Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Monday announced that his government will give Rs 72,000 crore to 5 crore families as part of his Minimum Income Guarantee scheme, also known as NYAY, if voted to power. To many experts, this announcement was a decisive blow to the BJP’s campaign in the Lok Sabha polls, but the saffron party reacted with lightning speed to slam Gandhi for ignoring the scheme’s impact on India’s fiscal health. Also, joining the BJP was Republic TV’s Arnab Goswami, who lost his cool during his prime time debate and called Gandhi a liar and said that Manmohan Singh becoming India’s prime minister was the country’s misfortune.
He started his debate with his usual rant, “Rahul Gandhi should not try to fool like his grandmother did. The gharibi hatao slogan by his grandmother Indira Gandhi was, you all know, I know, was the biggest fraud and the lie on the people of this country. And now having deceived the farmers of Madhya Pradesh, having fooled the poor people of Rajasthan and having destroyed and insulted the fate of the farmers in Karnataka, Rahul Gandhi should not try to bluff 130 crore Indians by promising a false scheme.”
Goswami also ran a report incorporating reactions from BJP leaders such as Arun Jaitley and Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore since the Congress has been boycotting the channel. However, Goswami’s language turned alarmingly menacing as his debate show progressed. Once deemed a bright journalist, Goswami dropped his garb and sounded more convincing than even a hardcore BJP functionary.
Admitting that he belonged to a group of ‘foolish people,’ Goswami said at one point. Addressing Rahul Gandhi as a 50-year-old adolescent, Goswami told a panelist, who was defending Gandhi, “You are an onion. You want to be peeled or sliced. I am such a benevolent knife, so I am asking you to choose if you want to be peeled or sliced.” He later clarified that he was only using peeling and slicing as a metaphor.
He then proceeded by announcing that he had decided to slice the panelist. Referring to another panelist, who supported Gandhi, he said, “Don’t do main main. I will peel you, slice you and also fry you and grill you. Don’t worry, I will do everything.”
Pat came the response from the panelist, who said, “Arnab I am going to mince you.” Goswami replied, “I am going to grind you.” It seems the studio had turned into a kitchen to prepare a mouthwatering mughlai dish.
Then came his vicious attack on Manmohan Singh as he said, “You know there was a person called Manmohan Singh, who was unfortunately the prime minister of India once. He was the most incompetent prime minister that this country has ever had.” One angry panelist said, “Shame on you Arnab.” Goswami replied calmly, “I don’t need your endorsement. This is a democratic country.”
Towards the end of the show, Goswami’s pain came out as he said that the Congress had blocked his reporters from entering the AICC headquarters and how no editors’ association had supported his channel.
Republic TV was founded by Goswami with the help of BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrsekhar in 2017.