Dear @suchetadalal, @BDUTT and 4 reasons i mention later in this thread, dear @ShekharGupta,

1. The word Media is a conceptual container. It includes everybody. The good like yourselves, the bad and the ugly. You know better than I where everybody fits in.

1/n https://twitter.com/suchetadalal/status/1292392195689832456

2. If we couldn’t use generalisations in our discourse, no general tendencies of any well recognised phenomenon would be possible. Media is a well defined category. And I believe my generalisation of it to extract the trope I mention in context of @bdutt’s piece was justified.

3. But of course it is a generalisation. There will be exceptions. As I pointed out 2 @bdutt herself in my tweet, & have done so before, her recent series on migrant labour was an outstanding piece of journalism. But does that mean her legitimisation of trope is above criticism?

4. The same can be said of your work in finance. It is fiercely independent journalism. But how does that mean I cannot use the media as conceptual container and criticise its use of a particular rhetorical device to deflect criticism from the Govt in power 2 the opposition?

My precious UPA I & II? Sure back in the 4 years from 2010 to 2014 I was an anonymous nobody that I still am 10 years later today. I choose 2 keep myself so.But did I lavish praise on UPA Govts back then? My twitter record as well as my articles in various websites will show no.

Before the mainstream media it was I who criticised non-merit petroleum subsidies to the middle class. I wrote articles on the fiscal train wreck which were ignored here but cited abroad. I warned about the emerging crisis in banks in 2013 when UPA was in power.

Well before 2014, I warned of @PChidambaram_IN’s scorched earth policy of distributing corporate loans from PSU banks under the public-private partnership that would boomerang on the economy. I tweeted repeatedly to Jaitley in 2014 saying NPA was 10x larger than he had assumed

For 3 years I relentlessly went on about NPA but Jaitley chose to be in denial. I can go on. But here is the nub. I criticism of Govt began in 2010. I criticised the UPA when it was in power. Not like the present media when it is out of power.

Just so happens that in retrospect, we can see UPA delivered the highest growth in wealth & prosperity over any 10 years in India’s history. It lifted 140 people million from poverty. And I am forced to recognise that it was far far better than the present Govt. on performance.

And I criticise Modi Shah & Co when they are in power. Who knows I may say kind things about them when they are hopefully out of power on stuff like decisively en ding non-merit petroleum subsidies or allowing 100% FDI in rental housing. I hope so at least.

UPA is no more mine than Modi Sarkar is. I am just a natural contrarian by temperament, habit & profession. Traders are born contrarians.If then I show concern for Congress it is only b/c it commands 20% of the country’s vote as a legacy and the country needs a strong opposition.

My twitter record shows, as do my past articles, I have been @RahulGandhi’s bitterest critic for his many faults as a leader. I wish he were gone. But he is what we have as the most viable alternative to the fascists & so I support him at this juncture. This tweets itself will

… that I curry no favour from either the family or the Congress for my support. It is merely a necessity at this critical juncture.

I have often tweeted what I support. Just two things. Individual freedoms - both political & economic & a market based liberalised economy.

As my record will show I have supported both & nothing else at all times. Be it in India or be it in the US. Trump also happens to be in power, I am a guest in the US, my twitter record will be pulled up necessary & still I do criticise Trump ji & his Trumpism.

I have been on twitter for 10 years. In all these 10 years have I abused my anonymity to harm anybody, slander anybody, say anything can is not legitimately in the larger interest of the Indian polity consistent my twin beliefs in individual liberty & a liberalised economy?

Yesterday I was critical of a piece from @ShekharGupta. He is a person I respect & admire though often not agree with. I criticised his piece, not him, because it serves to legitimise all that I think is wrong with the conceptual basis of the India right in politics & economy.

In the name of Capitalism they support crony capitalism regardless of whether it is Congress or BJP. While Right thinking Conservatives everywhere are absolutely wedded to individual freedoms over the state, people like @ShekharGupta and @swapan55 have found was to put …

the state - bharat mata - over individual rights. This legitimises fascism like nothing else. And I have criticised openly, citing piece, & laying out my case logically.

So here is my final submission to all of you 3 collectively & individually.

If any one of you 3 - individually or collectively - just any one feels that my criticism was over the top, slanderous or otherwise not within the bounds of normal discourse, or that my presence here on Twitter is undesirable, I shall delete my account on your say so.

There will be rancour, no elaborate good-byes & no return. This handle shall cease to exist & I fall not return to twitter under another.

Any one of you three. Just one need say so.

I will wait until Monday 4 your decision.

All the best.

Sonali.