90 years ago, today—27 February 1933—the German Parliament (Reichstag) was burnt down. Adolf Hitler had been appointed as Chancellor three months earlier; national elections were due in six days. The arson was blamed on communists, but it was an inside job by the Nazis. A 24-year-old Dutch communist was held responsible and sentenced to death for the #ReichstagFire. But in reality Nazi storm troopers—guided by Joseph Goebbels—had used a tunnel connecting Parliament with the President’s residence to scatter gasoline and self-igniting chemicals.

Jo Johnson, the brother of former UK prime minister @BorisJohnson, has resigned from the board of Elara Capital—a London-based investment firm 99% of whose holdings are Adani stocks.

About time @JoJohnsonUK revealed more on how he ended up at a company linked to Ketan Parekh. Boris Johnson visited Adani headquarters in April 2022.

Jo Johnson joined Elara in June 2022.

The timing could just be a coincidence. But what kind of background checks did Jo Johnson—a former India correspondent of ‘Financial Times—do before lending his name to the firm?

🪡 The “hostile” bid by Gautam Adani to take over #NDTV has resulted in shock, sadness, and schadenfreude.

But who offered the channel, the baby of @PrannoyRoyNDTV and his wife Radhika Roy—to Adani behind their backs?

Could it be Mukesh Ambani, who saved it 13 years ago?

Why? 2️⃣ The way @timesofindia puts it, @gautam_adani’s acquisition route was simple.

Adani bought the Roys’ stake in @ndtv by buying up Vishvapradhan Commercial Pvt Ltd (VCPL), from two shareholders: Nextwave Televentures and Eminent Networks, for Rs 114 crore.

This gave him 29%.

“Vishvapradhan”

Does India’s “most gifted businessman” @gautam_adani have a sense of humour? He has acquired 99.5% of the 29% stake of @ndtv founders Prannoy and Radhika Roy through a subsidiary called “Vishvapradhan”. Hopefully not a portmanteau of Vishwaguru and Pradhan Sevak. Adani Media Networks Ltd CEO @sanjaypugalia is quoted as saying “AMNL seeks to empower Indian citizens, consumers and those interested in India, with information and knowledge” by acquiring #NDTV.

As a media watcher who reads ‘Manufacturing Consent’ every night, do you think?

“Uber sought ‘strategic investors’ in foreign media to win government favour’

@JeffBezos-owned ‘Washington Post’ goes where ‘Indian Express’ understandably cannot in its reporting of #UberFiles—7, Lok Kalyan Marg—and the Times Group’s role as navigator.
washingtonpost.com/media/2022/07/… 2️⃣ When Uber was trying to “get Delhi back live” after the Dec 2014 rape ban, an Uber general manager in Asia wrote that “he planned to set up meetings for co-founder Trevor Kalanick “with prime minister @narendramodi and cabinet officials”. @washingtonpost @PMOIndia #UberFiles

Times Group actively courted Uber after it was banned; urged its founder Travis Kalanick to present his “insights [to] set the agenda for policy formulation” at ET summit, in Jan 2015. Two months later, Uber invested Rs 150 crore in @TimesInternet.

Read: tinyurl.com/yuvyxbup “Let’s be sensitive to keeping a strong relationship with TOI… if there’s something we can do for them that makes sense, we should do it”

Travis Kalanick wrote to staff the same day he received Times Group overture. #UberFiles @IndianExpress @RTIExpress techcrunch.com/2015/03/22/ube…

“When nation is being divided, between Hindus and Muslims by forces of political opportunism, and our unity is being destroyed, a powerful voice is needed”

‘Anandabazar Patrika’ marks its 100th anniversary with a reality check from a real icon, Prof Amartya Sen. @MyAnandaBazar 2️⃣ Either because ABP did not want to, or because @PMOIndia did not bite, there is no @narendramodi at the centenary fete to bloviate on the role of free media in a democracy.

In craven media houses, Modi is default option despite his advertised contempt for it. @MyAnandaBazar

To the question, “When will India’s economy touch the $5-trillion mark?”, there can be only one patriotic answer.

Who gives a fug?

In a society with staggering poverty and hunger, the day Bharat’s worth is 5 followed by 12 zeroes can be a big moment only for bots and bhakts. 2️⃣ Yet, barely a week goes by without some tweetiya looking into the kaleidoscope and spotting the $5 trillion GDP pot.

The original deadline was 2024, when general elections are due next. Like the 5-year plan of yore, it was spelt out in 2019. 👇🏿

Read: tinyurl.com/2sx7zzdv

🪡 While upholding the findings of the Special Investigation Team that gave a clean chit to @narendramodi in the #ZakiaJafri case, SC added that SIT had “come out with flying colours”.

Q: When exactly did Modi learn of the massacre on 28 Feb 2002—and how well did SIT quiz him? 2️⃣ In his reply to SIT in 2010, Modi claimed he learnt of the #GulbergSociety massacre only at a meeting that evening, at 8.30 pm.

Really?

While a mob of thousands attacked a Muslim pocket in #Ahmedabad, the CM—who *also* held the home portfolio—was unaware for 5 full hours?

🪡@narendramodi will take part in the International Yoga Day show in #Mysore on June 21.

In a nation that buys ‘The Daily Spectacle’, this is just another dot in @PMOIndia’s diary.

But what goes into an event like this—for hashtags to trend for a few hours on Tuesday? #YogaDay 2️⃣ Modi doing #Yoga in #Mysuru is a big deal.

All three great gurus of the 20th century—T.Krishnamacharya, B.K.S. Iyengar, K. Pattabhi Jois—grew under the patronage of the Maharajas of Mysore.

UN designated June 21 as #InternationalDayofYoga only after Modi became PM in 2014.

🪡 Taunting and tormenting Muslims has become India’s national bloodsport, post-2014. Barely a day passes without #Muslims being hectored by bigots on how they should live, love, eat, dress, pray, work, marry and procreate.

How would the 24th Maharaja of Mysore have viewed this? 2️⃣ ‘Nalvadi’ Krishnaraja Wadiyar was the Maharaja of Mysore for 39 years. He presided over a golden period of progress in health, education, industry, infrastructure, arts, culture, literature—i.e. vikas.

Gandhi called him ‘Raja Rishi’ (sage king).

Read: tinyurl.com/2p8stzzp

“Not now North Korea and India”

On the front page of the British tabloid @dailystar, India’s schoolboy claim of a supersonic missile being “accidentally” fired 124 km into Pakistan, gets equated with the epitome of nuclear madness: Kim Jong-Un. “Asian nuts’ weapons games ‘will start a World War’”

British tabloid @dailystar’s strapline may be aimed at Page 3 gawkers eyeing a playmate. Still, India’s mind-boggling missile “cock-up” is not half as small an issue as a pliant media would have us believe.

Has India become a corruption-free country already? Or, are the crooks getting smarter? Just one dot from Madhya Bharat in the @guardian expose of “criminals, fraudsters and corrupt politicians” holding £80 billion worth accounts in the notorious Swiss bank @CreditSuisse. “We can reveal today how #CreditSuisse repeatedly either opened or maintained bank accounts for a panoramic array of high-risk clients across the world”: How the @guardian showcases its expose of “criminals, fraudsters and corrupt politicians” over 7 pages.

🪡 A cute question on the #HijabRow in #Karnataka is: “Why can’t the CM stop it when it’s ruining the State’s image?”

Answer: “Have you seen @BSBommai’s record?”

He was home minister for 23 months from Aug 2019. It was because he met all the KPIs that he was made @CMofKarnataka 2️⃣ @BSBommai was home minister when school children in #Bidar were charged with sedition, for a line in a play that “insulted” @narendramodi during the anti-CAA protests. Bommai had the temerity to say: “It is a very serious and sensitive case.”

Read: tinyurl.com/2p8vnuc9

🪡 Much of the outrage on the #HijabRow asks the naive question: “Why is it happening in #Karnataka?”

Answer: “Why are you surprised?”

The startup state was an early-stage investor in #Hindutva. Its reputation as a #Hindutva laboratory precedes #Gujarat and #UttarPradesh. 2️⃣ #BJP’s political quest for the Babri Masjid only began in the late 1980s. In #Karnataka, the ground to reclaim Baba Budangiri, a Sufi shrine in #Chikamagalur district, had been laid a decade before #Ayodhya became common parlance, in 1978.

Read: tinyurl.com/49frfruk

“When Sunil Gavaskar was introduced to Noor Jehan on India’s 1982 tour of Pakistan, she said: ‘I don’t know him. I only know Imran Khan and Zaheer Abbas.’ When she was introduced to him, he retorted: ‘I don’t know her. I only know #LataMangeshkar’.”: commentator Sushil Doshi. In 1988, #LataMangeshkar sang with #SPB for the Tamil film ‘Satya’. The composer @ilaiyaraaja has often explained how the lyrics were tailor-made for her. #ValaiOsai

Listen:

🪡 The day after the #UnionBudget is the closest India’s media comes to peddling pornography. There’s so much public display of affection—ranging from flirting to petting, from kissing to kissing the ass—that the moral police could easily charge it with indecency. (1/5) 2️⃣ There are the usual diabetes-inducing 10/10 pronouncements of the “captains of industry”, drafted by hacks-turned-PR shills, competing word for word with newspaper headlines, which compete with #PIB releases. Like, “#Nirmala presents ‘Amrit Kaal’ budget”.

All very easy to pile on the @IndianExpress which won’t influence a single vote. Three large Hindi newspapers, with 200-300 times more circulation in #UttarPradesh, carried the same “offending” advertisement. What about them? @JagranNews @AmarUjalaNews @Live_Hindustan 2️⃣ Beyond the fact-free content of #UttarPradesh ads, the real issue is the vomit-inducing splurge of taxpayers’ money to capture media. In just the 31 days of December, sangh mouthpiece ‘Dainik Jagran’ received 63 ads; ‘Amar Ujala’ 58; ‘Hindustan’ 37. #SochInaamdaarKaamDumdaar

In a devastated democracy—where an invisible virus and an in-your-face monster are running riot—newspapers are doing their bit to elevate the mood. As #NewYear2022 dawns, there is plenty of pop advice on offer on how to navigate zindagi’s “chunautis”. (1/4) 2️⃣ @DainikBhaskar has a 10-step guide on how to “unlock happiness”. Happily lifted from Danish writer Aksel Sandemoss’s ‘Jante’s Law’, the newspaper lists the 10 commandments that have made Finland the world’s happiest nation, year after year: tinyurl.com/yc3xka39 (2/4)

When Rs 2,840,000,000—i.e. Rs 284 crore—is seized from one businessman’s house in the country’s biggest ever tax haul, can there be any confusion on who he is, and whose money it is? In “No.1 state” #UttarPradesh, anything is possible. A thread. #PiyushJain #ShikharPanMasala 2️⃣ Prime minister @narendramodi and UP chief minister @myogiadityanath blithely insinuate that the businessman #PiyushJain was a Samajwadi Party man—and that he was hoarding the cash for SP, the BJP’s arch rival, for use in the upcoming state election. #ShikharPanMasala

The Monday morning thrum of a magnificent metropolis. #Chennai at #Saidapet. 7.42 am. Two hours later. Monday morning rush hour. #Chennai at #Saidapet. 9.42 am.