In a tweet historian, Ramachandra Guha argued that Indian economy is heading southwards because advertisement hoardings were blank. Without going through any logic, reason and macroeconomic data points, Guha draws the conclusion that the economy must be heading southwards because hoardings are blank which means advertisement budgets exhausted and thus there is an economic slowdown in the country. “Driving to Bengaluru airport I find many roadside hoardings blank or just with contact phone numbers. Is the economy heading southwards? Are advertisement budgets exhausted? Are those monies being diverted elsewhere? Or is it just me being myself, a compulsive contrarian?” tweeted Guha. The ‘compulsive contrarian’ was a jibe at Arun Jaitley who said that fake campaign of the ‘compulsive contrarians’ on three issues- the Hindu terror theory, the Godhra incident and Nirav Modi case was busted one a single day.
Driving to Bengaluru airport I find many roadside hoardings blank or just with contact phone numbers.
Is the economy heading southwards?
Are advertisement budgets exhausted?
Are those monies being diverted elsewhere?
Or is it just me being myself, a compulsive contrarian?— Ramachandra Guha (@Ram_Guha) March 23, 2019
Guha is a well-read person. He completed graduation from prestigious St Stephen’s College in Economics. He also has masters from Delhi School of Economics, one of the finest institutions in the country for economics education. He did a fellowship program (equivalent to Ph.D.) on the social history of forestry in Uttarakhand from IIM, Calcutta. However, Guha later turned academician and historian. Perhaps he was well aware that given his stupid logic and conclusions, he has not a very bright career in economics. The person who draws the conclusion of economic slowdown from advertisement hoardings definitely has not had a good career in economics given the rigorous research, hard work, and intelligence required in the stream.
The reason behind blank hoardings was the ban on outdoor advertising by Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). The case is under legal challenge. One does not know whether Ramachandra Guha was unaware of the fact that outdoor advertising is banned in the city. However, it needs to be remembered that Guha is a permanent resident of the city and an avid reader of English dailies. So, it is probable that he was aware of the advertising ban and deliberately spreading the news of economy heading southwards to score political points.
This is not the first time Guha has drawn absurd conclusions. Guha had written that cricket is the best-suited game to people of the Indian subcontinent because it requires less physical activity. India produces better batsmen than bowlers because Indians are not good in activities which require hard physical activity. The domination of Brahmins in Indian batting legends was also put in this context. These self-professed liberals, non-discriminators, diversity enthusiast discriminated Indian talent on the basis of culture and geography.
The inferiority complex in our intellectuals has compelled them to correlate the sports performance with cultural inferiority and physical inferiority of people of the subcontinent. The people in the intellectual fields should not present selected outrage towards a particular person, institution or government. But in our country, the people in academia, media, art, and culture are consistently doing this since the Modi government came to power. The Award Wapsi, intolerance debate all were fake outrages created by people like Ramachandra Guha to garner public anger against the current government which did not succeed. Now they have started peddling thoughtless conclusion that blank hoardings in Bengaluru represent an economic slowdown in the country. Such senseless conclusions do not suit a person who studied from some of the finest institutions of economics in the country.
