The Great Indian Political Drama - 2 (Mar 2018 - Oct 2018)

The Archive forum serves as a repository for topics that have been closed from the other forums. They serve as a database for future reference.
Locked
Hari Seldon
BGR Oldie
Posts: 570
Joined: Mon Oct 02, 2017 1:01 am

Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - 2 (Mar 2018 - )

Post by Hari Seldon » Sun Apr 01, 2018 6:48 am

Almost funny. Only.

Image

Hari Seldon
BGR Oldie
Posts: 570
Joined: Mon Oct 02, 2017 1:01 am

Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - 2 (Mar 2018 - )

Post by Hari Seldon » Sun Apr 01, 2018 8:28 am

Tripura shadow looms as CPM readies for bypoll in Kerala (Sunday guardian)
With the Congress in a shambles in the state, political pundits see a direct fight between the CPM and BJP here, for the first time in the state. The result will indicate how the wind blows in this southern state where BJP has high hopes ahead of the 2019 general elections.
Well, hope this is true. However the sunday guardian has shown itself to be rather excitable in the past. So will have to wait n see. onlee.

Supratik
Forum Moderator
Posts: 592
Joined: Wed Oct 04, 2017 5:50 pm

Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - 2 (Mar 2018 - )

Post by Supratik » Sun Apr 01, 2018 10:39 am

Kerala has a different demography from Tripura. Hindus are with the Commies, minorities with the Congress and their own parties. It would be interesting how this plays out.

Shandilya
BGR Newbie
Posts: 56
Joined: Sun Oct 01, 2017 7:10 pm

Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - 2 (Mar 2018 - )

Post by Shandilya » Sun Apr 01, 2018 1:56 pm

Trilobite wrote:
Sat Mar 31, 2018 8:59 pm
Shandilya wrote:
Sat Mar 31, 2018 4:22 am

CA at work in Gujarat:

After Assansol, Some pissfools trying to incite riots in Surat and Amreli in Gujarat last night. Destroying properties, arson, and shouting pakistan zindabad slogans. Also in Gujarat, some key congress party appointments made today.

You will be surprised, in Bihar situation is now now being brought to control, those arrested for triggering riots are BJP leaders and members, including the son of a BJP union minister. A BJP MP some Mr. Thakur from Bihar NDTV called it an organized effort to trigger riots and expressed his unhappiness about it.
Aaacthooo!

achoudhury
BGR Newbie
Posts: 52
Joined: Wed Oct 04, 2017 12:21 am

Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - 2 (Mar 2018 - )

Post by achoudhury » Sun Apr 01, 2018 3:49 pm

The new modus operandi of these recent riots clearly seem to strike fear like it was created in Kashmir. Aim is not to kill rather trigger exodus. Once it becomes peacefool locality , it is out of bounds for Indian state and automatically becomes defacto Dar-ul-Islam.

Indrad
BGR Oldie
Posts: 738
Joined: Sun Oct 01, 2017 6:37 pm

Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - 2 (Mar 2018 - )

Post by Indrad » Sun Apr 01, 2018 5:27 pm

recently SC has asked police to go easy on arrests under SC/ST act.
The top court had recently banned automatic arrests and registration of criminal cases under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes Prevention of Atrocities Act, 1989.
Now SC/ST commission and their representatives have asked govt to file review petition else band & havoc will follow.
Govt has surrendered.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/ind ... 569256.cms

Trilobite
BGR Member
Posts: 174
Joined: Thu Oct 19, 2017 1:16 pm

Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - 2 (Mar 2018 - )

Post by Trilobite » Sun Apr 01, 2018 8:04 pm

Nitish sending a message? He also made a big show of visiting a Dargah on Hanuman Jayanti day. BJP's union minister son who started the Bhagalpur riots has been arrested, hopefully things will now quieten down:

Union Minister's Son Arijit Shashwat Has Been Arrested

Raju
BGR Newbie
Posts: 74
Joined: Mon Oct 02, 2017 9:35 am

Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - 2 (Mar 2018 - )

Post by Raju » Mon Apr 02, 2018 2:19 am

petrol diesel prices at highest in India
what is the lofty logic behind this ? bjp it cell care to clarify.

meanwhile in certain bankrupt countries
https://www.dawn.com/news/1398732

MehtaRahulC
BGR Member
Posts: 329
Joined: Mon Oct 02, 2017 4:34 am
Location: Ahmedabad
Contact:

Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - 2 (Mar 2018 - )

Post by MehtaRahulC » Mon Apr 02, 2018 2:35 am

All said and done, I am now really happy to see that more and more people have started liking Hinduism and now even started openly taking up "Hindu causes" :rotfl:. This is like CPI(M) in Kerala, now even celebrating Janmashtami, the birthday of Com. Krishna.
You may want to label freeing temple as Hinduvaadi cause, whereas I see it as TRUE SECULAR cause. And its NOT that others aree taking interest "now". True seculars like myself have been working on it since 2007 and even before. And it was RSS-workers and Modivaadies (back then they were LKA-waadies) who had said that ALL law-drafts proposed by true seculars MUST be ignored and all must focus ONLY one thing --- collecting votes for RSS. Now after 6 years of ABV and 4 years of Modiji, people have realized that RSS-workers NEVER had any intention of freeing temples from govt control. And so now OTHERS are getting some small attention.

Sachin wrote:
Fri Mar 30, 2018 5:48 am
MehtaRahulC wrote:"(4) Free temples from Govt clutches "does NOT need any law. Mere Gazette Notification will suffice.
It is not as simple as seen. Take for example KL. The Devaswom Boards (eq: Muzrai Dept. in KA etc.) was formed as part of the agreement with the kings of Travancore & Cochin. Till then the temples were under their supervision, the kings wanted a guarantee that the temples would be managed by the elected government of the day, with the Kerala High Court also having more supervisory powers. Now how can "Mere Gazette Notification" nullify an agreement signed by the two parties? Also if the Devaswom Boards are disbanded today, who would then start managing the temples? Which community, which sect/caste? If you say it is through elections, then how can the voter's list and nominal roll etc. be prepared? Management of temples is not one simple activity across India. Each state, would have its on societial practises, traditions and way of running the affair at the temple.
All your WHATABOUTARY is useless. You have no solution. But you have USELESS whataboutary on all proposed solutions, and you throw these whataboutary even when proposed solution FULLY answers these "what about"questions. Well, Modiji became PM in jun-2014, but even before that he was CM for 12 years and he was apex RSS leader for 10 years before he bcame CM. And RSS-workers had over 25 years to answer all your whataboutary questions. But RSS-workers refused to draft legal framework to free temples, right?
.
Govt can amend any contract using Gazzete Notification unless it violates a law. In all temple freeing cases, GNs will have to come from state govts because it is state govts which is controlling them in most cases. So all state govt has to do is to issue GN that hands back the temples to owners or heirs. In most states, State Govt is run by RSS. So I wont blame RSS in kerala temple cases. But in all temples run by State Govts under RSS< it is RSS-workers' desire to loot the temples is the ONLY reason why these temples are still under govt control. In all laws related to temple control, the law EMPOWERS CM to take control over a temple, but does NOT make it mandatory. And so the law does NOT stop CM from handing temple back to its owner.

When handing back temples to original owners of heirs, the govt can cite SECULARISM as guiding principle. Govt can give one word reply to why temples should NOT be managed by Govts --- secularism. And Govt will need to print a logic to decide who should control temples today and how they decided the heirs and how much control each heir will have. All this is matter of weeks. The reason reason why RSS state govts did NOT free temples from govt control is NOT all this whataboutary, but because RSS-workers, like congress/aap/cpm workers also want to loot temples
.
===========
.
Dear Nationalists, Hinduvaadies, true seculars,
.
Temple freeing is one case which FULLY exposes defunct motives of all RSS-leaders and RSS-workers including Sri Modiji. Did you hear shrill cries of CPM workers that "workers of world unite"? Well, it is same as shrill cry of RSS-workers that "Hindus of India unite". But unite for what? We know that CPM leaders NEVER had any intention of improving well being of workers, They ONLY wanted CONTROL over administration and also workers. They never wanted workers to become strong --- they only wanted party and unions to become strong. RSS ideology is SAME. The fact that they oppose ALL solutions to free temples by USELESS WHATABOUTARY and never give solution form their sides proves that RSS-workers have NO intention of freeing temples. And they ONLY want to control Hindus and temples, not strengthen them. And goal is to strengthen RSS, not Hindus
.
And all this in long run will ONLY benefit Missionaries and also Islamists because they are using church funds and mosque funds to strengthen communities and expand. islamist are losing, but losing against Missionaries NOT Hindus. The Hindus are losing against BOTH because temples are under govt and temple money is NOT used to defend Hindus forget strengthening.

So solution I propose to ALL those who want to free temples from govt control --- you decide which laws will free temples and start campaigning for those laws on FB/twitter/NewIndiaIn/WA and pamphlets. And when you do that, you will notice that RSS-workers will NEVER give any solution and throw USELESS WHATABOUTARY against law-drafts you propose only to ensure that temples dont become free. I have given the law-drafts I have proposed in thread on "Freeing temples from Govt control" and on my SM profile. I cant put links to SM profile posts which give solutions as admins dont allow putting SM links to postors' SM posts here. I welcome alternate drafts you propose. But pls note one thing ---- Modiji, RSS-leaders and RSS-workers will NEVER work to free temples from Govt control. So if you stay idle hoping that they will, Missionaries will win.
.
=============
.
Raju wrote:
Mon Apr 02, 2018 2:19 am
petrol diesel prices at highest in India
what is the lofty logic behind this ? bjp it cell care to clarify.

meanwhile in certain bankrupt countries
https://www.dawn.com/news/1398732
Govt of India including states is now fincially in bad shape. GST collection of jul-2017 to feb-2018 is less than taxes it had subsumed compared to jul-2016 to feb-2017 i.e. same months previous years. And one would need at least about 8% increase to match rising costs. So decrease is more. So only way left is to tax petrol etc more and more. There is no way left for Central/State Govts as of this month.
.
We should stop asking congress/rss/aap for reasons. All information is now public. we have to decide what we should do i.e. each one needs to now think what is the SOLUTION way ahead, and then using "each one , inform hundred" (not same as "each one teach one" but similar), we need to work ahead. Solution I have proposed in Taxation and GST threads.
Last edited by MehtaRahulC on Mon Apr 02, 2018 2:57 am, edited 1 time in total.

KL Dubey
BGR Member
Posts: 397
Joined: Sun Oct 01, 2017 5:39 pm

Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - 2 (Mar 2018 - )

Post by KL Dubey » Mon Apr 02, 2018 2:54 am

chetak wrote:
Sat Mar 31, 2018 6:09 am
Indrad wrote:
Fri Mar 30, 2018 8:13 pm
fully agree Nitish & Paswan hold the key to Modi's return to good extent: With Mayawati in fold of thugs Paswan is the only dalit icon with BJP for Hindi heart land.
paswan and family are hurting badly because they are unable to dip their beaks.

Paswan will break away very late in the game with the door left slightly open so that damage is maximized unless substantial funds are sent his way.

DeMon and GST has hurt everyone, including the havala based money supply chain pathways

So, expect the center to make a few more luloo like examples from the congis, NCP and TMC.
I would expect the Centah to do that anyway. I don't think Paswan will break away (not for 2019, at least).

MehtaRahulC
BGR Member
Posts: 329
Joined: Mon Oct 02, 2017 4:34 am
Location: Ahmedabad
Contact:

Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - 2 (Mar 2018 - )

Post by MehtaRahulC » Mon Apr 02, 2018 2:56 am

Vikas wrote:
Fri Mar 30, 2018 3:37 pm
About the CA story, One thing I don't get is if CA is manipulating SM only? If Yes, then does SM carry so much weight in a biased, emotional and Mobile illiterate country like ours to influence voters ? After all you can't sell Raul G to voters, in whatever way you slice and dice his image of being a Pappu.
Finally a sane voice

All this CA story is blown out of proportion to take focus away from 100 times bigger issues like Modiji printing laws to allow political parties to take foreign donations from foreign companies that too using anonymous means and poor job creation (lots of low paying zero-tech jobs) and falling India / China and India / USA strength productivity ratios etc
.
While some 20% or more Indian population may be using whatsapp, the people who spend time on FB are now below 1%. WhatsApp did a major slaughter of FB usage. And FB itself wanted people to move from FB to WA and so FB never worked to improve noise/signal ratio. Most people follow everyone on friend list, and so their newsfeeds are cluttered , and so they finally leave FB and confine to WA. WA creates an echo chamber better than FB and BRF does.

FB users are now those who have HARD opinions in politics and want to promote their causes. And these people have hard opinions, which advt wont change. They may forward the advt from FB to WA. But then second round of forwading will happen ONLY if readers like the message. So finally, only thing CA can do is --- think of message which will people will like and forward. In such case, they cant being any major shifts. So people's opinions is shifting or not shifting due to HARD facts they see around and opinions they head from PEOPLE THEY KNOW. So what CA is doing is nothing compared to what TV channels and newspapers have been doing since ages. And while TV-channels and newspapers can hide news, CA can NOT hide news, because FB has too many news-reporters.
.
So real motives behind cursing FB are different. The real motives are --- despite FB trying its best to increase noise and decrease signal, TRUTH is travelling over FB at a fast rate. And the elitemen across world want to suppress the speed at which truth travels. And so elitemen in India and elitemen across world want to somehow convince users not to use any social media. And so his kolavari-D against CA and FB !! Using CA, fakenews and hate posts as pretext, now elitemen want Govts to print regulations to come so all SMs can be controlled and speed at which truth is travelling can be reduced.

chetak
Forum Moderator
Posts: 2039
Joined: Mon Oct 02, 2017 5:08 am
Been thanked: 3 times

Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - 2 (Mar 2018 - )

Post by chetak » Mon Apr 02, 2018 4:22 am

The Network Problem: Lessons From the Facebook Scandal

The Network Problem: Lessons From the Facebook Scandal

Rajeev Srinivasan

Rajeev Srinivasan worked at Bell Labs and in Silicon Valley for many years. He has taught innovation at several IIMs and writes widely on the impact of technology on society

Mind control by machines is a serious threat to democracy

THE CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA episode is significant on at least three or four levels: concern that democracy as we know it may be in danger; the fear that personal and private information about us is exposed to unsavoury characters; the possibility that Facebook, Google and other tech giants may be in serious trouble; and the concern that we may soon be unable to differentiate between objective and subjective ‘truth’.



Unlike the outrage in the West over the Cambridge Analytica-Facebook fiasco, there has been little to no commentary in India about it. One reason may be that Indian commentators underestimate the danger of personal data being used for unforeseen purposes. Second, perhaps we do not value privacy quite as much as others do. Third, maybe some pundits are compromised by the self-same psy-ops Cambridge Analytica is accused of running.

In summary, what the current furore is all about is the allegation that, legally or ethically or not, Cambridge Analytica targeted up to 50 million individual consumers, figured out what kinds of political messages would work on them, and, using this knowledge, was able to manipulate their actions—including their voting patterns—useful to its clients. There is circumstantial evidence suggesting that they were able to influence the 2016 US presidential election and Britain’s Brexit vote.

There is real concern about the impact of this episode on democracy. The Western mantra of spreading democracy and so-called ‘liberal’ values around the world (by force if necessary if you ask Americans) now has a counterpoint: the Confucian Grand Narrative which saw its apogee in the appointment of Xi Jinping as China’s president-for-life. The US is roiled by suggestions of Russian mischief in Donald Trump’s election. Former French President Nicholas Sarkozy has been arrested for accepting funds some years ago from the former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

At this delicate point, the idea that your vote may have been compromised because you were subjected to mind-control strikes at the very root of the idea of free will. Can democracy survive such a direct hit? In India, we have endured booth-capturing, theft of ballot boxes, possible Electronic Voting Machine hacking; and now this? Will democracy ever be seen as safe if it’s so easy to manipulate the voter?

Perhaps Indians are blasé about this because we have few illusions about the purity of our elections: therefore one more way of subverting a Potemkin edifice (form but not substance) may not exercise us as much as it does the self-righteous Americans.

The concern about data privacy and protection is not off the mark. There is the idea mooted by a British philosopher, Jeremy Bentham, of the Panopticon: a prison in which a single guard can observe a large number of prisoners. Since none of them knows if the guard is looking at them at any given time, they are forced to behave as required all the time.

Today, with social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and so forth, you are in a digital Panopticon. In fact, all of us can be monitored all the time because the watchers are machines. A practical example is China’s ‘social credit’ system for reputation management, which is backed by 750 million CCTV cameras. Big Brother is indeed watching you, and if you misbehave, you will be denied jobs, admissions, and even the right to board planes. Vindictive states can target certain groups of people: it is reported that those first under surveillance are restive Uighurs in East Turkestan (Xinjiang).

Europeans have been more worried about personal privacy than Americans (and certainly more than Indians). Their General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) becomes law in May, and requires that customer data be stored in Europe. Besides, customers get greater control over their personal data (‘informed consent’); the regulation also has teeth: companies that violate it may be fined up to 4 per cent of global turnover.

India, which is already worrying about Aadhaar and data protection, needs to come up with at least two things immediately: one, like the Europeans and the Chinese, insist that Indian data be held on Indian servers; two, that explicit informed consent is a must before data is revealed to anyone

India has been lax in protecting its citizens’ data. This is a shame because India produces an enormous trove. Unfortunately, much of that is probably already in Chinese hands (example: Alibaba is the majority owner of PayTM) or in American hands (TransUnion owns CIBIL). There is no requirement that the data be stored on Indian soil, nor punitive penalties. The data has commercial value (Alibaba and Tencent have become global tech powers by using Chinese data behind protectionist walls) as well as national security value (as seen in the Cambridge Analytica case).

A professor friend of mine from Europe told me about the deep penetration of social media by intelligence agencies for surveillance activities. As hidden-camera footage of the CEO of Cambridge Analytica confirmed, shadowy organisations that have seamlessly integrated themselves into social media are not averse to also using traditional techniques such as honeypots (he singled out Ukrainian women), bribery, blackmail, etcetera. For India, whose elites have a chequered history of anti- national behaviour for a pittance, this is alarming.

So far, the only thing India has done is to formally demand that Cambridge Analytica respond to a list of six questions about the alleged data breach. There is no provision for hefty fines, unlike, say in the US, where a consent decree on privacy provides that Facebook may have to pay up to $40,000 per user if that user’s data has been accessed without consent.

Even if you are not a shareholder, and have not created your own digital social circle, the fate of these technology platforms is of interest. In particular, for India, which has the second largest group of active Facebook users, is addicted to WhatsApp (owned by Facebook), and is a major consumer of Google Android phones, the business models of these companies, as well as Amazon, Apple, Twitter, etcetera, are important. At least Amazon and Apple sell actual physical goods, but what do Google and Facebook sell? The answer, of course, is that you, the consumer of their free offerings, are the ‘product’ they sell. They make their money through advertisements aimed at finely diced-and-sliced groups of customers. That has been their business model of every single ad-revenue-based social network from day one. They cannot make their superlative profits without continuing to do exactly what they have done so far.

Critics have been pointing out for a long time that this model has downsides, and the current fiasco exposes those fault-lines. It is not that Facebook and Cambridge Analytica are particular villains, even though the latter has been accused of interfering directly (to devastating effect) in Kenyan and Nigerian elections. It is almost certain that they have been partnering with Indian political parties too.

The general backlash against Silicon Valley’s tech giants has been brewing for a while, and is reminiscent of action against Microsoft a few years ago by the European Union’s competition commissioner. Then, worried that Microsoft’s act of bundling the browser Internet Explorer with its Windows operating system would strengthen the company’s monopoly, the EU ordered it to give equal opportunity to competing browsers as well. Google was hit with similar charges recently, and a massive fine, accused of favouring its own shopping service. Such restrictions will almost certainly be imposed.

The other possibility, although remote, is a breakup of companies like Facebook and Google into their constituent businesses as an anti-trust move, much like the breakup of AT&T in the US led to vigorous competition. Of course, this will be resisted by the companies concerned, and may take five or more years, in which time the whole issue will be rendered moot, as technology would have moved on. And even if there is a consent decree, it may not be cross-border, thus reducing redressal chances for a consumer outside the home turf of the companies concerned.

The reputational damage that Facebook has been subjected to may well act as a corrective. As users move away, application developers too may drift away. Correspondingly, advertising revenue may dry up and that is the lifeblood of the company

Moreover, the reputational damage that Facebook has been subjected to may well act as a corrective. As users move away (#deleteFacebook is a popular hashtag), application developers too may drift away. Correspondingly, advertising revenue may dry up and that is the lifeblood of the company. There is a chance that Facebook will diminish in importance on its own.

WE ARE LIVING in an era where ‘fake news’ is everywhere; Facebook is anyway facing complaints on that front and both Facebook and Twitter have been accused of censoring certain political views or individuals, violating freedom of speech principles. Besides, as Artificial Intelligence advances, we will be subjected to fake video (‘deepfakes’) that is essentially indistinguishable from the real thing. (A new technology, ‘adversarial generative networks’, where two duelling AI systems compete with each other, is behind this advance, and it will be mature in a year or two.)

When we live in an echo chamber where we tend to only hear views that fit our prejudices (as the algorithms learn our preferences and modify our newsfeeds), it will become easier to drive us into a frenzy through fake atrocity news or tidbits calculated to hit our hot buttons. Nations may go to war, for example. There is a precedent: media magnates allegedly pushed the US into the Spanish-American War of 1898 mostly to sell more newspapers.

The situation may be so far out of control that we need to fall back upon science fiction. In Isaac Asimov’s ‘Foundation’ series, an inventor named Hari Seldon comes up with the concept of ‘psychohistory’, whereby he is able to accurately predict the future of a civilisation using statistical means. Seldon emphasises that he is not able to identify the actions of individuals, but only of very large masses of individuals, and the masses must be unaware that they are being observed.

What Cambridge Analytica is accused of, the use of ‘psychographic’ markers (such as Facebook ‘likes’) to predict people’s personalities, does even better than psychohistory: it can micro- target individuals with ads, news, calls to action, fundraisers, etcetera, that will predictably appeal to them. The whistleblower Chris Wylie who broke the story has suggested that he created ‘Steve Bannon’s psychological warfare tool’.

According to a Guardian report , they used military psychological warfare tactics to influence not only Facebook users but their friends as well. This is clever, because we trust our friends. Wylie says the psy-ops aimed for ‘informational dominance’, which includes rumour, disinformation and fake news.

Whether all this works or not is not immediately clear, but it should prod politicians, and thus regulators, to try and minimise the impact on society. India, which is already worrying about Aadhaar and data protection, needs to come up with at least two things immediately: one, like the Europeans and the Chinese, insist that Indian data be held on Indian servers; two, that explicit informed consent is a must before data is revealed to anyone. The default must give absolute ownership of the data to the individual, and reveal none of it.

Apart from the privacy issues, there is also a sobering link to a meme from Hermann Hesse’s Nobel-Prize-winning The Glass Bead Game. In a post-apocalyptic future, he imagines the Age of the Feuilleton (a light pamphlet), an age of frivolity where there is no serious intellectual pursuit, and all are engaged in trivialities. Hesse suggests there would be ‘self-persiflage’ articles such as ‘Friedrich Nietszche and Womens’ Fashions of 1870’ or ‘The Role of the Lapdog in the Lives of the Great Courtesans’. The irony is that this is almost exactly what Facebook has come to represent: ‘modernity’, or the dumbing-down of society in the early 21st century. Maybe the eclipse of social media is not something to be mourned, after all.

chetak
Forum Moderator
Posts: 2039
Joined: Mon Oct 02, 2017 5:08 am
Been thanked: 3 times

Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - 2 (Mar 2018 - )

Post by chetak » Mon Apr 02, 2018 4:38 am

Cambridge Analytica: The Foreign Hand

Cambridge Analytica: The Foreign Hand

30 March 2018

The Foreign Hand

The CA proposal for Congress highlights its claimed role in Donald Trump's victory
The proposal goes into fine details of the Party's upcoming electoral challenges
It outlines the Infotech configuration needed for a strategy using real-time information
An operations Centre layout is proposed, modelled on one built for Trump
A mobile App would be designed to work in sync with CA’s research and operational services


Image

Image

Image

The document has a breakdown of target audiences to be addressed for Assembly Polls

Rahul Gandhi at the Congress party’s 84th Plenary Session in Delhi on March 18

Referring to Karnataka, CA says ‘a smartphone battle using big data and social media was fought in UP, and it will be even more decisive in a state that is the technological capital of India’

PR Ramesh And Ullekh NP


A proposal by the tainted Cambridge Analytica details how it can revive the Congress

ON MARCH 27TH, Christopher Wylie dropped a bombshell. The former employee of Cambridge Analytica (CA) who blew the whistle on this UK-based firm that’s now in the eye of a storm over the harvesting of 50 million Facebook profiles to help politicians alter poll and survey outcomes told a parliamentary panel in London that India’s Congress party could be among CA’s clients. Wylie, a 28-year-old Canadian whose Twitter handle says ‘I make things with data’, was deposing before the House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee. His statement comes amidst an escalating political row in India over data leaks and profile thefts to influence voter preferences. Congress leaders have dismissed what he said as a piece of fiction even as the ruling BJP has used it to sharpen its attack on Rahul Gandhi, the party president whose social-media engagement has risen dramatically in recent months.

Founded in 2013 by Strategic Communications Laboratories (SCL) Group, CA has been accused of using the Facebook data of individuals to influence elections as significant as the 2016 US presidential poll that saw Donald Trump emerge the winner and Britain’s Brexit referendum that went in favour of snapping away from the European Union. American security experts suspect that CA could have been the crucial link in Russia’s reported interference in the White House election.

In India, Wylie’s revelation of his former employer’s association with the Congress has put the party in a bad spot. As pointed out by Paul Farrelly, a Labour party member of the British parliamentary committee, the “opportunity for destabilisation” is extremely high in India, which is home to more than 11 per cent of Facebook’s active users worldwide. The country is the social media giant’s biggest market, even bigger than the US, and the subscriber count here has been rising at a faster clip than anywhere else. “They worked extensively in India,” Wylie told the panel, referring to CA, “They have an office in India ... I believe their client was Congress, but I know that they have done all kinds of projects. I don’t remember a national project, but I know regionally… India’s so big that one state can be as big as Britain. But they do have offices there, they do have staff there.”

Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala maintains that the party “has had no truck with CA [and] never hired its services”. Congressmen also point at CA’s website to hit out at the JD-U, an NDA ally, which has been listed by CA as an associate. Referring to projects handled by its parent SCL, a statement on this website says: ‘CA was contracted to undertake an in-depth electorate analysis for the Bihar Assembly Election in 2010. The core challenge was to identify the floating/swing voters for each of the parties and to measure their levels electoral apathy, a result of the poor and unchanging condition of the state after 15 years of incumbent rule. In addition to the research phase, CA was tasked to organise the party base at the village level by creating a communication hierarchy to increase supporter motivation. Our client achieved a landslide victory, with over 90% of total seats targeted by CA being won.’ However, pundits aver that most such projects in the past didn’t involve large-scale tactics that could be considered cyber crimes. There was negligible if any theft, for example, of personal data from Facebook, whose penetration of the country was much lower back then and especially low in backward states like Bihar.

In the wake of Wylie’s disclosures, it is Rahul Gandhi who finds himself cornered, as a new document emerges to suggest that his party might have been in parleys with the disgraced British company to steer its campaign in upcoming state polls of Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, besides the General Election of 2019. Open is in possession of a detailed proposal prepared by CA that outlines what the firm could do to help revive the dwindling electoral fortunes of the Congress, which it says is confronted with an ‘existential dilemma’. When Open contacted CA’s office in London, an executive promised to respond to an email sent to it about its ‘proposal’ to the Congress, but has not yet done so despite having had sufficient time.

Having accused CA of gathering the details of 50 million Facebook users through foul means in 2014, Wylie had offered to provide the British panel with ‘documentation’ on the firm’s India-specific activities. Wylie also criticised his former employer for running campaigns in “struggling democracies”, which he termed “an example of what modern-day colonialism looks like”.

According to reports, CA executives were caught on camera boasting they (along with SCL) had worked on more than 200 elections around the world, including polls in Nigeria, Kenya, the Czech Republic and Argentina, apart from India. It is this scandal that forced Facebook’s founder Mark Zuckerberg to tender an unconditional public apology and carry full-page ads in multiple newspapers globally. ‘You may have heard about a quiz app built by a university researcher that leaked Facebook data of millions of people in 2014,’ Zuckerberg says in one, ‘This was a breach of trust, and I’m sorry we didn’t do more at the time. We’re now taking steps to ensure this doesn’t happen again.’ For Facebook, the CA revelations are turning out to be its toughest moment in 15 years of existence. But it is the fallout in India that has political observers agog.

The CA proposal to offer Congress operational and technological support for 2019, ‘constantly fed by research, informed by data science, and delivered through targeted digital marketing’

The proposal CA appears to have made to the Congress is ambitious. In the words of the aforesaid document, it is ‘designed to disrupt the BJP’s current monopoly on India’s ‘smartphone voters’ by building a world-class data and digital capacity for the INC in similar vein to what we did for the Trump campaign in 2016’. The papers also state that the firm’s help will prove critical ‘when the INC faces its first existential challenge at the 2019 Lok Sabha and competes with the incumbent BJP’. Once India’s dominant political party, the Congress was reduced to its lowest tally ever in the last General Election and has under 50 Lok Sabha seats now.

In a chapter titled ‘Executive Summary’, CA divides its proposal for the party into the following components: national situational analysis; a national data infrastructure project; a data-driven campaign for 2019 Lok Sabha; and state assembly elections. The first section outlines ‘CA’s plan to conduct a comprehensive review of INC’s existing communications activity and capability in order to build a clearer picture of the factors that will determine the success in the pan-Indian context’; for CA, this is also the ‘discovery’ phase aimed at extracting ‘maximum value from’ the party’s ‘existing data assets, third-party data’ and so on.

The second section on the national data infrastructure project delves into ‘how CA will apply its extensive experience to design and build an Operations Centre, equipped with a robust technical and data infrastructure that can facilitate coordinated team planning, strategy execution and seamless campaign communications to provide the INC with the ability to mount, powerful, efficient national campaigns’. A key aspect of CA’s proposal is the idea of an Operations Centre, which it claims played a pivotal role in Trump’s triumph in the US.

The third section offers what only companies with access to the personal preferences of people can offer. The data-driven campaign that CA envisages for the Congress will use ‘a combination of data analytics, behavioral science and targeted communications’. Behavioural science is a tricky field today in the context of poll or advertising campaigns following leaks of confidential information on individuals and considering the sine qua non for such exercises: the knowledge of individual choices as gleaned from their online behaviour. Putting such a data trove together invariably demands intrusion into the privacy of citizens.

The document notes that the rise of the BJP, which won in 2014, is both a cause and a consequence of congress’ demise and almost every poll shows the BJP is the clear favourite to win in 2019

Even in the past, the Congress party has come under attack for snooping on people. In the 1980s, long before the advent of the internet, Rajiv Gandhi brought in a bill that was to give the Government the power to sift the contents of letters sent through Indian Post. Thankfully, his bid was thwarted at the top level. President Zail Singh, with whom the Prime Minister had strained ties, simply sat on the bill without signing it, thus letting it lapse. But the regime’s intent, as evident from numerous cases of rival politicians’ phones being tapped, was inescapable: the unwarranted surveillance of citizens.

The fourth section of the CA proposal focuses on the forthcoming elections in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. ‘All phases are intrinsically connected, ultimately leading to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections,’ says the CA document.

The papers also dwell at length on its cutting-edge data analytics to ‘model, segment and micro-target the population with personalized messaging’. Its strengths, CA contends, include ‘psychographic profiling of entire populations by acquiring and modeling ‘big data’’; finely targeted ‘tailored advertising and content to groups and individuals with unprecedented accuracy’; and research to ‘understand and influence the underlying motivations and drivers of human behaviour’. Its psychographic profiling involves the creation of profiles of voters based on online data, most of it private information.

In its introduction to the meticulously drafted proposal, CA talks about the vibrant nature of Indian democracy and the historical role in it of the Congress, before it highlights the party’s current predicament. ‘Winning 44 of a possible 545 seats in the lower house, it fell short of gaining opposition status and holds power in just five of the 36 Indian states and unions,’ it says, adding that ‘repeated charges of corruption, disunity, sycophancy and nepotism plague the party and calls for a change to the leadership and organizational structure persist’. The document notes that the ‘rise of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which won a historic landslide in 2014, is both a cause and a consequence of the INC’s demise. Narendra Modi’s populist narrative resonates strongly with millions of disenchanted Indians, and according to almost every poll, the BJP is the clear favourite to win again in 2019’.

It elaborates the strengths of the BJP’s digital campaign and then suggests that the Congress make radical changes to its ‘campaign methodology and infrastructure’ if it is to reverse the formidable political current running against it. A ‘business as usual’ approach or ‘even a substantial increase in campaign spend using the same traditional methods’, will simply not suffice, the proposal makes plain. The party needs ‘emphatic wins’ in the crucial states going to polls over the next year to boost its confidence and send out signals of change to the rest of India that would lend it the momentum it needs for 2019, CA reckons. For achieving those goals, CA prescribes, among other things, setting up a ‘highly targeted communications capability’.

The firm proposes to offer Congress operational and technological support for the 2019 polls equivalent to the data infrastructure that was at the heart of the Trump campaign, ‘constantly fed by research, informed by data science, and delivered through targeted digital marketing’. The proposal also aims to identify what it calls data gaps in the party’s campaigns. ‘The reality is that most governments or parties suffer from data ‘silos’, with data assets spread over multiple locations and systems, making it difficult to use the data effectively,’ the document says, emphasising that ‘CA’s behavioral and data scientists are experts in collecting, interpreting and using data to and develop a successful analytics-informed strategy’. Put simply, CA proposes to bridge the party’s gap between extant and required data inputs.

Under the plan, at the heart of the Operations Centre will be a central repository of information on the electorate and the party’s nationwide supporters. This, it says, would be a ‘digital framework capable of holding huge quantities of data, flexible in size and structure so that it can meet the INC’s needs long into the future’. This database ‘will be enriched with third-party data and constantly updated with new research results and behavioral insights, feeding the predictive models which enable us to design micro-targeted communications strategies’. The document also alludes to the advantage in terms of data that the ruling coalition would have, thanks to its having been in power for the past four years.

Referring to Karnataka, CA says ‘a smartphone battle using big data and social media was fought in UP, and it will be even more decisive in a state that is the technological capital of India’

The domestic headquarters of SCL/CA is in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, a short distance from Delhi, and the group has ten regional offices across the country. It maintains a database of over 600 districts and 700,000 villages, according to its website. By its claim, the list of its previous projects in India is long. Besides the 2010 Bihar assignment, the website mentions a caste census in 2012 done on behalf of a ‘national party’; a 2010 survey of castes by household in UP; a 2007 survey of politically active individuals of UP, also for a ‘national party’; a study the same year of jihadist trends in Kerala, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Assam and other states; a 2003 study in Rajasthan for a ‘major state party’; and a set of psephological studies and behavioural polling in Delhi and Chhattisgarh. While the list suggests a wide client base, the heat is on Rahul Gandhi because apart from the JD-U and his party, the names of others who may have used the group’s services aren’t out yet.

Referring specifically to Karnataka, CA says that ‘a smartphone battle using big data and social media was fought in UP, and it will be even more decisive in a state that is the technological capital of India’. The firm wants the Congress to ‘regain the initiative by ensuring its campaign in fully data-driven and its communications digitally focused’. On Madhya Pradesh, which the BJP has dominated since 2003, CA thinks that the Congress has a ‘real chance’ in this year’s Assembly polls. The BJP currently holds 165 of the 230 seats in the state and the Congress, 56; CA wants the Congress to ‘conduct a thorough target audience analysis to better understand the grievances, attitudes and motivations of the electorate in MP and then plan and implement a campaign based on behavioral micro-targeting to mobilise the people of rural MP’. Similar is the strategy that CA offers for Chhattisgarh, which the BJP has been winning since 2003. The BJP won 49 of 90 seats in its Assembly the last time round, and the Congress, 39. ‘The INC must show that it can win emphatically in a 93% Hindu, BJP- controlled state in order to alter the attitudes of voters in the run-up to the Lok Sabha [polls] just a few months later,’ the proposal states.

Contacted by Open, Divya Spandana, head of the Congress social media and digital communications team, says, “[CA] could have made a proposal, but they never sent it to us. I’ve never met nor spoken to anybody. Neither has my boss.”

In its role as a political consultancy, the company extols the virtues of the so-called four Vs of Big Data in its proposal: Volume, Variety, Velocity and Veracity. By setting up large-scale digital infrastructure, CA argues, the INC ‘will have a web-based data reservoir that can be updated and accessed at any time to help plan strategy, direct local campaigning, and plan interactions with supporters’. It has also offered an internal layout plan for an Operations Centre. Throughout the proposal, CA places emphasis on the party’s need to ‘map the drivers and dynamics of popular sentiment’. Persuasive messages individualised for enhanced appeal is a crucial component of the plan.

As for research on voter behaviour, CA recommends starting off with face-to-face or online tools, apart from telephone interviews. ‘CA will conduct a series of focus groups to ensure accurate representation across age, gender, income/education, geographic location and political partisanship,’ the document promises; ‘The result of this phase will be a detailed assessment of the key dimensions that are likely to influence support of the INC across India, the real impact of the candidates, and ideas/expectations for the future.’ Surveys by CA are expected to provide the data needed to divide the population into distinct groups based on shared characteristics, views and motivators, the document states. The idea of this approach is to gauge the relative importance of local and national issues, support levels for candidates, voter perceptions, and key influencers among assorted population segments. According to the proposal, ‘CA’s data scientists will transform data into insight by analysing and visualising the cleaned and enriched data to identify patters and build and understanding of influencing factors.’

In sum, the company would prepare a complete data set on the Indian electorate, and all the information required to develop a strategic communications plan for engaging voters, tailored to the issues and concerns of each target audience. The principal aim, the document reiterates, is to enable the Congress to get the appropriate message across to voters in the most effective way.

The overall plan, in CA’s view, would be to replicate for the Congress the strategies that won Trump the White House. That the US president’s former aide Steve Bannon once served as a vice- president of CA lends credence to its claim of credit for that victory. The document says that for the US election, the firm polled 180,000 individuals across 17 battleground states, online and by telephone: ‘This information allowed us to speak to voters in a way they would understand and respond strongly to.’ The firm promises to apply data science to not only predict how voters think and behave ‘so that you [the Congress] can target the right people and convert them to supporters’, it hopes to identify those who are likely to vote for the party across villages. CA also proposes to put in place a digital platform to analyse feedback from party workers at the grassroots.

Hiring a data analytics company is par for the course in any modern election anywhere in the world, and India is no exception. The current ruling party, for example, had employed young data scientists and others to its advantage in 2014. What has drawn CA under a cloud is its use of unethical means that has come to light. While this has had its repercussions, the details of its proposal do suggest hard work having gone into it.

More than once in the document, CA refers to the Congress’ ‘existential challenge’ and the need for leadership change. The challenge, as they say, is to change the system more than it changes you.

chetak
Forum Moderator
Posts: 2039
Joined: Mon Oct 02, 2017 5:08 am
Been thanked: 3 times

Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - 2 (Mar 2018 - )

Post by chetak » Mon Apr 02, 2018 5:25 am

KL Dubey wrote:
Mon Apr 02, 2018 2:54 am
chetak wrote:
Sat Mar 31, 2018 6:09 am
Indrad wrote:
Fri Mar 30, 2018 8:13 pm
fully agree Nitish & Paswan hold the key to Modi's return to good extent: With Mayawati in fold of thugs Paswan is the only dalit icon with BJP for Hindi heart land.
paswan and family are hurting badly because they are unable to dip their beaks.

Paswan will break away very late in the game with the door left slightly open so that damage is maximized unless substantial funds are sent his way.

DeMon and GST has hurt everyone, including the havala based money supply chain pathways

So, expect the center to make a few more luloo like examples from the congis, NCP and TMC.
I would expect the Centah to do that anyway. I don't think Paswan will break away (not for 2019, at least).
Let's wait and watch.

In the case of nitishwa, his naked and unbridled ambition far outstrips his mofussil abilities.

He is a legend in his own mind and more importantly, he thinks that he is entitled to become the PM.


Meetings between Nitish Kumar, Paswan trigger speculation

Meetings between Nitish Kumar, Paswan trigger speculation


Kundan Jha

March 31, 2018,

After the recently concluded Bihar bypolls, frequent meetings of Janata Dal United (JDU) supremo Nitish Kumar and Ram Vilas Paswan of the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) have triggered speculation about the possible formation of a front ahead of the 2019 general elections.

The meetings between Paswan and Kumar are being seen as political posturing ahead of the general elections. Concerns about losing their core voters and the rising popularity of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) have added extra pressure on both the leaders, according to sources.

A source in the JDU told The Sunday Guardian: “The results of the bypolls have forced Kumar and Paswan to search for ways by which the duo can retain their political ground in Bihar. The BJP’s aggressive rise seems to be hurting the poll prospects of the JDU and LJP in the state and both leaders are aware that they can’t take the risk of losing their core voters of Other Backward Classes (OBC), Dalits and minorities.”

However, denying any possibility of forming any front in Bihar, JDU spokesperson Neeraj Kumar said: “Ram Vilas Paswan is part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the meetings with Nitish Kumar were just part of a routine process. The ruling JDU, with its main ally BJP, is functioning smoothly and all the partners are working towards the development of the state.”

“JDU has formed alliance with the BJP on the terms of maintaining social harmony, political equity and economic development. All these ideals are binding on the stakeholders of the NDA and there is absolutely no need of forming any alliance with any political party,” Neeraj Kumar told The Sunday Guardian.

LJP leaders Ram Vilas Paswan and his son Chirag Paswan, were not available to comment on the issue. When The Sunday Guardian contacted Ramji Singh, national vice-President of LJP, he said: “Only Ram Vilas Paswan or Chirag Paswan will be able to comment on this issue.”

Bypolls were held in two Assembly seats (Jehanabad and Bhabua) and one Lok Sabha seat (Araria). While the RJD retained both Araria and Jehanabad LS seats, the BJP retained the Bhabua seat.

According to a senior JDU leader, Kumar and Paswan, who met earlier this month, discussed various issues, including the alleged increasing communal tension in the state, and the results of the bypolls.

Sources said that both the leaders agreed to render the best possible support to each other to regain the core voters’ support in the state.

The violence that occurred after the bypolls is reportedly continuing, and has given an impression that the ruling JDU has been unable to stop the violence.

Sources said that the perception of failure to check violence might make the JDU lose its core vote bank, especially the Pasmanda (backward) sections who have always been part of the core vote base of the JDU.

Sachin
BGR Oldie
Posts: 713
Joined: Mon Oct 02, 2017 3:25 pm

Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - 2 (Mar 2018 - )

Post by Sachin » Mon Apr 02, 2018 7:14 am

Bharat Bandh live updates: Karni Sena and Dalit activists clash in Rajasthan
These kind of riots I guess would now be increasing in numbers as LS elections come near. The grief is said to be against a recent court order, but I feel the final aim is to use it against the GoI.
MehtaRahulC wrote:All your WHATABOUTARY is useless. You have no solution.
I do have a solution; that is to keep aside this "Free temple" business for some time. Issuing gazette notifications to nullify contracts and then allow the people to fight on the streets, and then the "seculars" can use that to cause further damage. Nothing has stopped "Free temple" brigade in approaching the courts with their grief (and even the proposed plan). Yes, such a thing has been done in the RJB case, but that is it. If "Free temple" brigade in other parts of the countries have a grouse against their respective state governments, none of them have taken any judicial recourse. But then every body expects Modi to just dance to their tunes and help them in their aims. If some thing has to be done by Modi & Co, it would be based on their own assumptions and long term plans. If the petitioners are impatient, then they also can try other means.
When handing back temples to original owners of heirs, the govt can cite SECULARISM as guiding principle.
There lies the catch (in states like KL). Today none of the owners/heirs who owned temples want these temples back. Reason? They are not in a position to ensure that all traditions, rights and rituals in these temples can be carried out with the same grandeur. The big temples of KL, were all under the direct ownership of the Cochin & Travancore kings. All those royal families have no much wherewithall to run the show now. They would go bank rupt. Only small temples who are under control of some communities/castes, or smaller temples with very less pomp & splendour are able to run the show by themselves. In the British ruled; British Malabar (today's North Kerala) every temple out there is no handing over their control to the Malabar Devaswom Board because the original heirs do not have the money to run the show. Land Ceiling Act etc. have totally bankrupted them.

hanumadu
BGR Oldie
Posts: 606
Joined: Mon Oct 02, 2017 9:20 am

Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - 2 (Mar 2018 - )

Post by hanumadu » Mon Apr 02, 2018 7:35 am

The anti Namo stance of Shourie, Yashwant Sinha seems to stem from the concern that BJP might be left with no allies if they need them in the future as the allies are concerned that BJP is expanding at their cost. If Namo loses or fails to get absolute majority he will be painted as an imposter, an outsider and an aberration within BJP. He will be made to retire and a more palatable leader will be selected.
If Namo can't come back, I hope at least BJP will form the govt as a coalition for the next the two General Elections at the minimum.
CBN's break up must be seen in this light too. BJP is eating its core base in AP. It's out of Telangana anyway. If it doesn't have AP, it has to shut shop permanently. Namo is rallying the Hindus and opposition parties are coming up insane ideas to break up Hindu unity. Lingayats vs others, south vs north, fake atrocities on Dalits. The deluge of fake news and the resultant outrage will be unbearable till GE 2019. Buckle up and be ready to take it head on.
Follow congi handles like Sanjay Jha, Rahul Gandhi, Surjewala and nip their fake news in the bud. Drown their tweets and replies by their paid SM trolls with massive waves of our own tweets and drown their voice. I already see hundreds of RW tweets in reply to congi-commie handles. I don't know if they are coordinated by BJP IT cell or its just BJP/Namo supporters but RW seems to be responding well to SM offensive by the congress probably out of realisation of congi tactics and desperate for a Namo comeback.

Now that Siddaramiah arrested a BJP supporter for fake news, it should give license for BJP to arrest all these fake news peddlers. @UnsubleDesi posted that I&B ministry might just do that.

Chandragupta
BGR Member
Posts: 347
Joined: Tue Oct 03, 2017 5:49 am

Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - 2 (Mar 2018 - )

Post by Chandragupta » Mon Apr 02, 2018 8:12 am

hanumadu wrote:
Mon Apr 02, 2018 7:35 am
The anti Namo stance of Shourie, Yashwant Sinha seems to stem from the concern that BJP might be left with no allies if they need them in the future as the allies are concerned that BJP is expanding at their cost. If Namo loses or fails to get absolute majority he will be painted as an imposter, an outsider and an aberration within BJP. He will be made to retire and a more palatable leader will be selected.
If Namo can't come back, I hope at least BJP will form the govt as a coalition for the next the two General Elections at the minimum.
CBN's break up must be seen in this light too. BJP is eating its core base in AP. It's out of Telangana anyway. If it doesn't have AP, it has to shut shop permanently. Namo is rallying the Hindus and opposition parties are coming up insane ideas to break up Hindu unity. Lingayats vs others, south vs north, fake atrocities on Dalits. The deluge of fake news and the resultant outrage will be unbearable till GE 2019. Buckle up and be ready to take it head on.
Follow congi handles like Sanjay Jha, Rahul Gandhi, Surjewala and nip their fake news in the bud. Drown their tweets and replies by their paid SM trolls with massive waves of our own tweets and drown their voice. I already see hundreds of RW tweets in reply to congi-commie handles. I don't know if they are coordinated by BJP IT cell or its just BJP/Namo supporters but RW seems to be responding well to SM offensive by the congress probably out of realisation of congi tactics and desperate for a Namo comeback.

Now that Siddaramiah arrested a BJP supporter for fake news, it should give license for BJP to arrest all these fake news peddlers. @UnsubleDesi posted that I&B ministry might just do that.
So are you saying that a part of BJP is backing these 3 clowns as a fail-safe measure?

Even the thought of Modi losing is scary. I believe that the BIF have realized that the best they can do is to restrict BJP to less than 240 and then either make a mahathugbandhan or even if BJP makes a government, they are severely restricted by sickular allies.

If such a coalition forms, it will be 'The End' for BJP (or most likely Modi-Shah)'s ambition to expand BJP to new territories. They will be shut from AP, WB and the South by threats from Coalition partners while they erode BJP from its own bastions. There is simply no plan B here, Modi has to win with 272+. No ifs & buts. If Hindus swallow this shitpile from Congressis about caste frictions and all they have been spewing, then perhaps we deserve what is coming to us.

Sachin
BGR Oldie
Posts: 713
Joined: Mon Oct 02, 2017 3:25 pm

Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - 2 (Mar 2018 - )

Post by Sachin » Mon Apr 02, 2018 8:32 am

hanumadu wrote:The anti Namo stance of Shourie, Yashwant Sinha seems to stem from the concern that BJP might be left with no allies if they need them in the future as the allies are concerned that BJP is expanding at their cost.
Are you sure on this? Shourie & Yashwant Sinha had no problems in joining hands with Mamta Banerjee who is openly talking about having every other out fit join against BJP. If Shourie & Yeshwant Sinha had the concern of BJP being left with no allies why join hands with a person who just plans to do that? I cannot figure out why Shourie became such a critic of Na.Mo; perhaps a case of sour grapes. But Yeshwant Sinha, Adwani etc. have breathed the Lutyen's Delhi air for many years now, so much so that they are Congressis at heart. They just cannot look beyond an India with Indian National Congress not being allowed to run the show.
Chandragupta wrote:So are you saying that a part of BJP is backing these 3 clowns as a fail-safe measure?
My next question would then be who in BJP is backing these 3 clowns. These there people (and others like job-less Shatrughan Sinha) are now pretty much anti-BJP they can get. They may only tone down, if BJP is now made into a Congress-II version.

Hari Seldon
BGR Oldie
Posts: 570
Joined: Mon Oct 02, 2017 1:01 am

Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - 2 (Mar 2018 - )

Post by Hari Seldon » Mon Apr 02, 2018 9:14 am

Had the misfortune of seeing Aroon Poorie's BIF-vehicle India Today playing in the workplace cafeteria today morn.

Continuous, relentless, breathless, inflammatory coverage of arson, goondagardi, mob-violence, public-property-destruction, intimidation etc etc under headlines such as "Dalits demand their rights" or some such. Reports streaming in from multiple northern states - MP, RJ, PJ, GJ, HR, UKD, UP - you name it.

Followed by RaGa's tweets quoted verbatim on-loop throughout. Tweets such as "Keeping dalits at the bottom is in BJP's DNA" just to give a taste of the kinda rhetoric now being *normalized* across polity aajkal. Rest assured the same is being spread on whatsapp groups nationwide and outside.

Theek hai.

P.S. I recall getting all concerned and worried after the MP farmers' agitation some moons ago. Was calling for some govt response - even if knee jerk. Thankfully, sarkar didn't react blindly and the storm passed. DevF in MH did a much smoother job defusing the farmer march thingie there.

P.P.S. That said, can;t shake off the feeling that Modi sarkar has lost initiative. Seems like its the opposition suddenly calling the shots, setting the agenda, directing the narrative. WOuldn't be surprised if BIF moneybags on phoren shores are scripting and choreographing this whole effin' mess. Onlee. Sigh.

Hari Seldon
BGR Oldie
Posts: 570
Joined: Mon Oct 02, 2017 1:01 am

Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - 2 (Mar 2018 - )

Post by Hari Seldon » Mon Apr 02, 2018 9:17 am

This whole thing with shourie yashwant LKA shotgun etc are small potatoes. WHo even cares about their farts anymore? Fact is the lack of media attention is forcing them to fart even louder and somehow create an ever greater stink in return for at least a little bit of media attention.

I recall when shourie's first interview "Cow + marx" created memes, generated waves and what not. By the time the chap was onto his third interview, visible yawns arose even from psec circles.

chetak
Forum Moderator
Posts: 2039
Joined: Mon Oct 02, 2017 5:08 am
Been thanked: 3 times

Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - 2 (Mar 2018 - )

Post by chetak » Mon Apr 02, 2018 10:16 am

Hari Seldon wrote:
Mon Apr 02, 2018 9:14 am
Had the misfortune of seeing Aroon Poorie's BIF-vehicle India Today playing in the workplace cafeteria today morn.

Continuous, relentless, breathless, inflammatory coverage of arson, goondagardi, mob-violence, public-property-destruction, intimidation etc etc under headlines such as "Dalits demand their rights" or some such. Reports streaming in from multiple northern states - MP, RJ, PJ, GJ, HR, UKD, UP - you name it.

Followed by RaGa's tweets quoted verbatim on-loop throughout. Tweets such as "Keeping dalits at the bottom is in BJP's DNA" just to give a taste of the kinda rhetoric now being *normalized* across polity aajkal. Rest assured the same is being spread on whatsapp groups nationwide and outside.

Theek hai.

P.S. I recall getting all concerned and worried after the MP farmers' agitation some moons ago. Was calling for some govt response - even if knee jerk. Thankfully, sarkar didn't react blindly and the storm passed. DevF in MH did a much smoother job defusing the farmer march thingie there.

P.P.S. That said, can;t shake off the feeling that Modi sarkar has lost initiative. Seems like its the opposition suddenly calling the shots, setting the agenda, directing the narrative. WOuldn't be surprised if BIF moneybags on phoren shores are scripting and choreographing this whole effin' mess. Onlee. Sigh.
Increasingly, it is beginning to look like that the CA model is being deconstructed locally by a lot of entities, especially commies with access to academic resources and their FBO henchmen. The so called leaders and coodinators are mostly from out of state with no grass roots connection to the movement itself.

For instance, some keralites were spotted in the MAH "farmers" agitation, where did they come from and why ?? There is increasing interference from some FBOs (faith based organisations) meaning FFNGOs ( foreign funded NGOs ).

Also, the BJP was very lucky to get off so easily. The organizers had planned for a lengthy confrontation until the MAH CM managed to diffuse it very quickly and quietly. THat's why I am saying that the out of state "leaders" had no grass roots connect with the "agitators"

I simply will not buy the story of a "spontaneous agitation". What happened in MAH was carefully coordinated and too well organized for it to be anything but another experiment just like the kudankulam anti nuke agitation

They are not doing complicated data analysis but have learned very quickly to identify issues that are specifically tailored to hurt the BJP/RSS combine to the maximum, thus tuning the slogan shouting, planning visibility on TV, getting random people to blame the Modi govt for all the ills befalling them.

Thus, they have adopted as well as adapted the CA model, minus the expensive data collection, costly number crunching and complicated delivery management, which has been desi deconstructed to enable the entities to discover and home in on region specific issues, state specific issues, as well as using the issues to develop and reuse the older targeted delivery systems like rallies, riots and hartals focussed specifically on using free coverage mass media like TV and print, SM as well as using relatively unknown leaders with good communication skills to get their messages out. This is a relatively "cheap and best" methodology for the financially challenged opposition.

The presstitutes have sensed blood in the water and have started to back the congis once again in a vociferous fashion on TV debates and litfest discussions as well as social media.

Two things will happen simultaneously, one the calumny campaign will gather momentum if not diffused by an alternate narrative and second, the BJP/RSS is quickly beginning to catch on and adapt to this new gameplan but there is a lag.

Thankfully, the attack is starting to peak way too early and hence a lot of the karyakarthas will now have time to adapt, acclimatize and anticipate so that the alternative template is able to take root and play out.

These CA techniques have brought about a paradigm shift in the use of SM itself and the BJP/RSS are no slouches or novices on this new battleground.

Earlier opposition campaigns were like a random shot gun blast but the newer ones now are like a carefully aimed, very well controlled, specifically timed, high caliber sniper shots to the head. All done with the element of some surprise.

Patidar, mewani, jallikattu, cashmere, lingayats to even the question paper leaks in dilli are not random events. There seems to be a pattern emerging.
Last edited by chetak on Mon Apr 02, 2018 10:36 am, edited 1 time in total.

hanumadu
BGR Oldie
Posts: 606
Joined: Mon Oct 02, 2017 9:20 am

Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - 2 (Mar 2018 - )

Post by hanumadu » Mon Apr 02, 2018 10:22 am

Sachin wrote:
Mon Apr 02, 2018 8:32 am
hanumadu wrote:The anti Namo stance of Shourie, Yashwant Sinha seems to stem from the concern that BJP might be left with no allies if they need them in the future as the allies are concerned that BJP is expanding at their cost.
Are you sure on this? Shourie & Yashwant Sinha had no problems in joining hands with Mamta Banerjee who is openly talking about having every other out fit join against BJP.
No, I am not sure :). May be its just NaMo (and Amit Shah and Jaitley) they are against and they want to see him go. I can't imagine why they would have anything against the BJP as a party. They have been long time members and reached their pinnacle as members of BJP. They are still nothing outside the party.
Namo did take a mighty gamble with this all or nothing approach. Its 50% of votes now in UP, may be Bihar, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh or go home. That's a mighty big ask. He better have some aces up his sleeve. I hate to see all his schemes go to waste and his ambitious targets curtailed.

Sachin
BGR Oldie
Posts: 713
Joined: Mon Oct 02, 2017 3:25 pm

Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - 2 (Mar 2018 - )

Post by Sachin » Mon Apr 02, 2018 10:41 am

hanumadu wrote:I can't imagine why they would have anything against the BJP as a party. They have been long time members and reached their pinnacle as members of BJP. They are still nothing outside the party.
But after Na.Mo came to be the PM, all we saw from them was nothing but jealous comments or pontifications. And these were all made with full media glare. Either they were naive to give such sermons to Na.Mo & Co. *outside* the party channels, or the "seculars" pumped up their egos and got them to gang up against the government. Perhaps there is indeed lots of groupism in BJP (like Congress) and many BJP leaders do not want some one outside a coterie (most likely camping at Lutyen's Delhi) to take up important posts like P.M etc.
Namo did take a mighty gamble with this all or nothing approach. Its 50% of votes now in UP, may be Bihar, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh or go home.
Considering folks like the two Sinhas and Adwani were right, and they were well wishers of Na.Mo and the government under him, what have they done to ensure that the allies actually stood by with the BJP (their own party)? I have not observed any incidents in which this gang actually helped Na.Mo or A.Shah (or even BJP) in any manner. They have been just cribbing and whining all along, and don't know how that can be taken as advice. Do correct me if I am wrong here.

Any ways looks like the RSS machinery has slowly began its home work. RSS leadership plans 5-day Pune meet to review feedback on govt, shape 2019 strategy .

chetak
Forum Moderator
Posts: 2039
Joined: Mon Oct 02, 2017 5:08 am
Been thanked: 3 times

Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - 2 (Mar 2018 - )

Post by chetak » Mon Apr 02, 2018 10:51 am

hanumadu wrote:
Mon Apr 02, 2018 10:22 am
Sachin wrote:
Mon Apr 02, 2018 8:32 am
hanumadu wrote:The anti Namo stance of Shourie, Yashwant Sinha seems to stem from the concern that BJP might be left with no allies if they need them in the future as the allies are concerned that BJP is expanding at their cost.
Are you sure on this? Shourie & Yashwant Sinha had no problems in joining hands with Mamta Banerjee who is openly talking about having every other out fit join against BJP.
No, I am not sure :). May be its just NaMo (and Amit Shah and Jaitley) they are against and they want to see him go. I can't imagine why they would have anything against the BJP as a party. They have been long time members and reached their pinnacle as members of BJP. They are still nothing outside the party.
Namo did take a mighty gamble with this all or nothing approach. Its 50% of votes now in UP, may be Bihar, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh or go home. That's a mighty big ask. He better have some aces up his sleeve. I hate to see all his schemes go to waste and his ambitious targets curtailed.
Shourie & Yashwant Sinha wanting NM + AS to go is OK, but to what end??

It's not as though any other BJP leader would accept Shourie & Yashwant Sinha with open arms and rehabilitate them in high cabinet positions, no??

Their gaddari is unforgivable. One joker wants to become the FM and the other the PM.

Incidentally, yeshwant sinha, single handedly helped AAP make its state budget. The aapis have NIL financial expertise except for the niche talent and expertise in the " collection of finances"

Closer to 2019, they both will be expelled and good riddance too. There was something shady about how yashwant sinha's son was moved out of the FimMin and the son too has almost been completely sidelined now. Once a lootyens insider, always a lootyens insider. The sins of the father and all that................ .

This 75years nonsense has complicated a lot of issues for the NM+AS combine. It was a "aa bail, mujhe maar" thing.

MMJ would have done wonders with HRD and RTE. A dream mandate has almost been callously wasted and may be such a chance may never ever come again. Putting a wimp like javdekar there is as good as surrendering even before the battle had begun.

Lilo
BGR Member
Posts: 156
Joined: Sun Oct 01, 2017 5:25 pm

Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - 2 (Mar 2018 - )

Post by Lilo » Mon Apr 02, 2018 11:11 am

So today i post about a RW twitter handle @hinduphobia and his kindred twitterverse (@suchindranath and few others).
Folks here may reply with thoughts on how this @hinduphobia guy became pro BIF or if he is really the real PIF :rotfl:


Image
Image
Image
Image


Image


Image


Image

On a side-note a self profile of this MYTY @Suchindranath and his neurosis.
https://bidoun.org/articles/left-behind

As an illuminating project try convincing one MYTY in your groups(whatapp,SMverse etc) and
Post the result of this exercise here as one of below options
1)You got convinced yourself by him!.He is that solid in his logic and facts - NaMo doesnt deserve a second term as he is a traitor to Hindutva.
2) He got convinced by your logic and acknowledged that NaMo must be brought back with a thumping majority.
3)You found out that he doesnt want to be convinced even when facts and logic are staring in his face.

Locked