The Left-liberal Bias

IT MAY WELL be that those who make it their business to abuse the incumbent regime, with or without reason, very often without reason, attract the special attention of the investigating agencies. Point taken. But from that how does it follow that everyone under the lens of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) or the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is lily-white, strictly adhering to the letter, if not spirit, of the law? Unfortunately, if the ED raids and searches the professional critics of the Government, it is not quite unexpected, nor for that matter is the reaction of those raided: they all claim to be victims of an official vendetta. There being no smoke without fire, the truth is that these worthies seem to have persuaded themselves that the vicious opposition to the Government would by itself be a shield against their wrongdoing, and that they would get away without being found out by the prying eyes of the Government sleuths. Play it with a straight bat, Sir, and chances of getting out will get minimised considerably.

Take, for instance, this high-profile journalist who by dint of her high-decibel abuse of Prime Minister Narendra Modi from the time he was the Gujarat Chief Minister has parlayed for herself a global profile, exploiting the ingrained, and largely ill-founded, left-liberal bias of the Western media against the “pro-Hindu right wing” Government, as it loves to describe any regime not headed by Congress or its allies. When she established an NGO of her own and got into the business of collecting funds, ostensibly for the relief and rehabilitation of the alleged victims of the Modi Raj, the least she could do was to ensure that every penny was accounted for and used for the rightful purpose.

No. Our journalist had time to collect funds in the name of the victims of communal riots but showed no inclination to deploy them for the purported cause for which she got into the business of setting up and controlling an NGO. Though one would be careful to take what the agencies state with more than a pinch of salt, the lady had not a word to explain how over a crore of rupees had found its way into her father’s personal account.

We, the good citizens of this country readily trusting her word, feel let down. She may not realise how she has let down the vast number of her admirers in the Western media. Indeed, if they bar their own journalists from running NGOs, why would they patronise someone who all through has violated basic rules
of journalism? Time for another BBC Hard Talk to ask tough questions about those unspent crores in her NGO account?

TALKING OF NGOS, my old peeve against serving bureaucrats and working journalists actively associating themselves with such organisations does call into question their sense of fairness and independence. The business of such do-gooding tends to taint their professional credentials. Anyone with an axe to grind with a serving bureaucrat or a journalist associated closely with an NGO can always rely on ‘a contribution for a good cause’ in return for favourable treatment. Floating an NGO for helping oneself to a big piece of prime land at subsidised prices is an old trick. Politicians and journalists associated with NGOs are known to have exploited the failing of the people in power to disburse favours in the hope of buying influence. In the Vajpayee regime, too, a number of such charities were allotted prime land.

It is normal for those connected with an NGO to be paid for their services. Like Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia, while running the Ford Foundation-funded NGO, were not really unpaid social workers. Kejriwal received a monthly stipend of `25,000. And Sisodia earmarked a room in his wife’s Mayur Vihar flat as the NGO office to receive `15,000 towards rent. And the third active member who ran errands for the said NGO on receipt of a monthly salary is now an Aam Aadmi Party MLA, heading the party’s Delhi unit. All through, Kejriwal was on a three-year ‘study leave’ from the Government, receiving full salary and perks. The short point is that the NGO route of social service is now tainted with selfishness and greed, though with some honourable exceptions.

CBI probeEnforcement DirectoratejournalistLeft Frontliberalpolitics