Tuesday, 16 February 2021

The China angle in fomenting discontent in the country & the role of Indian media

 

The China angle in fomenting discontent in the country
&
the role of Indian media

Hasty retreat by Chinese armed forces from Pangong Tso area

            We all have read and heard about the various International intelligence agencies like CIA, MI5, KGB, MOSSAD etc. and even for that matter ISI of Pakistan.  However, very few of us have any knowledge about the Chinese intelligence agency, as it usually keeps a very low profile and is known as MSS (Ministry of State Security).  If one does an analysis of the recent events in world Geo-politics, one can join dots significantly and these pointers directs one towards China and the functioning of its MSS.  China had actually threatened India with various covert operations, including fanning of insurgency in North east region of the country, through its media mouth piece i.e. The Global Times.  Many ordinary citizens may not be taking these threats seriously, but the activities of MSS across the world needs to be assessed afresh. 

             Although the MSS is not known to be an agency with known strike capabilities on enemies like the KGB & MOSSAD, but it now appears that it has gained immense expertise for covertly operating with intent to destabilize entire geographical regions by use of its money power through third party entities, so as to ensure that China is not exposed or directly blamed for the same.  This was amply on display recently, during the recently concluded US Presidential elections, wherein the rhetoric of ‘white supremacy’ and violence thereon was perpetrated and was used as a tool to ensure distinct disadvantage for Mr.Donald Trump, a known China baiter.  The persons and media involved in generating and perpetrating this specific agenda in the USA, are known to have received monetary support from unknown sources.  The stand taken by India, especially the present Government,  in respect of ‘Belt & Road initiative’ (BRI for short) of China has not gone down too well with the Chinese establishment, especially its President Xi Jinping, as the most ambitious component/project of the BRI namely CPEC runs through Pakistan Occupied Kashmir and could be in jeopardy in near future, especially in case India did not become part of this capitalist and expansionist policy of China, in case India happens to re-occupy its land i.e. POK, the entire amount of more than 50 billion dollars spent by China to develop this corridor  could turn out to be a naught.  In case any reader wants to learn about the BRI and its impact globally, may read this article - https://www.tni.org/files/publication-downloads/bri_framing_web_en.pdf.

A representative image of CPEC scheme in Pakistan 
          In order to destabilize the present Government, the Chinese agencies sought covert help from ISI of Pakistan to infiltrate the ranks of certain Muslim organizations and instigated the CAA protests, but due to exposure of likes of Sarjil Imam and Umar Khalid of indulging in anti-national activities, coupled with exposure of likes of Tahir Hussain, whose active role with covert help of a political party stood exposed, during the Delhi riots perpetrated on eve of visit of the then United States President to India in February, 2020 are all indicative of the role of China in trying to destabilize the current Government through agencies like ISI.  The return to power of the present Government in 2019 had unnerved China further and it stepped up the ante to find ways and means to destabilize and ultimately defame this Government and ensure its electoral loss in next the elections.  This was not a game plan that had been hatched overnight, but had been on the anvil since years and this can be seen by the increased Chinese activity in Nepal, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to foment trouble for India from all sides.  Further, the world wide destruction unleased by China in guise of COVID-19 for ensuring economic dominance over the world, was coupled with the infamous ‘Tabligi Jamat’ incident in March - April, 2020, wherein mullahs from countries wherein China has a marked presence, came to India and despite being infected intentionally, they dispersed all over country, mostly to remote locations, with intent to spread the virus and cripple the fragile Indian health care system and thereby create a strong anti-Government narrative.  However, having failed to get the desired results through these initiatives, the Chinese Government as a last ditch attempt to de-stabilize, de-motivate and disintegrate the present Government, upped the ante by challenging India militarily by marching upto the Finger-4 region on Pangong Tso region in Ladakh.  The attempt was to militarily humiliate the present Government and thus, discredit it, but the tables were turned with the Galwan incident, wherein a pre-mediated attack by the Chinese troops became it’s Waterloo, as more than double the number of its soldiers perished in hand to hand combat with Indian jawans.  This unprecedented turn of events actually started to hurt the Chinese leadership back home and as much as the media may hype, coupled with this military setback and the position taken by the Indian armed forces alongside, it was the internal domestic pressure, especially upon the central leadership within China that resulted in the present withdrawal.

             As a last ditch effort, the Chinese establishment tried to create turmoil in India through this false narrative of so called ‘Kisan aandolan’ and later tried to give it an International color using paid up projected personalities like Rihanna and Greta Thunberg.  But the tweet of Greta Thunberg, a self-projected and propagated cult personality, with lone intent to black-mail and to gain monetarily, this cult persona made a hasty tweet that included the copy of the hidden agenda of the paid campaign and this exposed the entire set-up and discredited the movement internationally.  Coupled with this, the on ground activity of the so called leaders of the ‘Kisan aandolan’, who had been paid to discredit the Government internationally by disturbing the Republic day celebrations, especially by indulging in large scale violence and expecting Government retribution failed miserably and the leaders were on run in the aftermath.  The public instead of being swayed by the activities of these so called activists, in an anti-Government charade, actually turned against them after being exposed to the real agenda behind the agitation and the sponsored program is slowly petering out.  The intent of this specific movement was also to disrupt the lifeline of armed forces that runs through States of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, in case a limited war broke out at the border and to choke the supply chain of the Indian forces using its own citizens (actually anti-nationals), who would disrupt the Railway lines, roads etc.  One of the glaring incidents, that points fingers towards Chinese involvement is the uncalled for destruction of Reliance network towers in Punjab, as a warning for working of 5G technology and challenging China globally, one has to read between the lines and incidents to join the dots in such vicious intents ( Here is the link to the news - https://www.indiannewslive.com/why-do-farmers-explode-on-mobile-towers-in-the-middle-of-the-movement-loss-over-1500-cm-amarinder-instructs-to-take-action.html ).  

Sikh activists damaging Reliance towers in Punjab

The other incident of hoisting flat at Red Fort was an act of defiance and a direct challenge to authorities provoking them for taking harsh punitive action, as the Chinese believed would take place, but the mature handling of situation by the Delhi Police and the political brass, exposed China and divisive forces effectively.  Thus, having failed to garner an internal turmoil within the country and also having failed to turn Nepal totally against India and coupled with India’s ‘Vaccine diplomacy’ alongwith military and other support being offered to immediate neighbors and India having won over Bangladesh and Myanmar had rattled the Chinese establishment badly.  As a last ditch effort to ensnare India, it has perpetrated a military coup in Myanmar to continue with its game of geo-political destabilization of the South East Asian region. 

         However, finding no way out even after having indulged in all these games to destabilize the country and win the war without firing a shot, having dithering for eight rounds of military talks, China finally accepted the inevitable after the ninth round and withdrew at such a pace that left the International community stupefied, but it is evident that this had been planned in detail since long and the orders stood served to the last soldier in the line and man were the Chinese military happy to get out of the hell they had been pushed into by their own Government, where they lived in constant fear of being dismembered by the Indian military at any instant, especially after the Galwan incident.  China had no choice either, as an honorable exit was the only way out, as a military defeat would have thoroughly exposed the inadequacies in the Chinese military establishment worldwide and its ramifications would have been immense.

             Now many of you may be pondering that the entire narration till now centers around the Chinese activities of destabilizing India, but what has the Indian media got to do with it.   The answer to it is quite complex, as well as very simple and I will try to explain the link.  As I have narrated that the Chinese MSS has grown its expertise in garnering and festering discontent and ways to destabilize countries or geo-political regions.  It mainly targets, what is both the strongest and weakest points of a vibrant democracy i.e. right to protest.  It uses this as a tool by pumping in money and garnering violent protests through third party mechanisms or intelligence agencies, such as ISI, which will carry out any such activity for sake of money.  However, what these countries that overtly rely on China, fail to realize is that the China is not a welfare state and that all its investments are directed at gaining and establishing economic dependence upon China that would ultimately lead to grant of suzerainty to China.  This is the new form of colonialism that China perceives and is actively perpetrating in poorer nations in Asia and Africa and for that matter even South America.  In this process, in order to impose a thought process upon the citizens of that country, the Chinese establishment uses the media of that country by paying them to raise a specific bogey, so as to en-cash upon it later to dictate its terms.  What ails certain Indian media houses in India as well, is that it is playing pally to this Chinese propaganda machinery for some ill gotten money, but once in its trap, these media houses are later blackmailed to remain silent or loose their entire credibility by getting by exposed by these Chinese agents. 

             If you just analyze the events that unfolded since 2019 onwards and join the dots, you will find that the role of certain media houses, independently as well as in consonance with certain political parties, have been suspect and a chronological sequence would look like this –

1)    Some media houses were hell bent upon establishing that the CAA was actually a tool to harass and deny citizenship to a certain religious section in India.  Whereas, the fact was that it was a bill to provide citizenship and not take it away;

The mockery of CAA -  protests in India

2)    This was followed up with an orchestrated communal riot in Delhi on the eve of visit of the then US President to India and the media tried to play the victim cards in favor of certain community and also fuel it.  But the exposure of the deeds through the Mobile warriors i.e. ordinary citizens recording the events through their mobile cameras, exposed the false narrative of certain media houses;

The Delhi riots view and one of the chief perpetrators and organizer Tahir Hussain

3)      Then came the incident of ‘Tabligi jamat’ and you would have noticed some media houses were bending backwards over to project religious persecution, when these foreign and Indian elements were being rounded up.  Also remember the kind of pan India anti-Government stance was being taken by certain religious sect by attacking health workers etc. during this period that pointed towards an well-orchestrated sinister plan;

The 'Tabligi jamaat' and their leader

4)  Thereafter, when China took an attacking stance and marched upto Finger-4 of Pangong Tso in Ladakh, the same media houses started crying hoarse that China had taken over Indian Territory and this rhetoric was in tandem with certain political parties, whose NGOs had been receiving money from the China as well as its entities;

A garb of the Galwan incident during skirmish with China

5)   Then came the lockdown because of COVID-19 and the rhetoric and blatant criticism of the Government for having miserably failed to contain the spread of virus and ruining of economy, by this very plethora of Indian media houses in tandem with other political parties.  But the efforts made by the Government is now there for all to see and despite being much poorer nation viz a viz the Western European counterparts including USA and Canada, India has contained the spread effectively and also provided a vaccine to the world on its own;

6)   Thereafter, came this propagated agenda of protests against the so called ‘Farm Bills’ and here again the same party that was earlier trying to implement it, was up in arms against the same alongwith their coterie of media houses, which in fact is an unfortunate aspect of democracy.  The false narrative of certain media houses alongwith political parties etc. of unfortunate over-turning of a Tractor and the driver getting killed, being projected as having been shot by the Police, in order to perpetrate violence on the streets aka USA, came out a naught for the Chinese machinery, as the entire incident had been recorded independently by various media and also by my so called ‘Mobile warriors’, who were the actual heroes in exposing the falsity of CAA, Tabliggi Jammat and roles of likes of Tahir Hussain during Delhi riots;

Some anti-social and anti-national elements attack Red Fort in garb of Kisan aandolan or Farmers protest

7)      Another aspect of the media soft pedaling certain issues, especially through Radio Channels have also come to my notice.  The Radio Jockeys (RJs for short) while hosting programs other than news programs, subtly raise issues like rise in petrol prices, socially sensitive issues etc. and peddle them to drum up a fresh agitation, either for monetary gains (for the houses managing and hosting these Radio channels) or for political purposes (being sponsored by Political parties through advertisement etc.).  Some of the RJs blatantly mimic certain functionaries of the Government including the Prime Minister, in guise of humor, to discredit them; and

8)      Finally the last, but not the least is the fomenting of plethora of online news portals (whose source of funding is suspect), which by hoodwinking the regular censorship model publish blatantly false articles with sole intent to create disharmony and distrust etc. in the nation.

 In this context, the Chinese attempt to use some celebrities, of course through back channels is evident.  In this context, the name of an female celebrity Rihanna, who put in a tweet supporting the so called farmers agitation raised a protest from the citizens, albeit a few media houses, including a few Radio jockeys, whose management allow these elements (for sake of revenue of course) to raise irrelevant issues in unconnected programs like Hindi songs hosting or to unnecessarily mimic the tone and tenor of our Prime Minister for passing disparaging remarks against him in guise of humor, all at cost of free speech in democracy.  All these unscrupulous elements started drumming the bogey and raising a hue a cry either about the Government being too harsh and reactive towards such tweets or questioning other Indian celebrities for retorting to the tweets of Rihanna.  However, it is imperative to place here on record that Rihanna has had a long association with China and this article of 2019 in a Chinese media will establish my contentions –

https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/china/rihannas-latest-cover-spurred-cries-of-cultural-appropriation-but-chinese-netizens-disagree-fenty

Further, when the source of fund regarding the tweet surfaced, the pro-Khalisatani body based in Canada and accused of paying millions of dollars for the tweet came out denying that it had paid Rinanna for the said tweet, shows their guilt – here is the link to this article - https://www.news18.com/news/india/canada-based-pjf-denies-paying-2-5-million-to-rihanna-for-her-tweet-supporting-farmers-protest-3399422.html

Rihanna

The final nail to this sordid saga was hammered by one of the perpetrators and player of this game, when the over smart Greta Thunberg of Sweden, being propagated as an environmentalist, issued a similar tweet regarding farmers agitation, but inadvertently also shared the link known as ‘toolkit’ that exposed the entire game plan including that of Rihanna and the deletion of the tweet later established the sinister plan and here  is the link to the news - https://in.news.yahoo.com/greta-thunbergs-deleted-toolkit-plot-to-defame-india-100953564.html

Greta Thunberg

These back to back incidents and exposure compelled the right thinking citizens of the country about this international conspiracy being hatched by enemy nations resulted in the so called farmer’s agitation losing steam and now slowly petering out.

 

Indian forces in Ladakh - all geared up to take on China

            Now let us come to the latest instance, wherein China after due deliberations agreed to pull back its troops in Pangong Tso region back to its original position of beyond Finger-8, to an existing pre-April, 2020 position.  It is in effect implementation of bilateral agreement of ‘status quo ante’, which means in common parlance that things be restored as it existed on a particular date in the past.  Accordingly, the Indian troops too went back to their permanent base near Finger-3 region, as existing prior to April, 2020.  The Indian Government has been steadfast in its demand from day one that China should first move back to its pre-April, 2020 position and has achieved the same.  Similarly, India too had to withdraw all its troops that had been stationed post April, 2020 because of the conflict in the said region.  However, China in order to have a face saving option has again used this coterie of paid Indian media and politicians to question the withdrawal of troops from the Kailash ranges i.e. Rezang la etc. and started misleading the public, in name of democratic freedom, questioning the withdrawal and ceding of territory by India.  This is far from the factual position, as ‘status quo ante’ even in International law applies equivocally to either parties and in order to get into an bilateral agreement, the same status has to be restored by either parties and accordingly, it was incumbent upon India to do so.  Therefore, the Indian media houses that are somehow influenced by outside agencies/counties tend to propagate narrative that is against national interest and all this is done in the name of democracy.  Juxtaposed to it, autocratic nations tend to misuse this power to propagate false narratives to harm a nation or its government and its credibility etc. through the use of such unscrupulous media houses.  However, this kind of game doesn’t have a long lasting love story, as these rogue autocratic nations, just throw away these entities into the dustbin after their game is over, as has happened recently with BBC, that was involved in anti-India propaganda on behest of this country, which now stands banned in China itself.

          I believe that it is incumbent upon the media to report facts as they exist and not as what it should be perceived as per their opinion and this thin line should not be crossed at any cost, as this tantamount to ‘yellow journalism’.  In case it is still done by any media house, an appropriate regulatory authority should ban that media house for a specific period of time.  This kind of watch dog is essential so that rogue States like China are not able to use this democratic right to foster their evil intentions.  I strongly feel that it is time that some self-imposed regulatory authority is strongly recommended for monitoring the media houses.  Expect my readers to comment regarding their take on my stand in this article.

 (All the photographs used in the blog have been sourced from the internet and for representative purpose only)

© S. Roy Biswas