This is a blog post from
Ok, JNU. Take a candlelight march for Captain Pavan Kumar, who is also a degree holder from the university like all of you, if you are a nationalist. This is from you-know-who. And this is the litmus test for all you. I know you have taken a conscious decision of not watching this channel but guys, be warned. The nation is tuned to him. So, if you pass this test, you can go about greasing palms as you navigate life’s choices. You can be corrupt, you can rape and pilfer but you would have passed the test written for you by you-know-who. He is convinced you are a champagne-sipping seditionist and will break every rule of journalism to prove you are one.
He went missing in the short march organised by us journalists last week to protest attacks on us. But he was not far removed from the conversations that swirled around. Journalists questioned his heightened patriotism in wrapping the JNU protest by a handful of students in his now-patented trademark tri-colour. He pummelled the young Umer Khalid, a post-graduate student, on his channel 13 days ago, not pausing for a moment to listen to a young, intelligent man in a premier campus where dissent is celebrated, and where the idea of a nation may not conform to a flag-waving, chest-thumping hysterical rant.
I winced. If not in campuses, where? But you, Arnab, made it clear when you said you wouldn’t allow dissent on your watch or in the campuses funded by the taxpayer. What weird reasoning. Almost as though all those who didn’t pay taxes had the licence to have their say on your news hour. But then, reasoned debates are not what I expect from you. On Newshour, where you crown yourself the chief inquisitor, I hear noise and see theatrics with imaginary flames licking the sets — a hoary metaphor for the heat and fire generated by your howling participants.
When Khalid surfaced this week, after being driven underground by bloodthirsty sections of the media led by you and the cops, for "raising anti-India slogans", he said he would not even name you. But I am not going to address you as he-who-shall-not-be-named, for that would invite a comparison with Voldemort that I do not think would be fair to him.
By the way, Happy Birthday, Arnab. How can I forget it when you are constantly reminding me of the glorious milestone? Gosh. It is close to ten years since I have been waltzing around with the “nation-wants-to-know”, at times, feeling the rush of blood to my brain as it freezes over — very rarely walzing in step. Some times, a dull headache gives way to laughter as you set the agenda for the Nation. Does the Nation take you as seriously as you do yourself? I don’t know, but there have been moments when officials of the state have accepted your hectoring for gospel and settled the fate of millions in the country. I remember the way you raged over India’s Daughter, successfully censoring it for all us as you emerged the chief censor.
Often, my thoughts go out to your panellists. Is there a doctor checking their blood pressure before Newshour and after Newshour? Is your human resources lady at hand to soothe their nerves? Who are these people who willingly offer themselves to be battered on your show? What about those two non-state egg-headed actors from Pakistan so willingly allowing themselves to be pummelled on primetime? How much do you pay them for getting beaten up by you?
At 9 p.m., when the nation has had its dinner (I am excluding vast swathes of the rural and urban urban population who are dependent on the Food Security Act, for they are not your audience), but those who, as the clock strikes nine, turn into stone, riveted by your performance on the Newshour.
We are the leaders, you proclaim as I wonder where I have heard that line before (Oh yeah, Amazon’s Kindle advertisement has a similar ring to it). English news channels inhabit such a tiny world that the high decibel-level doesn’t quite warrant the space you occupy, but yes, the noise is required to get the audience glued to their television sets, so essential for advertisements. As per reports in public domain and quoted by some newspapers, English news accounts for 0.04 per cent of all time spent watching TV. And there has been a fierce battle on air between Times Now and India Today TV since last year. In the Rs. 2,000-crore news market, there is battle for the top position and you alone, declaredly, remain there.
So, there you are. A one-man musketeer, taking on the might of the nation. Or that’s what you would have me believe. That perfectly gelled hair, never out of place except for a stray lock that appears agitated on your forehead when you take on the anti-nationals and other moral villains. Those black-rimmed glasses, giving you a professorial look.
I think about last week’s programme on JNU — where a class of young men had chanted “ aazadi” , and set your blood boiling. How could they? I mean how did they even dare say this when soldiers are dying in Kashmir? You even shut up young Khalid on your show, as if to say he didn’t deserve to speak about soldiers shedding blood for the nation after having betrayed them. Have to give it to you, though, for your ability to connect patriotism, jingoism, nationalism and wrap them all up in the Indian flag. That young man could be either a patriot if he stood by you or traitor if he didn’t. It was that simple. For all the hectoring and I-won’t-cow-down spiel, it is evident that you do not believe in extending freedom of speech to those who disagree with you.
You even had a moustachioed former army-general scream his lungs out, prompting the Education Minister of the country to put a call to him and console him. Were we at war with the students? Was this anti-national call given by students threatening the fabric of the country? She, let's not name her, who has never displayed such alacrity on matters concerning students or education, couldn’t let this moment pass. I have to give it to you. You served up the perfect TV moment. The tearful general and the Minister commiserating his moment of anguish on prime time TV.
And so, the anti-student rant continues on your channel with soul-stirring, flag-waving binary slogans like ‘support the forces, not-pro Afzal Guru Group’ or ‘Pro-Afzal Group’ won’t surrender.’ For all the intelligence you claim to possess, I am surprised you found nothing wrong in the Education Minister’s ludicrous proposal of installing a flag on public universities as a solution to counter the rising anti-nationalism. By the way, most of the universities fly the National Flag.
We are the leaders, you proclaim as I wonder where I have heard that line before. Yeah, Amazon’s Kindle advertisement which has a similar ring to it.
As I write this, I wonder what JNU has done to deserve your unqualified hatred and venom. Some of the best books on history and national movement have come out of the scholars from JNU.
I have to admit you do pose a strange problem for me. As long as you hunted down with the same zeal, love-jihadis, championed the cause of women, though I cringed at your style, I thought it was to a noble end. Who can argue against gender-equality unless you are anti-woman. And you don’t look like you hate women. But a degree in social anthropology from Oxford (correct me, if I am wrong), should have equipped you better to engage with a country of a thousand faiths and million freedoms.
Here is the danger you pose to humanity and the television-viewer. You have spawned some imitations, fledglings yet capable of inflicting some serious damage. In the fiercely competitive and tiny world of English news channels, it is he who shouts the most who gets the eyeballs. For good measure, add the flag-waving and chest-thumping that you do best, and others will ape you. News X , India Today TV (there is even this hysterical anchor from Delhi’s very own Ivy League college) who does a good imitation of you. When I see him, I think, had he not been a news anchor he would have been perfect in the trenches. Or, then again, maybe not.
Last year, James Crabtree in the Financial Times described your style as more excessive than even Fox News and how your channel and you stood out for your ability to tap middle class anxieties and deploy a bombastic campaigning approach to reporting. I remember the lines that screamed at me as I watched your channel on mute, and wonder whether you have already made your mark as the new number one ENTERTAINMENT channel. Even the theatrics of the bahu in Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi pale in comparison to the bile generated on Newshour.
(P.S. The reams that have been written about you, including my tiny contribution here, is testimony to your popularity and also why you must be held accountable for every word you utter. After all, you are the market leader according to the ratings you flaunt.)
