http://www.cobrapost.com/documents/one.htm
(((Just before the BJP sex smear broke, a bunch of BJP politicians were videotaped taking "cash for questions" in Parliament. This is practically a letter-perfect repeat of the famous "Tehelka" sting of the 1990s, which makes sense, because it's the very same guy doing it: Aniruddha Bahal.)))
(((Aniruddha Bahal happens to be a rather gifted satirical novelist as well as a web activist and muckraking reporter. Weirdly, and I guess by no coincidence, I've actually MET Aniruddha Bahal; I even HAD DINNER with Aniruddha Bahal, in Singapore.)))
(((Here are some highlights from Bahal's long, painfully detailed and kinda horrifying expose of how he and his colleagues went about crucifying crooked politicians on video FOR THE SECOND TIME. The stung politicians were all forced to resign. Then it really started hitting the fan. Bahal's site is still up. Man, that guy is something else.)))
"OPERATION DURYODHANA
A COBRAPOST-AAJ TAK investigation unearths 11 MPs accepting cash to table questions in the Indian Parliament.
"By ANIRUDDHA BAHAL
"If used rightly, tiny, lens bearing aperatures, can empower a citizenry by exposing democracy's toxic acreage. Operation Duryodhana, a COBRAPOST-AAJ TAK investigation lasting nearly eight months succeeded in capturing the acts of 10 Lok Sabha and one Rajya Sabha members as they accepted money from representatives of a fictitious body called the North Indian Small Manufacturers' Association (NISMA) for asking questions in the Indian Parliament. In all more than 60 questions were submitted by 11 MPs of which 25 questions (at last count) were tabled in the Parliament.
The MPs who took money for putting questions in the Indian Parliament are:
Narendra Kushwaha (BSP) - Rs 55,000
Anna Saheb M.K. Patil (BJP) - Rs 45,000
Dr Chhatrapal Singh Lodha (BJP) - Rs 15,000
Y.G. Mahajan (BJP) - Rs 35,000
Manoj Kumar (RJD) - Rs 110,000
Suresh Chandel (BJP) - Rs 30,000
Raja Ram Pal (BSP) - Rs 35,000
Lal Chandra Kol (BJP) - Rs 35,000
Pradeep Gandhi (BJP) - Rs 55,000
Chandra Pratap Singh (BJP) - Rs 35,000
Ramsevak Singh (Congress) - Rs 50,000
(...)
From the start it was my assessment that in order for a reportorial team to remain undercover for a long duration it would be prudent to have a woman reporter as the primary asset on the field. Their biggest advantage in undercover situations is that even in an extreme atmosphere of suspicion they have greater chances to evade a search for hidden camera equipment then men and for all the right reasons. Besides Suhasini Raj, the reporter, who was inserted in the field with an alias of 'Namita Gokhale', had a past selling insurance and was a fast talker.
(...)
When I did eventually take the field with an alias of 'Navratan Malhotra';, executive director of the 'fictitious' NISMA, I was armed with a ludicrous wig and even more ludicrous glasses.
(...)
(((He goes into great detail as to how politicians justify their taking of bribes.)))
In the meeting with the NISMA's director, Kushwaha is a goldmine of information. He tells us that commission for MPs in the MPLAD (Member of Parliament Local Area Development) scheme is around 10 per cent (each MP gets a sum of Rs 2 crore every year to spend in his constituency any which way he deems fit). Says Kushwaha, referring to the MPLAD scheme: "Kitna khate hain, khata hoga' dus per cent khate hain; bees hi lakh rupya na hua. Usme aapko sansadhan, gadi kitne rakhne hote hain MP ko (How much do they embezzle? Hardly 10 per cent. That comes to only Rs 20 lakh. So what? After all, an MP has to maintain all the paraphernalia, a retinue of cars, etc that go with his lifestyle)." (...)
Of course, throughout his interactions and conversations with the reporter he never loses an opportunity to make passes at her. Sample some phrases: "Arre tum to meri poori awaaz hi lekar chali gayi ho (You have taken away my voice)", "Rukenge hamare yahaan (Will you stay at my place?)" and more.
(...)
Later, in a meeting with NISMA's Malhotra at a suite in Maurya Sheraton, Patil insists early on that "nowadays the work, either in Parliament or assemblies, ...cannot be done without a lobby". With reference to big corporate goons, Patil says that it's a "tragedy that they are ruling the country." The MP from Erandol talks about how the corporates can not only influence policy but "they can make any law or any sort of a legislation". He has a memorable take on legislators:"What is their party for them? Nothing. Nothing. Money is the party."
And, a few sentences later: "Nalayak hain saale sab. Corrupt hain sab (They are all good for nothing. They are all corrupt)."
(((Since Bahal is a novelist (he wrote a book called BUNKER 13), he likes his bribed Parliamentarians to ask fake questions with cool, with-it literary allusions that moron politicians are too philistine to get.)))
Excerpts from some of the questions:
Whether the Railway Ministry has placed any order for purchase of the Yossarian Electro Diesel engine from Germany? Is the ministry aware that the Tom Wolfe committee report in Germany has halted its induction into the Euro Rail system?
Whether the Government has given sanction for the seed trial of Salinger Cotton of Monsanto? If so, has a report been prepared on Catch 22 cotton so far?
Has the ministry lifted the 1962 ban it imposed on the book "For whom the Bell Tolls" by Ernest Hemingway and the 1975 ban on Ken Kesey's book "One Flew Over a Cuckoo's Nest" and Hunter Thomson's book "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas"? If so, when were the bans removed?
Whether the government is aware that a domestic flying license has been denied to Cobra Cargo for starting operations in India? Since when has Semper Sursum Private Limited, the holding company of Cobra Cargo, applied for the domestic cargo license?
And now, that I have paid homage to Yossarian, I am a little upset that Major Major and Milo Mindbinder got left out. But I am happy that the Yossarian brand name has infiltrated the German market in spite of strong opposition from Tom Wolfe thanks to the foresightedness of the Indian parliamentarians. As for the Catch 22 and Salinger cotton strains I hope they are tremendously profitable for farmers and that the lifting of the bans on Hemingway, Thomson and Kesey, long due and deserved, will lead to a tremendous fillip to the publishing industry in general.
And as for Semper Sursum Private Limited I feel that the Union of India should promptly issue them a domestic cargo license, if that facility exists, so that Cobra Cargo can fly the books of Kesey, Thomson, Hemingway, Salinger, Wolfe and Joseph Heller all over India free of charge. Which undertaking Cobra Cargo has given to me personally.
As for the British authors, the motley bunch of Shakespeare, Kinglsey Amis, P.G. Wodehouse, Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, Jane Austen, and many others, who might be fuming at not having made it into the record books of the Indian Parliament, more specially because these American upstarts seem to have made it, I furnish my unqualified apologies and say that there are many mad Allahabadis around and it’s only a matter of time before this lopsidedness is rectified.
(((Bahal's final summary:)))
For corruption to be defeated it has to be decoded first. Some would even say that while in the West one makes money in the market and uses it to buy or manipulate power, in India one grabs power in order to make money. The other thing about it that needs to be understood is that when powerful citizens are caught lunging for cash, they crank propaganda with ferocity. There is this demonic energy that propaganda generates which tricks you to try and understand an issue not on the facts but on the people who put those facts. It also tries to cloud the main issue with irrelevant, minor issues.
(((Note that Bahal draws the line at sex smears. Others didn't. And he sure didn't lack for opportunity.)))
And even as I am calibrating my news radar on this unconfirmed tip off that has come to me, anonymously, about these celebrities who are clandestinely involved in the penile enhancement business and who, as a sideshow, also participate in rituals that resemble the Naked Singing cult from Bhutan, where they shower their dollars on nude damsels, I am generous enough to pass on a story idea that I think lots of Indian media houses should be pursuing.
(((Read the whole thing and learn something:)))
