adarsh bhat’s blog

Have you seen this blog called Offstumped by one Yossarin? It claims to be a blog “for all things right of centre.”

When I came across this blog for the first time a few months ago, I was thrilled. Here was a blog that was written by an ordinary citizen. It talked about issues. It had a good audience: each post had at least 50 comments. How many Indian political blogs can we find which can boast of that?

But as I followed the posts on this blog, it became apparent to me that this person really means it when he calls himself conservative. Here are some recent blog post titles from this blog:

• Jamia Millia University should be prosecuted
• Shame on you Oscar Fernandes
• Indian Mujahideen & CounterCurrents – Potential nexus
• War on Terror – Spotlight on Chicago’s Indian Muslims
• War on Terror – America Walks while India Talks
• War on Terror – Time for Pre-emption

Big head lines may get more clicks. But really this blog is doing more harm than good.

Far from being merely “right of centre,” the content in this blog is really to the extreme right. There is a clear religious bias that becomes obvious to anyone who cares to read a post or two. There have been many posts made about terrorism, and the connection to Islam is ever present. However nothing has been said about the recent activities of the Bajrang Dal, except this:

With mischevious comparisons being drawn between the Bajrang Dal and SIMI and absurd demands for banning Bajrang Dal if the Congress and its minions think they can shift the public debate away from the War on Terror then they are in for a huge disappointment.

By now, the political affiliations of this blog must be plainly obvious. However in the ‘About’ section, they claim not to be affiliated with any party.

The author also assumes he is some sort of modern day investigative journalist. Of course he requires no evidence whatsoever and makes allegations as he pleases. For instance, he makes one of his stupid-ass baseless claims here, and in the very next post does a complete U-turn. Makes me laugh! But it also makes me very angry. You make a huge accusation on someone, and all your faithful comment writers agree. The next day you contradict yourself, but don’t find the need to apologize or add corrections to your previous post. This is hugely irresponsible and leaves the site with absolutely no credibility.

I would really like to see some liberal political blogs from India out there. Do you know of any?

politics