, hence all Muslims are guilty and should be punished. Thus, applying your logic:
“The 1984 pogroms against innocent Sikhs would not have happened had not 2 Sikh bodyguards shot and killed then PM Ms Indira Gandhi”.
Bigots like you Harry are nothing but Hindutva thugs with a keyboard. Unpaid, useful idiots and apologists for the fascism and religious fundamentalism of the BJP. And people like you will achieve nothing but a weakening of the fragile unity of India.
I am amused by your doing song & dance to refuse to address the issue of your Goebbels type morality of selective outrage. YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO WING YOUR SELF OUT OF THAT ISSUE BY WRITING PAGES OF NOTHING.
If you were American black you would be called UNCLE TOM.
I consider you to be a person suffering from inferiority complex. It may have to do with your dark skin. So to you everything associated with your culture is bad. faith you are born is bad, while others are good. You want to copy them. A CROW TRYING TO WALK LIKE SWAN WILL NOT BE SEEN AS SWAN.
Unlike you I am not ashamed of being Hindu or Arya. Hindu & Arya is synonymous. It is state of mind. A victorious Hindu is Arya. A defeated Arya is Hindu.
I recognize that Hindus have for ages shown empathy for all living creatures and so admired vegetarianism, animal rights, which west is slowly embracing. The idea was appreciated by all notable Indians like Buddha & Gandhi, but scorned by semi beast Indians like you, Nehru & assorted Hindu secularists.
FYI official name of higher form of Hinduism and Buddhism have been ARYA DHARMA & ARYA MARG respectively.
That idea is not appreciated by animals in human form like you, Nehru, Muslims and bulk of Keralites. One can not feel too sorry for murderers or supporters of murderers
Muslims have been eating meat during their and British rule. Now it is our job to educate them to higher ARYA cultural standard by becoming vegetarians.
If there ever is constituted an award for the “Craziest Commenter” in The Print, it should surely go to you Harry. Clearly, your delirious, deranged and demented mind is in overdrive when it comes to generating comment after comment based on your warped, bonkers and wacky understanding of history. But then, as the commenting equivalent of your thuggish and bloodthirsty friend Babu Bajrangi, that should not come as a surprise. Babu Bajrangi – to those who need an introduction to this Hindutva Frankenstein – was the bloke who went about burning innocent Muslim women and babies with diesel in Naroda Patiya in 2002. And thanks to his connection to then CM Modi, Babu Bajrangi escaped conviction until a Tehelka sting exposed the bloodletting this man seemed to revel in.
Anyway, let me get back to your latest rants Harry saab.
You bray:
“.. I recognize that Hindus have for ages shown empathy for all living creatures and so admired vegetarianism .. idea was appreciated by all notable Indians .. but scorned by semi beast Indians like you, Nehru & assorted Hindu secularists ..”
Fact is, the vast majority of Indians, including Hindus eat beef. The diet a person adopts in India depends on his religion, region, caste, class and costs – to name a few variables. Thus, Dalits in India who are Hindus eat beef and other sorts of meat. Hindus in Goa, Kerala, Sikkim, Manipur etc. eat beef. And most Indians of all religions are actually meat-eaters, although they may shun beef, pork etc. based on religion.
Indeed, research by anthropologist Balmurli Natrajan and economist Suraj Jacob shows that the bulk of Hindus eat beef. I cite:
“.. Hindus, who make up 80% of the Indian population, are major meat-eaters. Even only a third of the privileged, upper-caste Indians are vegetarian ..”
Ref: bbc.in/3rlB7jf
So, applying your “logic” Harry, one must conclude:
“Not only Nehru, assorted Hindu secularists and of course yours truly, 80% of Indian Hindus are semi-beasts” !!!
Your pathetic posts remind me of a quote from the Greek philosopher Plato:
““Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something” !
Fact is, the vast majority of Indians, including Hindus eat beef.
Only deranged Hindus like Keralites eat beef. Dalits were eating beef. But that was not out of choice. They have/had stop eating beef once they reach above extreme poverty level.
ONE CAN NOT ARGUE LOGICALLY WITH A PERSON SUFFERING FROM INFERIORITY COMPLEX.. This is clear from stupid rantings.
So I am not going to argue with you. You seems to be type of person whom Christians called beyond redemption.
I like the saying of famous person, when he found himself arguing with stupid, illogical person without compassion. He said; ” one has to live through it”. So in your case it would be your next life when you are beef, cattle, pig or chicken and the very people whom you are championing are ready to shred you to pieces and it. Hopefully you will remember then what I advised you.
I like one story about Christ. Satan tried to enlighten Christ by explaining him that he father was not omnipotent & omnipresent but just one of many supernatural. If he had listened he would not have died on cross.
Some typos have unfortunately crept into my post above.
3rd paragraph, 1st sentence should read:
“Fact is, the vast majority of Indians, including Hindus eat meat”
In the next paragraph the sentence should read:
“Indeed, research by anthropologist Balmurli Natrajan and economist Suraj Jacob shows that the bulk of Hindus eat meat”.
My sincere apologies for the typos.
Shouldn’t you give example of Kerala. If you have forgotten what your admired Kerala Muslims did compared to whose action Babu Bajarangi would look like boy scout.
The other day I was going through a book ‘Gandhi and Anarchy’, written by Sir C Shankaran Nair, the president of Indian National Congress in the year 1897. In the addendum section of the book, the revolutionary freedom fighter Anne Besant penned down her experience as one of the spectators of the gruesome massacre, ‘Malabar’s Agony’.
The harrowing depiction of the massacre put forward by Besant will shake you from inside. In every paragraph she made responsible the father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi for such gruesome annihilation of the Hindus.
In one such instance she wrote ” How does Mr. Gandhi like the Mopla spirit, as shown by one of the prisoners in the Hospital, who was dying from the results of asphyxiation? He asked the surgeon, if he were going to die, and surgeon answered that he feared he would not recover, ” Well, I’m glad I killed fourteen infidels,” said the’ Brave, God-fearing Mopla, Mr. Gandhi so much admires, who “are fighting for what they consider as religion, and in a manner, they consider as religious.” Men who consider it “religious” to murder, rape, loot, to kill women and little children, cutting down whole families, have to be put under restraint in any civilised society. ”
Apparently, she was dejected with Gandhi being the upholder of such heinous atrocities done against the Hindus by the Moplas in the name of ‘khilafat’ and Painting this unrest as an insurrection against the British Government.
In one more instance she wrote ” Can you conceive of a more gusty and inhuman crime than the murders of babies and pregnant women? Two days back I had occasion to read a report given by a refugee in Calicut. A pregnant woman carrying 7 months was cut through the abdomen by a rebel and she was seen lying dead on the way with the dead child projecting out of the womb. How horrible! Another, a baby of six months was snatched away from the breast of his own mother and cut into two pieces. How heart-rending Are these rebels’ human beings or monsters? From the same quarters numerous forcible conversions are also reported, has given statement that he had seen with his own eyes that the heads of a dozen people were being shaved by the rebels and afterwards they were asked to recite some passages from the Quran. This he witnessed from a tree. I wonder what the authority of some people is who contradict the news of murders, and forcible conversions of Hindus. Let them come here and test the veracity of these statements for themselves.”
She rebuked people who tried to whitewash the brutal killings of Hindus during the Khilafat movement. And everyone knows who these people were, of course the Gandhi and his supporters who supported the jihadi Khilafat movement in the name of freedom struggle.
This is what your Keralites are cowards or beasts. It is only Gorkha troops in British army that put fear of god in Moplas.
“had not 2 Sikh bodyguards shot and killed then PM Ms Indira Gandhi”.
Your higher living standard today owes to them. Otherwise you would be still using your bicycle for moving around.
What were you inhaling / drinking when you made that rant Harry ?
Comment when you get sober please.
That is fact. Without these guys & Shri Lankan Tamils India would be still in ambassador car age. Nehru family and you are stubborn mule and are immune to logic.
“The 1984 pogroms against innocent Sikhs would not have happened had not 2 Sikh bodyguards shot and killed then PM Ms Indira Gandhi”.
It is surprising that killi you don’t seem to understand difference between state sponsored and reaction of people upon killing common men.
Indira was PM. The reaction to her killing by Congress supporters was worse than reaction of Nazis to the assassination of Heydrich. In contrast the people burned in Godhra trains were poor people from disadvantaged groups. He reaction was also from mostly disadvantaged groups like Dalits, tribal. even your Teesta Setalvad had admitted that.
Nonsense and obfuscation again Harry !
You dodge the following questions:
Did Hindus indulge in a violent orgy of bloodletting, arson and rape targeting innocent Sikhs in the wake of PM Gandhi’s assassination ? Yes or No ?
My answer: YES.
Did Hindus indulge in an equally violent pogrom against innocent Muslims in Gujarat in 2002 ? Yes or No?
My answer: YES.
So here are some facts:
– In the case of the 1984 pogroms, Hindu mobs led by prominent Congressmen like Jagdish Tytler, Sajjan Kumar, Lalit Maken, Kamal Nath went on a rampage killing innocent Sikhs.
– In the case of the 2002 pogroms, Hindu mobs led by people like Praveen Togadia, Dr (!!) Mayaben Kodnani, Babu Bajrangi and incited by none other than Narendra Modi went on a rampage killing innocent Muslims. In this case, the BJP masterminded the violence but its lumpen wings like the Bajrang Dal, VHP, RSS and others carried out the actual violence.
Additionally, when you say that the perpetrators of violence in 2002 were Dalits and Tribals, well, that begs the question: aren’t Dalits and tribals largely Hindus ? And then, your thuggish friends Praveen Togadia and Babu Bajrangi, aren’t they Hindus ?
And in case you wish to hear how your very Hindu friend Babu Bajrangi went about slaughtering Muslim babies and women by pouring diesel on them and burning them to death, well, here is the link: bit.ly/36Is6Jw
BOTTOMLINE: Religion does not deter violence and that applies to all religions. When a religious identity can be harnessed by political parties and cynical politicians to further their own narrow ends, well, there is no shortage of Hindus, Muslims or Christians are willing to participate in the violence. And clearly, there is no shortage of people like you Harry to applaud the bloodletting from the sidelines.
“Did Hindus indulge in a violent orgy of bloodletting, arson and rape targeting innocent Sikhs in the wake of PM Gandhi’s assassination ? Yes or No ?
Did Keralite Muslims indulged in violence, raping and forced conversion during Mopla uprising?
My answer is YES.
Are other Indians stupid & cowards like Keralites to run away rather than pay back Muslims in their own coin? My answer is YES.
Correction:
Are other Indians stupid & cowards like Keralites to run away rather than pay back Muslims in their own coin? My answer is NO
Did we gave 1/4 land as homeland to Muslims?
Answer is YES.
Are Muslims persecuted in India?
Answer is NO. otherwise they would have left India like non-Muslims left Pakistan.
Sir/ma’am I really admire your patience and sobriety in dealing with the dreg of toxicity that is social media trolls. I barely stop by to read the comments section here as the hate and degeneracy leave me almost physically disturbed. Kudos!
Harry Saab: You bray:
“.. Bulk of Indians would prefer high living standard, like China, minus Hindu secularists rather than teeming with Hindu secularists but low living standard. Bulk of people will also prefer to deal with minorities in Chinese way rather than ways of Hindu appeasement politicians.. “
Well, Harry Saab, you might sing praises to China but to become a China, you need to kill a few million people like Mao Zedong, presumably your hero did. So here comes an itemised list of how many Chinese were killed to obtain the “high living standard” you want at any cost.
LAND REFORM CAMPAIGN: 4 millions
DRIVE TO ‘SUPPRESS COUNTERREVOLUTIONARIES’: 1 million
ANTI-CHRISTIAN CAMPAIGNS: Reliable figures not known, but many thousands
CAMPAIGN TO ‘ELIMINATE COUNTERREVOLUTIONARIES’: Hundreds of Thousands
THE GREAT FAMINE: 43 million
THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION: 20 million
OCCUPATION OF TIBET: 240,000
In total: Roughly 70 – 80 millions.
Source: Washington Post, July 1994, see article “HOW MANY DIED? NEW EVIDENCE SUGGESTS FAR HIGHER NUMBERS FOR THE VICTIMS OF MAO ZEDONG’S ERA”
Ref: wapo.st/3tqoZPN
So, Harry Saab, following the Chinese model, how many Indians do you wish to massacre to obtain your vaunted “high living standard” ? And what guarantee is there that the Chinese model will work in India? And then comes the fundamental question: Does China have a high standard of living ? Do democratic freedoms, human rights, rule of law etc. not constitute elements of a high standard of living ? After all, Chinese are desperate to leave that country and migrate to the West and that actually includes Chinese with a high standard of living in China.
You go on to say that the bulk of people “ will also prefer to deal with minorities in Chinese way rather than ways of Hindu appeasement politicians”. Well, the Chinese massacred the Tibetan minority forcing many to flee to India. Since you seem to be a fan of the Chinese way of doing things, it must therefore follow that you like the violent, murderous Chinese approach to dealing with minorities and hence my question: How many Sikhs, Muslims, Christians, Dalits etc. would you be willing to kill Harry Saab?
SHAME ON YOU HARRY ! YOU ARE NOTHING BUT A PATHETIC FASCIST !
Killi,
Show me one high-tech country which has achieved success without large killing & enslavement, theft, exploitation? USA, UK, former USSR, France, Germany? So why blame only China? Like India China is old civilization, which was ruined by west through opium trade and converts like Chiang- kai Shek
Once you are sitting atop stolen land, stolen wealth it is easy to lecture others. It is only stupid among dispossessed would believe that nonsense. Therefore it is said You should do what successful people did, not what they preach. the reason is they are trying to protect their ill-gotten wealth preaching to preserve status quo, which favors them. They don’t want revolution from have nots.
This is what for third-worldites becoming gentleman is all about. NEHRU WANTED TO BE GENTLEMAN WEARING PYJAMA.
I believe in throwing off pyjama, hijab, niqab in fire as it is showing backwardness and adopt western dress as it more utilitarian.
Harry:
Your absurd ideas plumb new depths of lunacy and ignorance in each comment !
I will counter 2 of these absurd claims you make.
Your challenge:
“Show me one high-tech country which has achieved success without large killing & enslavement, theft, exploitation?
Well, here are the many countries that have not indulged in slavery, colonialism, theft, mass murders etc. and yet have developed into hight tech, prosperous nations. I name a few: Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Switzerland, Singapore, Luxembourg, Ireland, Uruguay, Estonia, South Korea etc. Indeed, many of these countries were themselves colonised and exploited. The Japanese colonisation of Korea was particularly brutal. As was the British colonisation of Ireland.
Finally, the China and its murderous regime that you admire so much is one of the most brutal colonisers in the world. The Chinese invasion and genocide of Tibet is something sent millions fleeing to India and many more were slaughtered. And bhakths like you want the murderous Chinese model to be copied by India.
Shame on you Harry !
NONE OF THESE COUNTRIES ARE SUPER POWERS.
They are insignificant countries with small size & population. Many of the states in India are larger both in size & population than these countries. Most of them are nearly homogeneous in terms of culture & religion. NONE OF THEM HAVE LARGE MUSLIM MINORITY. Many of them are or were authoritarian states. In short you are comparing apples with oranges.
Actually Jinnah did a favor to India by dividing India Hindu & Muslim country. In case of India putting Nehru as PM was like putting a gorilla to fly an aeroplane. He neither understood India nor world. So he followed stupid foreign policy like not taking back POK or prevent China from taking Tibet. As China was pariah in 1949 nobody other than Communist countries had recognized it. There was no need for India to recognize it without it’s acceptance of Tibet as Independent country. India which was made safe by British by creating buffer states around India was made unsafe by Nehru & Menon within few years. His whole idea of socialism, secularism and non-alignment was divorced from reality.
Do democratic freedoms, human rights, rule of law etc. not constitute elements of a high standard of living ?
Yes. To people like Gopal Krishna Gandhi. I am waiting to see his picture lecturing about secularism in waste site filled with filth. rather than from governor’s mansion. To him secularism is more important than clean India. for privileged people like him away from dirty places it is easy to lecture from nice places. I would like them to practice what they preached just like Mahatma did, but Nehru never.
In total 80 million.
According to this USA Today article
a meat eater consumes 7000 animals in life time. This may be based in US consumption So for China we can take figure of 700 animals. So Mao by killing 80 million saved life of (80X700)/2 million or 28 billion lives. if we take human life valued as 28 times as that of animal the value of saving is 1 billion lives. So planet earth has not lost much. Speciesist like you don’t appreciate saving non-human lives.
Yogi like Modi has hurt the state he is in charge of. Yogi is a bigoted Hindutva soldier who sees nothing but orange and his hatred for Muslim. If anyone was going to ask for the worst Chief Minister of any state then they surely would pick Yogi. Religion should never be allowed in politics or government. Until India changes its constitution to eliminate any religion from government they will never prosper!
Meaningless article, “kuch bhi”.
This article is bereft of any facts. Yogi has brought unprecedented development in UP. Go to any city of UP and you see the impact. The other non issues are just raised by opposition to hide their own incompetence.
If anyone had any doubts about the janus faced character of SG, this article should dispel them. He is closing ranks with his lefty-jihadi-commy brigade despite their traitorous fake news peddling. He talks like a “savitri” while his actions are those of a jihadi.
Lots of abuse in your post but there are no arguments to be found.
What – if any – is the point you are trying to make RJ?
Reading the comments, I think the title has lit a fuse. Not with National Interest but sometimes with other columns, I too see the title, the blurb, the columnist’s name and squeeze the trigger.
Looks like Sekhar Gupta is going back to his echo chamber.
Guptaji, You must not turn ThePrint into the Wire.in
Harry saab: What is wrong with The Wire? Unhappy that it doesn’t do what you do best viz. bootlicking the saffronistas who run the country?
It is not your bloody business to decide the editorial policy of The Print. Just as I do not decide what the RSS mouthpiece Organiser writes and passess off as journalism.
ThePrint is trying to be mainstream Indian news portal. wire is aa fringe news portal run by refugees and Americans like Siddharth Bhatia and Gardabhrajan.
Harry saab: Thanks for the “reply”.
So your grouse against The Wire is that it is run by refugees and Americans. Is there a law which states that refugees and Americans cannot run a news portal? Or do you merely want to gag people who say things that you and your buddies from the shaka don’t like to hear? Inconvenient truths about the fascists and crony capitalists that run India ?
Come on Harry saab – you can produce a better argument than that can’t you ?
I think refugees like Harsh Mander, Ram Puniyani etc. should be thankful to be allowed in. They should be grateful to India and praising five times a day, rather than lecturing India.
If they are so concerned about minority rights, then they are more needed in Pakistan than India. As a matter of fact Jinnah needed them more to create his dream of Pakistan where a person would be Pakistani first, Muslim Hindu or Sikh later. But instead of helping they ran away for greener pasture.
They are assets to neither India nor Pakistan.
Mr. SG . you are a veteran journalists of India and witness to many political events. But due to biased for departed dynasty you are not seeing things in proper perspective. After so many years of political writing you have not grasped difference between BJP and congress practically on every parameters like ideology, organizational make up and strength , quality of its leadership, their honesty and integrity. For not seeing leadership qualities , one can excuse you because such qualities were absent in the most of congress leaders you were fond of and were not only following but worshiping . BJP is not and had never been a one or two man party and will never be so. It has a large pool of leaders in its second line , third line who can go up the leadership ladder. You have not assessed rightly the performance of Mr. Yogi as the CM of one of the most problematical state of India. –UP .( UP – Why so is another topic ) .It is too late many if not , most, of voters of India have noted the performance of Mr. Yogi and are fully assured that Good work done by the present Modi led government shall continue for another two decades by Yogi ji. This period is enough to bring transformation in India s standing in economic field, national security , international affairs, advancement in Science and Technology . Yes Indian voters are hopeful . You need to shed the misconception that dynasty or MahaGatbandhans will rule India in future.
1) In the vidoe version of this article SG had mentioned “love Jihad ” law. I wonder if is it deliberate omission.
2) Why can’t anyone in print come out with facts? How many interfaith marriages? How many conversions? Conversions to which religion?
3) Why should the 5 crore Muslims be treated separately? Why so much previlage for only Muslims? They are just like other citizens. They do get the welfare schemes like other citizens. What does SG want from CM of UP or any state? To treat them preferentially or wear skull cap and go to mosque during elections?
4) you mentioned GDP? What about HDI??
5) Hyper nationalism is not good agreed? What about Hypo nationalism? Forgot how MMS as our PM was a puppet PM of Italian lady and her family?
Yogi caught on to several low hanging fruits. With liberal help from the Centre he has ensured that Western UP is kept happy by prompt clearing of agro dues. Massive infrastructure spending in opening up underdeveloped regions will help. Lastly, the Ganga cleaning, Temple at Ayodhya Will result in massive tourists inflow. Yes, all pointers looks like Yogi will be reelected.
During the last three and a half decades, our journalists have shown us that good news is not news. Bad news catches eyeballs. Therefore, all media report only bad news, especially if the States and Governments are to the right of center. I have seen ads of UP State claiming varieties of progressive projects. Mr.Shekar Gupta, why don’t you do a National Interest of CTS to disprove them and all out their lies. I am afraid, your article is full of opinions, too generalised. You don’t substantiate your opinion that UP is sinking. I am no fan of either the State of UP or Yogi Adityanath. But, analysis has to be fair, if it has to appeal to the readers. Is this unhyphenated journalism? I think not.
We rant about America’s racist and white-supremacist politics and Trumpism. We need a mirror; we need to see what ugly things are winning hands down in our own country. If Trump’s speeches were so ugly, why Indians are not seeing the ugly things in there backyard. Secondly, religious assertion has never produced good politics; it spins into dark ages irrespective of which is the religion. “Hinduism is not like that” is a myopia that many Indians do not want to give up; well, that is why it is a myopia. If religion has produced progress in one example, let us hear that out.
Brilliant view, Mr George ! I fully concur with them. If everyone thinks that his or her religion is supreme and best, then let that bestness reflect in their behaviour while moving in the society, and not by striving to establish that supremacy by force or disrespecting other religions. This includes Islam, the followers of which- the world over- hold the view that they are clinging to the best religion but fail miserably in proving that by their conduct.
How can you write such hate?
Where do you find hate exactly in his comment, Mr Murali? Those are all genuine observations, as I see them to be.
I am sorry, “Mr Murali” in my earlier comment should be corrected as “Mr Mouli”. The mistake is sincerely regretted.
low credibility article without any facts or even logical opinions.. It is a rant piece against modi, shah yogi.
When Shekhar has nothing worthwhile to write, he picks up meaning less topics like this. Nothing more could be said about this article. The Print is slowly losing its charm as many other YouTube channels are picking up fast.
About your Anti-Muslim Thing of Yogi , your claim to have visited the Gorakhnath Mutt. I am not sure how you missed the multitude of Muslim Women who come to the Mutt for Strolls in the evening. That is the kind of confidence those population has on their Maharaj. (Do not start harping with the word Maharaj – He is one in all the sense of the World.
UP’ economy should be the highlight of the article, instead it is a footnote, Looks like a clutter than cut the clutter.
Your dislike for BJP in general and Yogi in particular is in full display here.
With this so called Farmers’ agitation, confined to Singhu , Tikri and Gazipur border, you feel embolden to do Congress/ liberal(?) bidding again.
Hey Print, where’s my comment? What was so unprintable in my “constructive” feedback?
I will briefly reiterate what I had said: that Shekhar Gupta gets it wrong so many times, I have lost count. And this despite his decades of experience.
And despite his poor and mean-spirited analysis and commentary, there is no end to his pomposity.
Makes his “analysis” no better than a layman. Maybe he has the moral urge to kowtow…do sijda lie prostate at the feet of the goddess at 10 Janpath–his not so secret benefactor. *sigh* a man of principles.
The author seems to be sh*TNG in his pants after see if NH yogi popularity…no doubt he will again be CM of UP for next term…all those who oppose need to wait longer and keep cursing
Where is the data/facts behind your observation Sir ? I am greatly disappointed with the open display of the bias .
GDP growth rate 🙂
As The Print sinks…… its Editor in Chief is desperately grasping at straws!!!
In the politics of New India, electoral success is getting delinked from economic development. Even from good governance, including something as basic as the safety of women. So it is possible that CM Ajay Bisht – a couple of years younger than RG – will grace the upper echelons of public life in India almost till the middle of this century. 2. He will lead an India that is truly Aatma Nirbhar. Does not care much for what NYT, WP, Economist say about us. No particular need to attend the WEF at Davos, with the upsetting smell of veal wafting through the dining area. All the gyaan we need, embedded in the epics. The tastes in women more earthy Bhojpuri than westernised Bollywood. The police encountering the criminals, we will have to distinguish between them by the clothes they wear. 3. Lot of dark raw material for Sankarshan Thakur’s Lazy Eye columns, Anurag Kashyap’s Gangs of Wasseypur genre of films.
There you go again. Pontificating…. as is your wont. Kudos to you for all the virtue signalling you do whole day acrosss the whole spectrum of Indian mainstream media. I think you could self nominate yourself for the Nobel prize!
Regarding your grouse: Why should we care what Western media, esp the ones you have quoted? These publications are realising that the lies, half truths and jaundiced journalism they have been peddling is finally getting pushback — thanks to the internet and social media who are now exposing their lies. Like how Rajdeep Sardesai was caught brazenly trying to instigate an already murderous mob of anna datas.
Btw, the liberal western media when writing about China can’t keep gushing — as if Ram Rajya is prevailing there !
Peace or Literature, sir ?
Mr Mandal: Mr Ashok makes several solid points in his pithy post. Alas, all that you have in response to him is a list of the usual shaka jingoism, bereft of any economic logic.
You might say that India does not care about what influential publications such as The Economist, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post and so on write about the coiuntry. But more than anyone else, corporate India does. And so do investors, both domestic and foreign. It is willy-nilly impossible to get investors to come to UP, a state seeped in militant Hindutva jingoism and run by a crackpot saffron Ayothollah who prioritises cows over children. Indeed, the true litmus test of faith in your saffron ayothollah lies in the fact that UP produces more emigration from the state than virtually every other state, save possibly Bihar. There are simply no opportunites in UP and even less so under Bisht. And clearly. Bisht knows even less economics than Modi and that is something !
And regarding your allegation that the Western Press is peddling jaundiced journalism, well, one must remind you that the bulk of Indian media is into the uniquely Indian phenomenon of “paid media”. There is no free press in India and many Indian decisionmakers themselves do not trust the Indian media or the doctored figures that the GOI and the media produce from time to time. After all, which Indian newspaper reports that India has lost more than 1000 sq. kilometres of territory to the Chinese? And as some very senior Indian decisionmakers at IAS and even Cabinet levels themselves admit:
“When there is a crisis in India, you tune in to the BBC, not to Doordarshan or Indian sources for accurate news”
So go back to your shaka and play with your lathi. And pay obesiance to Ayothalla Bisht.
Foreign investor invested in China, they were not bothered with economist article about Tien Mien square. If businessmen sees opportunity to make money they will come. It will help if Yogi learns from Chinese and use encounters to get rid of troublesome Hindu secularists. India’s problems are not minorities but secularist Hindus.
Harry: You bray:
“.. Yogi learns from Chinese and use encounters to get rid of troublesome Hindu secularists. India’s problems are not minorities but secularist Hindus ..”
I am a secular Hindu – a “troublesome secularist” in your worldview. And one who asks tough questions which flummox you. So do you now want Ajay Bisht to kill me through an encounter? Is that what Hinduism teaches you Harry?
I tell you what Harry: You and Ajay Bhist are to Hinduism what Osama bin Laden was to Islam and Adolf Hitler was to Christianity.
SHAME ON YOU HARRY !
Killi,
Bulk of Indians would prefer high living standard, like China, minus Hindu secularists rather than teeming with Hindu secularists but low living standard. Bulk of people will also prefer to deal with minorities in Chinese way rather than ways of Hindu appeasement politicians
I agree with you. This guy is too much.
Ohhh….so shri ashok is adept at pontificating on an industrial scale?? Bless mainstream media.
Tastes in women is inappropriate; my apologies.
That was your hatred coming out ashok.
UP is among the top if not the topmost state to get foreign investment this year, the infrastructure has taken a leap – but according to Lutyens’ UP is sinking. Well glad to know.
I’m in tech and can tell you UP will be biggest tech entrepreneurship hub in next 5 years in the country surpassed only by Bangalore.
Shekhar says, ‘Yogi Adityanath, born Ajay Mohan Bisht in what is now Uttarakhand,…..’.
So next time you write about Sonia G andhi he will have to say, ‘Sonia Gandhi, born Antonio Maino in what is now Italy,…….’.
We will accept nothing less.
Ha ha wow… People like us were stifled for 50 years by these commies… No more… These people are nobody now… Nobody.
i fully agree.
As someone who was born , grew up and has witnessed regimes of INC , BSP and SP in UP , I can legitimately compare performances of various governments. Yogi ji is decidedly the best CM that the state of UP has ever got . Shekhar Gupta only sees things from the lens of 10 Janapath . Lies and prejudice are the only weapons he has used while writing his views . I wish he had spine to write the truth .
I am waiting for the day when FIR would be filed against this crook called SG who thinks himself to be too clever to be caught.
Another hit job to divert attention over videos in which so called farmers are ramming tractors on police personnel, using swords to pierce through them, using iron rods to beat the shit out of police who didn’t react how in US/Europe police should react when personnel are attacked, just shifting point on some random persons (Sidhu) on last day’s events l while all other event ignoring all other. Sardesai live tweeted while situation is unfolding without even verifying once, misreporting on a completed event is different thing but misreporting on sensitive information like Barkha Dutt did showed live coverage during Kargil is different
if you are indicating that yogi is successful because of a hard line hindhutva politics, then i feel it is going to be short lived.
i am absolutely convinced that hardline hindutva politics will not succeed. hindhus are tolerant and peaceful by nature. despite muslim invasion and british colonialsim. hindhus have co existed peacefully with muslims and christians. a very big majority of the hindhus are not religious fanatics and even the few that are will succumb in the event of a showdown.
if the other chief minsters are trying to emulate a hard line hindutva, they are making a big mistake.
but i have a caveat. i am still not sure whether people like you are purposely trying to make a mountain out of a molehill notwithstanding the fact of excesses in UP is a worrying factor.
Mr Kasiviswanathan Krishnan: You bray:
“.. hindhus are tolerant and peaceful by nature ..”
Was that tolerance temporarily paused during the pogroms against Sikhs in 1984 and the pogroms against Muslims in 2002 in Gujarat ?
WaPo writer should know better.
1984 was congress sponsored Sikh massacre.
I can enlighten you with names but encourage you to do a quick google search on bhagat tytler sajjan kumar.
Mr Neil: Thanks for the response !
You rightly assert that the 1984 pogroms were sponsored by the Congress. But weren’t the instigators and the participants of the Sikh pogroms Hindus ? In fact, in most riots and other violent events directed against minorities in a Hindu majority country like India, the people who deliver the blows are largely Hindus and the people who bleed the most are Muslims.
Indeed, most research into riots and pogroms in India reveal the direct hand of political parties and their leaders as well as groups closely associated with political parties. Thus:
– The 1984 pogroms were Congress driven with prominent Congress walas like Jagdish Tytler, Kamal Nath, Sajjan Kumar, Lalit Maken and many others. That pogrom claimed the lives of 3500 Sikhs.
– The 1983 Nellie massacres which resulted in the slaughter of some 1800 Muslims were the handiwork of AASU and the RSS. Indeed, one of the prime instigators of that riot was none other than AB Vajpayee whose inflammatory speeches triggered the massacre.
– The Bombay riots of Dec 92 -Jan 93 where in addition to violence from elements form the Muslim dominated Bombay underworld, the Shiv Sena under Bal Thackeray was a major driving force for the killings that claimed nearly a 1000 dead.
– The 2002 Godhra riots were orchestrated by the BJP, the RSS, the VHP, Bajrang Dal and other elements of the Sangh Parivar and claimed upwards of 2000 Muslims massacred, many rapes and even burning to death of innocent women and children. Of course, there were leaders in this pogrom too – names like then CM Narendra Modi, Mayaben Kodnani, Praveen Togadia of VHP, Babu Bajrangi etc. were complicit in that pogrom.
To conclude: All riots, pogroms and massacres have political parties and their proxies inciting, organising and orchestrating them. These orgies of bloodletting are masterminded by prominent politicians who almost always escape prosecution – be they a Kamal Nath, a Jagdish Tytler, a Bal Thackeray or a Narendra Modi.
But getting back to your comment: What is utterly untenable and ludicrous in your comment is the implication that since the 1984 pogroms against Sikhs was orchestrated by the Congress, the rioters, rapists and arsonists who participated in that orgy of violence and bloodletting against poor Sikhs were NOT necessarily Hindus. And that is patently false. Indeed, even the list of people you cite as leader complicit in the riots are themselves Hindus!
Incidentally, I do not need any “enlightenment” from a saffronist like you about the 1984 pogroms. Thanks for the offer though!
Hindus are tolerant toward those who are tolerant to them, not to those who want to burn them alive.
Violence against Sikhs was done by secularists, not Hindus. Indian Secularists are inherently scoundrels, so nothing better can be expected from them.
So Krishnan is right. Hindus are tolerant, they will only defend when attacked.
Harry: You bark:
“Hindus are tolerant, they will only defend when attacked”
Well, in 2002 a pregnant Bilkis Bano was gangraped by your Hindutva friends, her infant daughter’s head was smashed on a rock and most women in her family, including her mother were raped, killed and burnt.
So tell me Harry: Whom did Bilkis Bano attack to desrve the fate she suffered? What crime did her infant child commit to warrant such a brutal death? Is that your Hinduism?
SHAME ON YOU !
If Muslims had not burned alive 55 Hindus, including women & children, post Godhra riots would not have happened.
I am amazed by your Goebbels type morality. Dr. Goebbels felt that killing by Russians in East Prussia was barbarism but not killing by Germans in Russia, which invited the reaction. Same case with you. To you to burning alive of Hindus, including women & children, by Muslims is Ok, but not Hindu retaliation.
Like Holocaust deniers you would deny that Muslims burned to coach on Sabarmati express at Godhra.
You think all Hindus should run away like your Keralite Hindus, throwing off their lungi and let Muslims kill & rape Hindus, during Mopla uprising.
SHAME ON YOU FOR YOUR SELECTIVE MORALITY & DOUBLE STANDARDS.
“Whom did Bilkis Bano attack to desrve the fate she suffered? What crime did her infant child commit to warrant such a brutal death? ”
She along with secularists should be doing introspection. Have they ever thought how cow, goat, chicken feel? If they are not evolved to feel empathy to all creatures, why should others feel empathy to them? These animals are suffering due to their bad karma in past life. These humans are suffering because of their bad karma in past & present life.
A few inmates of camps in Germany realized that truth and tried to be supporters of animal rights later on.
SG is showing his true colors; he is no different from the traitor Rajdeep Sardesai whom he seems to be supporting. The sedition charge against these so-called journalists is actually being too kind; a more proper treatment would have been to lock them behind the bars and lose the key. By the way, I think Yogi is the best performing CM in the country. I am going to contribute to his election campaign fund next year even though I don’t live in UP – just to poke you in your eye.
SG claimed that in print we try to be neutral, but I think this time he has allowed his own bias to override this article rather than usual logic e.g. recent India Today MOTN said Modi has 74% approval rating and BJP can win 293 seats. A person who ask people to don’t look at candidate but presume that they are voting for him and they do. Why would he need Yogi for his election..that’s too much of faith in Yogis ability. If he was so influential , he could hv changed assy. results in Rajasthan, MP , Maharashtra in BJPs favour , where he campaigned. SG is actually venting his frustration that despite many wrongs in UP not much of discontent is brewing either in state or in BJP against Yogi…
Agree 100%
Law and order better : Definite Yes
Electricity available outside Amethi & Safai : Yes [Meerut, 18-20 hrs], Mulayam [Absent for 18-12 hrs daily]
Better roads & infra: Yes
Corona tackling : Delhi dumping lacs of labourers at border, punjab moving train full of labourers [Still better job at managing Corona than Maharastra, Delhi & Punjab].
Left / congress & associates [APP, Print, NDTV, SP] : Are they sleepless and breathless–resounding yes.
I will say he did a better job than faucet thief [ tonti chor & AC chor] , will i vote for BJP and yogi again ?
Y.E.S.
[ Will my post be published..No idea]
UP sinks!!! WaW Shekhar Guptha is a chemcha and kutta of congress party , readers to be reminded Shekhar Guptha got Padma Bushan under congress government, his ill wealth is charity of congress, his family amazed multiple properties in UK, so Shekhar Guptha is barking to please his masters in congress, biggest joke is Shekhar Guptha praising Akhilesh Yadav for development of UP , if UP is developed then why Gupta crying .
Whatever your views this kind of language is unacceptable.
Mr reddy… When we loose temper and abuse, these leftist fanatics win. We must taunt them, and have fun at their misery. No abuses. That is where they start their propaganda. At least we should learn something from modi & amit shah.
you may disagree with guptaji. but please don’t use such foul langauage. it reflects only on you.
Have you ever gone to up…do you have any idea what work has been done…like a paid media person, you have wrote without checking facts.
Your agenda driven reporting is highly criticized as always.
This article looks biased and never mention tweets of Rajdeep type journalist harm they can do to people and their assets. Journalists now a days only concentrates in negativity why they sell their news positively about progress and suggestive solutions
Now I understand why people say ‘reading print’ is like going near a shit fountain; but it is worse.
The writer want to say that I am a habitual dog darbari sycophant and with every meal, good kind of abuses on SM is a must thing. You too are not different librandu , keep begging for donation. JSR
There seems to be a strange symmetry – Modi keeps rising, India keeps declining; Yogi keeps rising, UP keeps declining. With Yogi at the helm, UP-Bihar will keep having an outsized influence in national politics. Maharashtra realised that and hence the Sena-BJP divorce. Gujarat will also realise it once Modi leaves the scene. North-South divide will then be complete. The current BJP-RSS politics based on hate and divisiveness is not good for long term unity and national cohesion.
Only quoting the controversies and not mentioning all the schemes that Yogi has implemented shows the bankruptcy and deliberate ignorance of the media. But Was not expecting this from Shekhar.
I am glad the media keeps mis-reporting and mis-judging the ground reality. Then they are surprised when BJP wins.
You can ask any farmer who is selling sugarcane. They are getting their dues cleared within a week which used to take months earlier.
There was research done sometime back that when a country or a state moves a little beyond poverty or death issues, then matters like pride, ego and your basic instincts come back to the fore.
U.P and India may be the example for that. We seem to have come out of the tag of poor countries and people had time to go back to their biases, so much so that, economic development or modernity with prosperity may no more be key issues.
Adityanath realises this and will keep the pot smouldering and the great game of divide will continue.
Jalo jalo aur jalo.. accha lagta hai..!
Ha ha well said. Most apt comment.
What if you are wrong again? ?
These journalist has been given a long rope.its high time now to book them for what they doing spreading fake news to trigger riot
Articles like these mean a sureshot victory next elections, for the BJP!!!
If the FIR under IPC sections as grave as sedition and conspiracy against six senior editors and a prominent politician are ludicrous then are they not so when filed against an individual with no following. Wonder if such serious charges should be left to the discretion of people under the political authority or should be vetted by higher judiciary.
Absolutely. These people are getting demoralized and desperate.
‘as UP sinks’… We all know you & yours very well shekhar ji. Trust me when you could manipulate public opinion, those days are gone. There is a popular story in Haryana of a jackal called ‘Neelu Raja’… You are just like that character. I am sure you are aware of the story.
Another zero credibility article, paid for by the Congress.
Mid way through paragraph 3 & it becomes obvious where this article was heading.
Very poor show. Please refund our subscriptions.