Always listen to experts. They'll tell you what can't be done and why. Then do it. Robert Heinlein
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The gentleman whose photograph appears on the left is Bhupendra Choubey, the chief political correspondent of CNN-IBN. He also authors a blog on http://ibnlive.com/- you can find the link to his blog in a section titled ibn blogs. I happened to read his blog today- he had commented on strong action taken by Bahen Mayawati against an IAS officer whose wife had organised a fashion show at their residence- apparently this fashion show was a part of a tea-party. Mr. Choubey (who, I later found out has been ridiculed for his abysmal attempts to mimic Rajdeep Sardesai in the TV-show face the nation) avers that most of the IAS officers are not even aware of a certain provision of the service rules which prohibits the organisation of such events at their official residences. He also states that Bahen Mayawati herself is guilty of throwing lavish parties on several occassions and this he says is the reason why he is so agitated with her strong action. He goes on to accuse the CM of doing nothing to change the ground realities in the state and having no vision for the development of the state and towards the end compares her with Nitish Kumar and applauds the latter.
I certainly cannot appreciate his sentiments. In fact, I cannot help but feel agitated at the nonsense paased off by so called political experts as news (in this case a blog which finds a place on the website of a TV channel which prides itself on the quality of its content). Mr. Choubey has certainly never studied logic in course of his education. If the change in so- called ground realities is the parameter on which the effectiveness of a regime is to be tested then Nitish Kumar certainly does not deserve to be treated with anymore respect than Mayawati- not because he is inept but for the simple reason that these realities (as will be pretty clear to anyone who has faced them unlike journalists who occupy cosy rooms) take a lot of time to change in a country like ours. He talks of vision but doesn't define it- going by the plain meaning of this word, conception of plans such as Taj Expressway, Taj Corridor and now Ganga Expressway does indeed indicate vision. I could've gone on and on about the apparent fallacies in his arguments but then it occured to me that the attitude of Mr. Choubey is in fact a reflection of tendencies of so-called expert-journalists, political experts and the like. One can't forget how year after year the predictions of the Exit-polls conducted by various agencies are proved wrong. Not just that, far from sticking to their area of competence (if any) these political experts (especially psephologists) poetically justify their predictions and more often than not, they also describe what the political scenario should be like. Now, qua a citizen of India anyone has a right to express his/her opinion about the desirability or otherwise of a particular party coming to power however when one is facing the camera and spelling out his predictions in respect of an election; such judgments only go on to indicate that in all probability their feelings, their pre-conceived notions, their desires have affected the objectivity of the process through which they claim to have predicted the future or gauged the public sentiment. It's appalling to see how such mediocrity and illogicalness has become a characteristic of the fourth estate.
