When Guardian UK succumbed to an alleged pedophile and 'disappeared' me.

The other day, Guardian UK, did something more befitting an apparatchik of a military junta.

It "disappeared' me.

After months of moderating and publishing my comments, it suddenly and without any notice or discussion, withdrew my posting privileges. It had also scrubbed all my previous comments.

Guardian UK's draconian action is in keeping with the moral sloppiness and copious hypocrisy of India's feudal editorial class.

In my personal experience, I have found that for India's infantile editorial class, wounded narcissism, "honour" is everything.

Social consciousness, professionalism, a concern for truth, mean little.

India's editorial class might preach dialogue with Pakistan and tenderness with left extremists, but it is when they encounter a soft target like yours truly, that you get to feel their repressed blood lust.

Like any group in the throes of power lust, India's editorial class will lie and connive to criminally abet witch-hunts,ostracism, deprivation and annihilation.

Yes.

In my experience, India's editorial class is just another bunch of slobs with English.

Life is tough and unpredictable,but that is no license to drink and drive.

Priests must minister and not violate their wards.

Teachers must make their students wonder and aspire, not help them cheat and pass.

Doctors must heal and not take bribes to create factories of disease.

And editors and administrators who make excuses for the violation of the idea of the rule of law must be disabused of their pretensions and cleaned out like the the trash they are.

Fortunately, I have been blessed with a loving character. Often I have been able to create ease from disease. I will not give up this gift for anything.

And that is why, despite the fact that I have not made a paisa in profit, and very, very little income in the last twenty years, I have had it with this rabid riffraff.

This is what I wrote to the Reader's editor of the Guardian UK (April 1,2010):

Dear Ms Butterworth,

I am shocked and upset that my commenting privilege has been suddenly withdrawn.

Guardian.co.uk has since months moderated and published my comments.

It has now withdrawn my privilege without any notice or explanation.

I believe I have been extraordinarily considerate and respectful of the various authorities against whom I have voiced my complaint when I have directly dealt with them.

I have spent months and in some cases years communicating with them.

Equally, their arrogant, inhuman and unprofessional - narcissistic is my description - response has staggered me and left me bereft.

It was clear that they were not very concerned about their reputations at that time.

I stand by every word and have conscientiously substantiated with documentation most of the comments in my blog, whose address I have always provided in my comments.

May I also bring to your kind attention the fact that I am an individual citizen, unsupported in any way by any government, religious body, special interest society or any other organisation,

Keeping in mind, the tremendously unfair conduct to which I have been subjected to by the authorities and others in India, and the fact that they have not in way responded responsibly yet, it is but natural that I would be forced to repeatedly post the same message.

This may please not be confused with "spam".

I am reaching out to make some good, sturdy minded friends.And I am very receptive to constructive input.

I request Guardian.co.uk to respect my intentions and efforts, restore my commenting privilege and support me in any other way that it sees fit.

Sincerely,

Guardian UK replied (April 1, 2010):

Divakar - here is the note we send to readers raising queries about
moderation of their comments. It explains that moderation is largely
outside the realm of the readers' editor, and outlines where to go to look
for answers about moderation.

The readers’ editor deals primarily with complaints about content
commissioned and published by the Guardian and/or written by Guardian
journalists. She does not usually deal with complaints about the way
moderators have responded to comments posted online, although she may do so
in exceptional cases. Several thousand comments are posted on the website
every day and it is not feasible for her to get involved, routinely, in
complaints about the way individual comments are moderated.

If you are wondering why your post has been deleted or has not been
published you should first consult the Community standards and
participation guidelines to see whether your comment has breached its
provisions:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/community-standards

You may also find these FAQs about posting comments and moderation helpful:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/community-faqs

Any complaints about the removal of comments or the suspension of posting
rights should be sent to the moderators at cif.moderation@guardian.co.uk or
community.suggestions@guardian.co.uk (as appropriate). The moderators
operate a two-stage procedure for such complaints. If you are unhappy with
the moderator’s response to your complaint you may use the same email
address to ask for the decision to be reviewed by a second moderator.

General comments about moderation should be sent to this email address:
community.suggestions@guardian.co.uk

Unfortunately the moderators cannot respond to every email but they say
that all emails are reviewed.

best wishes
Helen Hodgson
Assistant Readers' editor, the Guardian

I wrote back:

Helen,

Thank you for your prompt reply. I shall go where you sent me.

Sincerely,
divakar

And wrote again (April 7, 2010):

Helen,

I have not yet heard from cif.moderation@guardian.co.uk and I am beginning to wonder about the strange and obscure professional ethics of The Guardian.

From where I sit, things do not look very good for your venerable publication.

But I am willing to, at further risk to my and my family's personal safety willing to hold out for another day, before I make my next move.

Please help.

Sincerely,
divakar

Guardian wrote back (April 7, 2010):

Dear User,

I have been forwarded your message about moderation. Please could you send me your username so that I can help find out why your posting privileges have been removed.

Thanks,

Isabella.

I replied to her and Ms Hodgson (April 7, 2010):

Thank you Helen. Isabelle Mackie has emailed me. I have replied.Thank you once again.
Sincerely,
divakar

And finally (April 14, 2010):

Helen:

It is now a week since I appealed and despite my reminder to Ms Mackie, I have not heard from her or anyone else.

Sincerely,
--
divakar

Divakar - I'm afraid the office of the Readers' editor cannot help you with
this. Please address your concerns to the moderators as previously
advised.
best wishes
Helen Hodgson
Assistant Readers' editor

And that has been that.

The Pope And The Prime Minister's Office - Unfortunate Similarities

The following comment was published in:

The Guardian.co.uk Saying sorry is not enough

Online Wall Street Journal: Scandal Shakes Catholics In Bavaria

Newsweek: Pope Benedict's Underwhelming Response

telegraph.co.uk: Cardinal Brady Must Go

Global Post - Connor O'Clery: Ireland Greets Pope's Apology With Skepticism

Reuters - US Edition - Faith World - Religion Faith And Ethics - Pope-victims gap is tip of iceberg of incomprehension in Catholic Church

Telegraph.co.uk: Damian Thompson - More Catholic-baiting from The Times

The Independent: Leading article: A landmark for Ireland, if not yet for Catholicism

The Independent : Bruce Anderson: Only a different leadership can save the Irish church

timesonline:Richard Owen - Vatican and Nico Hines Pope Benedict XVI 'knew child abuser allowed back to work'

cnn: connect the world

npr news blog:the two way-Punish Pope, Other Church Officials: Sex-Abuse Victim

The Daily Beast: Dirk Johnson - A Shocking Priest Abuse Tale

US News & World Report:John Aloysius Farrell - Catholics, Police Must Act to Stop Sexual Abuse in the Church

The American Spectator: Joseph Lawler - Benedict And The Media

The Economist: Papal Vulnerability - Pope Benedict XVI is losing popularity

India is crisscrossed by schools and other institutions run by Jesuits.

Yet thanks to India’s dodgy editorial class very few in India know that the Vatican has paid out close to a hundred million dollars to compensate for victims of child sexual abuse by albeit “a small minority” of priests.

The Indian media has barely reported that story.

Was the media’s heinous silence an act of concern for Indian children or a hideously wrongheaded act of leaving well enough alone ?

Abuse of power often happens in plain sight, since to the busy and self absorbed lay person, the powerful appear glamorous and formidable and their prey appear to be rebellious, despicable and in many ways, asking for it.

As somebody who has conscientiously refused to do business the way it “normally” is in so called democratic societies - I will not pay bribes - and who has been almost destroyed for my pains, I am able to feel deep appreciation for the heroes who spoke out and for those who heard them, felt outrage and who together managed to extract a measure of accountability from one of the most powerful and ambitious organisations on this planet.

Since the past two decades, the Government of India, the Government of my own state, Andhra Pradesh, the Andhra Pradesh High Court , the Chief Information Commissioner and State Information Commissioner have combined to impress on me that what works in India is what I have called the “patronage paradigm” – the paradigm of shoddiness, irresponsibility, cronyism and corruption” – and that ideas of the rule of law and democratic processes are merely spectacles to lull the gullible.

I have been denied the recognition that were commended to me by one former Chief Minister of my state, one former minister of home affairs, one speaker of the Lok Sabha, several prominent ministers of the central cabinet, eminent intellectuals and freedom fighters.

I have been unable to earn a decent living.

The office of the Governor of Andhra Pradesh incited my neighbours to cut off my water supply.

The information commissions in the state and at the centre denied me my right to information on spurious, brazenly illegal grounds and punished me for daring to object.

The high court denied me my right to competent counsel and punished me for complaining.

Even as we speak, Dr Manmohan Singh”s office, “Daredevil” Pratibha Patil’s Rashtrapati Bhavan, Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah, State Information Commissioner CD Arha are all locked in a most perverse and ignominious conspiracy of silence to deny me justice.

Even as the Prime Minister’s Office maintains a guilty silence in my case, it appears to have jumped through hoops to heap honour on a businessman alleged to be a serial swindler.

India’s editorial class is as dense, amoral and narcissistic.

Variations of this comment have appeared in almost every major Indian online publication plus in a few abroad.

However, not a single editor or reporter has had the professionalism to pick it up and make it “impact”.

My credentials are strong and I have taken much trouble to meet many editors personally, usually on impeccable referrals.

Our “know-it-all-in -chiefs” have had nothing but smirks to offer.

When I sought the solidarity of the press, Shekhar Gupta (editor in chief of New Indian Express) advised me, “You cannot go around taking pangas (quarrels) with people, yaar.”

Even my comments are mutilated.

Vinod Mehta’s “Outlook” has banned my comments on risible grounds.

The Hindu crawled.

It published “spin” by corrupt officials and got hissy with me for pointing out, with evidence, its craven, yellow soul.

The Indian Press (with a solitary exception) blacked out the fervent open letter written by Padma Vibhushan Kaloji Narayana Rao.

That dear man , clear as a bell in his nineties, had laid his head on my shoulder, hugged me and wept.

What about “civil society” in India ?

Since close to a year now, I have written to the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, Campaign for Judicial Accountability And Reform, Forum For Judicial Accountability, MKSS (Aruna Roy)and Anna Hazare regarding this cascading delinquency of constitutional bodies in India.

There has not been one constructive response.

They all appear to be in helpless denial of the awful truth that an innocent citizen has been hounded and humiliated since two decades, not for any bad behaviour or wrongdoing, but for resisting the dilution of the values of the Indian constitution and standing up for the correct administration of the Right To Information Act 2005.

Please visit and participate at http://sathyagraha.blogspot.com/ :

Andhra Pradesh High Court’s Pernicious Rebellion Against The Law .05/29/09

RTI Act 2005 Abuse In Andhra Pradesh- SIC Cheats! Chief Secretary Lies!05/07/09

Prejudiced CIC Laps Up PMO Lies 05/05/09

Compelling Criminality. Divakar S Natarajan and Varun Gandhi Cannot Both Be Wrong ! 01/28/09

And India’s editorial class will not report the story!

News and views from Divakar S Natarajan’s, “no excuses”, ultra peaceful, non partisan, individual sathyagraha against corruption and for the idea of the rule of law in India.

Now in its 18th year.

Any struggle against a predatory authority is humanity’s struggle to honour the gift of life.

India's Unequal Political Landscape

The following comment appeared in guardian.co.uk India's unequal political landscape

Only the corrupt, predatory, servant seeking ruling class will dance to visions of an effulgent future, with the passage of this or that law.

The way the "system' is run, benefits will accrue to a small, monstrous minority, beyond all dreams of avarice.

The rest will consider themselves lucky to be favoured as servants, sycophants, propagandists of the brutal few.

In a system where the "success" of the few inevitably creates squalor for the rest, where the media does its truth by numbers, where the judiciary is blithely compliant with the rich , where education is as much a racket , lets not expect, that we have arrived at any envisioned Ram Rajya, "where the mind is without fear and the head is held high"

Because:

Even while the Indian political leadership spins technicolour dreams of 21st century superpowerdom, its "politics" are mired in the medieval anachronisms of what I have called the "patronage paradigm - the paradigm of shoddiness, irresponsibility, cronyism and corruption, that has cretinised us all".

In India today, a culture of profiting from deceit,dysfunctionality and decay is flourishing.

In this culture of perversity, monstrous behavior is the ticket to wealth and domination.

In India today, the "Common Man" - a typically feudal pejorative - who 'aspires' to be an intelligent citizen might be labelled "goody-goody", ostracised and brutally killed.

It takes a whole village and the recently exposed Ruchika Girhotra case and my own experience indicate that checks and balances have collapsed and coalesced into one corrupt predatory ruling class.

That is why many suspect India's growth story may be mere a smoke and mirrors illusion built on swamp land.

Since the past two decades, the Government of India, the Government of my own state, Andhra Pradesh, the Andhra Pradesh High Court , the Chief Information Commissioner and State Information Commissioner have combined to impress on me that what works in India is what I have called the "patronage paradigm" - and that ideas of the rule of law and democratic processes are merely spectacles to lull the gullible.

I have been denied the recognition that were commended to me.

I have been unable to earn a decent living.

The office of the Governor of Andhra Pradesh incited my neighbours to cut off my water supply.

The information commissions in the state and at the centre denied me my right to information on spurious, brazenly illegal grounds and punished me for daring to object.

The Andhra Pradesh High Court, in the inimitable manner of the Indian judiciary, has misbehaved egregiously.

The high court denied me my right to competent counsel and punished me for complaining.

Even as we speak, Dr Manmohan Singh's office, "Daredevil" Pratibha Patil's Rashtrapati Bhavan, Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah, State Information Commissioner CD Arha are all in an obvious conspiracy to deny me justice.

In my experience India's editorial class is as dense, amoral and narcissistic.

Variations of this comment have appeared in almost every major Indian online publication plus in a few abroad.

However, not a single editor or reporter has had the professionalism to pick it up and make it "impact".

My credentials are strong and I have taken much trouble to meet many editors personally, usually on impeccable referrals.

Our "know-it-all-in -chiefs" have had nothing but smirks to offer.

When I sought the solidarity of the press, Shekhar Gupta (editor in chief of New Indian Express) advised me, "You cannot go around taking pangas (quarrels) with people, yaar."

Even my comments are mutilated.

Vinod Mehta's "Outlook" has banned my comments on risible grounds.

The Hindu crawled.

It published "spin" by corrupt officials and got hissy with me for pointing out, with evidence, its craven, yellow soul.

The Indian Press (with a solitary exception) blacked out the fervent open letter written by Padma Vibhushan Kaloji Narayana Rao.

That dear man , clear as a bell in his nineties, had laid his head on my shoulder, hugged me and wept.

In India today, it is difficult to tell the difference between policeman and journalist and fixer, politician and criminal, lawyer and judge, Indian Administrative Service Officer and the village idiot.

But they all are laughing all the way to their offshore accounts.

If you would like to know about the sheer impossibility of living a good life in India, you and your esteemed visitors may want to visit and participate at sathyagraha.blogspot.com

Andhra Pradesh High Court?s Pernicious Rebellion Against The Law .05/29/09

RTI Act 2005 Abuse In Andhra Pradesh- SIC Cheats! Chief Secretary Lies!05/07/09

Prejudiced CIC Laps Up PMO Lies 05/05/09

Divakar S Natarajan and Varun Gandhi Cannot Both Be Wrong ! 01/28/09

And India?s editorial class will not report the story!

Divakar's Sathyagraha

News and views from Divakar S Natarajan?s, ?no excuses?, ultra peaceful, non partisan, individual sathyagraha against corruption and for the idea of the rule of law in India.

Now in its 18th year.

Any struggle against a predatory authority is humanity's struggle to honour the gift of life.

India's Home Minister has called on civil society to speak out against Maoist depredations.

Will he kindly let me know why Rashtrapathi Bhavan and the Prime Minister's office have not taken appropriate action on the representations made on my behalf by the former Home Minister Shri Indrajit Gupta, Padma Vibhushan Kaloji Narayana Rao and others ?

Even as the Prime Minister's Office maintains a baleful and ignominious silence in my case, it appears to have jumped through hoops to heap honour on a businessman alleged to be a serial swindler.