What makes Sonia Gandhi go unscathed from all the mainstream media torrent? PTI.Why this secrecy over Sonia Gandhi?May 16, 2013
“Why is it that the mainstream media (MSM) displays, what can only be termed as pusillanimity bordering on the obsequious when it comes to Sonia Gandhi?” is the question that bounces around inside my head quite often. Occasionally it lights up my amygdala.
There is a certain docile, rebarbative and delightfully ludicrous air about the MSM each time Sonia Gandhi (or one of her family members) is in the middle of a controversy. I will not get into the impressive range of controversies that have cropped up over the years, but suffice to say that each time things came to such a pass, either the clouds blew over in wondrous haste or they rained elsewhere.
A dripping wet poodle Prime Minister is what you occasionally get, as evidenced by the recent developments surrounding Ashwani Kumar and Pawan Bansal.
After years of peddling the Our-PM-is-the-most-honest-of-them-all-in-the-entire-galaxy balderdash the MSM seems to be finally catching up with the meaning of words like integrity & accountability, as they get busy aiding and abetting – quite reflexively – some dark, unknown and easy-to-guess forces to bury the non-performing nightwatchman Prime Minister six feet under.
But the Queen continues to escapes their collective gaze. Blame Proxy-o-cracy!!
To give credit where it is due though, over the last few days, there has been a sprinkling of articles that at least attempt to ask – meekly so – a few pertinent questions along the lines of if-Sonia-is-the-fount-of-executive-power-then-should-the-buck-not-stop-with-her-on-India-becoming-a-Scamrashtra. Laying the axe to the root, if you will.
The most scathing commentary yet…
“Should Sonia Gandhi, ruler of the Congress party, be congratulated for finishing 15 years in Indian politics? It is not a sign of expertise if an heir becomes king. So why should it be different with her?” asked Surjit Bhalla in an The Indian Express piece titled‘Evaluating Sonia, the black box leader’ (March 23rd, 2013) before he drove the screw deeper: “Every political leader has been pilloried in India, and in most democracies. Pilloried for being stupid, unfit to rule and worse; yet, such questions are not raised with regard to Sonia. Our free press can make mincemeat of even decent politicians (Manmohan Singh has been variously described as spineless, a night-watchman following orders, Mumble Singh and worse) and yet the press has never even demanded that the chairperson of the Congress for 15 years hold a press conference in a language of her choosing — English, Hindi or Italian”.
Ouch! In his follow-up piece a week later ‘Message to Sonia: Reform of Perish’, he concluded his incisive commentary thus:
“Recall that Annie Besant became president of the Congress party in 1917. If Sonia Gandhi does not change, then she risks the following obituary of the party she heads: It took a white, European, socialist, woman to help create the Congress party — and it has taken a white, European, socialist, woman to destroy it more than a hundred years later.”
Ouch ouch ouch!
I acknowledge that the 7 aspects that I will now touch upon briefly – three in this Part, and four in Part 2 – are by no means either completely unknown, or constitute all that needs to be debated, discussed and perhaps put under the journalistic scanner. The purpose of this 2-part series is to act as a gentle reminder to the Indian MSM (especially TV) that the citizens are not fooled by their attempts at silence on issues surrounding Sonia Gandhi & family. Or as M.J.Akbar noted:
“That purr in the ear isn’t the music of your back being scratched, darling; it’s the crackle of your slim wallet being emptied of ethics”.
The poor little powerful Queen
Is it really true that Sonia Gandhi’s financial assets are a mere 1.37 Cr [2009 affidavit]? Let me strive for a little more exactitude, so that I am not accused of crude approximations. Take a look at the table below (source – myneta.info):
Table comparing assets of national leaders.
I leave you and your powers of incredulity – which I am certain are immense – to decide if this matter warrants further enquiry. You can access the affidavit details by clicking here. While we are on affidavits, it may well be worth your while spending a minute or two examining the affidavits of Rahul Gandhi, with special focus on the educational qualifications. The matter was discussed in greater detail by me a few months ago in a piece titled ‘Rahul Gandhi: PM-in- waiting despite all this?’
One set of rules for the slaves, another for the suzerainty
In August 2011, India Today ran a small report titled ‘What Gandhis don’t tell the Lok Sabha‘, and I quote:
It’s common courtesy for MPs to inform the secretariat about trips abroad, even if they are of a personal nature. But since June 2004, the month UPA came to power, the Congress president and her son have not bothered to inform the secretariat about any of their foreign trips.
Subsequently, two applications were filed under RTI seeking details on foreign travels of MPs and foreign travels of Sonia Gandhi – what followed was a merry-go-round involving the Lok Sabha Secretariat, Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Central Information Commission (CIC), Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and National Advisory Council’s (NAC) Central Public Information Officer.
“It is disturbing that institutions that run the government have no knowledge of the authority that can furnish details of Sonia Gandhi’s foreign travel,” noted an exasperated RTI activist. (You can read the full report here)
The curious case of Dr. Subramanian Swamy’s blog
Most of you would be familiar with the content of Dr. Swamy’s blog; those of you who have not made your acquaintance with it yet, please fire up your search engines. Whilst it is nobody’s case that every word in there is the gospel truth – and some of Dr. Swamy’s utterances on other issues may be a tad jarring to some of us – the following 2 points merit some thought:
1) If the matter presented in his blog-post(s) is untrue and borders on libel, why have the concerned parties not sued him?
2) On the other hand, if the matter holds some truth in its folds, why has the MSM never gone to town with it? Why the silence? Or is it a case of the unutterable refusing to chase the uneatable, with apologies to Oscar Wilde?
What gives?
… To be continued. Part 2 will be published here tomorrow.
shining.path.notperu@gmail.com
http://www.firstpost.com/blogs/why-this-secrecy-over-sonia-gandhi-787225.html?utm_source=mail&utm_medium=newsletter
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Ramchi • an hour ago
Congress and Media house are hand in glove with each other. They have a convenient target called Hindus, BJP, RSS whenever they need attention. They can engineer massacre as they did in Godhra Train and ensure subsequent actions can keep their channels motivated for sometime.
Otherwise, they can provide live coverage for terrorists as they did during Kandhahar, Kargil and during Mumbai attack.
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guest • an hour ago
You are an excellent writer but the language you use is quite complex.Please cut down those meta phrases which most dont understand and write in simple english
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aamabdul • an hour ago
OBOY!.. how can the writer be so NAIVE!! It is an unsaid fact that Sonia mummy holds all the balls in India in her white angelic palms!! Both in the alliance and the opposition. The ones without balls like the editors from CNN-IBN, NDTV, Headlines today etc. are given lollypops like Padma Bhushans, lands at cheap rates (does Raaburrt VadaPao ring any bells?), leaks from "anonymous" governments sources on the hot news items, exclusive interviews with the ministers of the Congress party etc. to keep their mouths shut. Free and Fair media my a$$!
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SachinT • an hour ago
I am convinced, that such silence in media is not due to money only but many fears interlinked & created ones. It will only take other strong leader of India to expose this family left right & centre. By heart some journos may even hate this family....all cant be sold out in this way. There is some type of fear, which is ensuring this silence.
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Raj • an hour ago
I am waiting to see if Part 2 will be published tomorrow or ........
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K Anil • an hour ago
This abnormal pusillanimity has also extended to other significant
institutions/organisations that matter.
NDA government in power tucked its tail under the hind legs when it came
to matters relating to the “Royalty”, and failed to chase quattrocchi with
grit. Even Sonia’s citizenship issue was treated with undue timidness by the
concerned institutions, particularly on the merit of holding a constitutional
office by one with no roots in Indian soil and culture (over and above the requirement
of technical citizenship). Flood lights are readily shifted off from the instances
of faux pas, mediocrities and the amateurish acts during those off guard step
outs; and instantly they are blacked out or glossed over. Even during her
rarest media interview Sonia was treated with utmost baby care.
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kalps1616 • 2 hours ago
bravo dude, please take good care of yourself!!!
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Tuzzzy • 2 hours ago
Shining buddy...just a tad blunt... but great work as always
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Do_You _Mean • 2 hours ago
what about swiss bank account ?
what about Rahuls swiss bank account ?
what about other swiss bank account of in which she shse and baba is nomiee?
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tughlaq • 2 hours ago
As of 05/4/2009......
Movable Assets (only) 1.18 Cr Rs !
Immovable Assets (only) 0.2 Cr Rs !
Total (only) 1.38 Cr Rs !
For me, it is like.....kehta bhi deewana aur sunta bhi deewana.
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kank • 2 hours ago
i guess she is benefiting from indian culture of not letting a bahu (the bride ) be defamed
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Raj • 2 hours ago
Shining path.....literally.....Hats off to you man....we need more articles like this......FP are you listening???
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Ajoe Samuel • 3 hours ago
bang on shinning path.... please do all thing possible to laylow and be under cover....atleast till read part 2 is published........
u cannot imagine the gore and extend SoGA can go to blanket herself n family as social defenderes of india and do-gooders...
i doubt anyone but Namo if bjp come to power, will be able to squeeze her out from the cocoon of lies and deceit and evil she has been living in and acting poor but cheating the poor
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Ravi • 3 hours ago
Good Work!
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Gs • 3 hours ago
BJP and Congress were all hand in gloves... Even as a common man we are all new this fact. The congress is the sole rich party with huge (unaccounted) money and they power to sign the cheque is solely owned by Mam and all the MPs know this fact.
And they can do any thing and go any extent to support her and protect her from anybody. Afterall "money is every thing in todays India".
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The Comeback Kid • 3 hours ago
Unbelievable , another Banglorean trying to pass himself off as an intellectual do us a favour buddy next time, speak less vote more. Using big words is not a sign of intellect, it just signals you're trying too hard, are youovercompensating for the fact that you and you buddies messed up in Bangalore? And don't give me the whole aww shucks BJP had mis-governed , last I check those responsible were booted surely that should a good a reason as any to vote for the BJP . Unbelievable.
These type of articles do nothing, they are merely platitudes for a desperate citizenry which sits around and finds moral comfort in the low hanging fruit that is bashing a known corrupt family and part not to mention the article reeks of an attempt by the editors to draw back commentators who offered Firstpost far more than they realised.
Ego and arrogance the bane of Indian society , not to mention a lack of common sense.
Anyone who finds solace in this article is a fool. It's not as though what's written on it is news. Certainly not to me certainly not to most people
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aamabdul The Comeback Kid • an hour ago
+10000000!!!
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Guest The Comeback Kid • 3 hours ago
Exactly my thoughts.
"There is a certain docile, rebarbative and delightfully ludicrous air..".
Try finding any of these words in any well-written blog or article. Please. You can do better.
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ViruS • 3 hours ago
There is no secrecy over Sonia Gandhi. She is really the cleanest and the poorest politician of India.
If you have any doubt you can get it investigated through CBI.
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Kumaran • 3 hours ago
This is what Gurumurthy says -
"Ironically it is Sonia’s family, not Manmohan’s, which was accused by
the popular Swiss magazine Schweizer Illustrierte [dated 19.11.1991] of
holding $2.5 billion in secret bank accounts [now worth four times that
amount]. Corporate Insider magazine in the US [dated 2.3.2012] has
listed Sonia, not Manmohan, as the world’s fourth richest politician
with estimated wealth between $2 to $19 billion."
Her assets in her legally filed affidavits are outright lies, just like what she wrote in her affidavits about her birth and education earlier. She is not secretive - she is a liar, a fraud. Rajiv Foundation or Swiss banks or Bofors or National Herald, she is a criminal by any standard. She is not prosecuted because the rowdies of congress and the govt authorities controlled by the rowdies like Chidambaram make sure complaints cannot be filed on her. If they can remove content from web which proves her criminal culpability, what can they not do?
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kaviverma Kumaran • 2 hours ago
Why doesn't BJP and the smart ar....e Swamy do some thing about it ? Gurumuthy's clean chit to Gadkari did get him some national recognition ...
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vamsi kaviverma • an hour ago
Caught with the hand in the cookie jar ain't it? You troll to death about Modi and a Single article critiquing Sonia will not be tolerated by you (Neither AAP nor BKP was in picture here) and you troll the author.
I have always suspected, there were no AAP supporters in the social media, its all Congi proxies like you from the start.
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Bogus gandhi Kumaran • 3 hours ago
Dr. Sonia goondi, double phd (corruption and lying)
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Ajoe Samuel Kumaran • 3 hours ago
i wanna do what the white folks do,
coz im white at the bottom of my feet....
i dont screw as the white folks do
i just do till what i can do.....
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dinipc • 3 hours ago
You missed out on Robber Vadra's monetary affairs and clean chits offered due to Mata's presidency over the the CON party!
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Indian • 3 hours ago
Oops. Rubbing eyes.
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mukesh • 3 hours ago
"Part 2 will be published here tomorrow."-- hope u will there to continue the story ...
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Omerta • 4 hours ago
Did you not see the movie "God Father"? A moment of mouth-opening by the elder son led to the Family being terribly neutralized.
"Omerta", they call it in Italian...."Law of Silence"...sshhhh
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Moderate • 4 hours ago
On Swamy's blog--has it occured to you that maybe the Congress want to avoid giving his hysterical ravings the undue attention a lawsuit would bring?
Also, why do BJP followers like him at all? Don't you know that he viscerally hates Vajpayee, and has accused him of having several affairs etc.?
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bulesha • 4 hours ago
"But the Queen continues to escapes their collective gaze" That's exactly the game plan, Rule the fools without any accountability. Recent website has valued her most 20 rich politician of the word worth asset of 2-5 billion & second indian featured Mrs Savita Jindal .
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anony • 4 hours ago
Paid trolls not doing their duty properly.. CONgress wasting its money..
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priyabrata_tripathy • 4 hours ago
What a waste of time? The anonymous is curious to know about the fate of Swamy's blogs: I think it would be suffice to inform that nobody kicks a dead dog.
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hitesh • 4 hours ago
you da man! super article!
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VS • 4 hours ago
"A dripping wet poodle Prime Minister"....!! Hahaha...Awesome..!!
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AR • 4 hours ago
Veil of secrecy is important to continue the charade. For most people in Congress, Gandhi name is very important to win votes. Hence the entire machinery would go to any lengths to keep the veil in place. BTW have you ever heard about the public/private lives of Mafiosi.....same traditions.
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Skeptic • 4 hours ago
Very daring, indeed!!
I hope it does not come to Manish Tewari's notice :-)
Btw, The Economist dated March 23,2013, has explained this secrecy surrounding "the family"in these terms:
"A mostly deferential press rarely asks tricky questions. An eminent journalist hints at why, describing how a Congress figure once tried to buy him off with a thick bundle of rupees placed in his car. He returned the cash; others presumably do not."
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Troll • 4 hours ago
that's what $30 billion can do... it can buy you spin, subterfuge & scapegoats...
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sc • 4 hours ago
Great courage!! and thanks to FP for posting such articles!! every day there should be at least 5 such articles exposing this WICKED family and the party!!
Can you also write some more on the land holdings of National Herald and Young India ? People of India should know what this family is upto!!
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Neverwinter Nights • 4 hours ago
Mayawati ji ne sirf janata ke pyaar se 114 crores declare kiye?
CMs ki salary kitni hai?
IIT/IIM grads would be so jealous. CEOs would be jealous.
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Amaresh • 4 hours ago
Bravo!!.. This issue needs to be debated and must be in public domain. Hats off to you for bringing this up. Gandhi family's wealth has become a national secret. For every single deal, commission gets deposited in Swiss a/c.
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Neverwinter Nights • 4 hours ago
You brave columnist!
Reminds me of Ripley taking on the Queen mother in James Cameron's 1986 masterpiece.
You will need a flamethrower, a mechanical suit and a will of iron to take on the facehuggers that hatch out of the eggs.
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sachin • 5 hours ago
After a very long long time,somebody wrote an article on Sonia Gandhi. I am thinking,how did it get published?
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Guest sachin • 4 hours ago
@ shining path can i give u a big hug before u get ur ars$ee arrested and thrown in TIHAR ( ⌣́,⌣̀)\(^◡^ )
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shiningpath Guest • 4 hours ago
LOL :-(
On a serious note, there is nothing in there that is not in the public domain - just spent some time putting it all together. Links, sources cited. No speculation - just a little reminder to Barkha Winfrey and her ilk, that We The People and Face The Nation could do with some debates of a slightly different types. Am not entirely unsure that the TRP ratings will not be negatively impacted, if that is their poison!
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Neverwinter Nights sachin • 4 hours ago
I am afraid it also diminishes in entirety his chances of winning an award (for writing) in India in this life.
Or in 3000 AD where he is reborn only to find that India is still ruled by you know who.
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shiningpath • 5 hours ago
Since i wanted to save some space, i left this most fascinating "news report" out from the body of the article. A little report i read in Business Standard while in the midst of doing this 2-part series, the essence of which was:
Sonia G was wearing a light green saree when she met the Jamia students on the day she "bunked" office. She is reported to have said that late Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi was the most astute and charismatic cricket captain ever. We were also told that she arrived 10 minutes ahead of the scheduled time.
Great. That should provide guidance n leadership and take care of all social, economic, administrative and political ills that beset this country. Big thumbs-up to the MSM - punctuality, green sarees etc are indeed utterly relevant and potential gamechangers w.r.t the state of the nation :-)
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Troll shiningpath • 3 hours ago
Since you have posted the link to Surjit Bhalla's article, wonder why you don't post the link to Dr. Subramanian Swamy's blog or relevant articles in the blog? is it fear of libel from directly pedalling the uneatable?
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Mithram shiningpath • 4 hours ago
@ shining path
Can i give u a big hug before u get ur ars$ee arrested and thrown in TIHAR
( ⌣́,⌣̀)\(^◡^ )
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Troll Mithram • 3 hours ago
if Tihar is the punishment for writing against the Queen Bee then shouldn't Surjit Bhalla be in Tihar right now since he had written the article 2 months back?
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Mithram Troll • 2 hours ago
it was a joke :)
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