Today, in a newspaper, I saw a disgusting column in which the columnist was criticizing former Indian Army Chief Gen. VK Singh who recently risked his life by going to Djibouti and Yemen to oversee the rescue operation of evacuating more than 5000 Indians in the war-struck countries.
To columnist, Singh‘s crime was using the word “Presstitute” for Indian media. He ridiculed Gen. Singh by calling him “a man who did not know his birthday”. In my opinion, Gen. Singh said nothing wrong. Over the years, especially, from 2011, we have all seen various instances about Indian media picking up news to show only when those news went viral on social media. We have also seen instances of paid reporting. “Bikau media” and “paid media” were highest trending topics on Indian social media scene during last year‘s Lok Sabha elections.
Last year, the newspaper publishing a false report, accusing a shopping mall in Ahmadabad (Gujarat) of unfairly charging an entry fee to Muslims. People used social media to expose the truth the entry fee was being charged to everyone and it was refunded to people who made some purchase in that shopping mall.
Presstitutes turned Gen. Singh, into the biggest villain in the world just because he spoke the truth. They forgot the great things he has done for India. He joined Indian army in 1970. And a loudmouth presstitute born in 1973 criticized Gen. Singh for speaking the truth that applies to 99.9% of Indian media. People on Twitter criticized all media organizations that demonized VK Singh. This led to the trending of a hashtag, teaching paid media that an attempt of discrediting a soldier could backfire seriously.
I wish to point out few things about Gen. Singh that presstitutes who demonize him have chosen to forget but I remember.
1. Gen. Singh is a graduate from US Army Rangers Course at Fort Benning, USA and US Army War College, Carlisle. In Rangers course, he came first in combat operations.
2. He displayed remarkable combat skills in 1971 war that resulted in the independence of Bangladesh.
3. For Sri Lanka Operation Pawan, he was awarded Yudh Seva Medal.
4. On the eve of India‘s Republic Day in 2009, Gen. Singh was awarded Param Vishisht Seva Medal by President.
5. In counter insurgency operations in J&K, Gen. Singh was awarded Ati Vishisht Seva for his distinguished service as General Officer Commanding.
6. As General Officer, Gen. Singh has also commanded the Prestigious Strike Corps in Western Sector, before taking over the command of the Eastern Army in March 2008.
7. Gen. Singh has been an instructor at Inf. School, Mhow and Chief Instructor at JLW (Commando Wing) at Belgaum.
8. On 11 March 2011, Gen. Singh was inducted into the United States Army War College (Class of 2001 graduate) International Fellows Hall of Fame. He is the 33rd International Fellow and the first Indian Armed Forces officer (and first Indian) to be inducted.
Had Presstitutes (Indian media) remembered these facts, they would have never demonized VK Singh. Instead, they would have abandoned their practices of reporting paid news.
The act of Gen. Singh of going to Yemen and saving people is something that no minister has done and no minister in future will do. Presstitutes could understand that only if they were stuck in Yemen. I wish Presstitutes were thrown into Yemen.
So much for explaining the concept of paid media and “presstitution” and the greatness of VK Singh. Now coming to the point raised in the column. Columnist said that United Kingdom (UK) and many European countries followed the unwritten rule keeping retired high ranking military officers from active politics. Columnist said that India should follow this rule. I found it stranger that the columnist did not have any problem with criminals entering politics. He did not have any problem with politicians who feed people raising their voice against them to their pet crocodiles, or politicians who order police to find their stolen buffaloes. Columnist forgot that such politicians are not there in UK. All he wants is retired military officers to be kept out. UK does not have criminal politicians. Columnist should have known.
The only General this columnist considered worth his criticism was Gen. VK Singh. Columnist was not interested in criticizing a former General who has molestation accusations against him but has never been investigated because he is a distant relative of a former Prime Minister. According to various media reports, General VK Singh himself accused another Indian Army General of indulging in a dacoity. That General was never criticized.
The bias against Gen. Singh and his hatred for truth was clear to see when in the same column, this columnist expressed support for a journalist who was last time in news for getting bail in a rape case. As birds of same feather flock together, the rapist journalist was also invited as the chief guest of a literary festival that was organized by the same newspaper which published today‘s column.
Now let us have a look at the credentials of this columnist. Years ago, this columnist gained attention as a writer for a collection of erotic stories in English that he published. It would have been better had he wrote an article about molester General. Had he been writing in Hindi, his status would have been no different from small town erotic writers like Mastram who are looked down upon by people.
Hence, people of India can see that Presstitutes are roping in English cousins of Mastram to tell people who they should choose as their leaders. Therefore, it is time for Indians to open their eyes and shun the paid media.