So we have officially entered the year 2016, last year was a mixed bag of events both positive and negative. While the Modi Government brought in many game changing programs and took development to a whole new level, they were not able to convert their good work into electoral success. Opposition on the other hand showed both guts and political wisdom and handed 2 humiliating defeats to once invincible BJP and 2 back to back parliament session washouts as well.

Last year set new records in cacophony and “intolerance”. The decibel levels in TV debates were at an all-time high. Dadri remained a hot topic in media while Moobidri remained undiscussed. The greatness of Tipu Sultan was put under scanner and Aurangzeb Road was renamed to APJ Abdul Kalam Road. Literati and Twitterati clashed with each other over the topic of intolerance in India. FTII students shut their college down and our parliamentarians shut the abode of democracy down.

We decided to run a twitter poll and asked 10 different questions to decide the heroes and zeroes of 2015. Each question registered around 400 votes. Here are the findings:

Heroes and Zeroes of 2015 – Journalists

Sincere Journalism has almost become an oxymoron now. But we decided to ask the question nonetheless.

Who was the most sincere journalist this year?

Sudhir Chaudhary famous for his incisive DNA tests on Zee News won the title of the most sincere journalist of the year 2015. Sudhir Chaudhary has the uncanny ability of choosing topics wisely and providing an insightful report for news that otherwise are not high TRP material. Chaudhary is one of those old-school journalists who believes in talking in a toned-down voice and with a persistent winsome smile on his face, very a la Doordarshan of the olden days! Rajat Sharma of India TV, known for his sharp rebuttals and sarcastic one liners was a distant second.

Like we said Journalism has almost become an oxymoron now, so we decided to ask the most obvious questions and the suspects were the usual ones. While the admin panel had a hunch about Sardesai winning the laurel, it was Barkha Dutt who walked away with the glory.

Who was the most insincere journalist this year?

Barkha Dutt comes loaded with her pre-conceived notions about a topic and goes to any extent to prove her point. This year for her was no different. While the Husband-Wife duo of Sardesai and Ghose make it very obvious that they hate BJP, Barkha plays it smart. Her layers of pretence are thicker and her tone is indirect. She had to bear the wrath of “Bhakts” who downrated her book en masse and made sure that her last month of 2015 is wasted in whining about the e-Hooliganism of the Bhakts. Sardesai of course was the second most insincere journalist this year closely followed by Rana Ayyub. Ravish Kumar with 12% votes remained at the fourth spot.

Heroes and Zeroes of 2015 – Governance

Like I mentioned earlier, Modi Government brought in many game changing programs and took development to a whole new level. But they failed to convert their good work into electoral success or legislative success. We asked the following questions:

What was BJP and Gov’s biggest loss?

Surprisingly people do not consider electoral losses as failures or major failures at least. This question saw a close competition between BJP’s inability to tone the media down and their inefficiencies in controlling Parliament Session washouts. 37% people believe that the Government needs to control the media better and set some standards for them. Intolerance, Dadri, Award Waapsi remained the major headlines in Media this year while development and improving global clout of India remained undiscussed. People are of the opinion that it is media which is digressing the direction of this nation and hence it needs to be regulated well. With 34% votes Parliament Washout was named the Gov’s second biggest failure. Modi and Co. need to set some new rules for the opposition now. They have allowed the opposition to dictate their terms for far too long.

What according to you was Modi Gov’s biggest achievement this year?

Modi visited a record number of countries this year. I know of some social media platforms who thrive on parodying Modi’s “frequent visit to foreign countries” but a majority of our followers believe that the increased global clout and the enhanced global relations have been the USP of Modi Government. This year saw a British PM extolling an Indian PM and India. This year saw Modi defying the developed nations at COP21 in Paris. This year saw an American President attending India’s republic day parade and a Japanese PM attending Ganga Aarti in Varanasi.

Heroes and Zeroes of 2015 – Personalities

There were some posers, some heroes, some imposters and some achievers this year. Some made noise, some quietly did their work. Some returned awards while some made sure Indians stranded abroad return safely back to their nests.

We asked the following questions to our followers:

Who was the biggest wannabe of the year 2015?

Jasleen Kaur the One Day- Internet Sensation of Delhi won this competition hands down. She was a bully with (unconfirmed) links with the Aam Aadmi Party. She shot to limelight when she posted the picture of an alleged eve teaser whom the media fondly addressed as the Delhi Molester. The molesters turned out to be a harmless and hapless victim while our online activist turned out to be a bully who went on to win a certificate of valor from Delhi’s part time CM and full time Don Quixote Shri Arvind Kejriwal. Sudheendra Kulkarni earned the unique recognition of being the first man to launch a book with an ink smeared face and hence became the second biggest wannabe of 2015

Who was the biggest badass of the year 2015?

Swamy won the title of the biggest badass of 2015 handsomely. Swamy is one of those crusaders whom foes fear and friends respect just for the reason that they are his friends. His list of victims in endless. From the election commission to A Raja, from Jayalalitha to Gandhis, he has spared none. This year he remained in news for his crusade against the Gandhi family. He was successful in framing them in the National Herald case and the Gandhis were ordered to be presented in court. VK Singh the man who brought stranded Indians in Yemen and had the guts to take the media head on was adjudged the second biggest badass of the year 2015

Who took politics to a new low in 2015?

Nilomani Sen Deka called Smriti Irani, the second wife of Modi. Aiyar spoke against India’s interests in Pakistan. Kharge warned the BJP of a Rakt-Paat (bloodshed) in the Parliament but it was Kejriwal who took politics to a new low in 2015. His radio message to people in Dadri was shameful to say the least but he ended the year with a new unsurpassable low when he called the PM of India “Coward and Psychopath”. With 83% votes, Kejriwal made it a one sided game. Followers of TFI have no doubts whatsoever in giving the trophy to Arvind Kejriwal for he brought politics to a new low in 2015

Who as per you was the person of the year— 2015?

And again Subramanian Swamy won this laurel easily and this fact goes on to attest Nation’s loathing for the Gandhis. In this category he had some competition from Power Minister Piyush Goyal though, who has been the pioneer of the LED revolution in India and is making sure that every single village of India gets electrified.

Heroes and Zeroes of 2015 – Events

Which events made you proud in year 2015?

There was a tough competition in this poll. While 34% of our followers think that the heroics of the residents of Chennai was the event that made them proudest, 33% think that Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu’s tweet heroics have made them very proud this year. Both the heroics are equally significant. While the former attests the fact that when humankind awakes, even nature bows down in front of their grit and perseverance. And the latter goes on to show how Technology can be used to bring a “derailed” system back on “track”.

Who made the maximum noise this year?

Award Waapsi Episode which hogged maximum media bandwidth this year has been adjudged the noisiest episode this year. When it started, people took it seriously and even sincerely but as the motives of the Award Returning Gang was exposed people took them as imposters and noisemakers of the purest breed. With 86% votes, Award Waapsi made the maximum noise this year while the FTII episode came a distant second.