For all the spin, this aint no Doosra

Well folks the Spin Meisters are out again, no I am not referring to the Turbanator’s return to form against England, I am referring to the powerful spin machine the Sonia Parivar has put out there. Right folks its time we buried the Nehur/Gandhi Parivar they never renounced anything, renunciation was anything but their game, it is clearly a new Parivar emerging here and it is the Sonia Parivar. So what is the cast of this Parivar.

First there is the dutiful Munim – Manmohan, who does his madam’s bidding “Jee Memsahib“ without too much protestation

Then there is the sycophantic Sena of Chelas – The Congress Working Committee or whatever it is they call it these days who short of tatooing Sonia on their behinds are always at her “Charano Mein”

The above we already know about, but there is a new not so well known part of this Parivar that has begun to show its face and it is the Najaayiz Rishte – The closet Spin Meisters of the Sonia Parivar embedded deeply within mainstream media outlets.

So how does one go about identifying these Spin Meisters, well despair not folks, Offstumped is there for you to sift through the news and the opinions to tell the Spin and unmask the Spin Meisters.

At the high chair of Spin are the duo from Hindustan Times, Pankaj Vohra and Vir Sanghvi.

Notice the rather blatant case Pankaj makes for Sonia in his op-ed piece “The Winner Takes it All” http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1659640,00300007.htm

By resigning from her Lok Sabha seat as well as the chairpersonship of the National Advisory Council, she has demonstrated that she holds principle over position. She has also shown that if you actually wish to serve the people, you can do so even without acquiring a post.

She should also fix responsibility by holding a confidential inquiry into the series of blunders including the latest one which was saved by timely action by the Congress president herself.

But the above underlined is the most important operative statement, this is the opening gambit of the line of spin, the Sonia Parivar has subtly commissioned to perpetutate 2 myths while asking no tough questions, “Why was Parliament Adjourned, where is the explanation for it ?“ :

1. Myth #1 Renunciation – Morally Elevating what was essentially a face saving act to make us believe it is a sacrifice and renunciation, this line works well to emotionally charge up campagins

2. Myth#2 Sonia was not at fault – Trying to create a berlin wall of sorts between some incompetent underlings who had the temerity to think up political strategies to the extent of adjourning parliament and promulgating ordinance and doing all this without the dutiful Munim or the Memsahib knowing so as to create the impression that Sonia was above this, someone else screwed up and Sonia should punish that someone else.

Now look how this line of spin gets perpetuated by others. Prem Shankar Jha again in the Hindustan Times in his op-ed piece “Morality Pays“ writes http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1659634,00120001.htm

Not being privy to what went on at 10, Janpath, one can only speculate on the reasons why Sonia did not take control of the brewing crisis sooner.

So he sows the seeds of the same line of spin, that there was someone else who screwed up and how could Sonia let the someone else screw up. Again sublty shifting the needle of blame away from her. But Prem Shankar Jha doesnt stop there he goes even further to elevate this act to perpetuate Myth #1

By resigning, Sonia prevented her government from amending the law in a morally dubious way to benefit her personally

So we are made to believe that Sonia and her government are two separate entities and the Government has its way on issues including political issues and Sonia being outside the government was not privy to the thinking within the Government and what is worse she could not just pick up the phone and order the Munim or the Chelas to fall in line but because it was beyond her capacity to do so, she had to take extraordinary measures to “Prevent“, look at the choice of words here prevent, so it is almost as if the Munim and Chelas dont listen to her, have a mind of their own and hence she had to Prevent things from happening, not just order for things to happen her way.

So we had Prem Shankar Jha lending this line of spin a tinge of credibility and laying it right out there to be picked up by Vir Sanghvi to go for the kill. Sanghvi despite being a closet admirer of the Sonia Parivar has a larger constituency to address so he takes a different tack to reaffirm this same line of Spin. In his Op-ed piece “The Real Conflicts of Interest“ http://www.hindustantimes.com/2006/Mar/26/181_1659360,00300001.htm Sanghvi writes

How you reacted to Sonia Gandhi’s resignation depends, largely, on what you already believed about the Congress and Sonia herself. As far as I can tell, the vast majority of Indians, who had no political axe to grind, treated it as confirmation of something they already felt: that while Sonia was motivated by a strong sense of duty, she had no great love of office. So, having tired of the suggestion that the government was considering changing the law only to resolve the conflict over her status, she decided that she did not particularly want to be an MP anyway — at least not if it meant having to pass ordinances and live with the criticism that the rules were being altered to suit her.

Sanghvi wastes no time and goes straight for the jugular. In one shot he elevates and popularizes the myth that most of India and the Congress Sycophants think alike. By doing this he has essentially perpetuated both of our myths while giving it a popular cover by invoking the vast majority.

What vast majority is he talking about, it is this same arrogance that has the media offstumped time again, that they think they can speak for the rest of the country sitting in New Delhi, Sanghvi in fact ought to be ashamed for this line of argument having himself argued a few weeks earlier in a column critiqued by Offstumped that Big Media gets India wrong, so clearly the need to push this line of spin outweighed his own insights and observations.

The spin machine has many more closet members, now that you know the line of spin, you know how to spot them.

Sonia’s doosra was in fact a chuck and her spin has to be called to question. Congress survives as long as it elevates its Leader to a pedestal above us mere mortals. Because if the leader is a mere mortal then he will have to meet the ignominous fate of PV Narasimha Rao and Sitaram Kesri. The Leader is above Politics so we have to believe, the Leader is above Power, I dont know what the hell that means I thought we were a democracy , but we still have to believe that. Most importantly the Leader is infallible and morally righteous. That is the Sonia Parivar mantra and it has put a very effective spin machine to perpetuate this mantra.

Offstumped Bottomline: Sonia this aint no doosra. For all that moral righteous indignation you have been demonstrating in Rae Barelli you should have been on the floor of the Parliament in full view of the Nation, explaining your position by shying away from the floor of the house and not offering any explanations for why the House was adjourned you have forfeited all moral authority here and you have been badly Offstumped.

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