Jharkhand: Virtue Signaling by Hemant Soren

As soon as counting of votes reached to the final rounds and it became clear that JMM led alliance was getting maximum seats and Hemant Soren was all set to become next Chief Minister of Jharkhand, news channels on the television started airing a curious picture. Hemant Soren was shown riding a bicycle inside his quarters area, carrying a small kid on it. He was shown making joyful circles on the bicycle while members of his large family were hanging around. News reporters started praising Junior Soren for his "simplicity", "humility" and remaining grounded to his "roots". 

It should be noted that ever since the counting of votes for state assembly elections had started since morning, Hemant Soren was not to be seen anywhere. He was "hiding" in his bungalow, as the news reporters had informed us. On the other hand, outgoing Chief Minister Raghubar Das was caught on camera many times as he moved in and out of his residence for work. Hemant Soren on the other hand seemed to have no other work that day. His entire political career was staked on the election result and he seemed to have planned it well. The fact that he did not need to move out of his residence since morning till evening tells about the planning he did for the "D Day". It is obvious that the bicycle ride was planned for camera too. It gave him a good "starting point". 

The next day, below picture came out on the front page of a Hindi newspaper in Delhi: 

The picture shows Hemant Soren in "shorts", checking his mobile, while a small bathroom towel is resting on his shoulder. The picture has been labelled as "Hemant: From simplicity to power". 

Two things are remarkable in above picture and its caption. First, this is a very casual picture. Anyone else could also have got similar picture clicked using a mobile phone of any family member or a friend, if one wanted to. This is nothing of the outstanding sort of picture. And if you notice the place, you would notice costly tiles on the floor along with costly furniture. These also do not raise any eyebrows. After all, Hemant Soren is the son Shibu Soren of three-time Chief Minister who has a huge list of corruption charges to exhibit as his achievement.

The fact that his father is a three-time Chief Minister and was hounded by the CBI for years on corruption charges, also explains how the newspaper has called him only "Hemant" in the caption title, and not "Hemant Soren". Is Hemant trying to break away from the burden of his family name since it is nothing to be proud of? Time will tell. 

Both images - of Hemant riding a bicycle inside the boundary of his bungalow and Hemant wearing a shorts inside the comfort of his home are pretty ordinary images. But the manner in which many media houses have used these images to create a larger-than-life image of Hemant Soren as a man who has kept his "roots" intact; tells about a larger picture. It seems Hemant Soren and his JMM are managing the media very well. And in a planned manner, media is showcasing his "virtue signaling" as genuine signs of virtue. At this stage, this is the only speculation I can make. Time will tell the rest. But did the BJP / Raghubar Das Government failed where Hemant Soren succeeded? Managing the "impression war" better? 

Canada Election 2019

The results of Canada elections are out. The Liberals have won maximum number of seats and even though they lack numbers to form a majority government, they would be able to form a minority government. The Conservatives were the great hope this time but they came at #2. 

The country elected a Liberal minority government with a projected 155 seats out of 338. The Conservatives got 122.

But the Conservatives edged out the Liberals in the popular vote: 34.5% to 33%. The party made some gains, sweeping the prairies and picking up seats in New Brunswick, Ontario and British Columbia. That leaves the Conservatives with 24 more seats now than they had in 2015.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50103847

Here is a video by Stefan Molyneux of Freedomain about Canada Elections 2019 and what it means to the people. 

Making Mess in Karnataka

Yeddyurappa quits as Karnataka CM as BJP could not get majority support. 

So finally, two corrupt parties will get to join hands to form government in Karnataka. This is such a sigh of relief for all those who took part in their success; directly or indirectly. Here are some observations from the messy few days:

If you noticed, the moment news broke that no party had got majority, BJP was the biggest one and just fell short of majority; it was assumed by media that the BJP would be able to make a government there. People followed the cue and immediately assumed that BJP will be able to form government there. This was due to two factors: more than confidence in Amit's Shah's skills, this was a vote of confidence in Congress' lack of skills.

Media started spreading news of horse trading. What is wrong in BJP talking to the MLAs of other parties asking their support to form a stable government? Defection is part of democracy. Every MLA should have right to decide to quit its party or switch sides or resign or abstain from voting; as per his or her own free will. There is nothing wrong in it per se. But media told us that if the MLAs of Congress do it and if it benefits BJP, it is wrong.

Rumors were spread that BJP was trying to “buy” MLAs from other parties. This is such a joke if you think about it. Any MLA who can be “bought” by money would be corrupt. Then, ask yourself: which party is a better place for corrupt politicians: Congress or BJP? For a corrupt MLA, Congress and JDS were a “natural choice”. So, if the BJP had to try to break them away, they won’t use “money” as bait. They would use other facts as baits; like being part of a stable govt; being part of govt with pro-development image; benefits in being away from dynasty-driven parties etc. If some conscientious MLAs had been able to help BJP win trust vote; that would have been beneficial for the state. But in the mess that was made out of the news-space thanks to media, no one got to do any real thinking. We just followed the lead shown on TV screens.

And suddenly, the act of smuggling MLAs into 5 star resorts and hotels till the confidence vote is casted got a positive validation. Thanks to perception spread by media, this was considered a "necessary precaution" to avoid poaching attempts by BJP. How can keeping MLAs confined where they can't use their “free will” be called good democracy? But no questions were asked by media. This was a “perception war” and media had won it for Congress.

When Congress reached Supreme Court against governor's decision, the SC rushed to address the matter in the “mid-night” as if it was a matter of national security and of greatest importance to nation. It appeared that if BJP remained in power for 15 days, it will be such a sin that it must be stopped at all costs; even if it means setting up hearing during whole night. As per constitution, the Governor had full rights to decide and call the largest political party to form government and prove majority. Court knew clearly that it had no right to meddle in the affairs, but like it does in many other cases, it still tried to prove that "I am the boss"; by shrinking the 15 days’ notice period to 1. What is wrong in giving 15 days’ time to MLAs to think which side to take?

Due to the whole drama played by media and innocent public forming their opinions on what was being shown on the screen, the BJP CM could not even put up a fight and had to resign even before voting. That is sad for democracy.

Now that the drama and show-time is over for media; people would realize what they have lost and what they gained in the process. A party which was thrown out by people; a CM who lost his own seat by 36000 votes and managed to win another seat by 1600 votes; will come back in power. Two “Dynasty” driven corrupt parties will join hands making democracy a matter of arithmetic. And a party which emerged as largest party; gained massively from last time and was just short by 7 seats to reach the majority mark will sit in opposition.

Mind it that BJP lost 10 seats with margin of less than merely 3000 seats! Had it won those, it would have got simple majority. Everyone knows that the BJP deserved to form the government. And everyone knows that the last government deserved to be in opposition. But thanks to the way news traders played the tune and the innocent people followed their cue forming casual opinions; this event will be painted as if democracy has won in Karnataka today.