Barkha Dutt barking up the wrong tree

Barkha Dutt writes in the Hindustan times

It reflects the cynicism of the times that we live in that the “encounter” that killed Uttar Pradesh (UP) gangster Vikas Dubey has not come as the slightest shock to anyone.

Which times? We have cheered this sort of thing for 30 years. Back in the Sixties, when Naxals killed Judges, Courts themselves decided that the country could only survive through extrajudicial killing though, no doubt, politicians might find it convenient to appoint a Commission of Inquiry if the bad guys were all of one particular caste or religion.  Thus, the Indian judicial system became a joke. Cases drag on from decade to decade till the defendants die and witnesses turn hostile. The fact that Justice can be quite swift in horrific cases where the culprits are poor and lack political connections reinforces, it does not reduce, our disgust with and distrust of the Courts.

It is almost like a death foretold. The criticism — as happened with the Hyderabad police’s elimination of four rape accused last year — is likely to be dismissed as the fuzzy, needless hand-wringing of liberals.

What criticism? There has been none. We expect a couple of over the hill  presstitutes to virtue signal so as to raise our blood pressure and help us recall why we voted for Modi.

After all, Dubey, it will be argued, was the man responsible for the murderous assault on eight policemen. Why should anyone waste any angst on a man like him?

The answer is he was a Brahmin and so the local Brahmins are upset. But Yogi Adityanath doesn't seem to care. That's a good thing.

That is missing the point. The same lawlessness and absence of due process that makes it possible for the police to avenge the killings of their own men, permits the men in khaki in Tamil Nadu to push rods and sticks up the private parts of a father and son, Jayaraj and Bennicks.

Quite false. 'Encounter killings' have to be cleared higher up the Police chain of command or else have to be inconsequential. The T.N case is about Magistrates not doing their job. They are supposed to ensure that people in custody haven't had rods shoved up their bums.

You can’t outrage over one and see the other as morally permissible.

Nonsense! Two innocent people were killed by mad dogs in police uniform. Those rabid cops should be hanged. By contrast, a killer was killed before he could start manipulating the Criminal Justice system. He was denied the opportunity to run his Crime Empire from the security of a prison cell where, you can be sure, he'd have had access to plenty of luxuries.

We can and should be outraged by the T.N case while expressing delight at the U.P outcome.

Yes, in one case the victims were hapless citizens who did nothing but supposedly keep their shop open for a few minutes beyond the lockdown-stipulated curfew. And another case, the self-declared don of Kanpur, was a brutal, violent thug. But the principle that makes one extrajudicial killing possible cannot but spill over into the responses of the police force across the board.

The moral principle involved is concerned with the punishment of evil-doers and the protection of the innocent. The legal principle may be quite different. But we are not lawyers. But, as far as the law is concerned, you are innocent till proven guilty. Not everybody is prosecuted if suspected of a crime. If it is not in the public interest, or there is little chance of conviction, a prosecution may be dropped. It is not the case that the law is dedicated to punishing all crime. It is dedicated to protecting the innocent and serving the public interest.

Thus we see, both from the moral and legal point of view, the two cases are completely different. We are right to approve of the killing of the killer while demanding justice for the torture and murder of two innocent people. Barkha is barking mad.

Simply put, you cannot morally calibrate fake encounters.

Yes you can. What Barkha can't do is make a coherent argument of any sort. She has shit for brains. Look at what she says next-

There’s also the sheer tackiness of the script. Even as stories go, this one has a weak plot and poorer direction.

This cretin has been lying her ass off all her professional life. Her scripts were tacky, no question. We didn't care so long as there was some rhyme or reason to her lies. Then she lost the plot completely and her stock plummeted.

Consider the tackiness of her present argument. What does it consist of? She simply states false propositions- e.g. you can't say this fake was good while that fake was bad even though we do this all the time. This fake Rolex, I bought for 20 dollars is good. I get complimented on it and it keeps better time than my Omega watch which cost me 2500 quid. That fake Rolex is bad. It fell apart after one day. People in the street pointed at it and laughed saying 'what an obviously fake Rolex! The guy wearing it must be an utter cretin!'.

We 'morally calibrate' fakes and fictions and cases of inauthenticity all the time. Every type of Ethical theory- Deontology, Consequentialism, Intuitionist Virtue Ethics or Soteriological Ethics- has a more or less 'buck stopped' manner of doing so. Multi-dimensional decision spaces can always be rendered uni-dimensional in a univocal manner.

We are actually being asked to believe that a man who dramatically surrendered after a five-day chase from Uttar Pradesh, through Haryana and Rajasthan before ending up in a temple in Ujjain suddenly turned on the police and attempted an escape after the car ferrying him overturned.

No. We are not being asked to believe any such thing. All that has been done is that a proforma reason has been supplied for why no further legal action need be taken- though no doubt an inquiry will be held to appease local Brahmins. No one in their right mind thinks the public interest would be served by looking into this. Suppose a politician, wishing to curry favor with UP Brahmins demands an inquiry or uses this as a stick to beat the Yogi with. What will happen? It will be like the fuss over the Shahabuddin killing which helped, not hurt, Amit Shah. True, some Assembly seats may be lost to Congress- as the Brahmin party. But, over all, U.P will solidify behind Yogi. He is the next Modi.

This is the same man whom we have all seen on video, being slammed against a police car and whacked on the back of his head by an unarmed officer, as he shouts, “Main Vikas Dubey hoon, Kanpurwala”

In other words, we know why he had to be shot like a mad dog. This guy believed he could pull off the same trick he had in 2000 when he shot a legislator in a police station and, at his trial, the cops who were present as witnesses turned hostile.

Curiously, of course, the media, that was tailing the convoy taking Dubey back from Madhya Pradesh to UP, was stopped two kilometres ahead of the site where the alleged accident and subsequent encounter takes place.

So, at least the cops did the deed out of sight of camera phones. Perhaps they first had a little fun. Good for them. Their's is a dreary profession. It is not often that they get to mete out justice.

The police will also have to explain why Dubey’s car is switched at the last moment. Video footage shows Dubey in two different cars at different points in the journey. And, of course, the most basic question of all: How was a dreaded gangster not cuffed?

These questions answer themselves. Dubey could easily intimidate or offer to bribe some but not all cops involved. Switching cars is a good idea if there is a chance of an ambush- which there clearly was- or if the loyalty of some members of the group becomes questionable. However, there is no great need to create a plausible scenario- save to appease local Brahmins. For the State as a whole, it is better if it is believed that the C.M himself gave the nod to the gunning down of this rabid dog. Local Brahmins however will be appeased by depicting the guy as a 'Dabangg' chancer. Who will play Dubey in the Raees like movie Bollywood is sure to make? I suggest it should be Barkha Dutt. She may talk bollocks but has big brassy balls.

Even if his car did overturn-- and who is buying that — how was he able to make a run for it that he needed to be shot? And if he was shot, why was he not shot in the leg, so that he could be recaptured alive and be interrogated?

Why do presstitutes go on repeating stupid lies? Don't they understand that they won't be believed- or we have an excuse not to believe them- if, for a change, they tell the truth or raise sensible questions? For this reason the police don't have to explain anything. Twitterati can supply plenty of answers to questions raised by presstitutes.

Or is that the exact point. Dubey who was implicated in 62 criminal cases, including five cases of murder and eight cases of attempted murder, could not have thrived for 30 years, without the patronage of the rich and powerful.

In other words, he'd have run his Criminal Empire from jail.

A disturbing letter has done the rounds on social media, purportedly written by one of the eight policemen murdered by Dubey. It alleges that station officer Vinay Tiwari was in cahoots with Dubey. The letter, which was unmarked, was officially denied. But, since then Tiwari and another of his colleagues have been suspended on charges of tipping Dubey off about the police raid that was meant to arrest him.

Obviously, the guy had some policemen on his payroll. Why not some judges as well? Does barking mad Barkha not understand that she has just destroyed her own case?

Eerily, a public interest petition in the Supreme Court just a few days ago demanded the judiciary’s intervention, predicting this is how Dubey would die. Instead of delivering justice for the eight policemen murdered by Dubey, the actions of the Uttar Pradesh police force have further sullied the reputation of the uniform. Not too many people will believe that the police encounter was motivated by collective rage at what the gangster had done to their own comrades.

 Yes they will. Some cops may be on the take from a particular gangster. But not all are from the same gangster. It is in the class interest of the police to kill cop-killers.

The suspicion that Dubey had far too many secrets to out and that it was best to pack them off with him to his grave, will now never be shaken off.

It is not a suspicion. It is a fact.

Even before his death, a widely-shared video allegedly showed Dubey claiming the backing of two Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators (though in 2001 he was accused of chasing another BJP leader into a police station and shooting him in broad daylight).

Does Barkha think mentioning the name of a political party in this connection means anything? Everybody knows we are speaking of crooks who move from one party to another.

His mother separately claimed that her son is now linked to the Samajwadi Party, which the party denied.

No doubt, she or some other member of the family will get a ticket from one of the parties to fight the next Assembly elections.

The demand for his call records to be placed in the public domain is legitimate.

So is the demand that Barkha get a brain transplant.

The country has a right to know which people of influence — whether in the police, government or Opposition — Dubey was in touch with.

The country also has a right to know which Companies and Political Parties and foreign entities have paid off Barkha and her ilk and what they got in return.

The families of the eight policemen who lost their lives in the line of duty may mistakenly believe that justice has been served.
The very opposite has happened.

No. The guy was shot. He isn't out on bail or running his Criminal Empire from Jail. 

Yet, again, in a country that proudly gave even the terrorist involved in the 2008 Mumbai attack, Ajmal Kasab, due process, we have faltered on the fundamentals of law.

Kasab's trial was a propaganda victory for India. However, the proper response would have been to hit the terrorist training camps across the border. This stupid woman is pretending that observing 'due process' matters. It doesn't. Only the public interest matters provided there is some proforma fig-leaf to protect shitheads from the nakedness of the truth.

Journalism, like the Law, attracts vain, meretricious, fundamentally deluded, cunts. This is not to say that both professions are useless. But they have no fundamental value. What matters is that Society protects itself and pursues the public interest. That means telling journalists and lawyers to go fuck themselves if they start babbling nonsense.

Barkha Dutt on Kashmir

Update- Dutt's Washington Post opinion piece is much more pro-India.

Is Barkha Dutt capable of making a reasoned argument? Or is every thing she utters bound to be utterly foolish? Let us see-

One month after Jammu and Kashmir’s special status was withdrawn, and restrictions were imposed in the Valley, it is time to ask: What is the government’s blueprint for its future?

Why is it time to ask this after one month? Journalists are supposed to ask pertinent questions immediately. In this case, the answer was immediately forthcoming. The Government's blueprint involves firstly rounding up militants and their overground networks while completely sidelining the 'mainstream' political intermediaries.  The second step involves establishing a direct link to panchayats and local notables, while recruiting security personnel directly paid and answerable to the Center. In other words a corrupt political class is being dis-intermediated. The third step will probably involve some gerrymandering such that the Muslims of the Valley are not able to dominate the J&K Union Territory's Assembly. At some point, the region may actually start enjoying self-sustaining economic growth. But that isn't likely. The alternative is to keep the malcontents on short rations till they become demoralized. What has ended is a State subsidy for sedition.

In the initial aftermath of a decision as disruptive as the abrogation of Article 370, the administration and the security agencies had a legitimate focus on preventing the loss of lives.

When does the administration and security agencies not have a legitimate focus on preventing the loss of lives? How are such losses to be minimized? The answer is by catching and killing insurgents and destroying their 'overground' networks. Stone pelters can be dispersed by the pellet gun but it is more economical to go after the ring-leaders and incarcerate them. Never again will kids get paid a monthly stipend to engage in this sort of behavior. India has a professional Police cadre. It knows how persistent anti-social behavior by teens has been curbed in other parts of the world. Because the police is now directly under the Union Home Minister, it can tackle the problem effectively.

The Valley may not like it- but they represent only half a percentage of India's population. They are welcome to wail all they like. What matters is that they are seen to suffer because they hate India not because they love their religion. This can increase the BJP's share of Muslim votes in the rest of India. After all, the vast majority of Indian Muslims have no prospect of breaking away. They may as well love a land they are tied to. There is a hadith- hubb-al watan min al iman. Jihad ceases to be a farz-e-kiffaya if it has no prospect of success. It ceases to be Islamic. The Valley's hatred of India is also a hatred of Indian Muslims. As Nitish Kumar has discovered, their attitude is 'Let them stew in their own juice.'

The arrests of mainstream politicians could have initially been explained as a strictly precautionary measure to maintain the writ of law and the semblance of order. Thirty days later, that rationalisation cannot hold.

Explanations and rationalisations are only required from a criminal who has been caught or an agent who has not followed orders. None are required from a strong, popular, Government whose strength and popularity has increased by taking the first step in permanently resolving a long standing problem.

Why is Barkha pretending that the current administration is concerned in any manner with what she thinks? Nobody listens to her. She is suing the Congress Party's Kapil Sibal after having been sacked 'on disciplinary grounds' from a TV station he and his wife owned. Now Barkha is off the air and nobody is clamoring for her to be put back on it.

There may be little sympathy for the Kashmiri mainstream in the Valley.

So it isn't 'mainstream' at all. It is just a corrupt clique which was wholly useless and which cost the Indian taxpayer a lot of money. That's a good reason to sideline them. Keep them under home arrest till it is safe for them to go out and not get beaten to death by those they have been swindling from generation to generation.

But here is the conundrum for the Narendra Modi government. The more you disenfranchise the mainstream, the more you humiliate them, the more you push them to the margins, the stronger you make the separatists, and, in turn, the militants.

What made the separatists strong was getting money for being separatists. What makes them weak is being deprived of money and then being beaten and incarcerated if they wag their tail. Militants become peaceful and law-abiding after they are shot in the head.

There is no conundrum here whatsoever. Barkha herself says the Valley is happy the 'mainstream' has been disintermediated. This means there are opportunities for a new class of loyalists. But it also means that the separatists will get short shrift. There is a small carrot and a large stick. Repression in the Valley means the stick can swing and hit more rapidly and with greater precision and economy. What matters is that the cost of that Repression is less than that of the gravy previously handed out to the wholly useless 'mainstream'. Thus, the thing pays for itself and nobody ever need scratch their head about the Valley again.

On my multiple trips to Srinagar in the past few weeks, that is the one thing that leapt out at me: the schadenfreude on the street about politicians like Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti being in detention.

Barkha says people are happy that the dynasts are in detention. This means Amit Shah did the right, the popular, thing. Sheikh Abdullah, Omar's grandfather, introduced the Preventive Detention Act ostensibly to 'curb timber smuggling'. It is entirely salutary that his heirs suffer under it.

Other than the political workers of their parties, many of whom have been targeted by terrorists for daring to take part in the electoral process, there is little or no sympathy for the humiliation of those whose home has been Centaur Hotel or Chashma Shahi and Hari Niwas for the past many days. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) could either treat this as an “aha-I-told-you-so” moment, or realise how dangerous this contempt could prove to be.

Barkha is right. Indian Army is trembling and pissing its pants because some Kashmiris- a people better known for their artistic and commercial skills than their martial prowess- are currently contemptuous of the people they themselves voted for. What if, from being contemptuous merely, these people turn more obstreperous? Suppose they lower their pajamas and fart loudly to show an even more extreme form of derision? Won't that cause Indian Army to run away? Will not the administration collapse? Barkha is right to worry about such things.

Through his tears, one man I met outside a government-run phone helpline (he had spent hours trying to reach his father in Saudi Arabia) told me that the detentions “were a slap on the mainstream. Unki aukad pata lag gayee hain unko” (“They have been shown what they are worth”).

Barkha meets a man- not a child- who is crying. Apparently it took him some hours trying to reach his Daddy on the phone and this upset the poor fellow. Still, through his tears, he tells Barkha that the progeny of the 'Lion of Kashmir' have been put in their place. He does not say he pities them. From what Barkha reports, it appears his tears are entirely self-pitying and arise from a delay in talking to his da-da. No doubt, da-da will send ba-ba some money and so he will dry his tears and buy some nice sweeties and teddy bears. Indian Army is trembling in its boots because of its fear of cry-babies like this man.

Others in the city’s downtown area, where for years every evening ends with ritualistic clashes between paramilitary personnel and protesters armed with stones, openly sniggered at the plight of the mainstream.

So, when not snivelling, Kashmiris spend their time sniggering. That too openly! OMG! How brave these lions are! I wonder what will happen when 'clashes with paramilitary personnel' turn a little less 'ritualistic'.

Most of them have never voted in an election. Today, they say, their stand has been vindicated, now that even someone like Sajad Lone has been imprisoned. After Syed Salahuddin ( the Hizbul Mujahideen militant who is now in Pakistan), Lone is the first significant Kashmiri separatist who experimented with elections in 2002. He called out the Pakistani deep State and the ISI for the assassination of his father, a pro-dialogue separatist.

Aha! That's why the Kashmiris respect Pakistan! It kills their daddies!

One of his brothers is still a secessionist.

Probably in the hope that the Pakistanis will thin out his family even further.

His party was backed by the BJP, and Lone likened the PM to an “elder brother”.

What an artful picture of the Kashmiri psyche Barkah is drawing! They snivell, snigger, and brown nose like nobody's business!

Lone is among the scores of politicians locked away by the administration, obviously under orders from the top. Srinagar’s mayor, Junaid Mattu ,was also a former separatist. Last year, he won the elections with the BJP’s backing. Mattu was allowed to travel to Delhi for medical treatment, and, while he was in the capital, I had a chance to interview him in what would be the first account of a mainstream leader who has undergone detention. He called it “suffocating and humiliating”. Two days after that interview, he was arrested again.

By Barkha's account, being a separatist for a bit, and then turning your coat, was one way to rise within a corrupt system. True, the Pakistanis might kill your Dad, but the Indians would pay you. Till, that is an 'elder brother' decided it was time to end this nonsense. Kashmir must develop some manly qualities and stand on its own feet economically.

Watching these developments, those who never believed in the Indian Union only feel more emboldened to argue that they were right all along.

Who cares about 'those who never believed in the Indian union'? What power do they have? None at all. Even if they get 'emboldened' enough to argue something, who will listen to them?  On the basis of Barkha's article, they come across as snivelling, sniggering, poltroons.

The BJP promises a “Naya Kashmir” with the end of dynasty and family fiefdoms.

For the Hindus and Buddhists that promise has already come true. Some Muslims may continue to snivell, or snigger, or even chuck a couple of stones. But they won't get paid to do so any longer.

But how is this possible with a curtailment of all political activity? What message are we sending to a potential generation of new representatives?

Barkha's message is that corrupt dynasts count. She herself should interview them from time to time. Sadly, she can no longer do so on TV because Kapil Sibal won't put any more money into a channel nobody watches.

Modi's message is different. He says the 'potential generation of new representatives' must be panchayat based and do grass-roots work and concentrate on last-mile delivery. This is boring but it is useful. Talking shite about the martyrdom of the Valley can be left to senile NRIs.

The mainstream politicians have done themselves no favours either. Only two of them filed habeas corpus petitions in court to fight for their release. Others have challenged the abrogation of Article 370 but let this one month lapse as if they were utterly paralysed. Perhaps they are. Else, what explains, for instance, that not one among the scores of prominent politicians under arrest, have considered a hunger strike or a fast-unto-death? After all, the moral principle of Gandhian Satyagraha is all-powerful. Templates have been set by people as varied as Irom Sharmila, Medha Patkar and Anna Hazare.

WTF? Is the woman utterly mad? All three are still alive- which is why the hunger strike has lost its sting. Irom was forcibly fed and, being released after many years, shat the bed by marrying some British dude. Patkar fasts from time to time- as should I for health reasons- but nothing comes of it. Hazare, poor fellow, was a stepping stool for Kejriwal.

I am not suggesting that this would have altered any government decisions. But it would have at least sent out a larger message about functional politics and active dissent.

Nobody is listening to that sort of message anymore coz the previous senders were stupid, careerist, or drama queens.

The situation is so piquant today that although there are no curfew orders in place, people in urban centres like Srinagar are refusing to open shops and establishments or come out on the streets. That explains the images of empty, desolate streets that you see in the media.

Barkha is confirming the popular prejudice re. Kashmiris as spineless creatures who spend their time snivelling or sniggering or sulking.

Without a next move — and one that must lift the curb and normalise politics — it is the secessionists who will end up stronger.

Not if they got shot or incarcerated. However, if secessionists confine themselves to snivelling, sniggering and sulking, there is little chance of this happening. But this doesn't mean they will get stronger. Rather such behavior will further enfeeble them.

That will be most ironic for a move that statedly set out to integrate Kashmir into the rest of India.

The move has integrated Kashmir into the rest of India. It is now clear that neither Pakistan nor China nor the people of the Valley could have ever resisted such a step. Why was it not taken long ago? The answer is that India was ruled by a corrupt and incompetent dynasty similar to those of the Valley.

Modi, the meritocrat, has emerged victorious. Amit Shah has completed the work of Sardar Patel. Indian Muslims will now give more votes to the BJP. Jamaatis in the Valley will move closer to their cousins in India- not the crazy nutjobs in Pakistan.

Barkha's article contains reportage which directly contradicts her stated views. Is this purely because she is stupid? Or is she playing a double game? Only time will tell. In her profession, it is common to turn one's coat when all else fails. Perhaps Barkha is herself preparing to accede to Modi's India.

Barkha Dutt, Twitter & 'Brahminical Patriarchy'.

✔@BDUTT

While I had no knowledge of the poster, Brahminical Patriarchy is a fair & entirely mainstream phrase in the way that we now know the intersectionality of Feminism & the critique of upper caste hegemony. It is NOT an attack on Brahmins but on hierarchy much like White Privilege

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5:43 PM - Nov 20, 2018

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Is it really true that 'Brahminical Patriarchy is a fair & entirely mainstream phrase'? What about 'Jewish Capitalism'? Surely that is not a mainstream phrase? It unfairly stigmatises a particular set of people on the basis of their ancestral religion. Moreover, it imputes occult powers and sinister motives to a group of people no different from their neighbors of other faiths or communities.

I suppose it could be argued that Rahul Gandhi's claim to the Premiership of India is an example of 'Brahminical Patriarchy' because he now declares himself a Brahman and his father and great-grand father held that position before him. But there is no need to 'smash' this example of Brahminical Patriarchy because people are free to vote for whom they please.

Barkha Dutt says that 'Brahminical Patriarchy' is a mainstream phrase ' in the way that we now know the intersectionality of Feminism & the critique of upper caste hegemony'. Does she really believe that 'intersectionality of Feminism' is a mainstream phrase? Does the average American use this term? I see from Wikipeidia that the first person to use it was one Kimberle Williams Crenshaw- a Professor at Columbia (where Barkha studied) in 1989. Since then it has gained no traction among ordinary people. Rather it features in an elite academic availability cascade more famous as a target of satire than for any real world achievement or accomplishment.

Similarly the Gramscian term 'hegemony' is associated with the elitist 'Subaltern School' scarcely any of whom remain domiciled in India. No one could understand what these people were talking about and they have had no political influence whatsoever.

Caste is a reality in India. To speak of 'Brahman patriarchy' is to attack a particular group of people who will respond in like terms. Barkha Dutt says 'it is NOT an attack on Brahmins but on hierarchy much like White Privilege'. However, in India, it means don't vote for X because he is a Brahman. Since most Brahmans are poor where they are numerous, it is not the case that any 'hierarchy' is being attacked. Rather, it is a particular group of people who will retaliate in like terms if they are able to do so.

Talk of 'White Privilege' may seem innocuous- more especially to dark skinned people like myself. However, it has created a backlash and polarised Society in the US. White people in certain occupational/regional groups can see their life-chances have declined relative to other groups. If White Privilege was what enabled them to prosper previously, then they will fight to impose it once again. There is no point in stigmatising people according to their birth or colour. They will retaliate in like terms. When it comes to 'smashing' things, they may turn out to be more effective. Why provoke them to do so if your aim is to improve Society by lifting up weaker sections?